tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post6737706609324606806..comments2024-03-15T04:08:16.172-04:00Comments on Only the Cinema: Films I Love #36: Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)Ed Howardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-4979197975716527292010-10-28T13:23:11.037-04:002010-10-28T13:23:11.037-04:00Great to see more people appreciate this film extr...Great to see more people appreciate this film extraordinaire! By far the greatest and most influential documentary of all time. I've seen it more time than I can remember.<br /><br />You can download the Cinematic Orchestra version from my blog at www.cultcinema.netCultcinema.nethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15379565480254385255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-6459235767457379522009-07-03T10:39:14.320-04:002009-07-03T10:39:14.320-04:00Very good to hear that "Just Another Film Buf...Very good to hear that "Just Another Film Buff" Now I'm tempted to acquire this.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-87084333841093241702009-07-02T23:39:54.264-04:002009-07-02T23:39:54.264-04:00I was fortunate to watch it with the Nyman score t...I was fortunate to watch it with the Nyman score the first time around. <br /><br />Ironically, it is the absense of sound in Berlin: The Symphony... that makes it all the more rich!just another film buffhttp://theseventhart.infonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-17144625348659779222009-07-02T14:15:34.336-04:002009-07-02T14:15:34.336-04:00Thanks for the comments, all. Like Bob, I really n...Thanks for the comments, all. Like Bob, I really need to see <i>Berlin: Symphony of a City</i>; I've been meaning to for ages but somehow never got around to it.<br /><br />Sam: I'll have to check out the Nyman score. Like you, I'm a big fan, especially of his work with Greenaway.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-29069807905195924642009-07-02T13:45:00.251-04:002009-07-02T13:45:00.251-04:00Ed, Allan Fish just advised me that Michael Nyman&...Ed, Allan Fish just advised me that Michael Nyman's score for thye film, the version of which is linked here is the finest ever recorded for this film. I am a huge fan of Nyman, but sad to say I have not heard it myself:<br /><br />http://www.amazon.co.uk/Michael-Nymans-Man-Movie-Camera/dp/B0017QMXLUSam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-39665163662589657432009-07-02T13:00:46.817-04:002009-07-02T13:00:46.817-04:00Like everyone else here, I was pretty bowled over ...Like everyone else here, I was pretty bowled over the first time I saw this film a few years ago too. Especially when you place it in the context of when it was made...<br /><br />I've only seen the film with the Alloy score as well (it's great), but I own the Cinematic Orchestra version and love it to pieces...I've never synched it with the film, but it doesn't matter - it still Bob Turnbullhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02243657105760780425noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-13968590400075484802009-07-02T00:13:31.662-04:002009-07-02T00:13:31.662-04:00This is a remarkable viewing experience... BTW, Be...This is a remarkable viewing experience... BTW, Berlin: Symphony of a City is like a twin to this film. Do watch it. It's like MWAMC with a human touch!just another film buffhttp://theseventhart.infonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-74874937132248699632009-07-01T14:19:01.719-04:002009-07-01T14:19:01.719-04:00That's a great story, Joshua. I can understand...That's a great story, Joshua. I can understand why Vertov was a little nervous, though. The film still feels radical and visceral today -- imagine how it must have seemed back then!Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-41619493787640793522009-07-01T11:43:35.495-04:002009-07-01T11:43:35.495-04:00Ed, it's a little less tense and a little more...Ed, it's a little less tense and a little more bubbly, but still relatively downbeat. If you could define the Alloy one by its reliance on bells, the Cinematic version would be reliant on a more openly synthetic sound, with a lot of horns in the foreground. There's an edited nine minute version on youtube you can check out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvTF6B5XKxQ<br /><br />As forJoshuahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02455492676909216509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-85065686445633282372009-07-01T11:11:58.634-04:002009-07-01T11:11:58.634-04:00Hahahahahaha Ed!!!!
You do have a point there. ...Hahahahahaha Ed!!!!<br /><br />You do have a point there. More sedate pieces, and epic war films are more his specialty, but he's certainly no Carl Davis.Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-23192792831896108462009-07-01T11:05:11.548-04:002009-07-01T11:05:11.548-04:00but I wonder what Donald Sosin would have come up ...<i>but I wonder what Donald Sosin would have come up with here</i>.<br /><br />Boring, aimless noodling? Seems to be the guy's default mode. Modern scores for silent films are tricky to get right, but Sosin usually just annoys me -- his scores on the Kino Avant-Garde set ensure that I always watch those films completely silent.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-66106218304640983222009-07-01T10:57:15.451-04:002009-07-01T10:57:15.451-04:00Joshua, the only score I've heard for this is ...Joshua, the only score I've heard for this is the Alloy one -- how does the other compare? And I love Vertov's manifesto at the beginning, what a perfect intro to this film.<br /><br />Sam, good point about how Vertov poeticized Soviet realism -- the film is full of this tension between naturalism (the documentation of people just going about their day) and stylization (the inventive Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-70933648372559490862009-07-01T10:47:07.559-04:002009-07-01T10:47:07.559-04:00Clarification: When I asserted that Chaplin's...Clarification: When I asserted that Chaplin's MODERN TIMES does not "measure up" to Vertov's two masterpieces I was referring to the use of sound, not the films in their entirety. MODERN TIMES is quite simply one of the greatest films in the history of teh cinema, a statement I regularly make when assesing cinematic masterworks, but certainly no less applicable here.<br /><br Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-52212337759189030252009-07-01T10:42:43.276-04:002009-07-01T10:42:43.276-04:00I am a big fan of this filmmaker and recently acqu...I am a big fan of this filmmaker and recently acquired the German DVD of his greatest masterpiece, ENTHUSIASM: DONBASS SYMPHONY-1931, which as Chaplin rightly contended presented "industrial sounds like no film ever did." Of course Chaplin said that at the advent of sound when there were few to compare it with, but the truth must be said that even subsequent films including Chaplin'Sam Julianonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-37144990651660780732009-07-01T10:23:29.719-04:002009-07-01T10:23:29.719-04:00I really like the Alloy Orchestra version, but for...I really like the Alloy Orchestra version, but for some reason prefer the Cinematic Orchestra. Maybe its my affection for Ninja Tunes.<br /><br />Either way, this film has a thousand and one beautiful images and you've picked some remarkable ones for sure. I've always liked Vertov's disclaimer at the beginning, <br /><br />"AN EXPERIMENTATION IN THE CINEMATIC TRANSMISSION<br /><Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07896924365634092670noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-56974144217399853862009-07-01T09:28:37.327-04:002009-07-01T09:28:37.327-04:00That's awesome. I love the Alloy Orchestra sco...That's awesome. I love the Alloy Orchestra score too, it's so bombastic and intense. Sometimes, though, I like watching the film truly silent. As much as I enjoy the Alloy score, in many ways it's almost too impressive: it threatens to overpower the rhythms of the actual film at times.Ed Howardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18014222247676090467noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3296479421292377391.post-46450699595379336002009-07-01T07:20:49.068-04:002009-07-01T07:20:49.068-04:00When the DVD version with the Alloy Orchestra soun...When the DVD version with the Alloy Orchestra soundtrack came out, I used to watch this over and over like a rock n' roll movie, blown away by the imagery with that amazing music pumping through the speakers at a rather high, ear-splitting volume.<br /><br />I remember showing it to a filmmaker friend of mine who'd never seen it, and when it was over all he could say (a tad woozy) was, &Uncle Gustavhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08501032829800803300noreply@blogger.com