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Topic: Projectors in movies (as opposed to the other way around)
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Bill Brandenstein
Phenomenal Film Handler
Posts: 1632
From: California
Registered: Aug 2007
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posted February 02, 2012 08:43 PM
Scared my wife as a kid too, but I'd never seen it until now!
OK, even better for the historical value is the 1924 Buster Keaton classic, Sherlock Jr. found at our local library, on a wonderful double-bill Kino DVD with a nice music track. In it Keaton plays an inept wannbe private investigator whose real job is as a projectionist. So we get to see a real, state-of-the-art 1924 projection booth in action, complete with 1000' 35mm reels and arc lighting -- and don't miss the reel rack on the left side, or the metal fire door and window shutters in case the film goes up in flames:
And a fun view of the theater itself, most notably that the best seats are lost to the center aisle, and proof again that silent movies weren't silent, seeing there were four musicians down front:
The plot is a little involved, but all you need to know here is that he starts a reel...
...then promptly falls asleep while sitting on the stool. Through double exposure we see him leave the booth in his dream...
...and then walk right up the aisle and into the picture. The physical comedy that ensues is cute as he reacts to the changing scenes of a travelogue, and the special effects are pretty convincing too. But then he gets caught up in a mystery. For a long time. Like a half hour. Way longer than the reel should've lasted. We were waiting for him to get busted for letting the film run off, but we never see him load the other projector or change over!
At the movies' conclusion, we see into a booth window the now wakened Sherlock looking at the action on the screen -- and mimicing it -- while the unvented arclamp housing is smoking away:
Also great fun in this movie to see some Los Angeles-area neighborhoods as they looked in 1924!
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