The Silver Screen Oasis

I apologize in advance if someone has already posted this information.

The Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall in London will be showing Chaplin's The Gold Rush on January 3rd, 2011, at 7:00 pm.

This is the original 1925 film, with a score reconstructed from Chaplin's original notes and conducted by Carl Davis.


Monday 3 January 2011, Royal Festival Hall, 7pm
Carl Davis, conductor
Philharmonia Orchestra
Charlie Chaplin The Gold Rush
Tickets: £20–£45
Ticket Office: 0871 663 2500
Online booking: www.southbankcentre.co.uk

And Carl Davis will also conduct its score in Paris on February 20th, 2011.

I wish I was in Europe!

I am in Europe but can't afford to go, unless I win the lottery

I was hoping you'd be able to attend, Alison, but it is a pricey ticket. Plus it's on a Monday, which seems difficult to me, anyway.

I think I'll go to the one in Paris. I will let you know how it was.

I can't wait to hear about it! if I were there, I would definitely be a Carl Davis groupie, following him all around Europe. I love the original edition of The Gold Rush, which is much more moving.

Carl Davis came here years ago to conduct the reconstructed score to City Lights with the Atlanta Symphony at Symphony Hall in the Woodruff Arts Center while the movie played.

(Davis' ccompaniment concerts caused a huge ruckus on alt.movies-silent -- anyone remember alt.movies-silent? -- from folks who thought it was blasphemy to play the score live instead of showing the film with its original recorded score.)

Afterward the concert we -- that is, members of the now defunct Silent Film Society of Atlanta -- got to meet him. I don't remember what the conversation consisted of (probably nothing too important, we were just awestruck fans) but I did get him to autograph my laser disc of City Lights, which has both the original score and Davis' new recording. So you know that laser disc is never going to be discarded from my collection. ;)

I booked my ticket! I can't wait to go!!!

It sure would be wonderful if Criterion could release this version with Davis score, and an alternate of the William Perry score with orchestra. But due to the narrow minded thinking of the Chaplin Heir's it will most likely never happen. THE GOLD RUSH has yet to be done proper justice on DVD in it's original 1925 form.

Gagman 66 wrote:THE GOLD RUSH has yet to be done proper justice on DVD in it's original 1925 form.

The Photoplay restoration of the 1925 version on the Warner Brothers/MK2 edition looked very good and I like the piano score by Neil Brand a lot. The current Park Circus release offers the '42 version in Blu and includes a standard DVD of the Photoplay '25 edition, I assume with the Brand accompaniment.

No idea what Criterion will do, but for sure the '42 version will be the prominent version.

The Neil Brand stuff was a real downer if your used to the William Perry score. Hey Kevin. Where have you been anyway? Haven't heard from you in Months! Send me an E-mail if you will. Thanks. Look forward to hearing from you again.

JackFavell wrote:I was hoping you'd be able to attend, Alison, but it is a pricey ticket. Plus it's on a Monday, which seems difficult to me, anyway.

Even if I could afford it, I wouldn't be able to get someone to look after the kids. Maybe when they are grown......

So did anyone attend this event? I'm anxious to know. Is there any news on what is forth-coming from Criterion? Hopefully, a version of the original 1925 release that does the film it's proper justice at long last.

Yesterday, I went to the performance of The Gold Rush and The Immigrant with the Orchestre National d'Ile-de-France conducted by Carl Davis. It was a fantastic afternoon.

As an appetizer before the feature, we got to see The Immigrant (1917). For this Mutual short, Carl Davis had composed a chamber-like piece for about 15 musicians reflecting the intimacy of the short film. Hearing an orchestra performing live with the film is a very different experience than watching a DVD. You get access to all sorts of little details that might completely escape you on a DVD. The scenes on the rolling boat brought the house down. What struck me about Carl's conducting is its perfect synchronisation with the film. He makes it sounds easy, while, in fact, most conductors would struggle to achieve it. The café scene was also a real winner with the pianist and violinist hammering away in the background (this was reflected brilliantly in the score) while Charlie is scared stiff of the frightening waiter. The public reaction was perfect. There was a proper mixture of young kids, youths and older people ready to be entertained.

The Gold Rush (1925) was presented in its original 1925 silent version (identical to the one available on DVD as a supplement to the 1942 one). For this one, we got a much bigger orchestra with an amazing array of percussion instruments. First of all, the feeling of the film is totally different than for the 1942 version. It's not just the absence of this irritating narration, but the music becomes central to the action whereas it was barely audible on the soundtrack. Carl Davis reuses all the Chaplin material and brings it out with a lot of warmth. The 'Georgia' theme shines brightly. The choice of references is really ecclectic. I recognized the 'Flight of the Bumblebee' from Rimsky-Korsakov's Tsar Saltan (used several times during the struggles inside the cabin) and the 'Song to the Evening Star' from Wagner's Tannhäuser which funnily was used when both Charlie and Mack Swain are dying of hunger! The projection sped at 22 fps was perfect and the film flowed so smoothly that I virtually forgot I was in a concert hall with an orchestra. I became totally absorbed in the film. Some of the funniest sound effects were produced by percussion instruments such as Charlie's hiccups with wood-blocks. Another brilliant effect was when the detached cabin is on the verge of falling into a precipice. The sound of snow slowly giving way was produced by some kind of wooden board sounding like a lion-roar. The effect was stupendous. The public lapped it up. Carl Davis' conducting was again superlative, avoiding any grand effect. The orchestra swelled in the right places like when Charlie bids farewell to Georgia inside the Dancing Hall as Mack Swain is dragging him out. The public's reaction was of tremendous applause. The orchestra -mostly composed of young musicians- did a great job and obviously enjoyed the collaboration with the conductor. A brilliant afternoon.