Greetings, citizens! ROBOGEEK
here with a little something special for ya.

Let's say you happen to love movies (a fair guess, I'd venture, since
you're reading this web site). Then let's say you're lucky enough to live in
Our Fair City of Austin, Texas (if not, you just might want to stop reading
this so as to avoid needless depression).

Anyway, if you meet the aforementioned (and admittedly slightly
convoluted) criteria, then there's really only one place you should be
tonight.

No, I'm not going to tell you to go see the LORD OF THE RINGS trailer in
front of THIRTEEN DAYS (a good but not great film, IMHO). If you're a
hard-core LOTR fan (ahem), you'll go to the first screening this afternoon; if not, it can wait.

And I'm not even going to tell you to go see CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN
DRAGON (far and away the best film of 2000, IMHO), which finally opens today
in Austin... in FOUR theaters, no less (I'd pick the Metropolitan);
tonight's screenings will probably be sold out - and you're likely going to
want to watch it again (and again?) immediately after you see it, so a
Saturday or Sunday matinee might be a good time to start. (FYI: CT,HD is the
first movie I've ever watched three times in one day... and I wish I could
have gone for four.)

Personally, the only place you should even consider parking your
backside this evening is at Austin's Movie Palace, the Paramount Theatre.
Why? Because tonight they'll be presenting something truly special - a rare
chance to have a magical and extraordinary moviegoing experience.

Gracing the silver screen at 8pm will be the Museum of Modern Art's
restored print of the 1922 ROBIN HOOD starring (and produced by) Douglas
Fairbanks. What makes this screening so special is that it will be
accompanied by a live orchestral performance of the original score,
conducted and restored by the renowned Gillian Anderson (no, not
Scully).

Long-time readers will no doubt remember my HREF="http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=2987">interview with Ms.
Anderson two years ago when she came to Austin with the 1927 classic WINGS,
in which she discussed her work HREF="http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=2987">(click here to
read). I talked to her briefly by phone yesterday, and she sounded
extremely enthused by how well the first rehearsal went the other night (they made it through the entire score without a hitch on the first try, which almost never happens).

Tonight offers the next best thing to a time machine - the chance to be
transported back to the movie palace days of yesteryear, and experience the
sights and sounds of a bygone era. I can't possibly recommend this event
highly enough (Harry, Father Geek and I will be in attendance, among
others).

Tickets ($16-25) are still available (the Paramount seats over 1,200) at
the Paramount Theatre Box Office (713 Congress Ave.), HREF="http://www.startickets.com">www.startickets.com, or
512-469-SHOW.

Hope to see you there! (Then go see CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON!)

- ROBOGEEK

P.S.: Here's some more information from the program...

GILLIAN ANDERSON, CONDUCTOR

Gillian Anderson is an orchestral conductor and specialist in the
reconstruction and restoration of the original musical accompaniments to
early films (don't use the word "silent"). She has conducted throughout the
United States as well as in Europe, South America, and Canada. Her
performances have been described as "triumphant" (The Washington Post),
"extraordinary" (Edward Rothstein, The New York Times) and "an enormously
involving experience" (Tom Di Nardo, Philadelphia Daily News). Her
reconstruction and performance of NOSFERATU (Murnau, 1921) with the
Brandenburg Philharmonic (Potsdam) is available on BMG Classics
(09026-68143-2; LC 0316; F:BM650). A videotape and CD of her reconstruction
and performance of CARMEN (DeMille, 1915) with the London Philharmonic are
available from Video Artists International (VAI 69222). She has been
featured on a number of television programs, most notably "CBS Sunday
Morning" and "All Things Considered Weekend."

She has restored 25 of the original accompaniments for early films so
far. Two years ago she reopened the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood with an
eleven piece orchestral version of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS and in two weeks she
will conduct the Het Brabants Orkest in Holland with the full orchestral
version. Recent restorations include D. W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS,
Cavalcanti's LA P'TITE LILIE, and Dreyer's MASTER OF THE HOUSE and HAXEN. In
the fall of 1997 she established a small orchestra, Cinemusica Viva, in
Bologna which performed at the Louvre, at CineMusic Gstaad in Switzerland,
and at Cinema Ritrovata in Bologna. Currently she is working on a new
project with painter/scenery designer Lidia Bagnoli to supply a type of
scenery design for classical music concerts. The first presentation was in
October with the University of Illinois chamber orchestra and three more
performances are scheduled with the Orchestra sinfonica dell'Emilia Romagna
in Italy.

THE MUSIC OF ROBIN HOOD

Film historian Kevin Brownlow refers to ROBIN HOOD's art direction as
"an unsurpassed and unsurpassable achievement." Douglas Fairbanks was the
moving force (he financed, acted in and wrote the screenplay), and to answer
the challenge of a very specific period setting, he created a ROBIN HOOD
research library. Mitchell Leisen designed the costumes and five hundred
workers constructed the largest Hollywood set ever built to that time. It
was directed by Allan Dwan in 1922 and lasts 122 minutes at 22 frames per
second. The original accompaniment was by Victor Schertzinger (1880-1941)
and A. H. Cokayne. Schertzinger also composed the original score for
Civilization and went on to become a director (Road to Zanzibar, Kiss the
Boys Goodbye, and The Fleet's In.)

Fairbanks' ROBIN HOOD is not like any other version. In fact this Robin
Hood starts off as a man terrified by women who eventually succumbs to the
charms of Maid Marion and rescues his king's kingdom in a merry adventurous
romp. The musical accompaniment is a pasticcio of light-hearted original
and preexisting music.

All the original orchestral parts for the score survive, except for the
first violin and first trumpet parts. As a result, in addition to the usual
refurbishing and correcting of the original parts to make them playable by
today's profession standards, it was necessary for Anderson to rewrite the
violin and trumpet parts. In most cases this reorchestration involved using
the piano conductor score as a clue and together with the other orchestral
parts, guessing what the missing parts might have been like. However, with
Robin Hood's march, a theme by Schertzinger, which repeats many, many times,
Anderson took the liberty of adding three melodies and changing the rhythm
of the accompaniment every so often. One can imagine that the musicians in
1922 did the same thing, especially as they might have played the score at
least twice a day, seven days a week, for months at a time.