Would DeMille talkies make better silents?

[Rodney]

I was listening to NPR's interview with Scott Eyman this morning, about his new biography of Cecil B. DeMille, Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =129793947

Scott talked about DeMille's string of well-made, effective silent films, and how hard they are to find; and mentioned that the later epics were often marred by DeMille's tin ear for cheesy dialog. He claimed that if you turn the sound down, without that distraction, the cinematic build-up to the great climaxes becomes much more clear and effective.

Which for me, prompted a totally pointless philosophical question:

Would Samson and Delilah be a better film if you replaced the dialog with some well-written title cards, and had a live symphony playing the score?

[Arndt]

Would Samson and Delilah be a better film if you replaced the dialog with some well-written title cards, and had a live symphony playing the score?

I believe a great many films could be improved that way.

[bobfells]

I had seen most of Demille's talkies before I saw any of his silents. My first silent was the 1923 TEN COMMANDMENTS. I was immediately impressed by the visual eloquence - don't mean the spectacular sets in the Biblical prologue. DeMille put much more emphasis on visual communications than in his talkies. Maybe he just got lazy and let dialogue tell the story - sort of the way most TV shows would do fine on radio because most information is communicated verbally, not much visually.

By the late 30s CB seemed to rely a lot on "indoor for outdoor" and rear screen projection. Even his lesser silents (i.e., THE GOLDEN CHANCE) I find more visually compelling than the later Technicolor bon-bons. But to answer the question posed here, I think the 1931 version of THE SQUAW MAN was his last visually compelling film. Of course my choice is ironic because he already had made it twice as a silent.

When I'm on a long flight I will watch a movie w/o the headphones and it's interesting to see how little info is conveyed visually. I think SAMSON AND DELILAH would be visually ersatz as a silent.

A logical follow up question: which DeMille talkie had the best dialogue? My vote - CLEOPATRA.

[Brooksie]

Which for me, prompted a totally pointless philosophical question:

Would Samson and Delilah be a better film if you replaced the dialog with some well-written title cards, and had a live symphony playing the score?

... I don't think that's a pointless question at all! Even today, I sometimes like to turn the sound down on a film and see how it plays. The result can sometimes be spectacular. To re-edit Samson and Delilah as a silent would be a genuinely interesting exercise.