I'm adding an addendum to yesterday's post--
Carl Davis wrote the best scores to any silent films I've seen.
He scored NAPOLEON in 1983 for the Radio City screening. Have you ever seen a huge building shake and vibrate when a 60 piece orchestra AND the Mighty Wurlitzer go into action? It was interactive cinema with a vengeance.
Davis' score for Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL is also outstanding. I was listening to it yesterday on a CD which I got from goodness knows where. What wonderful accompaniment...just the right use of period tunes, excellent leitmotifs for the characters, and sparing use of 'effects'--you can visualize the action as the music plays.
Sadly, the superb print of this film shown at the National Film theatre has only been released on VHS.
You can get it from the Damfinos website, the ultimate source for all things pertaining to Buster Keaton.
But I do wish someone would release this on DVD!
