Not a lot of news to report today, and no new film to review. I did watch Episode 5 of "Les Vampires", in which the Spanish Businessman, who left a body inside the fake safe in his Vampire-remodeled apartment, goes after the Intrepid Reporter, who suspects that the Businessman is not all he seems. And indeed - the Spanish Businessman is not a businessman at all, but a Master Criminal intent on competing with the Vamps with a view toward driving them out of business.
I say "Good luck with that, Monsieur"! For all his wiles, the Spaniard is no match for the whole troupe of black-clad, nightcrawling Vampires, who - shockingly for 1915 - have locked a large number of party guests inside the mansion of The Grand Vampire. The guests are all high-society types, bedecked and bejeweled, and suddenly the host (Grand Vamp) excuses himself. Then moments later a hissing noise is heard, and a poison gas is coming through the vents. The doors are all shut tight and locked.
The Vampires have created a gas chamber, and all the party guests drop dead and the 'Pires then steal their jewelry and wallets. "Reminiscent of Hitler", I thought as I watched. But the movie was made almost twenty years before he came to power. The scene was done in the same "just-for-fun" way as all the violence in the film is presented. So it's nothing horrible to watch, because of the way it is played. And in this respect I see a similar dramatic innocence in a lot of the Silent films I have watched so far, perhaps because acting was theatrically based then, and in theater at the turn of the century, melodrama was the format of choice. Gritty realism and Method Acting were still several decades in the future.
So I think that is why Silent films have a sense of fun even in the thrillers and heavy dramatic pictures that were made during the era. Just because of all the big-eyed facial expressions and physical gestures that were used to convey a story, in the absence of sound. Silent movies have an aspect of the old "Let's Put On A Show"! theatrical motto, as if it were Rule Number One in the Actor's Creed to entertain an audience at all costs. And that's what they do in the Silents : they entertain us. The Silent actors and actresses are Ultra Dramatic, with a forearm swept across a brow, and they want us to love them (which we do).....
So in "Les Vampires" there is always a spirit of fun, even when Irma Vep helps the Grand Vampire to gas a roomful of rich people. It sounds horrible, but it comes off more like "oh my goodness! Look what they've done now".
Plus, "Les Vampires" is a French production, and no one does Whimsical like the French. ///
I forgot to mention last night how sorry I was to hear about the death of Dolores O'Riordan, the singer for The Cranberries. I didn't know a lot of their music, only the singles that were played on the radio, but one song, "Linger", was played in heavy rotation in the early 90s, and it had an effect on me because at that time my life was changing drastically. In October 1993 my amnesia was lifting, and I would hear that song on the radio, with it's slowly building melody and hook, and the strings backing the vocals, and it made me feel filled with optimistic power, as if I was on the verge of an incredible discovery about my life. The key to the song was Dolores O'Riordan's Irish-inflected voice, which she allowed to lilt at various points in the song. It was a technique she would use in other Cranberries singles like "Zombie", which also got a ton of airplay. She was a really great singer, and her music had that combination of confessional emotion and hooks that made so much of 90s Pop truly great.
I loved 90s music, from all the one hit wonders like Belly and Blind Lemon, to bands that became legends like Soundgarden and Alice In Chains. And some of my favorite music of the era was the gentle yet powerful vocal tunes of bands like Sixpence None The Richer, with singer Leigh Nash, and The Cranberries with Dolores O'Riordan.
The songs of those bands got their power from the singers, who could in turn empower you the listener and fill you with magic, and maybe even put a tear in your eye.
That is not an easy combination to pull off, but it sure worked on me. :)
God Bless Nice People like Dolores, who give life all they've got. xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox :):)
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