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Monday, October 4, 2021

Spooktober Day 4: Prelude (1927)

 

 
 
The first few films featured here for Spooktober have been lost films, so it is nice to feature a lesser known silent horror that is not lost. In fact, it is on YouTube.  This little British short was written, directed and acted by Castleton Knight, a documentary filmmaker, who would go on to be nominated for an Oscar for the production of A Queen is Crowned (1953). Prelude was his film debut in every aspect and completely unlike anything else that he made there after. It is set to Rachmaninov's (as Rachmaninoff) Prelude, and after reading, as one does while listening to Russian romantic music, a Poe story, he falls asleep and has a terrible nightmare about being buried alive. The film is completely avant garde in it's dream sequence and is quite on par with other short horror films using similar camera work from the time. It is nowhere near as well known as say Un Chien Andalou, released just two years later, but I would argue that it deserves plenty of credit for being just as well made.  It is just a little longer than five minutes in time and has been nicely restored. The film is embeded below, we owe the curator of the YouTube channel Old Films and Stuff a big thank you for the actual editing in of Rachmaninov's Prelude in C Sharp to the upload from BFI, which has no music at all. Nicely done! Happy Wierdness!! 👻👻
 

 
 

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