ChasSmith, did I miss your repor of Safety Last?
No, you probably didn't, because I probably forgot to post one.
It was wonderful, seeing it on the big screen. I had watched the Criterion a couple of times recently in order to better appreciate seeing it after a long time, and that paid off beautifully. You always catch more things anyway, but at this presentation that was really rewarding.
As for the live piano accompaniment ... mixed feelings. This fellow Ben Model is good at it, but the two times I've heard him this year, I've come away thinking his playing is just a leeetle bit too haphazard. Even though he's improvising, he hits a lot of noticeable (to a musician) "extra" notes. The other film I saw him accompany was Buster Keaton's
Steamboat Bill, Jr. For both, the music was entirely his, with no help from the old cue sheets or anything. These were good, but I have to say he's no Robert Israel on the organ, or Carl Davis with his orchestral scores, or Sheldon Mirowitz's students at Berklee who jointly composed the score I played for
The Freshman which I liked even better than Davis's. This leaves me strongly in favor of composed, or mostly-composed, or better planned, scores for the silents.
I think he's very well liked in the community, and this probably sounds more harsh than it needs to.
