Ben Model’s blog
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Ben and Kerr discuss Ben’s scores for “My Lady’s Lips” (1925) starring William Powell and “Paris Green” (1920) starring Charles Ray, commissioned by the National Film Preservation Foundation to celebrate National Silent Movie Day and Ben talks about following Chaplin’s model for scoring comedy scenes with intermittent action in the…
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Episode 74 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 74 Show Notes: National Silent Movie Day and Halloween 2026 Ben and Kerr discuss Ben’s new scores for “My Lady’s Lips” (1925) starring William Powell and “Paris Green” (1920) starring Charles Ray, commissioned by the National Film Preservation Foundation to celebrate National Silent Movie Day and Ben talks about…
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Charles Ray in “Paris Green” (1920) – NFPF Silent Movie Day premiere
For National Silent Movie Day this year, the National Film Preservation Foundation hired me to score two rare silent features that they’ve posted to their online screening room. One of these is the Charles Ray melodrama Paris Green (1920), which was produced by Thomas H. Ince and released by Artcraft…
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William Powell in “My Lady’s Lips” (1925) – NFPF Silent Movie Day premiere
For National Silent Movie Day this year, the National Film Preservation Foundation hired me to score two rare silent features that they’ve posted to their online screening room. One of these is the crime melodrama My Lady’s Lips (1925), which stars Alyce Mills and William Powell, and whose supporting cast…
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University Class Screenings and “Audience Preservation” – part 2
I teach a silent film course at Wesleyan University’s College of Film and the Moving Image, which has been offering it to students since 2015. On the first day of my class, I go around the room and ask everyone for their name, why they’re taking the class, and whether…
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Undercrank Productions Blu-rays in Norway
Good news for fans of Undercrank Productions who live in Norway! There’s an online vendor there that carries all my Blu-ray and DVD releases called Platekompaniet.no (literally, “The Record Company”). The company sells vinyl and other media and books as well, and they are doing some crowdfunded projects too. If…
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The Ripple Effect in Silent Film Programming
I’m pleased as punch to see that the Ernst Lubitsch silent film So This Is Paris (1926) has been getting a boost in notoriety in the last few years. Previously, it hadn’t been screened as often as the other Lubitsch silents. Sometimes it just takes one person programming a movie,…
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University Class Screenings are Great for “Audience Preservation”
When it comes to silent film, university students are an important group of younger viewers to aim for of when it comes to “audience preservation”. The live accompaniment makes a huge difference with students, since they’ll be seeing silent film with recorded tracks in their other class sessions. This isn’t…
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ep. 73: Go Into Your Trance
Ben and Kerr discuss Ben’s performance schedule being back to or surpassing 2019 levels, the scoring and restoration of “The Cardboard Lover” (1928) with Marion Davies, accompanying Davies’ “The Patsy” (1928) at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Hollywood, live-scoring Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” (1925) for shows at a few…
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Episode 73 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast
Episode 73 Show Notes: Go Into Your Trance …in which Ben observes both characters in silent films and accompanists entering mental states in which judgment is suspended… It’s been a long time since Episode 72! The number of Ben’s personal appearances have recovered to pre-lockdown levels, and there have been…