06.07.07
Metro Classics Series Revives Revival at Landmark Cinemas
Riding home on the 44 bus recently, I espied on the marquee of the Metro Cinema in the U District a short message to the effect that something called Metro Classics is starting soon (colon), Sunrise.
“Sunrise?!” I exclaimed aloud while rubbing my eyes (ree-oo, ree-oo), startling both the proto-yuppie in front of me and the smelly wino behind me. (The Chicago expat in me does have a special appreciation of the 44 line.) Sunrise as in the 1929 silent-cum-added-sound masterpiece by no less than Murnau?? At the Metro?!?! Well, in fact…yes, that very one.
Indeed, the Metro Cinema — part of the Landmark chain that includes such wonderful local theaters as The Seven Gables, the Guild 45th and The Neptune — is making an experimental plunge back into the repertory film game. If it succeeds, there will be more…which I say is A Very Damn Good Thing.
This initial series runs weekly on Wednesdays from June 27 through August 22. In the press release, it’s being billed as “a decade-by-decade survey of film history from the 1920s through the 2000s,” and while some elitist wags (see comments @link) are sniffing at the choices, I think on the whole it’s a very good selection that balances the desire to represent with the goal of getting enough audience to convince Landmark to do more. (Okay. Personally, I don’t know that I would have picked the same film for the 2000s. But regardless, I applaud the thematic approach.)
I commend the series to you, and further suggest attending with regularity — not just because there’s some truly excellent flicks that truly deserve being seen on the Big Screen (e.g. The Seachers and Blow-Up in 35mm!), but also because I’d love to see more of this kind of programming.
Here’s the full schedule:
Wed. June 27 at 7 and 9 pm: Sunrise (F.W. Murnau, 1927, sync-sound version) - digitally projected
Wed. July 4 at 6, 8, 10 pm: Duck Soup (Marx Brothers, 1933) - digitally projected
Wed. July 11 at 7 and 9:15 pm: Casablanca (1942) - digitally projected
Wed. July 18 at 7 and 9:30 pm: The Searchers (Johns Ford & Wayne, 1956) - 35mm
Wed. July 25 at 7 and 9:30 pm: Blow-Up (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1966) - 35mm
Wed. Aug 1 at 7 and 9:30 pm: Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976) - 35mm
Wed. Aug 8 at 7 and 9:30 pm: Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1989) - 35mm
Wed. Aug 15 at 7 and 9:30 pm: Miller’s Crossing (Coen Brothers, 1990) - 35mm
Wed. Aug 22 at 7 and 9:30 pm: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000/2003) - 35mm
This series is happening thanks to some enterprising souls who maintain the ironically-named blog, The End of Cinema. I’ve not fully plumbed the depths of the thing or sussed the Whos, but the main guy is someone named Sean, and this is what he had to say about it:
We’ve managed to convinced the powers that be at Landmark Theatres to allow us to program and run a repertory film series this summer at the Metro Cinemas in Seattle. It’s going to be a nine week series constituting a decade-by-decade survey of film history from the 1920s to the 2000s. If the series is successful (meaning if we can draw enough customers to break even) then they’re going to let us continue to program rep films in the future, and possibly expand the program to Landmark theatres in other cities around the country.
So standing ovation for “sean” and the undefined “we” for their initiative.
In fact, this is a bit of a return to roots for Landmark. I moved to Seattle in 1996, just in time to catch the last couple-few months of the Varsity Theater’s run as a repertory house. Frankly, that was one of several draws to the U-District for me. I love repertory houses. Sure, you can see a lot of the stuff on DVD or VHS ensconced on your couch, but there’s just no substitute for seeing films as they were meant and made to be seen: with an audience on the big screen.
Mucho kudos to Sean and the End of Cinema guys, and also to Landmark. More please!
Benjamin Erickson said,
June 25, 2007 at 10:39 am
Hello,
Regarding the showing of Sunrise at Metro Cinemas on the27th-What exactly is a “sync-sound version”? What kind of sounds are added?
I’m very excited to see this film on the big screen but nervous about a silent film with added sound! Thank You, Ben
Spencer said,
June 25, 2007 at 9:42 pm
Hi Benjamin — thanks for stopping by, and for asking a good question.
Short answer: don’t be nervous, you’ll actually get a very rare semi-authentic experience. (I hedge only because Sunrise will be shown digitally rather than from a film print). It’s truly a magnificent film by one of the greatest directors ever, and I strongly urge you to see it at the Metro.
Longer answer: Sunrise was released in 1927, the same year as the first successful talkie, The Jazz Singer (released by Warner Brothers). Jolson’s film was, of course, a monster hit even though it only had a handful of sync-sound segments. As a direct result, the last resistance to sound films — technology which had long been tugging at the leash — was finally swept away. (For a good time, read up on the neglected history of Lee DeForest and his Phonofilms.)
The Fox studio leaped into the fray very quickly (almost simultaneously) with Sunrise (among other films, mostly shorts). It was originally released in two versions — one silent and one with a soundtrack. This was a ubiquitous practice in the first couple years of sound, largely because it allowed studios to cash in on the sound craze but not freeze out those theaters that could not afford to upgrade to the competing sound technologies, or were just waiting to see if it was all just another flash in the pan.
The sound version of Sunrise was not truly a “sync-sound” treatment in the sense we now understand it, and I may have been remiss to use the term. It included an original musical score by Hugo Riesenfeld, plus synchronized sound effects — automobiles, church bells, crowds, etc. There was/is no dialog, and except for the musical and atmospheric audio enhancements, it was/is presented in traditional silent film style, with intertitles.
This approach actually mimicked what silent film viewers in the swankest of movie palaces would have seen. By the mid-’20s, it was fairly common practice for the biggest films to have original scores composed for them. In the biggest venues in the biggest cities, these would sometimes be performed by an orchestra and often-times with accompanying sound effects created live (what’s now known as “foley”). Similarly, some organs were equipped with special add-ons that could create rudimentary sound effects. In this regard, this approach to sound film had a democratizing effect insofar as audiences at theaters that could run the sound version got an aural experience something akin to what the High Hat crowd in, say, New York’s finest venue got. It also had the advantage of not suffering from missed or sloppy cues on the part of the performers. (Audio fidelity, on the other hand…well…that took a little longer.)
Aside from its considerable artistic merits, the sound version of Sunrise is also a significant film because it was the first feature to be released using a “sound-on-film” process. The Warner Bros. system, used for The Jazz Singer and many of their later talkies, was called Vitaphone. Originally this was, quite literally, phonograph records played along with the film. (A source of continuing anguish for many archivists around the world.) Fox’s superior sound system, called Movietone, actually had the sound recorded right on the film itself (ala all modern sound processes, except for the original 3-strip Cinerama, a tale for another day). For theaters equipped to show Fox Movietone films, this meant no mis-cues, no slightly-off synchronization due to a distracted or slow projectionist. Just run the film and it’s in sync. Done deal. Hard to argue with that.
So…if you go to see the sound version of Sunrise at the Metro this Wednesday you will actually be getting a film nerd’s very special treat: watching one of the great masterpieces in cinema history in a format that is, truly, almost never ever shown: on the big screen with it’s even-then rare sound-on-film soundtrack.
I had the great pleasure of seeing Sunrise within the last year at the Paramount, in its silent version with live organ accompaniment by the great Dennis James. And as truly wonderful as that was, I honestly can’t wait to see the sound version on a big screen.
So, my advice? Run don’t walk.