Carl Theodor Dreyer’s first sound film, Vampyr (1932), will be screened at HKIFF46. Although it is a sound film, very few dialogues are used. It is still in the form of a silent film narrated by title cards. The duration of the film is 73 minutes and the score takes up 71 minutes, which is particularly important in storytelling.
Wolfgang Zeller’s score was thought to be lost, but with the help of Martin Koerber, 85-90% of the score was successfully found. The score manuscript is about one and a half meters thick. Since Zeller had done a lot of changes and improvisations, there were quite a number of challenges in restoring the score. The soundtrack was post-produced to separate dialogues (and sound effects) and music to allow live orchestral accompaniment.
Photo credit: Il Cinema Ritrovato
RESTORING WOLFGANG ZELLER’S SCORE TO VAMPYR: https://youtu.be/q2uPhEu-3Ww
