Category: Podcast

  • ep. 67: Scoring Wallace Reid in Kansas, Maurice Tourneur at MoMA, and “Ramona” for Kino Lorber

    ep. 67: Scoring Wallace Reid in Kansas, Maurice Tourneur at MoMA, and “Ramona” for Kino Lorber

    In this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about accompanying a rare Wallace Reid Film “The Valley of the Giants” and other films at the Kansas Silent Film Festival; playing for the newly restored “The White Heather” and for Francis Ford’s “The Craving” (both 1919) at MoMA’s “To Save and Project” festival; creating a new theatre…

  • Episode 67 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast

    Episode 67 Show Notes: Silent Film music at the museum, on the radio, and at home On this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s accompanying “The White Heather” (1919) at MoMA, “The Valley of Giants” (1919) at the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and creating and recording a new score for “Ramona” (1928) for Blu-ray…

  • ep. 66: Catching up on live shows from the 2nd half of 2024

    ep. 66: Catching up on live shows from the 2nd half of 2024

    In this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about: Ben’s accompanying a rare Reginald Denny feature, sight-unseen, at Capitolfest 21; the rediscovery of “The Gorilla” (1927) and accompanying it on both piano and on theatre organ; Ben tries a new approach to underscoring the house-fall in Buster Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill, Jr.” (1928); the challenges and concerns…

  • Episode 66 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast

    Episode 66 Show Notes: Catching up on live shows from the second half of 2024 On this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s process for scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926) for a home video release. The new restoration was produced and released by Ben’s Undercrank Productions home video label. Announcement: Ben’s book The…

  • ep. 65: Scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926)

    ep. 65: Scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926)

    In this episode: On this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s process for scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926) for a home video release. The new restoration was produced and released by Ben’s Undercrank Productions home video label. Show notes for episode 65 can be found here.

  • Episode 65 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast

    Episode 65 Show Notes: Scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926) On this episode, Ben and Kerr talk about Ben’s process for scoring Roland West’s “The Bat” (1926) for a home video release. The new restoration was produced and released by Ben’s Undercrank Productions home video label. Sign up for Ben’s regular email here to keep…

  • ep. 64: The Fierce Urgency of Silent Film Music

    ep. 64: The Fierce Urgency of Silent Film Music

    In this episode: Ben talks about accompanying Laurel & Hardy’s pie fight in “The Battle of the Century”, for a decisive moment for Keaton’s character in “Steamboat Bill, Jr.”, for Ozu’s “A Story of Floating Weeds”, and for Raymond Griffith and Max Fleischer silents at the 15th TCM Classic Film Festival. Performance clips include recordings…

  • Episode 64 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast

    Episode 64 Show Notes: The Fierce Urgency of Silent Film Music On this episode, Ben and Kerr talk specifically about the importance of spontaneity in providing musical accompaniment to  performances of silent film Laurel & Hardy shorts (restored) in the Adirondacks Keaton in Plattsburgh NY Ben at the TCM Classic Film Festival Undercrank Productions news…

  • Episode 63 show notes: The Silent Film Music Podcast

    Episode 63 Show Notes: Scoring Decisions and Transitions Ben continues exploring the various techniques and shadings of the matter of scoring the action going on inside a character’s head in silent film. Ben discusses his busy schedule this spring, which kept him away from some of the long-term schedules (Accidentally Preserved Volume 5, Episode 100…

  • ep. 63: Scoring Decisions and Transitions

    ep. 63: Scoring Decisions and Transitions

    In this episode: Ben recaps his month’s activities in March 2024, talks about the subtleties of underscoring dramatic moments when a main character thinks through an important decision, a creative way to invent main themes for a program of 7 animated shorts, accompanying a 1914 “Italian Diva” melodrama, and picking up on something about the…