2 February
Arsenal (Dir. Aleksandr Dovzhenko, USSR, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 87mins) Soldiers return to Ukraine to find their homeland teeming with strife and dissension, gripped in a conflict between nationalist forces and communists. One faction of soldiers, led by Timosh (Semyon Svashenko) supports the communists and takes command of a munitions factory at Kiev, converting the weapons arsenal into a fortress. Still reeling from the trauma of war, Timosh and his comrades 
engage in a violent crusade that soon spreads across Ukraine. The second half pivots on the collision of Ukrainian nationalism and Soviet power with the Reds and the Whites, the Kiev strike, massacres and executions, religious processions with serpentine banners and mighty, bushy mustaches in extreme close-up! Dovzhenko’s progressive approach to editing – he was one of the pioneers of Soviet Montage – camerawork and narrative construction mark him out as an enduringly distinctive voice whose films retain their importance to this day. Find out more at imdb.com . With live musical accompaniment by Bronnt Industries Kapital. Cube Cinema, Bristol Link
A Cottage on Dartmoor (Dir. Anthony Asquith, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Joe (Uno Henning) works as a barber in a shop in a Devon town, alongside a manicurist called Sally (Norah Baring). He becomes infatuated with her and asks her out but it is clear that Sally does not reciprocate Joe’s feelings. Joe’s infatuation with her develops into obsession. Meanwhile a young farmer Harry (Hans Schlettow), begins to woo Sally and the couple begin seeing each other which leaves Joe in despair. After a fight with Harry, Joe is jailed but swears revenge on Harry and Sally. A Cottage on Dartmoor is a tale of love and revenge set in the bleak landscape of Dartmoor and a thoughtful distillation of the best of European silent film techniques from a director steeped in the work of the Soviet avant-garde and German expressionism. One of the last films of the silent era and a virtuoso piece of film-making, A Cottage on Dartmoor was a final passionate cry in defence of an art form soon to be obsolete. Find out more at silentfilm.org. With live musical accompaniment from Wurlitza. Liskerrett Film Club, Liskeard, Cornwall Link
9 February
Behind The Door (Dir. Irvin Willat, 1919) (Screening format – not known, 70mins) With America entering World War I, German-American Oscar Krug (Hobart Bosworth) is thought to be an enemy sympathizer. He fights his foes to prove that they’re wrong, then immediately enlists and is 
assigned to the merchant marines. The night before boarding, he marries his sweetheart, Alice Morse (Jane Novak), and she sails with him. A German submarine torpedoes the craft and sinks it. Krug and his bride board a lifeboat. The Germans take Alice and leave Krug, who swears revenge to the commander (Wallace Beery)…. Restored from surviving incomplete copies held at the US Library of Congress and at the Gosfilmofond, the Russian national archive so that what Kevin Brownlow called “the most outspoken of all the [WWI] vengeance films,” can now be seen in its most complete form since its release in 1919. And it is possibly the ‘darkest’ silent film we have ever seen. Find out more at silentfilm.org . Presented b South West Silents. With live musical accompaniment from Stephen Horne. Cube Cinema, Bristol Link
16 February
Phantom Of The Opera (Dir. Rupert Julian, 1925) (Screening format – not known, 103mins) A title that needs no introduction, The Phantom of the Opera has spawned many remakes, remasters and sequels. This original film version, produced with moments of early Technicolour, sees Lon 
Chaney, the ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’ perform one of his most iconic roles. His ghastly make-up and outrageous performance made this title a benchmark in the American silent film era. The film was a critical and commercial success upon release, and still stands as an important film in cinematic history to this day, with press quotes from the time labelling the film an ‘ultra-fantastic melodrama’ (New York Times), ‘produced on a stupendous scale’ (Moving Picture World) and ‘probably the greatest inducement to nightmare that has yet been screened’ (Variety). The mysterious phantom (Lon Chaney) is a vengeful composer living in the catacombs under the Paris Opera House, determined to promote the career of the singer he loves (Mary Philbin). Famed for the phantom’s shock unmasking, incredible set designs and the masked ball sequence, it still packs a punch. Find out more at wikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by acclaimed musicians Minima. Falmouth University, Falmouth Link
17 February
I Was Born, But…… (Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, Jap, 1932) (Screening format, not known, 87mins) This early comedy from Yasujirô Ozu focuses on the Yoshii family – dad Kennosuke, his homemaker wife, and two sons Keiji and Ryoichi – who have just 
moved from Tokyo’s crowded city centre to a suburban development. Straight away the two boys start slugging it out to find a place in the pecking order among the neighbourhood kids. But when the boys see their father kowtowing to his boss, they are mortified at his low position in society. Kennosuke’s attempts to explain the realities of the adult world to his sons leads to some soul-searching of his own. One of the few surviving examples of Ozu’s silent period filmmaking, like his later films this one focuses on the internal dynamics of a single family unit as a way of drawing out broader generalisations about contemporary Japanese society, and uses the low-angle camera shots of domestic interiors that would become his stylistic trademark. Find out more at silentfilm.org . With live musical accompaniment composed by Ed Hughes and performed by Kevos. The Centre, Newlyn, Cornwall Link
21 February
Gloria Swanson Silent Film Night Gloria Swanson wasn’t just ‘a film star’. Swanson was an icon of the 1920s, an incredible fiery powerhouse of film stardom (she would later become her own producer as well) and was one of the most sought after actresses in Hollywood. Swanson also brought about the essence of 
fashion for the 1920s, audiences not only went to see her in her films but they also went to see what fashions she was wearing those films. Largely remembered now as the faded screen legend Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard (1950), yet by the time she was 24, and working for Paramount, Swanson was known by the public as the ‘Queen of the Screen’ and was receiving 10,000 fan letters a week while the cinema bosses called her the ‘mortgage lifter’ – all they had to do was put her name on the billing outside, they said, and the money would roll in, she was ‘the Queen of Hollywood’. Find out more at cdrs.columbia.edu. Presented by South West Silents and introduced by Professor Sarah Street (Bristol University). Landsdown Public House, Clifton, Bristol Link
23 February
Piccadilly (Dir E A Dupont, UK, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 92 mins) A film noir before the term was in use, uncredited director E.A. Dupont’s Piccadilly is one of the true greats of British silent films, on a par with the best of Anthony Asquith or Alfred Hitchcock during this period. Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) owns a nightclub featuring dancers Mabel (Gilda Gray) and Vic (Cyril Ritchard). After a confrontation with Wilmot, Vic quits performing at the club. When the joint starts losing business, a desperate Wilmot hires former dishwasher Shosho (Anna May Wong) as a dancer. She is an instant hit and forms a rapport with Wilmot, which makes both Mabel and Shosho’s friend (King Ho Chang) jealous, leading to a mysterious murder. A stylish evocation of Jazz Age London, with dazzlingly fluid cinematography and scenes ranging from the opulent West End to the seediness of Limehouse. One of the pinnacles of British silent cinema, Piccadilly is a sumptuous show business melodrama seething with sexual and racial tension – with an original screenplay by Arnold Bennett. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk . With live accompaniment by Wurlitza. St Dominick Village Hall, St Dominick, Cornwall. Link
25 February
Cottage on Dartmoor (Dir. Anthony Asquith, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Joe (Uno Henning) works as a barber in a shop in a Devon town, alongside a manicurist called Sally (Norah Baring). He becomes infatuated with her and asks her out but it is clear that Sally does not reciprocate Joe’s feelings. Joe’s infatuation with her develops into obsession. Meanwhile a young farmer Harry (Hans Schlettow), begins to woo Sally and the couple begin seeing each other which leaves Joe in despair. After a fight with Harry, Joe is jailed but swears revenge on Harry and Sally. A Cottage on Dartmoor is a tale of love and revenge set in the bleak landscape of Dartmoor and a thoughtful distillation of the best of European silent film techniques from a director steeped in the work of the Soviet avant-garde and German expressionism. One of the last films of the silent era and a virtuoso piece of film-making, A Cottage on Dartmoor was a final passionate cry in defence of an art form soon to be obsolete. Find out more at silentfilm.org. With live musical accompaniment by Wurlitza. Kingsland Village Hall, Cornwall Link
The Lost World (Dir. Harry Hoyt, US, 1925) (Screening format – DCP, 104mins) Arthur Conan Doyle’s dinosaur adventure was brought to the big screen for the first time in an adventure across continents to the land that time forgot, featuring swooping beasts, the terrifying ‘apeman’ and the odd volcano too! This film used pioneering techniques in stop motion by Willis O’Brien (a forerunner of his work eight years later on the original King Kong film) and was one of the first to use a tinting technique that brought colour to film. It also features an introduction from the author himself. This visually stunning 2K restoration by Lobster Films, Paris, incorporates almost all the film’s original elements from archives and collections around the world. Find out more at moviessilently.com. Presented by South West Silents. With thrilling new recorded score composed by Robert Israel and performed by a full orchestra in 2016. Introduced by film director and co-founder of Aardman Animations, Peter Lord. Curzon Cinema, Clevedon, North Somerset Link
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