Saturday, September 21, 2024 // 2:30-4pm // Killian Hall
Free and open to the public - no registration necessary
Le voyage dans la lune (Georges Méliès, 1902)
Sherlock Jr. (Buster Keaton, 1924)
Marty will poetize about his four decades of teaching at MIT, with joyful memories to be emphasized.
Le voyage dans la lune (in English, usually titled “A Trip to the Moon”) dates from 1902 and remains one of the most delightful examples of early cinema. Its director and star, Georges Méliès, riffs on the fantastic imagination of lunar life and space travel, with a hint of influence from Jules Verne. Marty’s accompaniment makes use of a piano print from 1902, found in the British Library, which might be an actual score for the film.
In Sherlock Jr., one of the best and certainly the shortest of Keaton’s feature-length films, Buster takes on his usual role as a small-town, underappreciated suitor. But in his fantasy world, he shines as the greatest detective since Sherlock Holmes. Marty’s accompaniment is his own compilation score, following period practice with some modern riffs.
He will additionally give some brief remarks to put the two films in context, and explain his approach to accompanying them.
