Chaney PHANTOM

[RedKing]

I had a wonderful chance to see the Chaney PHANTOM on a (semi) big screen last night. A local auditorium sponsored the show and it was absolutely wonderful-they showed the Image dvd version on a large screen(probably 7x10 feet or bigger) and it was accompanied by live organ music just as in the old days. It was a great experience as the Image disc has such a great print tinted and with the original 2 strip technicolor scene intact as well as played at the correct projection speed. the live organist did a fantastic job, the music was great and really awesome thundering out of the auditorium stage. There was a large crowd too-alot more than i expected-probably 60-100 people, which for this mostly rural area is alot! The crowd had alot of old timers but also a surprising number of young couples and families with kids. Everyone really enjoyed the experience and I was pleased to see ALOT of people jump in their seats when Mary Philbin pulled Chaney's mask off! The whole show was arranged by the organist and he spoke a little about the film and 1920s cinema and organ accompaniment, and knew what he was talking about. He and the film received a well deserved standing ovation at the end too. The auditorium it showed in was really nice too-it's a huge old building(over 120 years old) with old fashioned wooden seats, a huge stage, beautiful stained glass windows and a gigantic old pipe organ. It is being restored and id pretty much there now. Last year they staged a play of Dracula at Halloween which I missed, so i hope they do it again this year. I am hoping that more productions like this will be put on as well-I'd love to see NOSFERATU and METROPOLIS shown. I wanted to talk to the organist after the show but he had a crowd around him and it was late(10:15 or so) so I didn't get a chance unfortunately, to suggest more shows. This was really a wonderful treat for me because around here they never have anything at all like this! Here in the North Country there isn't a big enough fan base I guess to support a film festival or showing like there is in LA.

[Xenorama ™]

yep, for all the pooh-poohing of "old" effects, they are still quite effective if you get pulled into the story, AND if you don't know it's coming up.

glad you got to see this on a big screen!

[amphiboid]

Oh, that's wonderful. Very glad you got to see this. A long time ago...boy, when was this? In 1983 or around there? I got to see the film projected, and there was a live organist for that. It was a lot of fun and a special evening.

[Gwangi]

God, how great it would be if I can watch a silent movie classic on the big screen! Luck you RedKing!

redking said:

There was a large crowd too-alot more than i expected-probably 60-100 people, which for this mostly rural area is alot! The crowd had alot of old timers but also a surprising number of young couples and families with kids.

When I saw the the original "King Kong" at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, I also saw a great mix of young and old (actually more so young people, who were quite familar with the film) enjoying the movie, which really debunked that idiotic argument some fanboys were trying to claim that only old-timers enjoyed the original, and that Peter Jackson needed to remake it for the younger audiences.