Northwest Film Forum commissioned Leslie McMichael, a Vashon Island harpist, to compose and perform a score for the 1924 silent film version of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan. From the press release:

McMichael founded the harp department at the Suzuki Institute of
Seattle and now directs three independent Suzuki harp programs in the
greater Seattle area. She also co-founded the Vashon Island Harp
School. Having recorded traditional music for lever harp and original
songs on her electric harp, McMichael says she takes great delight in
presenting harpists and harp music in unusual situations.

With three different kinds of harps, McMichael creates a soundscape that is both varied in texture and tone, alternating between the various sounds with cinematic panache. Her score shifts between a distinctly Irish rogue for Hook and his men, and Celtic soothsaying arpeggios for Peter, Wendy, and their families. Most interesting, musically, are the strange bits of story that involve the other groups - the Indians, the Mermaids. Barrie’s original novel flips back and forth in the same jarring way that the movie does, and the abrupt change in tone of the harps corresponds with this feeling. The mermaids, in particular, are given the lush, grainy sound of an electric harp, their glistening tailfins perfectly matching the shimmering, unorthodox sound that in effect is more like a pedal steel than anything else.

The film is the first screen adaptation ever made of the book, which had already been a play for many years, and did not stray far from the original text. Peter Pan’s mannerisms, posture, and childishness have made it through most every version ever made, but Disney-fication has filtered out most of the tragic flipside. Here, intertitles preserve much of J.M. Barrie’s actual dialogue, and the narrative continually affirms the melancholy that characterizes the tale.

The sound of the harp itself, actually, is more than fitting for the paradox of Peter Pan. The last line of the movie is the last line of the book: “And so it will go on, so long as children are gay and innocent and heartless.” There has been a good ten minutes of joyous Darling family reunion, and therefore a good ten minutes of major chords and exhuberant harp sounds, of course ending the film on the happiest, surest note of all. But to be ending the movie with this music while reading that sentence…there is an obvious disconnect. We go, “Huh!” - all of a sudden remembering that Peter Pan is merciless in his self-absorption, and that for all the things we may want from him, there are some that we will never, never get.

I should add, too, that the cinematography is beautiful, full of shadows and light - beyond Pan’s own wayward silhouette. Tinkerbell looks more real than in most other screen productions, and even the flying is believable. Nana, on the other hand, is a person dressed up as a dog, which is alternately hilarious and creepy, depending on how you interpret her never-changing facial expression. Captain Hook and Smee are smarmier than ever, and the Mermaids are bewitching, if only for the strange way they gather on the beach and move in unison like a flock of geese. It’s hard to imagine what the more standard musical accompaniment would have been, now with the harp washing over all the sepia-toned images.

The film will be shown throughout the weekend at the Northwest Film Forum.
1515 12th Ave.
MAY 18-20 Fri-Sun at 5, 7, 9pm (no Sat 5pm screening)

Have fun!