Dear James,
I’ll forgive your many ignorant comments about the Wesleyan Film Series (“Film Series Flaws,” Sept. 23, 2008, Volume CXLIV, Number 7) because you are a freshman and clearly you don’t know what you’re talking about.
You complained about the number of film breaks when you went to see our film. Since you did not name the film you went to see, I’m going to have to assume you went to see the Saturday night film, “Metropolis.” It’s true, we had six or seven film breaks that night, a number that is unprecedented in my four years under the employment of the Film Studies department. It’s also a film that is nearly 100 years old! “Metropolis” came out in 1928, and film that is that old has been played thousands of times, sat in warehouses and vaults for years and has deteriorated significantly. It seems only natural that it would get a few breaks in it. Long story short: old prints, more delicate.
Your suggested solution: let’s play DVDs all the time. Hm, let me think about this: No. Absolutely not. DVDs will NEVER contain as much depth and clarity as an original print of a film, especially not on a screen like ours. You are so incredibly lucky to have seen an original print of this film, FOR FREE, I might add. There is no point in just playing DVDs in the Goldsmith Family Cinema, it would be absolutely unsatisfactory and an insult to our wonderful theater (maybe you didn’t know that it’s regarded as one of the best film facilities in America).
I understand if you don’t want to deal with technical problems from time to time, that’s your choice. But for my money, I’d rather see a free or $5 original print film in one of the best theaters in the country than go to AMC. You won’t find our selection at AMC. You won’t find as good a facility either, and you won’t be supporting a very important part of our school.
The Wesleyan Film Series is a fantastic venue for watching high quality, nearly unattainable original movie prints reliably and with a very impressive selection. I hope you’ll change your mind about the film series; I personally think it’s one of the best things we have going here at Wesleyan, “flaws” or not.
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