Movies without sound

[randy_byers]

Watched my first Frank Borzage movie last night: the 1925 silent film, Lazybones. But instead of writing about this odd duck of a romance, I'm suddenly reminded of another movie I watched in a silent mode recently. It was actually soundless, however, unlike silent films, which are typically accompanied by music.

On my flight from Seattle to Toronto on the 1st, I watched Watchmen (2009) without a headset. I was curious to see how well it would play without sound, and I actually have to say it played very well. Now it's true that I read the comic books as they came out originally over two decades ago, so I was more or less familiar with the story. Probably less, since I typically don't remember plot details very well. What struck me is how much it was still like my usual way of watching a movie. Which is to say that I'm generally more focused on the visuals than the words. So when there are big moments of exposition and revelation ("yes, it was I, the butler!"), it's often just a bunch of "blah blah blah" to me. In fact, I prefer hyper-recomplicated movies like Out of the Past (1947) and The Cat and the Canary (1927) where the plot is a pretzel that's almost impossible to follow. Thus I found that I didn't mind not being able to hear whatever Dr Manhattan or Ozymandias were saying at key points in Watchmen. No doubt it was just the usual blah blah blah.

One thing I didn't notice, however, was the music I wasn't hearing. Having heard and read a few reactions to the movie since I saw it, I now know that some people were put off by certain song choices, such as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" during the sex scene. It's quite possible that the songs would have distracted me, too. I will say that one of the visual images that did strike me as too obvious came during the sex scene: when the little aircraft shoots off a jet of orgasmic fire. Duh. Perhaps not too obvious so much as too explicit.

One disappointment of seeing this on a plane, by the way, is that Dr Manhattan's blue rod was censored. When I read the initial reviews of the movie that talked about this, I loved the cheekiness of thrusting the giant blue penis into the faces of the fanboys, as it were. However, Sharee claims she never noticed it when she saw the movie in the theater, so perhaps there was less of it than I imagined. I also have to say that the movie didn't seem as violent as the initial reviews made me think it was, so perhaps some of the violence was censored as well.

Alfred Hitchcock, who started making movies in the silent era, apparently claimed that you should be able to watch his movies without sound and still follow the story. I thought Watchmen passed this test, although again maybe it was because I had once upon I time read the graphic novel.

Comments

[n6tqs.livejournal.com]

I was very aware of the soundtrack, but thought it contributed positively.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

I watched that movie with Keanu Reeves about the Napa Valley on an airplane without sound (I could hardly avoid watching it; it was blaring on a screen in front of my face), and had no trouble following the story. I did not consider this to the film's credit, contra Hitchcock.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

But that was the ideal of silent film: telling a story without words. Pure cinema. (FW Murnau's THE LAST LAUGH is one of the few films that actually had no intertitles whatsoever, so one of the few to come close to this ideal.) An interesting aspects of this, at least in America, was trying to tell a story that a mixed immigrant population could understand without a sophisticated grasp of English or the ability to read.

[kalimac.livejournal.com]

Why I've never been interested in silent film, perhaps. Or storytelling (as opposed to abstract) ballet without a synopsis.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

That's certainly fair enough.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

I loved the cheekiness of thrusting the giant blue penis into the faces of the fanboys, as it were. However, Sharee claims she never noticed it when she saw the movie in the theater, so perhaps there was less of it than I imagined.

I doubt it - every single review I saw mentioned it. My favorite comment was from (as usual) The New Yorker's Anthony Lane: "Last and hugest is Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup), who is buff, buck naked, and blue, like a porn star left overnight in a meat locker."

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Maybe boys pay more attention to penises than girls? Jon Stewart was pretty funny on the subject too, as I recall.

[fishlifter.livejournal.com]

I also saw the movie on a plane (with sound) and, having heard a lot about this in advance from a gentleman of my acquaintance, was surprised that the giant blue penis did not seem in any way remarkable -- even when I remembered to look, 'giant' didn't seem to be an issue.

So maybe censored, and maybe an issue of different proportion (metaphorical at least as much as literal) for different people...

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

This could be one of those times when it would make a big difference (arf arf) to see it on the big screen.

But it was definitely erased completely on Air Canada. He looked just like a Ken doll -- if that's a reference that makes any sense to a Briton.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

A fun experiment, however uncontrolled. Are you now open to seeing the film with sound?

I just read a great line from David Denby's review of Inglourious Basterds, a film I have absolutely no interest in ever seeing:

"Tarantino has become an embarrassment: his virtuosity as a maker of images has been overwhelmed by his inanity as an idiot de la cinémathèque."

Hear hear!

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Sure, I'd be willing to watch Watchmen with sound at some point.

As for Tarantino, I dunno. I think the hatred just makes him stronger, for better or worse. The only movie of his I've seen is Jackie Brown, which I liked. I've never been interested in any of the others, although I should watch Pulp Fiction at some point just because.

[ron-drummond.livejournal.com]

I suspect your second sentence makes the most or best sense if the "hatred" is understood as being Tarantino's and not his critics'. Myself, I was only vaguely aware that a film called Jackie Brown even existed, let alone that it was one of Tarantino's. I saw Pulp Fiction years after Krzysztof Kieślowski saved Irène Jacob from it, and found it mildly amusing at best. Then through a change of heart I'm not entirely sure I understand, I broke down and decided to watch Kill Bill several years after it first came out -- I was blown away by it and consider it to be a major masterpiece; it may well wind up becoming one of my all-time favorite films. And yet I still have almost no interest in watching anything else by Tarantino. You gotta like it.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I don't sense that Tarantino is motivated by hatred, but rather by a love of movies. His critics, I think, overreact to his influence on modern cinema, thus making him more important than he really is.

[trinfaneb.livejournal.com]

Director George Miller also tries to make his films work as Silents. I think he succeeded with his Mad Max trilogy.

I don't know how well the rest of Tarantino's stuff will hold up, but I think Kill Bill will last. I read an interesting article several years ago which examines how the plot of the movie pretty closely corresponds to Buddhist mythology and even suggests that Uma Thurman wrote this stuff into the movie without Tarantino realizing she was doing it.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

I can believe that about George Miller. I bet the Babe movies would hold up pretty well without sound too. Very iconographic.

[reverendjim.livejournal.com]

I'd heard a lot about the "knob of doom" before seeing Watchmen but I really can't say it was that obvious. There were one or two times I "noticed" it but I don't think it was that big a thing, so to speak.
It was pretty violent in bits, so I suspect you did see a trimmed version.

[randy-byers.livejournal.com]

Makes sense that if they're going to trim the naughty bits out, they'd shave the nasty bits too. Ah well, it was the rumors of ultra-violent stuff that made me give it a miss in the theater.