1 August
Underground (Dir. Anthony Asquith, GB, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 84 mins) In 1920s London, during a normal hectic day on the Underground, mild mannered Northern Line porter Bill (Brian Aherne) falls for shop worker Nell (Elissa Landi). But their relationship is threatened by power station worker Burt (Cyril McLaglan) who also has eyes for Nell. Consumed by jealousy, Burt plots to discredit Bill with a plan that results in a 
daring chase through London’s underground and across rooftops of the city. Although Underground was only Asquith‘s second film he handles the melodramatic story with confidence and great sophistication. Underground is a rare study of 1920s working-class London, and offers a fascinating and historically interesting glimpse of its public transport system. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk Presented by the Lucky Dog Picture House. With live musical accompaniment by Peter Coldham and Christopher Eldred with a world premiere of new piano scores. Wilton’s Music Hall, London Link
2 August
Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins ) Made in Germany during the Weimar period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and follows the attempts of Freder (Gustav Frohlich), the wealthy son of the city’s ruler, and Maria (Brigitte Helm), a poor worker, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of 
their city. Filming took place in 1925 at a cost of approximately five million Reichmarks, making it the most expensive film ever released up to that point. It is regarded as a pioneering work of science fiction and is among the most influential films of all time. Following its world premiere in 1927, half an hour was cut from Fritz Lang’s masterpiece and lost to the world. Eighty years later 
a spectacular discovery was made when the footage was found in a small, dusty museum in Buenos Aires. The film was then painstakingly reconstructed and digitally restored so that at last audiences could see the iconic futuristic fairy tale as Lang had envisioned it. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented by the Lucky Dog Picture House. With live musical accompaniment by Sam Watts and Nicholas Ball with a world premiere of new score for piano and percussion. Wilton’s Music Hall, London Link
3 August
Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins ) Made in Germany during the Weimar period, Metropolis is set in a futuristic urban dystopia and follows the attempts of Freder (Gustav Frohlich), the wealthy son of the city’s ruler, and Maria (Brigitte Helm), a poor worker, to overcome the vast gulf separating the classes of their city. Filming took place in 1925 at a cost of approximately five million Reichmarks, making it the most 
expensive film ever released up to that point. It is regarded as a pioneering work of science fiction and is among the most influential films of all time. Following its world premiere in 1927, half an hour was cut from Fritz Lang’s masterpiece and lost to the world. Eighty years later a spectacular discovery was made when the footage was found in a small, dusty museum in Buenos Aires. The film was then painstakingly reconstructed and digitally restored so that at last audiences could see the iconic futuristic fairy tale as Lang had envisioned it. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented by the Lucky Dog Picture House. With live musical accompaniment by Sam Watts and Nicholas Ball with a world premiere of new score for piano and percussion. Wilton’s Music Hall, London Link
4 August
Underground (Dir. Anthony Asquith, GB, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 84 mins) In 1920s London, during a normal hectic day on the Underground, mild mannered Northern Line porter Bill (Brian Aherne) falls for shop worker 
Nell (Elissa Landi). But their relationship is threatened by power station worker Burt (Cyril McLaglan) who also has eyes for Nell. Consumed by jealousy, Burt plots to discredit Bill with a plan that results in a daring chase through London’s underground and across rooftops of the city. Although Underground was only Asquith‘s second film he handles the melodramatic story with confidence and great sophistication. Underground is a rare study of 1920s working-class London, and offers a fascinating and historically interesting glimpse of its public transport system. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk Presented by the Lucky Dog Picture House. With live musical accompaniment by Peter Coldham and Christopher Eldred with a world premiere of new piano scores. Wilton’s Music Hall, London Link
6 August
Blinking Buzzards –The UK Buster Keaton Society quarterly meeting After a selection of Keaton shorts and a break, the second half will be a screening of Battling Butler (Dir. Buster Keaton, US, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 74mins) Buster Keaton found rich possibilities for physical comedy in this tale of a wealthy milquetoast who is forced, through a series of outlandish coincidences and misunderstandings, to train as a boxer. Based on a popular Broadway musical comedy, the story revolves around two Alfred Butlers – one 
(Keaton) a timid, mild-mannered millionaire, the other a boxing world champion. When Butler-the-fop finds love with a mountain girl (Sally O’Neil), he assumes the identity and arouses the wrath of Butler-the-Brute, leading to a dramatic showdown in which the brawl is very much on. Keaton always selected Battling Butler as one of his favourite features and the picture proved Keaton’s biggest success, outgrossing Douglas Fairbanks’s Black Pirate in its first week on Broadway, encouraging Joe Schenck to give the go-ahead for Keaton’s most ambitious production, The General, with a budget set at half a million dollars. Find out more at silentfilm.org. With recorded soundtrack. Cinema Museum, London Link
13 August
Rob Roy (Dir. William Kellino, UK, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 80mins) Rarely screened, this impressive biopic of one of Scotland’s best-known outlaws stars David Hawthorne in full tartan kilt and tammy and 
tells the story of the MacGregors in the early 18th century. Shot entirely on location in the Trossachs and nearby Stirling Castle, whilst the 10th Duke of Argyll gave permission to the production to film on his estates, the film makes liberal use of Scots for the intertitles (“dinnae fash yersel”) and includes epic fight scenes, with over 800 men of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders enlisted as extras in a dramatic battle. Find out more at imdb.com Presented as part of the Edinburgh International Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by David Allison. St Andrew Square Gardens, Edinburgh. Link
14 August
The Divine Voyage (Dir. Julien Duvivier, Fr, 1929) (Screening format – 2k digital, 95mins) The bleak view of humanity that preoccupies Julien Duvivier’s later films, such 
as Pépé le Moko (1937), is also evident in his silent film work. The visually striking and recently rediscovered The Divine Voyage concerns a cruel Breton ship-owner who risks the lives of his crew in an un-seaworthy vessel. His daughter seeks aid from the Virgin Mary to save her sailor sweetheart from shipwreck and mutiny. Beautifully photographed among seafaring locals on the Breton coast. Find out more at moma.org. Introduced by BFI Archive Curator Bryony Dixon. With live musical accompaniment. BFI Southbank, London Link
Silentfilmcalendar.org 