Comments on: Star Wars 30’s silent edition part 1 – Dusty version

By: cutnshut

cutnshut — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 22:45:31 +0000

Im not a big fan of the prequel movies mainly because of the use of dialogue in them – it just doesnt seem to flow in a comfortable way.

Maybe there is a reason for this but ive never heard Lucas say exactly why…or read about it, I understand he was trying to emulate the old serial adventures – but do they all have such poor dialogue?

Anyway….that aside, i really like this version of the movies, i even showed them to my dad who’s not a big fan of star wars but even he said the story makes more sense this way!

I also like the artistic style, i have watched both the dusty fullscreen version and the black & white widescreen.

I prefer the dusty fullscreen version – the other version seems a bit bland – in the dusty version the grainyness and effects used also seem to make the CGI appear more realistic as everything isn’t so polished looking.

after watching other movies done like this i think retro’ising the look of the film stock helps to blend in the CGI effects better, just something i’ve noticed. As real movies done in the 30’s or 50’s were so limited in the type of effects they could achieve, seeing something that looks pretty much real but on old style film makes it seem more surreal.

The music choices are good, im not so familiar with the music for the new films but what appears here is deffinately worth hearing isolated from the voices and effects. Its also nice to hear familiar tunes from the original trilogy blended in, which are generally used in situations similar to the way they were used originally – which is also a nice take on the “mirroring” motif that George Lucas mentions so much in documentaries for the new movies.

overall 10/10

By: Interositor

Interositor — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 07:31:30 +0000

I just reset my long lost password just to rate this edit. It’s an injustice it’s received such a low score. The technical aspects of this edit are excellent, and the storytelling choices and sparse dialogue cards streamline the movies so that they fit the silent movie style perfectly. It really brings out the essence of the Star Wars story and foregrounds Williams’s wonderful music. The distressed, silent movie look is recreated with fantastic attention to detail, and really makes them enjoyable to watch. I really enjoyed the vignettes and the tinting especially. Also, I can’t overlook how much of the original running time it was possible to remove, in order to fit this new style, and still have the plots hang together. Every beat hits perfectly, in my opinion. I can’t recommend these highly enough for someone who wants a reimagined experience of the Star Wars films. I may never recommend the originals over these again

By: flyboy707

flyboy707 — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 18:33:54 +0000

I found the idea behind this idea extremely interesting and compelling. I just have been over-saturated with Ep1-3 edits.

I found myself instantly engaged in this movie within a few minutes of the edit.

The “silent treatment” (no, not the one my wife gives me every so often because I am watching too many fan edits!) amazingly worked for me. I liked the dusty look, the edited down pace and the “camera” effects used throughout.

Generally, I find edits that combine a trilogy into a single movie lacking, too much there/too much missing. Making this edit a silent movie, actually works in this regard. About 5 hours have been edited, but I didn’t get the “Huh?” feeling because of plot holes etc created.

If you have not watched an edit like this, I recommend you giving it a go. Good stuff.

By: zeropolis79

zeropolis79 — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 22:25:07 +0000

I’ve watched it and think it looks and sound very good. As someone who likes silent movies, I feel the editor has done a good job in recreating the feel of a silent movie. Recommended.

By: ThrowgnCpr

ThrowgnCpr — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:21:55 +0000

I really wanted to get into this, but just couldn’t. I found the concept fascinating. However, after popping the disc into my player, I didn’t last long. I think the combination of the uber-modern look and feel of the prequels didn’t feel right in this format. Also, I found the dialogue cards to be a bit much. I was working to read the cards quickly enough to keep pace with the edit. I think an edit more focused on the action and elements to tell the story, and less on the actual dialogue would have been more successful. Kudos to TMBTM for giving this a go. It just wasn’t for me at all. People seem to be enjoying this though, so maybe others can get a good experience here. Though I can’t really recommend this to anyone based on my experience.

By: jjrdias

jjrdias — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 19:26:51 +0000

Having watched both the “clean” and “dusty” editions of eps. 1-3, i must admit the “dusty” one works better within the context of a silent movie, not only because of the filter effects, but mainly because of the pan-scan 4:3 format. It definitely translates into a very different, but awesome, viewing experience, and i can’t recommend this edit enough. Special kudos to TMBTM for having a second go at this fanedit idea, it’s an awesome addition to any true SW buff.
Great stuff. two thumbs up.