3 May
Man With a Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – DCP, 68mins)“An experiment in the creative communication of visible events without the aid of inter-titles, a scenario or theatre “aiming at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema,” is how the inter-titles describe what is about to be seen. Bold claims indeed, but in its awesome sophistication The Man with a Movie Camera does live up to them, making it one of the most contemporary of silent movies. The subject, the life of a city from dawn to dusk, was not original even for 1928, but its treatment was–the cameraman as voyeur, social commentator and prankster, exploiting every trick permissible with the technology of the day (slow motion, dissolves, split screens, freeze frames, stop motion animation, etc). A young woman stirs in her bed, apparently fighting a nightmare in which a cameraman is about to be crushed by an oncoming train. She wakes up, and the sequence is revealed to be a simple trick shot. As she blinks her weary eyes, the shutters of her window mimic her viewpoint, and the iris of the camera spins open. Self-reflexive wit like this abounds here–there’s even a delicious counterpoint made between the splicing of film and the painting of a woman’s nails. Find out more at openculture.com . With recorded score performed by The Alloy Orchestra. Picture House Cinema Exeter. Link
7 May
Greed (Dir. Erich Von Stroheim, US, 1924) (Screening format – 35mm, 132mins) The story of a brutish, but basically good-natured, miner McTeague (Gibson Gowland), who after setting up as a dentist in San Francisco, falls in love with Trina (ZaSu Pitts) who was previously the girlfriend of McTeague’s best friend Marcus (Jean Hersholt). Initially just mildly resentful when McTeague and Trina are married, Marcus becomes bitter when Trina wins a fortune on the lottery and causes McTeague to loose his dental practise. Corrupted by her financial gain Trina turns into a miserly shrew, hoarding her money to McTeague’s growing chagrin. Eventually all of this boils 
over into violence and murder. Filmed almost entirely on location and an almost page-by-page realisation of the Frank Norris novel it was based upon, Von Stroheim’s original cut of the movie came out at 42 reels or some ten hours of film. Repeatedly edited down by the studio to a mere two and a half hours Von Stroheim decried the ‘butchering’ of his film and apparently refused ever to watch the finally released version. This version divided the critics, between those who regarded it as a masterpiece and those dismissing it as an ‘epic of the sewer’. But by the early 1950s Greed‘s reputation began to grow, subsequently appearing on several lists of the greatest films ever made and remains extraordinary for its unflinching vision of the corrosive power of money.. The uncut version (believed to have been melted down by MGM to recover the silver nitrate content) has come to be known as the “holy grail” for film archivists, amid repeated false claims of the discovery of the missing footage. Find out more at filmsite.org . With live musical accompaniment. BFI Southbank, London Link
Safety Last (Dir. Fred C Newmeyer/Sam Taylor, US, 1923) (Screening format – not known, 73mins) A boy (Harold Lloyd) moves to New York City to make enough money to support his loving girlfriend (Mildred Davis), but soon discovers that making it in the big city is harder than it looks. When he hears that a store manager will pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw people to his store, he convinces his friend, the “human fly,” (Bill Strother) to climb the building and split the profit with him. But when his pal gets in trouble with the law, he must complete the crazy stunt on his own. The image of Harold Lloyd hanging desperately from the hands of a skyscraper clock during Safety Last! is one of the great icons of film history (although it was achieved with a certain amount of film trickery) and this remains one of the best and best loved comedies of the silent era. Find out more at rogerebert.com. With recorded score. Chorley Theatre, Chorley Link
13 May
Another Fine Mess A trio of Laurel & Hardy’s classic silent comedy shorts comprising; Angora Love (Dir.Lewis Foster, US, 1929) in which Stan and Ollie are followed home by a stray goat; From Soup To Nuts (Dir. Edgar Kennedy, US, 1928) where the boys play inept waiters catering a posh dinner party, and: Liberty (Dir. Leo McCarey, US, 1929) where they are construction workers building a skyscraper….what could possibly go wrong! Presented by the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live improvised musical accompaniment by Jonny Best (piano) and Jeff Davenport (percussion). , Link
The General (Dir. Buster Keaton/Clyde Bruckman, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 75mins) Widely considered one of the greatest films ever made and one of the most revered comedies of the silent era, Buster Keaton’s effortless masterpiece sees hapless Southern railroad engineer Johnny Gray (Keaton) facing off against Union soldiers during the 
American Civil War. When Johnny’s fiancée, Annabelle Lee (Marion Mack), is accidentally taken away while on a train stolen by Northern forces, Gray pursues the soldiers, using various modes of transportation in comic action scenes that highlight Keaton’s boundless, innovative wit and joyful, lighthearted dexterity, to reclaim the train and thereby save the South. Find out more at busterkeaton.com . Presented by the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live improvised musical accompaniment by Jonny Best (piano) and Jeff Davenport (percussion). , Link
14 May
Greed (Dir. Erich Von Stroheim, US, 1924) (Screening format – 35mm, 132mins) The story of a brutish, but basically good-natured, miner McTeague (Gibson Gowland), who after setting up as a dentist in San Francisco, falls in love with Trina (ZaSu Pitts) who was previously the girlfriend of McTeague’s best friend Marcus (Jean Hersholt). Initially just mildly resentful when McTeague and Trina are married, Marcus becomes bitter when Trina wins a fortune on the lottery and causes McTeague to loose his dental practise. Corrupted by her financial gain Trina turns into a miserly shrew, hoarding her money to McTeague’s growing chagrin. Eventually all of this boils 
over into violence and murder. Filmed almost entirely on location and an almost page-by-page realisation of the Frank Norris novel it was based upon, Von Stroheim’s original cut of the movie came out at 42 reels or some ten hours of film. Repeatedly edited down by the studio to a mere two and a half hours Von Stroheim decried the ‘butchering’ of his film and apparently refused ever to watch the finally released version. This version divided the critics, between those who regarded it as a masterpiece and those dismissing it as an ‘epic of the sewer’. But by the early 1950s Greed‘s reputation began to grow, subsequently appearing on several lists of the greatest films ever made and remains extraordinary for its unflinching vision of the corrosive power of money.. The uncut version (believed to have been melted down by MGM to recover the silver nitrate content) has come to be known as the “holy grail” for film archivists, amid repeated false claims of the discovery of the missing footage. Find out more at filmsite.org . With live musical accompaniment. BFI Southbank, London Link
The Wild Cat (aka Die Bergkatze) (Dir. Ernst Lubitsch, Ger, 1921) (Screening format – not known, 82 mins) Subtitled ‘A Grotesque in Four Acts’, The Wild Cat is an anarchic and playfully subversive satire of military life from one of the great comedy filmmakers. At a remote fort, the commander awaits the arrival of a new lieutenant, who is captured en route by a band of outlaws that 
roam the nearby, snow-covered mountains. But the daughter of the bandits’ leader quickly falls for the young officer, thus setting in motion an outrageous farce that is Lubitsch at his most unrestrained. Peter Bogdanovich described The Wildcat as “an uproarious, hard-edged anti-military spoof,” and ranked the film among the five funniest movies he’d ever seen. The film’s refreshingly unhinged approach is also reflected in it’s visual style, including a fortress that looks like a giant toy box and even the film’s framing, which continuously changes size and shape. Film writer Scott EymanIn in his book ‘Ernst Lubitch: Laughter in Paradise’, states, “In style, it is like nothing else committed to film,” and ultimately dubs it “an exercise in riotous artifice, as much pure fun as anything in Lubitch’s canon”. Find out more at moviessilently.com Presented as part of the Hexham Jazz Festival. With live musical accompaniment by pianist Paul Edis, bassist Paul Susans and drummer Steve Hanley performing a new jazz score composed and performed by saxophonist Graeme Wilson. Forum Cinema, Hexham Link
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 Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Jonny Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion) Link NB Double bill with Blade Runner (1982)
16 May
In Spring (Dir. Mikhail Kaufman, Ukr/USSR, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 54mins) In Spring is a masterpiece of Ukrainian avant-garde cinema, a non-fiction film made by Mikhail Kaufman, brother of the rather better known Dziga Vertov. Following the brothers joint work on Man With A Movie Camera (1929) creative differences led to them going their own 
separate ways. According to Kaufman “That year with Vertov we diverged in views for good and all and began to work independently. I was armed with a movie camera and had a multitude of methods concerning reflection of life. Regarding the topic of spring, I actually stumbled upon it by accident.” In Spring was Kaufman’s first solo project and is a cinematic poem to arrival of spring in nature as well as a new life in a society. With the first use of hidden camera it also offers a rare glimpse on everyday life in Soviet Ukraine during the New Economic Policy and the Soviet “indigenisation” programme. The film was long considered lost until a copy was discovered in 2005 at an archive in Amsterdam. Find out more at imdb.com . Presented as part of Birmingham’s Flatpack Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment from Ukrainian musicians Roksana Smirnova and Misha Kalinin. Moseley Road Baths, Birmingham Link
17 May
The Westbound Limited (Dir. Emory Johnson, USA, 1923) + The Last Outlaw (Dir. Arthur Rossen, USA, 1927). (Screening format – 16mm, 62/63 mins) In The Westbound Limited, rugged young Johnny Buckley becomes an instant hero when he saves the life of Esther Miller, the only daughter of railroad tycoon Bernard Miller, when she is pinned by her horse on railroad tracks mere seconds before the thunderous arrival of Train 99, the very train that Johnny’s father Henry works as the engineer. When romance blossoms between 
Johnny and Esther, Miller’s closest adviser J. Lawrence Wilton becomes insanely jealous — because he wants Esther for himself. When she spurns his advances, he resolves to sabotage the train, even if it means killing everyone on board, including Miller. Once again, Johnny is thrust into the role of hero, racing against the clock to save the people who mean the most to him from certain death. Find out way more than you ever thought you needed at wikipedia.org. The Last Outlaw casts Gary Cooper as Buddy Hale, a young sheriff tasked to break a cattle rustling ring. But the problem is deciding just who is doing the rustling and why? Cooper is deterred somewhat from duty by falling for Janet Lane whose brother Jack is suspected of being one of the rustlers. Later on, when Jack is shot and killed and Janet believes the sheriff to be responsible it looks like their romance is at an end. Or is it…? Find out more at wikipedia.org Presented by the Kennington Bioscope. With live musical accompaniment. Cinema Museum, London. Link
19 May
Neil Brand presents Laurel and Hardy Neil Brand, composer, pianist, broadcaster and champion of silent cinema, tells the touching story of what he regards as the world’s greatest comedy team, Laurel and Hardy. Abundantly illustrated with stills, clips (both silent and sound) and Neil’s superlative piano accompaniment, the programme culminates in two of the Boys’ best silents from 1929, Big Business and Liberty. It’s an event that promises gales of laughter throughout. With live piano accompaniment. The Corn Hall, Diss. Link
20 May
An Evening Of Early French Shorts Author and expert on early cinema Deac Rossell introduces a selection of colourised and black and white early Pathe and Gaumont short films including work by the great Segundo de Chomón. With live musical accompaniment by The Crooks Saxes, a South London based saxophone quartet. Cinema Museum, London Link
21 May
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 piano accompaniment by Lillian Henley. Palace Cinema, Broadstairs. Link
Man With a Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 68mins)“An experiment in the creative communication of visible events without the aid of inter-titles, a scenario or theatre “aiming at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema,” is how the inter-titles describe what is about to be seen. Bold claims indeed, but in its awesome sophistication The Man with a Movie Camera does live up to them, making it one of the most contemporary of silent movies. The subject, the life of a city from dawn to dusk, was not original even for 1928, but its treatment was–the cameraman as voyeur, social commentator and prankster, exploiting every trick permissible with the technology of the day (slow motion, dissolves, split screens, freeze frames, stop motion animation, etc). A young woman stirs in her bed, apparently fighting a nightmare in which a cameraman is about to be crushed by an oncoming train. She wakes up, and the sequence is revealed to be a simple trick shot. As she blinks her weary eyes, the shutters of her window mimic her viewpoint, and the iris of the camera spins open. Self-reflexive wit like this abounds here–there’s even a delicious counterpoint made between the splicing of film and the painting of a woman’s nails. Find out more at openculture.com . Presented as part of Birmingham’s Flatpack Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment from Ukrainian musicians Roksana Smirnova and Misha Kalinin and Birmingham’s own Sarah Farmer. CBSO Centre, Birmingham Link
Queens Of Disruption A programme of silent short films produced between 1903 and 1922 which explore feminist protest, slapstick rebellion, and suggestive gender play, spotlighting women who refuse to be boxed in, in rebellious and playful ways. The films will come with live musical accompaniment composed by students currently studying at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. The programme comprises; Rosalie and her Phonograph (dir. Roméo Bosetti, France 1911, 4 mins) Composer: James Knowles ; The Nursemaid’s Strike (dir. André Heuzé, France 1907, 12 mins) Composer: Vato Klemera; Mary Jane’s Mishap (dir. George Albert Smith, UK 1903, 4 mins) Composer: Vinicius Faria Motta; Leontine’s Boat (dir. Roméo Bosetti, France 1911, 5 mins) Composer: Yizhou Wang; and, Cinderella (dir. Lotte Reiniger, Germany 1922, 13 mins) Composer: Kinna Whitehead. Presented as part of Birmingham’s Flatpack Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Printmaker’s Arms, Birmingham Link
The Unknown (Dir. Tod Browning, US, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 63 mins) To escape the police, Alonzo, who has two thumbs on one hand, poses in a sideshow as an armless wonder. He falls in love with Estrellita, and when detected by her father, he kills him. Then, discovering that the girl abhors the touch of a man’s hand, he has both his arms amputated. Returning, he finds to his dismay that she has fallen in love with Malabar, the strong-
man. Is all lost for Alonzo….The Unknown was the sixth of ten collaborations between Chaney and director Tod Browning. Its circus theme was a favorite of Browning’s, both on and off screen. Chaney was already “The Man of a Thousand Faces” when he appeared in The Unknown but in this film Chaney didn’t need to rely on heavy make-up to transform himself for a role. For The Unknown, Chaney reported, “I contrived to make myself look like an armless man, not simply to shock and horrify you but merely to bring to the screen a dramatic story of an armless man.” Find out more at moviessilently.com . Introduced by BFI Curator of Silent Film Bryony Dixon. With live musical accompaniment by Neil Brand. BFI Southbank, London Link
25 May
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 91 mins ) In The Lodger, a serial killer known as “The Avenger” is on the loose in London, murdering blonde women. A mysterious man (Ivor Novello) arrives at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting looking for a room to rent. The Bunting’s daughter (June Tripp) is a blonde model and is seeing one of the detectives (Malcolm Keen) assigned to the case. The detective becomes jealous of the lodger and begins to suspect he may be the avenger. Based on a best-selling novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, first published in 1913, loosely based on the Jack the Ripper murders, The Lodger was Hitchcock’s first thriller, and his first critical and commercial success. Made shortly after his return from Germany, the film betrays the influence of the German expressionist tradition established in such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Nosferatu (1922). Find out more at silentfilm.org . With premier of new score performed live by composer and musician Malvern Brume (Rory Salter). Garden Cinema, London Link
27 May
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, UK, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 91 mins ) In The Lodger, a serial killer known as “The Avenger” is on the loose in London, murdering blonde women. A mysterious man (Ivor Novello) arrives at the house of Mr. and Mrs. Bunting looking for a room to rent. The Bunting’s daughter (June Tripp) is a blonde model and is seeing one of the detectives (Malcolm Keen) assigned to the case. The detective becomes jealous of the lodger and begins to suspect he may be the avenger. Based on a best-selling novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes, first published in 1913, loosely based on the Jack the Ripper murders, The Lodger was Hitchcock’s first thriller, and his first critical and commercial success. Made shortly after his return from Germany, the film betrays the influence of the German expressionist tradition established in such films as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1919) and Nosferatu (1922). Find out more at silentfilm.org . Introduced byJohn Wischmeyer. With recorded Nita Sawhney score. Garden Cinema, London Link
Silentfilmcalendar.org 