Enjoyable in the 2 reel 9.5mm version. The first reel seems a little disjointed and the dream sequences feel heavy handed. But it comes into its own at the midpoint. The way the tall stories / flashbacks are told with increasing absurdity is a lot of fun.
I watched this on my 9.5 projector without sound / music but it worked fine. I'm not sure how I'd cope with a "full length" version if such a thing exists.
Watched with the original score played live by a chamber orchestra (Covent Garden Symphonia). It's a great film of course. Design, acting, action all brilliant. The interplay between the action on screen and the orchestra was among the best I've every experienced. Loved the recurring "Dance of Death" theme which kept on creeing up in the music. At a level of spectacle and design this is one of the greatest and most influential films made. The story is ridiculous, though, can I say that? It posits science as analogous with sorcery.
I particularly enjoyed how with this film Bergman lost the need to 'explain' his characters quite so much.
He lets scenes run for quite a while without clarifying who a character is, where they are from and why they are behaving in a certain way. Sometimes he never explains at all. For me this is a positive step forward and a break from the 'well made play' feel of his earlier films, where the necessary backstory for each character is…
Very enjoyable Bebe Daniels vehicle with a marvellous turn from William Powell
