http://www.asiansinmedia.org/diary/?p=133

Nitin Sawhney in Trafalgar Square
by AIM magazine, on 13.06.07 @ 3:41 am

The British Film Institute is collaborating with Nitin Sawhney and the
London Symphony Orchestra to present a live accompaniment to a very rare
silent film film called A Throw of Dice in Trafalgar Square on Thursday 30th
August.

The film has been restored by the BFI. It is a splendid epic of love and
loss where a woman's fate relies on A Throw of Dice.

Directed by Franz Osten, a German, it was filmed in India and is a very rare
example of an early film made in India. It is also hugely entertaining and
Nitin Sawhney's score (soon to be released on CD) makes for a very special
experience.


--
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com

"Bruce Calvert" <silentfilmxspam@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:UISbi.8297$yS4.8144@trnddc04...
> http://www.asiansinmedia.org/diary/?p=133
>
> Nitin Sawhney in Trafalgar Square
> by AIM magazine, on 13.06.07 @ 3:41 am
>
> The British Film Institute is collaborating with Nitin Sawhney and the
> London Symphony Orchestra to present a live accompaniment to a very rare
> silent film film called A Throw of Dice in Trafalgar Square on Thursday
> 30th August.
>
> The film has been restored by the BFI. It is a splendid epic of love and
> loss where a woman's fate relies on A Throw of Dice.
>
> Directed by Franz Osten, a German, it was filmed in India and is a very
> rare example of an early film made in India. It is also hugely
> entertaining and Nitin Sawhney's score (soon to be released on CD) makes
> for a very special experience.

http://www.throwofdice.com/

This exciting project brings together Franz Osten's finest, most acomplished
and stunningly beautiful Indian silent film from 1929, 'A Throw of Dice'
with British Asian Nitin Sawhney one of the most influential and versatile
creative mucic talents.

Based on the pivotal gambling episode from the Mahabharata 'A Throw of Dice'
is alovely story that tells the story of Ranjit and nefarious Sohan, two
kings with a passion for gambling and the same woman, Sunita.

The music has been composed by Nitin Sawhney and features the London
Symphony Orchestra

Showing nationwide in UK Cinemas from September

Live Orchestral screenings

2007 Dates
August 30th London Trafalgar Square, UK
with the London Symphony Orchestra
(free concert)

Oct 26th Sage Gateshead, UK
with the Northern Sinfonia
full details

Oct 27th Bridgewater Hall - Manchester , UK
with the Northern Sinfonia
full details
Oct 28th Symphony Hall - Birmingham, UK
with the Northern Sinfonia
full details



--
Bruce Calvert
--
Visit the Silent Film Still Archive
http://www.silentfilmstillarchive.com

"Bruce Calvert" <silentfilmxspam@verizon.net> wrote in message
news:UISbi.8297$yS4.8144@trnddc04...
> http://www.asiansinmedia.org/diary/?p=133
>
> Nitin Sawhney in Trafalgar Square
> by AIM magazine, on 13.06.07 @ 3:41 am
>
> The British Film Institute is collaborating with Nitin Sawhney and the
> London Symphony Orchestra to present a live accompaniment to a very rare
> silent film called A Throw of Dice in Trafalgar Square on Thursday
> 30th August.

Thanks for the heads-up -- I went along, and by the looks of it, so did
the entire youth population of London! (They claimed an attendance of
ten thousand; I'd be sceptical of that since the Square was only about
half full with the screen in the middle, but people were seated so
closely on the ground that there was barely room to step between them,
and packed all the way up the steps behind to the National Gallery. And
the vast majority appeared to be under thirty, although I did see some
middle-aged faces among those leaning over the parapets behind -- I dare
say only the young were prepared to spend three hours a-seated on the
cold hard ground...)

The LSO gave an excellent performance; in fact probably the best 'live'
orchestral accompaniment I've heard, including the premieres of the new
"Piccadilly" and "Napoleon" scores conducted by the composers in
question. Admittedly there wasn't a lot of actual time-critical
synchronisation required, apart from some drum-beating and a few horns,
but in the last live screening I saw, there were a couple of places
where the Carl Davis score was obviously a second or two out of synch --
nothing like that here. The style of the music is a sort of hybrid
between a full symphonic score and an Indian sound: characteristic but
very listenable in context (we were treated to a couple of 'tracks' in
isolation before the film started, which didn't sound like anything much
on their own).

The film itself is a colourful epic, or as colourful as any non-tinted
film can be said to be, anyway... Elephants, tigers, horses, draught
cattle, gold and jewels, splendid costumes, a hilltop fortress and a
cast of thousands of extras waving spears. The audience showed a
tendency to laugh at all the reaction shots and the love scenes, but I
think they mostly enjoyed it. I got the usual "Well, it was good by the
standards of 1929, wasn't it?" afterwards, which to be honest it wasn't
-- unless you assume with the general public that 'silent' means
'unsophisticated'. This is a Ladybird movie (sorry,don't know what the
equivalent American cultural reference would be -- Ladybird books were a
popular series of illustrated history, legend, science etc. in a
hard-wearing format for children, not patronising but somewhat
simply stated), retelling the legend blow-by-blow but without any
additional depth of characterisation or emotional impact. The plot is so
complicated that to be honest there probably isn't a lot of space for
such embellishment.

It isn't by any means a *bad* film. The acting is good (there is one
long sequence I'm thinking of towards the end of the film with no
intertitles at all), there are a number of what I assume to be
technically sophisticated shots, including the heroine looking at her
own reflection in a pannikin of water and a close-up of marching
soldiers printed over a simultaneous long shot of the column, and the
complex plot holds the interest, although it does seem to take an
awfully long time to get to the significance of the titular dice -- the
beginning drags a bit.

But it is by no means a great film by the standards of late silents.
Basically, it's a summer blockbuster, a crowd-pleaser with no pretence
to any especial sophistication. And as such it's pretty well made.

I'd be interested to know to what degree it was a production of the
native Indian film industry, and to what degree influenced by European
input: the scenario and direction credits both appeared to be European,
but the actors themselves are Indians. I'm also curious as to how the
British Film Institute came to end up with the print...
--
Igenlode Visit the Ivory Tower http://ivory.150m.com/Tower/

Film fan filk: http://ivory.150m.com/Tower/Fiction/Filk.html