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1 – 3 June 

Vampyr (Dir. Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1932)  (Screening format – digital, 75mins) Technically, Dryer’s first sound film ( but with very little dialogue and extensive use made of inter-titles) Staying at a country inn, Allan Grey scoffs at the notion of supernatural death before being forced to believe that there may be things beyond his understanding. The skills of director and cameraman induce a similar confusion on the part of those watching, as we encounter one of cinema’s great nightmares. Dreyer offers few explanations for the phenomena on screen:  strange and frightening things may just happen. Vampyr  opened to a generally negative reception from audiences and critics. Dreyer edited the film after its German premiere and it opened to more mixed opinions at its French debut. The film was long considered a low point in Dreyer’s career, but modern critical reception to the film has become much more favourable with critics praising the film’s disorienting visual effects and atmosphere. Find out more at wikipedia.org Nationwide screenings to mark the 90th anniversary of the film’s original release.  With recorded soundtrack.   Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Dundee (1-2 June, 2 screenings), Belmont Filmhouse, Aberdeen (3 June 2022, 3 screenings)  Link    BFI Southbank, London  (1-3 June, 5 screenings)  Link

 

3 June

ZRI; Adventures With Charlie Chaplin  Part concert, part film screening with a live score. ZRI bring all their flair and energy to Charlie Chaplin’s early classic The Adventurer (Dir. Charlie Chaplin, US, 1917).  This was the last of 12 films Chaplin made for the Mutual Film Corporation, aperiod Chaplin often referred to as the happiest period of his career.  In the film, Chaplin plays an escaped convict on the run from prison guards. He falls into favor with a wealthy family after he saves a young lady (Edna Purviance) from drowning, but her suitor (Eric Campbell) does everything he can to have Chaplin apprehended by the officials.  As well as appearing with regular co-star Edna Purviance, this was also the last of 11 films Chaplin made with Eric Campbell.  Campbell was killed in a car accident shortly after completing the film.   Find out more at  charliechaplin.comWith live musical accompaniment by ZRI.   Corn Exchange, Hertford   Link

 

4 June

The Live Ghost Tent – Quarterly meeting of The Laurel and Hardy Society.  The films to be shown are: Leave ’em Laughing (1928), silent short directed by Clyde Bruckman and Leo McCarey; They Go Boom (1929), short directed by James Parrott; Perfect Day (1929), short directed by James Parrott; County Hospital (1932), short directed by James Parrott; and Sons of the Desert (1933), directed by William A. Seiter.  With recorded score.  Cinema Museum, London Link

 

5 June

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 96mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational master work of the cinema. In the film, Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake.  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  With live harp accompaniment by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry.  Campus Cinema, University of Exeter   Link

 

Oliver Twist (Dir. Frank Lloyd, US, 1922) (Screening format – digital, 74mins) Thought lost for decades, Frank Lloyd’s adaptation of Charles Dicken’s classic tale of the boy who asked for more has an all-star cast. Starring the man of a thousand faces, Lon Chaney, as Fagin and the wunderkind of 1920s Hollywood, Jackie Coogan (straight after his heartrending debut in Chaplin’s The Kid) in the title role, this spectacular silent film gem was rediscovered in Yugoslavia in the 1970s. Find out more at editoreric.com.     With live piano accompaniment by Lillian Henley.   Palace Cinema, Broadstairs Link

 

When Knighthood Was In Flower (Dir. Robert Vignola, US,1922) (Screening format – not known, 120mins) This was a super-production for Cosmopolitan Pictures, and its huge commercial success established Marion Davies as a Hollywood movie star.  Davies plays Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, whom the king aims to use for political gain by offering her hand in marriage to King Louis XII of France. Look out for a young William Powell in his second movie role, playing one of the story’s villains. For period authenticity, no expense was spared on the production’s costumes, armour and tapestries, or on Joseph Urban’s huge, lavish sets. When Knighthood Was In Flower is presented here in a brand new restoration, with a new theatre organ score by Ben Model. The film was scanned from an original 35mm nitrate print preserved by the Library of Congress, its colour tints have been reinstated and the hand-coloured sequence has been digitally replicated Find out more at wikipedia.org.  Presented by South West Silents.  With recorded musical accompaniment by Ben Model.  Arnolfini, Bristol Link

 

8 June

Beggars of Life (Dir. William Wellman, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 100 mins) Nancy (Louise Brooks), is a young woman on a farm who kills her foster father when he attempts to rape her. She is assisted in escaping from the farm by Jim (Richard Arlen), a young hobo who has stopped to ask for food. By dressing in rough men’s clothing, Nancy, with the assistance of Jim, eludes the police. They hop a freight train and, when thrown off by the brakeman, they wander into a hobo camp. The  hobo camp is run by Oklahoma Red (Wallace Beery), a villain….or maybe not! Beggars of Life is based on the 1924 novelistic memoir of the same name by Jim Tully, a celebrated “hobo author”. Directed by William Wellman the year after he made Wings (the first film to win an Academy Award), the location shooting for Beggars of Life was awash with hair-raising stunts, hard-drinking nights and countless fights, apparently the norm for a William Wellman picture, and nicely detailed in Louise Brooks’ own words in her book ‘Lulu In Hollywood’.   Find out more at silentfilm.org .   Presented by the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.  With live piano accompaniment by Jonny Best.  Hull Truck Theatre, Hull Link

 

12 June

Miss Lulu Bett (Dir William C de Mille, US, 1921) (Screening format – digital, 71mins) Based on the Pulitzer Prize winning novel and play by Zona Gale, William deMille produced and directed this social drama about a timid spinster, Miss Lulu Bett (Lois Wilson), who lives an unhappy life of drudgery working in the home of her married sister. Treated poorly by her brother-in-law Dwight Deacon, she jumps at the chance to escape her miserable life only to have things go wrong. She is forced to take on suspicion and disgrace in order to protect her sister’s family. Only the kindness and attention shown her by schoolteacher Neil Cornish (Milton Sills) give her strength. Critically well received at the time ( “…it is a well-wrought, closely-knit, straightaway, cumulative domestic drama of rural life, well acted throughout, carefully produced and vividly atmospheric…”  VARIETY, December 23, 1921), this ultimately uplifting story of a put-upon woman beginning to assert her independence in order to escape a life of oppression and drudgery is as relevant today as it was when first released.  Find out more at  silentfilm.org  Introduced by Bryony Dixon, BFI curator of silent film.  With live musical accompaniment.  BFI Southbank, London Link

 

13 June

Gender Rebels  What’s the World Coming To?  (Dir. Richard Wallace, 1926) +  Rowdy Ann (Dir. Al Christie, US, 1919) (Screening format – not known,  21/21mins)  Whats the World Coming To? , co-written by Stan Laurel, takes place “one hundred years from now—when men have become more like women and women more like men.” Clyde Cook plays the “blushing groom” whilst Katherine Grant is his caddish tuxedoed bride and the pair have tremendous fun in their cross-dressed roles, sending up gender stereotypes with glee.  Find out more at imdb.com .  Cow-girl Ann (Fay Tincher) is Rowdy by name and rowdy by nature, so her father packs her off to college hoping she will ‘larn to be a lady’. The tutors try to smooth Ann’s ‘rough corners’ but you can’t keep a good woman down and it’s not long before she is putting the men in their place. Find out more at imdb.com  Presented by the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.  With live piano accompaniment by Jonny Best.   Harrogate Theatre,  Harrogate Link

 

13 – 15 June 

Vampyr (Dir. Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1932)  (Screening format – digital, 75mins) Technically, Dryer’s first sound film ( but with very little dialogue and extensive use made of inter-titles) Staying at a country inn, Allan Grey scoffs at the notion of supernatural death before being forced to believe that there may be things beyond his understanding. The skills of director and cameraman induce a similar confusion on the part of those watching, as we encounter one of cinema’s great nightmares. Dreyer offers few explanations for the phenomena on screen:  strange and frightening things may just happen. Vampyr  opened to a generally negative reception from audiences and critics. Dreyer edited the film after its German premiere and it opened to more mixed opinions at its French debut. The film was long considered a low point in Dreyer’s career, but modern critical reception to the film has become much more favourable with critics praising the film’s disorienting visual effects and atmosphere. Find out more at wikipedia.org Nationwide screenings to mark the 90th anniversary of the film’s original release.  With recorded soundtrack.  Warwick Arts Centre, Warwick  (3 screenings)  Link

 

15 June

The Man Without Desire (Dir. Adrian Brunel, UK, 1923) + John Heriot’s Wife (Dir.  B. E. Doxat-Pratt, UK, 1920),  (Screening format – 35mm)  When his lover is murdered by her cruel husband, an 18th Century Venetian nobleman is placed by his magician friend into suspended animation. Awaking 200 years later, he finds the experiment has unexpected consequences.  The feature film debut of British director Adrian Brunel, The Man Without Desire was co-produced by Miles Mander and its star, Ivor Novello. It was made on a total budget of £5,000, meagre even by the standards of 1923 but still sufficient to facilitate some location filming in Venice (with studio work and post-production in Germany). Brunel had been commissioned to set a historical drama there but felt it would gain audience interest by framing an 18th century story within a present-day context (it was known during production by Brunel’s suggested title, It Happened in Venice). Author Moncton `Pat’ Hoffe had been reading a story about a man who had been put into suspended animation by freezing for a period of fifty years and it was agreed that doing the same for their central character for two hundred years would fit their brief.  Musical-comedy star Novello, who had already begun to make a reputation in films with French director Louis Mercanton, agreed to play the lead for the small fee available and as his leading lady Brunel chose an unknown who had fled Russia after the Revolution, Nina Vanna (née Yarsikova). After a somewhat turbulent production – Rumbold departed after a dispute with production manager Jack Ewen, Venice had an uncharacteristic month of heavy rain, Brunel went to Italy in search of assistance and inflation-hit Berlin proved a difficult place to source studio space – Brunel got his film completed and it was chosen to be screened during the British Film Week at London’s Tivoli Theatre, sandwiched between Rex Ingram’s Scaramouche and Chaplin’s A Woman of Paris. `A formidable test’, he later recalled, `but it broke several records and could have stood for a run’.  Find out more at  screenonline.org.uk.  In John Heriot’s Wife a young debutante gets into an innocent but compromising situation with a charming writer during a weekend at her aunt’s country house.  This was the fourth film produced by Maurits Herman Binger and directed by the British filmmaker B. E. Doxat-Pratt.  Few Anglo-Holladia productions survive, so this film is of great value in helping to give us an idea of the company’s production. It is a solid, professional production with some fine locations (especially the opening episode in the country), able photography, and good acting. Annie Bos, who plays a pivotal role of the blackmailing Lady Headcombe to the hilt in the film, was the top star of Dutch silent films from 1912 to 1924. Lola Cornero was an Anglo-Dutch actress who appeared in quite a number of Dutch films from 1915 to 1920.  Find out more at en-academic.com.  Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment from Colin Sell and John Sweeney  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

16 June

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17 June

Sunrise; A Song of Two Humans (Dir. F W Murnau, US, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 94mins) F W Murnau’s debut American film, made at the technical zenith of the silent era  but already heralding the arrival of the talkies being one of the first silents made with synchronized musical score and sound effects soundtrack.  The simple story of a husband’s betrayal of his wife with a treacherous city girl, Sunrise moves from a fairytale-like depiction of rural life to a dynamic portrait of the bustling modern American city. Explored in elaborate tracking shots by Charles Rocher and Karl Struss’s pioneering camerawork, the city set was one of the most costly yet produced.  The result was a commercial flop, though the achievement did not go unheralded: Sunrise was awarded a special Oscar for unique and artistic production at the first ever Academy Awards and Janet Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.  The film’s legacy has endured, and it is now widely considered a masterpiece with many calling it the greatest film of the silent era. Find out more at theguardian.com  Presented by the First Light Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. Screen on the Sand, Lowestoft South Beach, Lowestoft Link

 

20 June

Sunrise; A Song of Two Humans (Dir. F W Murnau, US, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 94mins) F W Murnau’s debut American film, made at the technical zenith of the silent era  but already heralding the arrival of the talkies being one of the first silents made with synchronized musical score and sound effects soundtrack.  The simple story of a husband’s betrayal of his wife with a treacherous city girl, Sunrise moves from a fairytale-like depiction of rural life to a dynamic portrait of the bustling modern American city. Explored in elaborate tracking shots by Charles Rocher and Karl Struss’s pioneering camerawork, the city set was one of the most costly yet produced.  The result was a commercial flop, though the achievement did not go unheralded: Sunrise was awarded a special Oscar for unique and artistic production at the first ever Academy Awards and Janet Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.  The film’s legacy has endured, and it is now widely considered a masterpiece with many calling it the greatest film of the silent era. Find out more at theguardian.com   With live musical accompaniment by Graeme Stephen ensemble.  Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh  Link

 

21 June

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 96mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational master work of the cinema. In the film, Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake.  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  With live organ accompaniment by Jonathan Eyre.    Followed by a panel discussion with expert guests including:   Kim Newman: Critic, broadcaster and author of the Anno Dracula novels;  Pamela Hutchinson: Critic, curator, film historian and editor of Silent London; and James Swanton: Actor, writer and vintage horror aficionado. Regent Street Cinema, London  Link

 

25 June 

Helen Of Four Gates (Dir. Cecil Hepworth, UK, 1920) (Screening format – not known, 90 mins)  Adapted from a novel of the same name by Ethel Carnie Holdsworth, one of Britain’s first authentically working-class novelists , Helen Of Four Gates is  a vivid rural melodrama in which our heroine falls victim to a lurid revenge plot hatched by her mother’s rejected beau. A fine performance from James Carew as the devious villain is a prime ingredient in this heady brew. Then there is Alma Taylor as Helen, one of the first named stars of British cinema.  But the extensive filming around Heptonstall in Yorkshire steals the limelight in this powerful tale of treachery, madness and thwarted love among 19th-century country folk.  Find out more at screenonline.org.uk.  Introduced by film-maker Nick Wilding.  With live musical accompaniment by the Treske Ensemble performing a new score by Ben Burrows.  Picture House, Hebden Bridge Link

 

Vampyr (Dir. Carl Theodore Dreyer, 1932)  (Screening format – digital, 75mins) Technically, Dryer’s first sound film ( but with very little dialogue and extensive use made of inter-titles) Staying at a country inn, Allan Grey scoffs at the notion of supernatural death before being forced to believe that there may be things beyond his understanding. The skills of director and cameraman induce a similar confusion on the part of those watching, as we encounter one of cinema’s great nightmares. Dreyer offers few explanations for the phenomena on screen:  strange and frightening things may just happen. Vampyr  opened to a generally negative reception from audiences and critics. Dreyer edited the film after its German premiere and it opened to more mixed opinions at its French debut. The film was long considered a low point in Dreyer’s career, but modern critical reception to the film has become much more favourable with critics praising the film’s disorienting visual effects and atmosphere. Find out more at wikipedia.org Nationwide screenings to mark the 90th anniversary of the film’s original release.  With recorded soundtrack. Science and Media Museum, Bradford Link

 

30 June

The Golem: How He Came Into The World  (Dir. Carl Boese/Paul Wegener, Ger, 1920) (Screening Format – not known, 94mins) The only one of three films directed by and starring Paul Wegener concerning the Golem, a figure from Jewish folklore, to have survived, this is, along with The Cabinet Of Dr. Caligari (Robert Wiene, 1920), one of the key works of Expressionism, as well as being one of the earliest and most influential horror films. In medieval Prague, Rabbi Loew fears disaster for the Jewish community at the hands of the Christian Emperor. To defend his people, he creates from clay the Golem, whose awakening leads to a series of disasters in this visual feast.  With its foreshadowing of the Jewish persecution that was to come in Europe, Der Golem is a powerful and poignant piece of film-making – capped by inventive special effects, and exhilarating lighting and cinematography from the film’s photographer Karl Freund.Find out more at filmmonthly.com With a new score by Paul Robinson, performed live by HarmonieBand.  Arts Centre, Colchester  Link