Danse macabre

Danse macabre (1922)

*** (out of 4)

Dudley Murphy directed this bizarre silent film that lasts just eight-minutes but manages to be quite creepy. Set during a time when the plague is ravishing Spain, Youth (Adolph Bolm) and Love (Ruth Page) dance while Death (Olin Howland) is slowly stalking them. This is one of those very strange films that's hard to explain and it's best that one just sees it for themselves. I think this is a rather effective piece that weaves together live action, animation and the use of the music score is very good. I thought the best moments were the horror elements including the strange skeletons and of course Death who slowly stalks the young couple. I thought the way that the image of Death was exposed on the film was quite striking and it really did give you the feel of the afterlife. I'm sure many might be put off because it's silent, which would be a shame because it's really not that hard to get drawn into the material.

How odd to find Olin Howland, later co star of John Wayne and Olsen and Johnson in a deaths head, playing violin in this dance and animation short from the twenties.

He's right in his element too.

The rest is less than brilliant but makes an interesting novelty, surviving in a good tinted copy.

Included in the "Unseen Cinema" compilation.

The weather here is changeable but I'm told that the rain is helping water levels.

Best wishes to all my readers.

This is a short film from a collection entitled "Unseen Cinema: Early American Avant-Garde Film 1894-1941". Most of the films are very artsy and not the sort of stuff the average viewer would enjoy.

This one is set during the time of plague in Spain. It consists of very creepy animation--very creepy. In addition, a couple of live actors dance about a creepy old castle as skeletons play music and appears to have come to take the woman to the afterlife. It's incredibly strange--even for this collection. But the music is nice and the film very well made for what it is. Also, the creepy factor make this worth seeing. Wild and interesting.