rayallen Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 I feel this should be obvious, maybe someone knows. I was watching an MGM silent the other night on TCM. The opening credits were preceded by the famous "roaring" lion. I say "roaring" in quotes, because of course, being a silent movie there was no roar. Did TCM or a later distributor add the MGM lion opening, or did they really use it during the silent era? I ask because I don't know why they would use the iconic roar if there was no accompanying sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfp2 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 There's no such thing as a silly question. Although, there's no guarantee that you won't get silly answers. The "roarless" lion was indeed on MGM pictures during the silent era. I know, because I've seen dozens of them. Maybe they should have followed it with a card that said "ROAR!"on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesJazGuitar Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 Ok, years later when MGM added the sound did they use the original lion? (see there is such a thing as a silly question!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rayallen Posted February 11, 2012 Author Share Posted February 11, 2012 > {quote:title=markfp2 wrote:}{quote}There's no such thing as a silly question. Although, there's no guarantee that you won't get silly answers. The "roarless" lion was indeed on MGM pictures during the silent era. I know, because I've seen dozens of them. Maybe they should have followed it with a card that said "ROAR!"on it. Subtitles for the lion! That's pretty good! I thank you for the response. I didn't understand why they would have the lion in the roaring motion if we weren't able to hear it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markfp2 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 IF do a Google search for "MGM Lion" then go to the Wikipedia site. You'll find more than anyone could ever need to know about the various MGM (and per-MGM) lions. It's actually pretty interesting and they even have shots of various logos with the names of the lions. See, what somebody might think is a silly question, actually turns out to be motivation do some research that turns up things even and old film-buff like me didn't know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriegerg69 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 I'm pretty sure I've seen it both ways...MGM silents with new music scores that had the "roarless" lion (the music begins over the lion), and some with a roar version used. From the Wikipedia page: "Interestingly, in the early 1930s, MGM reissued some of its earlier silent films with soundtracks containing recorded music and sound effects. Among the films reissued in this manner were [Greed|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greed_%281924_film%29|Greed (1924 film)] (1924), [ben-Hur|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben-Hur_%281925_film%29|Ben-Hur (1925 film)] (1925) and [Flesh and the Devil|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flesh_and_the_Devil|Flesh and the Devil] (1926). For these sound reissues, Jackie was used instead of Slats, causing some film authorities to assume that the lion had been in use before 1928." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kriegerg69 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 > {quote:title=markfp2 wrote:}{quote}IF do a Google search for "MGM Lion" then go to the Wikipedia site. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MGM_Lion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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