This is certainly one of the best examples of the greatness of the medium now called 'silent film.' There are truly wondrous moving images here, created by means of human actors, stage techniques, and primitive FX, made to tell a very satisfying mythic story. If you could add audible dialogue to this movie, it would only be a detriment.
Douglas Fairbanks was the top heroic movie actor of his day, and he made this at the peak of his powers. He studied ballet for some months prior to the filming, and you can see the result in his leaps and other characteristic feats. There musical quality to his body movements that make the action sequences in this movie unlike anything else, and it goes well with the facial pantomime of the silent cinema.
I saw a restored cut of this film on PBS TV in the late 1980's, with the original color tints and an orchestral soundtrack composed of rearranged bits of Rimsky-Korsekov's 'Scheherazade.' The Scheherazade material works perfectly with this material, not only because it helps establish the magical world in which our story transpires, but because it goes perfectly with Fairbanks' ballet-style action sequences. Also, Scheherazade is one of my all time favorite pieces of music. Over 20 years after seeing this film, Scheherazade still conjures up images from this film.
The FX are not, of course, realistic by modern standards. But they nonetheless produce amazing and memorable moving images and have a magical or dreamlike quality that is better suited to this material than CGI. In fact, the primitive FX have a hand-crafted feel, complimenting the physicality of Fairbanks' performance and serving as a tonic to the rubbery CGI that contaminate so many modern films.
This is a good movie to see if you think you have any potential of enjoying a silent movie, and/or if you are fond of fantasy and the mythic. Hopefully it will inspire you to noble things.
Douglas Fairbanks was the top heroic movie actor of his day, and he made this at the peak of his powers. He studied ballet for some months prior to the filming, and you can see the result in his leaps and other characteristic feats. There musical quality to his body movements that make the action sequences in this movie unlike anything else, and it goes well with the facial pantomime of the silent cinema.
I saw a restored cut of this film on PBS TV in the late 1980's, with the original color tints and an orchestral soundtrack composed of rearranged bits of Rimsky-Korsekov's 'Scheherazade.' The Scheherazade material works perfectly with this material, not only because it helps establish the magical world in which our story transpires, but because it goes perfectly with Fairbanks' ballet-style action sequences. Also, Scheherazade is one of my all time favorite pieces of music. Over 20 years after seeing this film, Scheherazade still conjures up images from this film.
The FX are not, of course, realistic by modern standards. But they nonetheless produce amazing and memorable moving images and have a magical or dreamlike quality that is better suited to this material than CGI. In fact, the primitive FX have a hand-crafted feel, complimenting the physicality of Fairbanks' performance and serving as a tonic to the rubbery CGI that contaminate so many modern films.
This is a good movie to see if you think you have any potential of enjoying a silent movie, and/or if you are fond of fantasy and the mythic. Hopefully it will inspire you to noble things.