Monday 17 December 2012

A curio

Sometimes a movie buff can find the odd cinematic curio just by looking around on the internet.  The Internet Archive is a perfect example of where to find such curios that may not be available in the shops and can be viewed online.
A few months ago I came across an extremely short film version of Frankenstein produced by Edison.  It has some wonderful trick photography in which the creature is created and is a brilliant example of early cinematic art in this respect.  It is a little hard to see at times as there hasn’t been any restoration work done on the print but it is fascinating to watch nonetheless.
This Frankenstein adaptation shows a great deal of ambition for its time and can now be viewed in any one of three ways - as the original silent feature (with coloured tinted sections), with new added sound effects added (with coloured tinted sections that differ slightly from the original) or with a new rock soundtrack by Nico Boeston (in plain old black and white).
You can view the original version at http://archive.org/details/Frankenstein1910
The version with added sound effects can be seen at http://archive.org/details/EdisonsFrankenstein1910WithSoundEffects
The Nico Boeston version can be seen here - http://archive.org/details/EdisonsFrankensteinnicoBoestonSoundtrack

Saturday 15 December 2012

Welcome to The Vault

This first posting is by way of an introduction to The Vault and what I’ll be doing here in the future.
It started as an idea about what I could do with my views on the films, TV shows and audio dramas that I like to watch and listen to.  The reviews and comments on those things didn’t really have a place on my other blog, Meditations From The Abyss, so I decided to create this this new column.
In this blog I shall be giving my views and reviews on the ever-growing collection of DVDs and audio drama CDs in my possession that has been built up over the course of many years, thanks to my particular obsession for collecting things caused by my depression.
I love horror and science fiction but my tastes are much wider than those two genres as you’ll see if you stick around for long enough.  You may be surprised by some of the films I’ve collected over the years; I know I certainly am at timesJ.
I won’t be getting too bogged down in the technical aspects of the movie/TV/audio making process in my reviews as I find those sorts of reviews rather stuck up and merely a way of the reviewer showing that they have taken a media studies or cinema appreciation course.  What I will be covering is whether a film, TV series or audio drama is worth watching or listening too, what the good points are and what the bad points are from an ordinary viewer or listener’s view.
I love film, TV and audio dramas and want to share that with anyone who wishes to listen.  I’m just an ordinary guy with a passion and I don’t want to try to push the idea that I’m an expert because I most certainly am not; I just know what I like.
I’ll be commenting on the whole subject of audio/video productions too, with a look at how the Carry On films degenerated into bawdy humour from the original quaint approach they started out with, for instance.  I will also be critiquing things such as the bastardisation of the classic TV series Doctor Who for the short-lived revival in 1996 for the TV movie and the subsequent revival started in 2005.  I have my own ideas of how Doctor Who should have gone following the final season in 1989 and I’ll be adding them to this blog too.
Be aware that I’ll be covering movies from all over the world and I’ll make sure I’ll flag up which countries the films come from in the tags I attach to the posts.  Be aware also that the DVD versions I will be commenting on will be Region 2 or region-less only and that some of the titles may well have been deleted by now.  I will be including as much information on the version I’m reviewing to make it easier for you to look them up on eBay.
Anyway, that’s it for now.  I shall be posting reviews soon!