Timeless - A tribute to the silent era
- 4 years ago
Charlie Chaplin was the consummate artist of his time. His ability to communicate emotion through pure gesture was timeless, as are the films he made and the people in them. Projected on the screen of post-modernity, they seem more wonderful than ever! Timeless is a short film combining silent film footage from 1921 or earlier with new royalty-free music which complements the comic scenes, and adds a sense of poignancy to the more tender ones. (Credits/captions are also new.) Watch carefully and you may even glean some tips on social distancing!
The editing of a 99-year-old short into a much shorter format (less than half the original length), adding new music, titles, and captions, comprises a transformative act. This results in a transformative work which is substantially different in character from the original, with different expressive qualities. The absence of plot elements makes the action slightly surreal, while the characters, being defined only by what we see of them, become more like archetypes. Because Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance have no pre-defined relationship in this new plotless version, they stand for Everyman and Everywoman.
The original 1921 release was, of course, silent; and subsequent retreads may be criticized for using music which trapped the characters in an archaic mode, robbing them of their full expressive capacity, making it more difficult for modern audiences to identify with them. In Timeless (and especially in the first scene between Chaplin and Purviance) there is a conscious effort to use music in a way which respects the emotions of the actors, while also imparting a slightly futuristic and ironic quality. These factors contribute to the transformative nature of the work.
The original film is, by genre definition, a comedy; but I think not every scene is meant to be laughed at. This new version with new music brings out new emotional content that was previously eclipsed by music which did not allow the characters to breathe. Copyright notes and music credits:
This video uses raw footage from "The Idle Class," a silent film made in the U.S.A., released there in 1921. Numerous authorities cite the original film as being in the public domain in the United States (where the uploader resides):
https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/I/IdleClass1921.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Idle_Class_(1921).webm
https://ia902705.us.archive.org/28/items/movie_research/movie_research.html
"The Idle Class" was later re-released by various companies with new music, credits, and captions. However, this video *does not use any of that later material*. It uses only the *raw footage* released in 1921, and now in the public domain in the U.S.A. The uploader has added *new royalty-free music*, and also *new credits and captions* created by the uploader. The music by Kevin MacLeod and TechnoAXE is listed in detail (with proper citations) in the closing credits.
The editing of a 99-year-old short into a much shorter format (less than half the original length), adding new music, titles, and captions, comprises a transformative act. This results in a transformative work which is substantially different in character from the original, with different expressive qualities. The absence of plot elements makes the action slightly surreal, while the characters, being defined only by what we see of them, become more like archetypes. Because Charlie Chaplin and Edna Purviance have no pre-defined relationship in this new plotless version, they stand for Everyman and Everywoman.
The original 1921 release was, of course, silent; and subsequent retreads may be criticized for using music which trapped the characters in an archaic mode, robbing them of their full expressive capacity, making it more difficult for modern audiences to identify with them. In Timeless (and especially in the first scene between Chaplin and Purviance) there is a conscious effort to use music in a way which respects the emotions of the actors, while also imparting a slightly futuristic and ironic quality. These factors contribute to the transformative nature of the work.
The original film is, by genre definition, a comedy; but I think not every scene is meant to be laughed at. This new version with new music brings out new emotional content that was previously eclipsed by music which did not allow the characters to breathe. Copyright notes and music credits:
This video uses raw footage from "The Idle Class," a silent film made in the U.S.A., released there in 1921. Numerous authorities cite the original film as being in the public domain in the United States (where the uploader resides):
https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/I/IdleClass1921.html
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Idle_Class_(1921).webm
https://ia902705.us.archive.org/28/items/movie_research/movie_research.html
"The Idle Class" was later re-released by various companies with new music, credits, and captions. However, this video *does not use any of that later material*. It uses only the *raw footage* released in 1921, and now in the public domain in the U.S.A. The uploader has added *new royalty-free music*, and also *new credits and captions* created by the uploader. The music by Kevin MacLeod and TechnoAXE is listed in detail (with proper citations) in the closing credits.