Over the years, horror movies have served to take audiences through adventures filled with gore, suspense, pop-ups, hallucinogenic creatures, and everything in between. Although, these movies rely heavily on auditory stimulation for their thrill factor and often lack an intricate plot. This past Halloween, I was taken back to the good old days at Knox United Church during their screening of Phantom of the Opera (1925). The works of Mr. Charlie Chaplin describes the extent of my exposure to silent films prior to this point, and I am glad that my horizons have been broadened. This was my first time watching a silent movie with live musical accompaniment, and my experience was nothing short of extraordinary.
{Shall we step in through the haunted doors?}
The decorations inside were very adorable and there was a lot of thought put into the set (as there had been a couple other events before the screening of the movie). I especially appreciate the effort it took to string the giant screen across the room so that you could see it even standing all the way at the back in the doorway. I was able to get a seat in the third pew, but I was still craning my neck a bit since the screen was at an angle (so you could see the organ player at the back). This was the first year that the church held this event, and even without taking this into consideration, I thought the whole night was done fantastically. Unlike most events, the movie started right on time and ended right on time.
Now, besides the fact that I really wanted to see Phantom of the Opera, one of the major selling points of this event was the organ at Knox. In case you didn’t know, Knox United Church has one of the largest pipe organs in all of Canada. I can’t even describe to you how large this organ is; it takes up most of the wall on one side of the church and the pipes are the size of small trees. I have never heard the organ being played live, and listening David Baskeyfield set my bar very high for future performances.
{I don’t know how well you guys can see, but all those tubes on that wall are pipes.}
David Baskeyfield is an award-winning organist from England, currently living in New York. His playing seriously impressive and he deserves all the recognition that he has gotten from the musical community. Even if I had not been handed a program detailing David’s accomplishments beforehand, the show itself would have been enough to blow me away. For the majority of the movie, David was improvising the accompaniment. If you have ever played an instrument, you can imagine how difficult it would be to improvise a few bars to fill 15 minutes. Now imagine having to play for one and a half hours straight while also accompanying a silent movie. I am assuming that David had seen the movie beforehand to be able to anticipate when the scenes or moods change, but his performance was still beyond impressive. You can go check out a 15-second clip of the movie over on our Instagram page to get a taste of David’s playing for yourself!
{If you look closely, you can see David to the bottom left of the screen gracing us with his beautiful music in the midst of spooky jack-o’-lanterns.}
Although not all of you are able to experience the magic of David Baskeyfield and Phantom of the Opera at the same time, I highly encourage you to go and watch the movie somehow. (I definitely do not encourage you to pirate or stream videos illegally on the internet…) For those of you who are curious about the plot, I can only describe it as a dystopian Beauty and the Beast where Belle is in love with Gaston and hates the Beast along with the rest of the town. I don’t want to give too much away, although you could predict from the beginning how the movie was going to end. I now understand why Phantom of the Opera had received, and continues to receive, such high praise. The morals and message behind this movie are still applicable to our society, 90 years later. Even without using sound, dialogue, or any fancy effects, this movie still managed to keep me on the edge of my seat for over an hour.
Thank you, Knox United Church, for putting on this amazing show! If they decide to put on a similar event next year, I highly encourage everyone reading this to go experience the magic of a silent movie with live musical accompaniment for yourselves.
FTC: I was provided with free tickets to review this event, but all opinions remain completely genuine. ♥