[Press release from the Cleveland Cinematheque.]
The
late Roger Ebert called the Alloy Orchestra “the best in the world at
accompanying silent films.” On September 28 and 29, this internationally
known three-member band from Boston will come to the Cleveland
Institute of Art Cinematheque to play for three different silent
classics: Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS and two Lon Chaney movies, THE PHANTOM
OF THE OPERA and HE WHO GETS SLAPPED.
METROPOLIS,
which will show on Saturday, September 28 at 8:00 pm, is the movie that
made the Alloy Orchestra famous. It remains their most popular score.
This 1927 German sci-fi spectacular—about a gleaming futuristic city
where the wealthy lead lives of luxury above ground while worker drones
toil on machinery underground (until a robot gets them to revolt)—is the
perfect vehicle for the Alloy sound, a distinctive mix of clarinet,
accordion, electronics, and junk metal percussion. Though the band has
accompanied METROPOLIS at the Cinematheque a few times over the years,
the September 28 performance will be the East Side Cleveland premiere of
their score to the complete METROPOLIS, a 2010 restoration of the movie
that is 25 minutes (and 25%) longer than the longest previous cut.
