Silent Star Wars

By Shamus Posted Saturday Aug 21, 2010

Filed under: Movies 25 comments


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25 thoughts on “Silent Star Wars

  1. V'icternus says:

    This should not have been as hilarious to me as it was.

  2. GTB says:

    aaaAAAAAAAAAAaaaa!!!

    …better than all three of the new ones.

  3. Dragomok says:

    Well, I admit, this is stylish.

    Still, beside it’s style this movie has nothing to offer to every person who isn’t great ”Star Wars” fan.

  4. Jarenth says:

    The Imperial March piano background really sealed the deal for me. Very impressive.

    EDIT: Also, since I don’t have any place better: congratulations on your wife’s birthday. :)

  5. Duoae says:

    Brilliant stuff!! Shame it’s somewhat ruined by the typo near the end. :D

    1. Heron says:

      I was thinking the same thing… they should have had someone proofread their… uh… script. Whatever it’s called. And the triple !!! in one of the word slides was a bit… jarring.

      Aside from that, though, it was an excellent concept.

  6. Vegedus says:

    You’ve linked a fair bit of “Star Wars, in style X” huh?

  7. Incredibly awesome. I definitely agree with Jareth, the piano Imperial March makes it.

    Someone put a lot of work into this, I think.

  8. Doug Sundseth says:

    Now I want to see a Harold Lloyd version of the Ice Moon sequences.

  9. Adalore says:

    9.5 comments… heheheheh.

    Also awesome concentrate with a side of “I need to re watch those” and a bit of “Amazing effects for the time.”

    Edit : Note to self, change really insanely old avatar which sickens me when I think about the process that I did to make it. So yuck my style once was.

  10. Henebry says:

    The ease with which this adaptation was created does a lot to demonstrate just how much Lucas modeled the SW films on old movie serials.

  11. General Karthos says:

    This actually reminds me of a similar movie. What would the “Lord of the Rings” Trilogy have been like had it been made in 1940? Starring Humphrey Bogart as Frodo.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xruJ10C19U

  12. Old_Geek says:

    It worked because you can “hear” the voices in your head from the original, Darth’s deep menacing baritone, Luke’s horrifed whine. If this scene had always been silent, it would have lost most of its impact.

  13. Ravens Cry says:

    Eh, while the modifying the footage too look like scratched up old silent footage was well done, it used too many title cards. The good silent movies used title cards only sparingly, using pantomime and gesture to convey the emotions and a surprising amount of story information. Star Wars is hammy enough to pull that off without dropping every second lines of dialogue everyone already knows.

    1. Amarsir says:

      Good point! I felt the pace was wrong but couldn’t put my finger on why. Fewer title cards would absolutely have improved it.

    2. deiseach says:

      Yeah, I was wondering that. I don’t watch silent films – apologies to all cinephiles for my barbarism, they’re completely alien to my mindset – but even I thought that it was too wordy. The music was excellent though.

    3. Groboclown says:

      There were occasional scenes in some of those old movies which were dialog heavy, but this rendition should have had longer shots between the cards.

      However, I find it really interesting how Vader, with the physical acting, worked really well in this medium. The shots with the blowing wind also worked well.

    4. Meredith says:

      I was thinking the same about the title cards. By halfway through it was more like reading the novelization of the film than anything.

      I did enjoy the opening moments, though; they really captured the feel of silent film cinematography. Also, the ‘aaaaaaaaaaa’ card when Luke’s hand was caught off made me very glad I’d put my diet coke down before watching, or my sinuses would be sorry now.

  14. Ramsus says:

    Haha. That was great!

  15. Maldeus says:

    I was thinking about what title cards would be necessary to convey the scene. I came up with the following. Everything else could go. It still seems like a bit too much, but I can’t think of where else you could cut something away without losing something important.

    “You are beaten, it is useless to resist.”

    “Join me and I will complete your training.”

    “With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict…And bring order to the galaxy!”

    “I’ll never join you!”

    “Obi-Wan never told you about your father, did he?”

    “He told me enough. He told me you killed him!”

    “No, Luke. I am your father.”

    “Join me, and together we can rule the galaxy as father and son.”

    Also, it would’ve been nice if they had different title cards for Luke and Vader, with the Imperial symbol at the bottom for Vader and a Rebel symbol at the bottom for Luke.

  16. Traska says:

    “Also, it would've been nice if they had different title cards for Luke and Vader, with the Imperial symbol at the bottom for Vader and a Rebel symbol at the bottom for Luke.”

    Give it a second viewing. Go on, we’ll wait.

    1. Turgid Bolk says:

      All of the title cards are the same…

      1. Traska says:

        See now, that’s bizarre. I could have sworn Luke’s various cards had a little rebel logo. That’s really weird.

        But yeah, that would have been nice. So nice I apparently hallucinated it.

  17. Cuthalion says:

    Hahaha! That was awesome. And stylish.

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