The name "Roscoe" is finally making a comeback in America, at least, as a name for dogs. One day last year when Molly had him at the local dog park, there were four dogs named Roscoe. And he has a special nickname at his doggy-day-care to distinguish him from other Roscoes.

I’d be happy to talk to you about music. As you can imagine, almost all of my musical endeavors are on hold. You're just playing "Alone" over and over again, aren't you, Rodney? Jim I'm one of the fortunate ones, home with a wife and daughter who are both still gainfully employed, and of course Ros...

I’d be happy to talk to you about music. As you can imagine, almost all of my musical endeavors are on hold.

Okay, the intent was silly, but it was nice to see a silent film era box office report in the current news.

https://slate.com/culture/2020/05/weeke ... demic.html

The most complete and best looking of the silent Rintys is THE CLASH OF THE WOLVES (1925). It was considered lost but some years ago a pristine 35mm print was found in S. Africa. On DVD now and perhaps on YouTube. The Night Cry also survives and is quite fun. I’ve only seen it on film, not home vid...

I suppose it may have been convenient to have a “street” with buildings only along one side, for arranging a tracking shot with good daylight. Also, no regular through traffic and privately owned may have made it easier to close down for prepping the rain machine and shooting... was this convenientl...

I just now noticed that this entire film (less than 20 minutes) is up at the SF Silent Film Festival's web site. https://silentfilm.org/watch-now/ It's a light story from the Bison company, rushed through so that it could play in theaters on July 4. The surviving film (at the Eye Film Museum) is lik...

Hey! It's the fast-moving train mentioned in the review. I think I've even used that photo in the Silent Film Calendar before, but I forgot that it was The Old Nest. Thanks!

Julie Brown brought to my attention this review, from the September 22, 1921 issue of the Kinematograph Weekly , by Gilbert Stevens. This is a review of Gaston Borch's presentation of a film score at the Alhambra Theatre in England. Gaston Borch was a prolific composer of silent film music, so I've ...

Support your local film festival.

Mont Alto’s schedule is uncertain for the future, as we try to flatten the curve, and watch for signs that civilization can return. But, if you want to hear me talking and playing, I did an interview and played a bit of music for the Vancouver (Washington) Symphony Orchestra’s podcast. I’ve been wor...

Coming in April on the Criterion Channel, they are showing Lilac Time . Matthew I started to watch Lilac Time at bit ago on the Criterion Channel. It is mute, as they had done with one of the Hitchcock silent films. This is not a problem as I just play the score to It from Youtube while watching it...

The advice above is excellent. If you’re looking for their “value,” the best option would be to have them professionally appraised before donating them. Assuming you give them to an accredited institution, you can write off the value on your taxes. Your benefit depends on your current income, of cou...

This film is discussed in some books... maybe one of Brownlow’s trilogy? It was about as inflammatory as Dixon’s “The Clansman,” except this time the enemies of the righteous white Americans were Europeans. Originally Germans, but Dixon hired Victor Herbert to write music for the film, and Herbert o...

The audio and video of the on-air concert were posted today at the KPR website.

If you want to hear Tracey Goessel, Bill Shaffer, and me yakking it up, you need to listen to the whole audio stream. The individual videos are just the music excerpts.

As of today, San Francisco is still on. But it may or may not be up to the organizers...

I'm sorry to say that the Denver Silent Film Festival in April has been cancelled due to coronavirus risks. The organizers are hoping to reschedule for the fall.

On Friday, February 28, at 11 a.m. Central Time, there will be an hour of music and chatting about the Kansas Silent Film Festival on Kansas Public Radio. It's KANU 91.5 around Lawrence Kansas, but listening is also available worldwide at: https://kansaspublicradio.org. The Mont Alto Motion Picture ...

And in case you didn't hate the count in Foolish Wives enough already... When I was working on the score for the Kino release, I obtained the piano reduction of Sigmund Romberg's original score. It included music for some scenes that have since been lost. In musical cue 60, there is the indication "...

Silentvalerio wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 14, 2020 3:45 pm

Honestly I prefer Carl Davis score.

Since Timothy Brock's score for Foolish Wives hasn't even been heard yet, that's an odd thing to say. Or are you saying you like Carl Davis'/Johann Strauss' score to The Wedding March better than ours? Fair enough.

The new restoration of The Wedding March played SFSFF last summer. We accompanied. Yes, and it was one of the highlights of my recent movie-going life. Dare I ask if there's any idea of a home video release? Well, we haven't been asked to record our score :-) but other than that, I can't tell you. ...

A telephone related tidbit: This rare telephone case (copyrighted "Love and Life around the world" March 15, 1915 by LC Mayer) appears in Harold Lloyd's AMONG THOSE PRESENT (1921) used by the social climbing matron. It was, in it's day, not a common object, as it was retailed by a 5th Avenue jewelr...

Doesn't Buster Keaton phone instructions to his horse at one point? I think that’s in “Cops” when he’s driving the furniture wagon. But the phone gag in The Cameraman with the cutaway apartment building is quite amazing. Harold Lloyd’s “Number Please?” has an extended sequence with him trying to re...

Keatonesque wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 11, 2020 2:02 pm

Excellent news, though I wish the same restoration treatment would be given to THE WEDDING MARCH, GREED, and QUEEN KELLY.

The new restoration of The Wedding March played SFSFF last summer. We accompanied.

Music was provided by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. This is the same score from the previous KINO dvd. Some new music was added because there is new footage added. Rodney can correct me on this point if I am wrong. ....Interestingly, the old KINO lists the running time at 109 minutes, the...

BenModel wrote: ↑

Sun Jan 26, 2020 7:38 pm

Although I couldn't clear the rights to "Woof Bloogle Jig"...

Damn right. I won't let people use my compositions for synchronization to picture without adequate compensation.

It requires more than a little bit of hubris to try and improve on the greatest of all silent film scores. Hugo Riesenfeld abides. I have great admiration for the Riesenfeld/Rapee score and its novel idea of overlaying different groups playing different pieces at times. But as one who has also acco...

I sold my last eight calendars yesterday at the Mont Alto Ragtime and Tango Orchestra tea dance, so the project is closed for the year. I'm still waiting for a couple of checks, but I expect that the amount raised will be close to $1700. It will be used to help the restoration of the Laurel and Hard...

Coincidentally, Mont Alto just recorded a score for Buster Keaton's Go West, and we were planning to have a viewing party that very night. So, we'll be watching a version with burned-in-time-codes, but it will be one of the first audiences for this restoration and this score.

The way stabilization works is it aligns the image and then crops off the edges to make them match. You lose some of the image at the sides. If the shakiness is too wide a swing, there's nothing it can do, because it would end up cropping off big chunks of the image. In those cases you have to edit...