Reviews of silent film releases on home video. Copyright © 1999-2024 by Carl Bennett and the Silent Era Company. All Rights Reserved.

The Alloy Orchestra Plays Wild and Weird 14 Fascinating and Innovative Films 1902-1965 (1902-1965)

Contents: Le voyage dans la lune [A Trip to the Moon] (1902), Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906), Le spectre rouge [The Red Spectre] (1907), The Acrobatic Fly (1908), The Thieving Hand (1908), Princess Nicotine; or, The Smoke Fairy (1909), Those Awful Hats (1909), Arthème avale sa clarinette [Artheme Swallows His Clarinet] (1912), Miest kinooperatora [The Cameraman’s Revenge] (1912), The Pet (1921), The Playhouse (1921), Filmstudie (1926), The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra (1928), Clay; or, The Origin of Species (1965).

This compilation has filled an interesting niche in silent film collecting, being for the most part, focused more on the musical accompaniment of films. The collection presents varied musical styles by The Alloy Orchestra to a loosely organized parade of films that are of an experimental or simply unusual ilk. Most of the films have been presented on home video before in other collections, so the scarceness of the films is not the attraction but, instead, it is the music that is important. As we have said before, if you are familiar with The Alloy Orchestra’s work you either love them or hate them. We love their sometimes quirkiness, sometimes melodic, often thrashing approach to silent film accompaniment. We feel that, with so many fine practitioners of the historic forms of silent film accompaniment, there is room — even a need — for alternate forms of music to bring silent films alive for audiences who might think that they and their traditional forms of music are too old-fashioned to be of interest.

— Carl Bennett