16 March

Old And New (aka The General Line) (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein/Grigori Aleksandrov. USSR, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 121mins)  Begun in 1927, The General Line was to be a a celebration of the collectivization of agriculture, as championed by old-line Bolshevik Leon Trotsky and hoping to reach a wide audience, the director forsook his usual practice of emphasizing groups by concentrating on a single rural heroine. Eisenstein briefly abandoned this project to film October: Ten Days That Shook The World (1928) in honour of the 10th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. By the time he was able to return to this film, the Party’s attitudes had changed and Trotsky had fallen from grace. As a result, the film was hastily re-edited and sent out in 1929 under a new title, The Old and the New. In later years, archivists restored the film to an approximation of Eisenstein’s original concept. Much of the director’s montage-like imagery—such as using simple props to trace the progress from the agrarian customs of the 19th-century to the more mechanized procedures of the 20th—was common to both versions of the film. Find out more at edinburghfilmguild.org .  With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.  Cube Cinema, Bristol Link

Shiraz (Dir. Franz Osten, 1928) (Screening format – DCP,  97mins) Based on a play by Indian author Niranjan Pal, Shiraz tells the fictionalised love story of the 17th-century princess who inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal.  It was directed by Germany’s Franz Osten, one of at least 17 films he made in India between 1925 and 1939, best known of which are The Light of Asia (1925) and A Throw of Dice (1929).  Shot entirely on location in India with an all-Indian cast, it features lavish costumes and gorgeous settings – all the more impressive in this restoration by the BFI National Archive with specially-commisioned score. The film was the brainchild of producer Himansu Rai, who also stars as humble potter Shiraz, who follows his childhood sweetheart (Enakshi Rama Rau) when she’s sold by slave traders to the future emperor (Charu Roy).Upon its release Shiraz was a considerable critical and popular success and received rave reviews when the restored version was screened at last year’s London Film Festival.  Find out more at silentfilm.org.  With newly commissioned Anoushka Shankar recorded score.  Watershed, Bristol   Link

17 March

Shiraz (Dir. Franz Osten, 1928) (Screening format – DCP,  97mins) For details, see 16 March above.  With newly commissioned Anoushka Shankar recorded score.  Watershed, Bristol   Link

18 March

Shiraz (Dir. Franz Osten, 1928) (Screening format – DCP,  97mins) For details, see 16 March above.  With newly commissioned Anoushka Shankar recorded score.  Watershed, Bristol   Link

21 March

Dorothy Davenport Film Night.  Very much a forgotten name now but throughout the 1910s and 1920s Dorothy Davenport (1895 – 1977) was one of the key women stars of Hollywood. Coming from the Davenport stage acting dynasty (very much as popular as the other stage dynasty that was the Barrymore family), she moved to Southern California as an actress with the Nestor Film Company in late 1911, becoming one of the first members of the early film colony soon to be known as Hollywood.  Having initially worked primarily as an actress, after the tragic death of her morphine addicted husband Wallace Reid in 1923, Davenport turned to writing/directing with the film Human Wreckage (1923),  about the tragic consequences of the illegal trade in narcotics.  She followed this with  several other films with strong social messages.  Find out more at cdrs.columbia.edu.  Presented by South West Silents.  Introduced by Norman Taylor.  Landsdown Public House, Clifton, Bristol Link

23 March

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. The Old Bakery, Truro, Cornwall.  Link

25 March

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Dir.Wallace Worsley, US, 1923) (Screening format – not known, 110mins) A classic silent film, full of drama, frights, romance, and excitement .  Quasimodo is ordered to kidnap a gypsy girl, Esmerelda, by his wicked master, and an unlikely friendship forms between them. However, the reclusive hunchback is tested to his limits when Esmerelda is framed for attempted murder, and must fight back against the powers that have subjugated him. Victor Hugo’s tragic tale of the deformed bell-ringer and his love for Esmeralda, a doomed gypsy girl, has been filmed so many times but for many this Chaney adaption remains the definitive Quasimodo. The Hunchback of Notre Dame was filmed over the course of six months on a specially built set depicting 15th-century Paris, a set which spanned 19 acres of Universal Pictures’ back lot and included a full scale façade of Notre Dame Cathedral. The version to be screened is a brand new restoration thanks to Flicker Alley and Lobster Films, Paris and is the edition mastered from a multi-tinted 16mm print struck in 1926 from the original camera negative. (The film apparently does not survive in 35mm). Visible wear in the source material is diminished with a moderate amount of digital restoration. It is pictorially superior to any past releases and represents the best condition in which this landmark film survives today. Find out more at  wikipedia.org. Presented by South West Silents in association with Curzon Cinema and Arts.  With live musical accompaniment by Andy Quinn on the Curzon’s cinema organ.  Curzon Cinema, Clevedon, North Somerset  Link

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. Regal Cinema, Wadebridge, Cornwall.  Link

30 March

Passion of Jon of Arc (Dir. Carl Theodore Dreyer, Fr/Den, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 82 mins)  In 1926 Danish film director Dreyer was invited to make a film in France by the Societe Generale des Films and chose to direct a film about Joan of Arc, due to her renewed popularity in France (having been canonised as a saint of the Roman Catholic Church in 1920 and subsequently adopted as one of the patron saints of France).  Apparently discarding a script provided by the Societe, Dreyer spent over a year researching Joan of Arc including study of the actual transcripts of her trial before producing a script of his own.  In the title role Dreyer cast the little-known stage actress Renee Jeanne Falconnetti who had previously acted in just two previous, inconsequential films, both back in 1917.  The film focuses upon the trial and eventual execution of Joan of Arc after she is captured by the English.  Although not a popular success at the time, the film attracted immediate critical praise.  The New York Times critic wrote “…as a film work of art, this takes precedence over anything so far produced.  It makes worthy pictures of the past look like tinsel shams.  It fills one with such intense admiration that other pictures appear but trivial in comparison.” Falconnetti’s performance has been widely lauded with critic Pauline Kael writing in 1982 that her portrayal “…may be the finest performance ever recorded on film.”  The film was subsequently re-edited against Dreyer’s wishes and his original version was long thought lost.  But in 1981 a near perfect copy was found in the attic of a psychiatric hospital in Oslo.  The Passion of Joan of Arc now regularly appears in ‘Top Ten’ lists not just of silent films but best films of all time.  Find out more at rogerebert.com .  With recorded score.  Totnes Cinema, Totnes, Devon Link

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