Conquest of The Pole(1910)/Theremin --

peter johnson · December 04, 2006, 08:19:14 PM

If the moderator(s) think this needs to go to "off-topic", then fine, but I thought I'd announce it here on the main board --
Anyone out there know or like the films of Georges Melies? He made dozens -- possibly hundreds, though not even he knew for sure -- of silent films from 1890 to 1912. The International Film Series at The University of Colorado in Boulder has asked me to put together a theremin score for "Conquest of The Pole", made in 1910.
This is going to be a humdinger of a challenge, but as it's not until March 11, I should have enough time to put it all together -- besides, it's only 10min. long!
Anyone ever see "Voyage to The Moon"(1907)? Jules Verne & the selenites!!
peter johnson/denny crane

Scott · December 04, 2006, 10:16:29 PM

This director sounds very interesting to me. Wonder how you find copies of his films? Considered the Grandfather of Horror from France did a number of strange films. Some based on Jule Vernes stories.

peter johnson · December 04, 2006, 10:35:05 PM

I would think that many libraries, if they stock DVDs or VHS, would have at least some examples of his work --
He did a "Dr. Faustus", wherein he had a team of girls hand-paint each individual frame of film -- this around 1900 or so -- and showed it as the first color film.
He was also a stage magician, and incorporated some of this trickery into his films. He was the first person to make people "disappear" in movies by simply stopping the camera, removing the actor, and rolling camera again with the rest of the actors freaking out and searching the set for the actor who'd "disappeared" -- It all seems very simplistic to our jaded senses today, but it freaked out the Parisian audiences totally!
peter johnson/denny crane

Scott · December 04, 2006, 10:45:14 PM

It's good that we are aware of such directors and films. All films borrows a bit of the past. What will tommorrows films be like?

This is the first that I've heard of this directors films. Thanks Peter Johnson.

peter johnson · December 04, 2006, 10:56:08 PM

You've seen the image from "Voyage to The Moon" dozens of times, as so many people have co-opted it, of the "man in the moon" with the moon-explorers' craft -- a giant shell shot from a giant cannon, loaded by pretty Folies Bergere girls (Tres sexual!!) -- stuck in his right eye. It's been on books & albumn covers & in a rock video or 2. No estate to pay a copywright to/public domain image.
Were I as adept as you are at finding imagery on the net and posting it on the board, that's the one I'd post -- Great poster for "Conquest of The Pole", by the way -- Damn, but those old movie posters were artistic!!!
peter moon/denny verne

Scott · December 04, 2006, 11:07:01 PM

Did Georges Melies VOYAGE TO THE MOON? Somehow I missed that on my quick search on the director. I have seen VOYAGE TO THE MOON on TCM. It's a very short film.

peter johnson · December 04, 2006, 11:28:58 PM

Oh, yes, that's the shot!
Yes, "Voyage to The Moon" was a huge hit for Melies -- Yes, I believe the uncut version of "Voyage" clocks in at an impressive 7 minutes --
Recall that these films were made at a time when people laughed at Edison for making The Great Train Robbery (1903), because the belief was widely held that noone would want to sit still for something as puerile as a "movie" for 3 whole minutes!
Still, as short as these films were/are, Melies managed to pack an awful lot in in a very short time. Witness the Selenite costumes for the insect-creatures on the moon itself. When it came time for Ray Harryhausen to make his H.G. Welles version, with the Carverite, etc., he used Melies' imagery for the insect beings from "Voyage"--
You can whip through a dozen of Melies' "feature-length" films in about an hour. Well worth the trip, though -- As they are all so very short, they are all on compilation discs and tapes. If you can't find them under Melies proper in your local library, just look on Turn of the Century compilations or Early Film or The Early Silents. He's usually packaged with John Bunny, Edison, Winsor McCay, etc. etc.
peter johnson/denny crane

Scott · December 04, 2006, 11:51:31 PM

Imagine people feeling that 3 minutes watching a "movie" was to long. Film at the time must have been like bottled water was when it first came out. Now we easily watch 2.5 hour long movies.

RCMerchant · December 06, 2006, 07:13:14 AM

Georges Melies did movies about robots(the Clown and the Automation_1897),Giant bugs(A Midnight Episode_1899),Satan(the Labratory of Mephistophilies-1897),Ghosts(the Cave of the Demons_1898) and over 200(!) more! He also made the first film ofBARON MUNCHAUSEN (1911). Fifteen years later he was reported to be selling candy and toys in a park.Movies had out grown his style. He diedin a rest home in 1938.

dean · December 06, 2006, 08:23:15 AM

Melies was great. An early cinematic visionary really. I really enjoyed Trip to the Moon, among some others that I can't remember the names of.

Good luck Peter! I haven't seen Conquest of the Pole, what's it about? Just trying to get a picture of how a theremin score will go with it [genre, plot etc I suppose].

peter johnson · December 06, 2006, 01:33:48 PM

This is one of Melies' films I haven't seen yet myself -- though I have seen stills of it -- Apparently he invokes and Ice Demon or Abominable Yeti-type being, so I can really crank up the vibrato on that one!
I envision a lot of wave-sounds, ala early Tangerine Dream, for the snowy sequences, violent stuff all over the place for the monster, and more percussive, abrupt sounds for Civilization whilst they prepare for the trip. I also hope to be able to develop some sort of theme for the film -- an easily repeatable note sequence that won't challenge me too much to reproduce.
I've seen perhaps 13 of Melies' films -- Once, in college in the '70's, his grand-daughter came and gave a talk & showed what I remember as being close to 20 segments of various films, including some of the famous hand-painted footage from "Dr. Faustus".
I really didn't know he'd done 200 -- though that seems reasonable, given his propensity for mixing his films with live magic shows, etc.
peter the screaming dead whale
(What an actor friend of mine called the theremin after hearing it at a party).

Mr_Vindictive · December 06, 2006, 04:39:32 PM

Trip To The Moon scared the crap out of me as a child. The moon, with the face and the fact that the humans skewered his head with one of their rockets.....chilling to a 4 year old.

Peter, if you're able....could you maybe post the music somehow when you are finished? That way, we'd be able to watch the film in the comfort of our homes with your theremin score. Just a thought.

peter johnson · December 06, 2006, 11:30:41 PM

You know, that's a very flattering thing, but I'm such a damn Luddite, I have no idea how to do most of the things that are done nowadays with computers.
For example, I have no Ipod or MP3 capability, nor would I know how to post sound on the internet.
I would hope to have a cassette recorder -- powered by either coal or hamster in a cage -- to take in whatever I do, but would have to rely on the Kindness of Strangers or Techies if I were to get anything further audio/visual out of the event.
Yours in the 1920's
peter caveman/denny out of touch