Friday, December 03, 2004

Chad, This Blog Is For You

I took on the reluctant and arduous task of substituting for a high school theater teacher today. Don't worry about me though. I handled it well. The class plan was to watch a movie. Real difficult.
Yet, it was the type of movie we were going to watch that makes today's duty so tricky. I personally feel no ordinary human being could undertake the mission of watching what I have watched. However, if one could get through the film once without straightening paperclips into skewers and placing them an inch into your eyeballs, to watch it three times like I have would certainly send you to such a fate.
The film was Metropolis. It is a black and white, silent German film; one of my favorite types. I would own the movie on DVD, however I want to make sure I will get the best copy possible. You see, the original production is lost. When it was released in 1927, UFA, the German production company, pulled it back to rewrite and edit the film. Turner Classic Movies has tried its best to restore the movie from the negatives to its original version, yet parts are lost forever.
Foreign, silent, black and white films are one of my favorite kinds and Chad doesn't understand how I can enjoy something that isn't in color, can't speak our language or doesn't make a sound. Of course, he also didn't like the fact that I was watching The Office on the BBC America channel and Gitanas on the Spanish channel on his television.
Oh well, I liked it and watched the movie all three times. Chad, I recommend you peruse the classics section at your neighborhood video store and see what all the fuss is about.

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