Just catching up with another movie that's been collecting cobwebs on my must-see list for close to 50 years. Thanks to the Museum of Modern Art's series on cinema from the German Weimar period, I'm finally able to scratch this title off.
The print looked pretty good, some scratches here and there, and some title cards were obvious replacements for the original, but all-in-all, pretty good. There was a nice piano accompaniment. I can't credit the pianist, because evidently three guys are taking turns playing for this series and his name wasn't announced. The print was not subtitled so we got a live translation from a guy who, unfortunately, sort of droned and who seemed to be translating on the fly. Several times, he'd correct himself to give a better translation, and a few times we got a very short translation of a very long title card. I can read just a little German myself, so I was able to fill in a bit.
The movie, unfortunately, is pretty much a bore. There are some obvious miniatures, an expressionistic star-scape, and some modestly effective double-exposures. As far as fantastic content--there is a devil (the devil? not sure), and a "Biowerks" plant for creating enough energy for the entire world. This is no great invention, however, it's devil's work. And it all ends with a blatantly obvious moral.
Way too much (silent) talk in this one, some of the clumsiest silent-style pretty-boy makeup ever, and not nearly enough going on in the story to hold the interest. If you are a completist like me, or if you've always had the burning desire to see Emil Jannings with his shirt off, then by all means, see ALGOL. If neither of those describe you, however, take my friendly advice and skip it.
The print looked pretty good, some scratches here and there, and some title cards were obvious replacements for the original, but all-in-all, pretty good. There was a nice piano accompaniment. I can't credit the pianist, because evidently three guys are taking turns playing for this series and his name wasn't announced. The print was not subtitled so we got a live translation from a guy who, unfortunately, sort of droned and who seemed to be translating on the fly. Several times, he'd correct himself to give a better translation, and a few times we got a very short translation of a very long title card. I can read just a little German myself, so I was able to fill in a bit.
The movie, unfortunately, is pretty much a bore. There are some obvious miniatures, an expressionistic star-scape, and some modestly effective double-exposures. As far as fantastic content--there is a devil (the devil? not sure), and a "Biowerks" plant for creating enough energy for the entire world. This is no great invention, however, it's devil's work. And it all ends with a blatantly obvious moral.
Way too much (silent) talk in this one, some of the clumsiest silent-style pretty-boy makeup ever, and not nearly enough going on in the story to hold the interest. If you are a completist like me, or if you've always had the burning desire to see Emil Jannings with his shirt off, then by all means, see ALGOL. If neither of those describe you, however, take my friendly advice and skip it.
