The Mysterious Lady (1928)

[Michael O'Regan]

I do not like the Vivek Madana score on the TCM release.
What other versions exist?

[entredeuxguerres]

Maybe not the worst score ever written, but far & away the worst one I've ever heard. Think of it--a score for a story about a singer reknowned for her performance in the role of Floria Tosca, which doesn't quote Puccini at all! Substituting instead a lot of Newmanesque cacophony! If HE won the Young Composers competition, I shudder to contemplate the loosers.

[Gagman 66]

Michael,

If you can find a copy of this picture with the Carl Davis score I would love to hear it. I know it was shown on Arte TV in France with a Davis score. The old MGM VHS had another score that seems to be an assortment of stock music with a rather 50's or 60's documentary flavor. Done for Public Television. Some people seem to like it, but I thought this was even worse than Maddlla. The Maud Nilssen score to THE PATSY, and Davis scores for THE MYSTERIOUS LADY and WATERLOO are the only three Photoplay Productions scores that I have never been able to find except in brief excerpts.

I don't remember Vivek's score for ACE OF HEARTS at all. But I have grown to really like most of his music for THE PATSY. It was for ACE OF HEARTS that he won the Young Composers Competition in it's first year.

[Michael O'Regan]

There's a Davis score? I didn't realise. Well, that's certainly one to search out.
Thanks.
So, was the Vivek score specifically for the TCM broadcast?

[Jonathan]

I have the European broadcast with the Davis score which quotes Tosca and is up to Davis' usual high standard. Unfortunately, it was shown with all the titles replaced by German which I can't read well, and of course corrupts the original film in the reverse way American editions often do with European silents. I recall there is also a visual fault through the recording, but I kept it just for the lovely Davis score. I tried running it in tandem with the US DVD but, presumably because it's PAL (25fps), the German broadcast is several minutes shorter, so soon gets out-of-sync. (Even so, it was preferable to the DVD score!)

[Gaucho]

Was this an ARTE broadcast?

[Gagman 66]

Jonathan,

Wow! I'm impressed that you have a recording of this. It is so very rare and difficult to come by. If I just had an audio recording of the Davis score. I think I could match it up fairly well with the TCM and Warner DVD version video? I sure would relish hearing the score. I have been looking for it for several years with no luck of any kind.

[silentfilm]

Conrad Nagel and Greta Garbo in The Mysterious Lady.

[Michael O'Regan]

Excellent still, Bruce. Ta.

[Jonathan]

Was this an ARTE broadcast?

No, I haven't checked the tape but it must have been one of the other German channels like 3SAT that used to run American silents in the mid-1990s when I had access to them through satellite. I could never get ARTE.

Wow! I'm impressed that you have a recording of this. It is so very rare and difficult to come by. If I just had an audio recording of the Davis score. I think I could match it up fairly well with the TCM and Warner DVD version video? I sure would relish hearing the score. I have been looking for it for several years with no luck of any kind.

I'm going to try to obtain the UK Warner DVD (now deleted) in the hope that being PAL too it will match the Davis score better, but thanks for your offer of help - I may yet take you up on it and will let you know how I get on. It may take some months.