http://www.kino.com/video/item.php?film_id=922
A lavish silent super-production comprising 10,000 extras, a thousand horses, and scores of elephants, A Throw of Dice is the climax of German film pioneer Franz Osten's richly cinematic sojourn in India. In this "fairy tale for adults" (BBC) inspired by the ancient Sanskrit epic poem The Mahabharata, royal cousins and rulers of adjoining kingdoms King Sohat (producer/star Himansu Rai) and King Rajit (Charu Roy) share a reckless passion for gambling, the perilous jungle tiger hunt, and the beautiful maiden Sunita (Seeta Devi). After a tiger nearly claims Rajit's life, Sunita nurses the handsome young king back to health and becomes his bride. Knowing that the only thing stronger than love in Rajit's heart is a compulsive fascination with games of chance, jealous Sohat challenges his cousin to a winner-take-all contest where the stakes are freedom, marriage, and life itself.
Somebody once said that it seems absurd that talkies evolved from silent pictures, it should have been the other way around. I think it was Lilian Gish, but I'm not sure.
And you're absolutely right, one does get more involved, maybe it's because the concentration is 100% on the visual, but somewhere way back in the head one is still making up dialogue to the movie.
georger64 2 years ago 2
silent movies always have a sense of expression which i find lacking in the regular ones. For one point the viewer becomes more involved in interpreting what is happening not by listening but by observing. This one is a marvel .. got to look for it somewhere.
imsameer 2 years ago