[continued from previous message]   
      
   Actually, some claim the Villarias version is already in public   
   domain because the copyright was not renewed. On the other hand,   
   the restored version may be covered by a separate copyright. On   
   the gripping hand, supposedly someone at the copyright office said   
   that a restoration cannot be copyrighted, because it's an effort   
   to return the film to its original state. [-ecl]   
      
   Scott adds further explanation:   
      
   The problems are first of all that some of the older silent films   
   are still in original copyright, but also that the restored and   
   reconstructed versions are individually copyrighted.   
      
   So... Boskone (or maybe Arisia, it's hard to tell) owns a 16mm   
   print of METROPOLIS which they bought from Blackhawk Films in the   
   seventies. The Blackhawk prints come with rights conveyed, so they   
   can show that to anyone without paying any royalties.   
      
   *But*... the new re-edited version of Metropolis sold by Kino   
   Lorber is still in copyright because of the restoration work...   
   and it is much easier to follow the plot in the restored version.   
   (It still has a lot of important stuff missing though.)   
      
   So, we can show a poor and fragmentary version but we can't show a   
   more complete and better-looking (but still far from original)   
   version without paying rights.   
      
   There *are* some old 16mm prints and public domain video transfers   
   of many great silent films, though. Some of them are available   
   through the Library of Congress although their impending budget   
   cuts may sink that. [-sd]   
      
   Gary adds:   
      
   Yes, "More than 95 years old, out of copyright" is a simple rule   
   that turns out not always to be true. The copyright boundaries for   
   restorations are often unsettled law. I've been stopped 3 times on   
   YouTube for alleged copyright violations on silent films with my   
   accompaniment. Twice the other side gave in; the other time I   
   didn't find it worthwhile to fight it.   
      
   In Europe there's the additional complication that movie   
   copyrights tend to be tied to individuals rather than   
   corporations, and the clock starts ticking only when the last   
   copyright owner dies. [-gmg]   
      
   Paul Dormer writes:   
      
   I've seen Eisenstein's ALEXANDER NEVSKY shown with a live orchestra   
   performing Prokoviev's score. [-pd]   
      
   Hal notes:   
      
   A couple of bits of trivia about that film...   
      
   The helm that Nevsky wears is a direct copy of the historical   
   original. They borrowed the actual helm from the Hermitage museum   
   to make the copy used in the film.   
      
   Prokoviev wrote the music for the battle on the ice before it was   
   filmed. The battle was choreographed to match the music. [-hh]   
      
   Paul also adds:   
      
   And they hired strong swimmers as extras--filmed in summer.   
      
   At about the same time, Arthur Bliss was hired to write the music   
   for THINGS TO COME. H. G. Wells was insistent that the music be   
   written first, but he reckoned without the final editing. The   
   result was some jarring key changes in the industrial montage, so   
   they got someone to dub tam-tam crashes to cover them. [-pd]   
      
   Evelyn adds:   
      
   Along those lines, Mark and I once went to an outdoor performance   
   of Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" at Monmouth Battlefield, with   
   live cannon. These days orchestras apparently use recordings of   
   live cannon when they are performing indoors. [-ecl]   
      
   ===================================================================   
      
   TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)   
      
   Okay, once again I'm punting the column and giving you another   
   chapter's-worth of commentary on MOBY-DICK. (Well, two, actually,   
   because Chapter 5's commentary is so short.)   
      
   CHAPTER 4: The Counterpane   
      
   Much has been made of: "Upon waking next morning about daylight, I   
   found Queequeg's arm thrown over me in the most loving and   
   affectionate manner. You had almost thought I had been his wife.   
   ... For though I tried to move his arm—unlock his bridegroom   
   clasp—yet, sleeping as he was, he still hugged me tightly, as   
   though naught but death should part us twain." And certainly   
   Melville does emphasize the similarity to a marriage bed (even to   
   the "till death do us part" aspect), but it is just as possible   
   that he does this to point out the incongruity of it all rather   
   than hint at a secret homosexual subtext.   
      
   Ishmael comes from a family in which he has a stepmother and hence   
   is a somewhat second-class child. This is similar to his Biblical   
   namesake, who was the "illegitimate" son of Abraham and his   
   servant Hagar. I put "illegitimate" in quotes because I am not   
   sure the word really expresses the connotations in Biblical times.   
   There was less stigma attached on men fathering children with   
   their servants or slaves, but those children were nonetheless   
   lower in status than those whose mother was married to their   
   father.   
      
   When Ishmael was sent to his room as a child, he feel asleep in   
   the afternoon, he later woke up and relates, "I opened my eyes,   
   and the before sun-lit room was now wrapped in outer darkness."   
   This is just one of *many* references to black, or darkness,   
   presumably to contrast with the whiteness of the whale. It is   
   worth noting that while Biblical references connect darkness and   
   blackness with evil, almost all the incidents of *actual* darkness   
   and blackness in the novel are either benign or positive. The   
   Spouter Inn is very dark, yet it provides a meal and a bed for   
   Ishmael. Queequeg is dark, yet he is portrayed almost entirely in   
   positive terms and is ultimately the means of Ishmael's salvation.   
      
   In the morning, Queequeg climbs naked under the bed where soon "he   
   was hard at work booting himself; though by no law of propriety   
   that I ever heard of, is any man required to be private when   
   putting on his boots. But Queequeg, do you see, was a creature in   
   the transition stage—neither caterpillar nor butterfly. He was   
   just enough civilized to show off his outlandishness in the   
   strangest possible manners. His education was not yet completed.   
   He was an undergraduate ... If he had not been a small degree   
   civilized, he very probably would not have troubled himself with   
   boots at all; but then, if he had not been still a savage, he   
   never would have dreamt of getting under the bed to put them on."   
   One of the themes in MOBY-DICK is transition—as the Pequod travels   
   further from home (and civilization), many of the crew undergo   
   transitions in the reverse of Queequeg's supposed direction.   
   Ishmael thinks of Queequeg as transitioning from primitive to   
   civilized, while the crew goes from civilized to primitive.   
      
   When Ishmael sees Queequeg shaving with a harpoon, he thinks,   
   "Queequeg, this is using Rogers's best cutlery with a vengeance.   
   Afterwards I wondered the less at this operation when I came to   
   know of what fine steel the head of a harpoon is made, and how   
   exceedingly sharp the long straight edges are always kept." One   
   might think Ishmael is referring to Wm. Rogers, who was a   
   silversmith starting around 1825, and whose name is currently a   
   trademark of the Oneida Company. (My parents' good silver was Wm.   
   Rogers.) But harpoon points are steel, not silver.   
      
   At breakfast, Ishmael sees "a brown and brawny company, with bosky   
   beards." "Bosky" means "having an abundance of bushes, shrubs, or   
   trees."   
      
   CHAPTER 5: Breakfast   
      
   Ledyard is John Ledyard, Connecticut-born explorer who traveled   
   with Captain Cook, crossed overland from Paris to Irkutsk and   
   back, and died on an African expedition. Mungo Park was a Scottish   
   explorer who made several expeditions into Africa. Each died on   
   one of his voyages.   
      
   [-ecl]   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)