NB.  With the closure of all public venues due to the continuing Corona Virus pandemic all silent film events are at present either cancelled or postponed for the foreseeable future. 

 

 

2 May

The Navigator (Dir. Donald Crisp/Buster Keaton, US, 1924) + Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 59/45 mins)  In The Navigator, wealthy and impulsive Rollo Treadway (Buster Keaton) decides to propose to his beautiful socialite neighbor, Betsy O’Brien (Kathryn McGuire), but things don’t go as planned. Although Betsy turns Rollo down, he still opts to go on the cruise that he intended as their honeymoon. When circumstances find both Rollo and Betsy on the wrong ship, with no one else on board, they end up with some hilarious high adventures on the high seas, which allows Keaton plenty of opportunities to display his trademark agility. Find out more at busterkeaton.com.  In Sherlock Jr, a kindly movie projectionist (Buster Keaton) longs to be a detective. When his fiancée (Kathryn McGuire) is robbed by a local thief (Ward Crane), the poor projectionist is framed for the crime. Using his amateur detective skills, the projectionist follows the thief to the train station – only to find himself locked in a train car.  Disheartened, he returns to his movie theatre, where he falls asleep and dreams that he is the great Sherlock Holmes.   Although not a popular success on its initial release, the film has come to be recognised as a Keaton classic with its special effects and elaborate stunts making it a landmark in motion picture history.  Find out more at silentfilm.org. With live piano accompaniment from David Windle.  Regent Cinema, Blackpool. Link

5 May

Variety (Dir. E A Dupont, Ger, 1925) (Screening format – not known, 94mins) An International smash hit in 1925, Variety is a gripping tale of passion and revenge under the Big Top. Its star, Emil Jannings was one of the most esteemed actors of this time, working with directors such as F.W. Murnau and Josef von Sternberg, before moving to America to become the first winner of the Oscar for Best Actor, and ending his career in disgrace after appearing in Nazi propaganda films. In this steamy melodrama, he plays Boss Huller, a former trapeze artist who abandons his family for a younger colleague (Lya De Putti). When the couple becomes a professional trio, a love  triangle is formed, and tragedy ensues. The film features some of the most inventive camerawork of the period, its ‘unchained’ approach making for breathtaking performance scenes.  For female lead Lya De Putti, a German ‘vamp’ of the Weimar era, Variety was probably the peak of her film career.  Shortly after its release she departed for Hollywood but had only limited success especially with the advent of the sound era when her strong German accent held her back.  Tragically, after having to have a chicken bone surgically removed from her throat she developed pleurisy from which she died in 1931 aged just 34.   Find out more at moviessilently.com .  Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment from Irine Røsnes (violin), Trevor Bartlett (percussion), Jonny Best (piano), and further musician to be announced.  Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate  Link

7 May

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (Dir. John S. Robertson ,US, 1920) (Screening format – not known, 79mins) Not the first cinematic version of Stevenson’s famous story but one of the most memorable with John Barrymore’s classic transformation scenes, a mixture of facial and bodily contortions as well as make–up. He tends to be hammy as the leering beast of a thug but brings a tortured struggle to the repressed doctor, horrified at the demon he’s unleashed, guilty that he enjoys Hyde’s unrestrained life of drinking and whoring and terrified that he can no longer control the transformations. Martha Mansfield co-stars as his pure and innocent sweetheart, and Nita Naldi (the vamp of Blood and Sand) has a small but memorable role as the world-weary dance-hall darling who first “wakens” Jekyll’s “baser nature”. The film uses elements from a 1887 stage version of Stevenson’s original novella by Thomas Russell Sullivan. A huge box office success on its release.  Find out more at moviessilently.com  Introduced by silent film programmer Miranda Gower-Qian.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne and Meg Morley.  St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham Link

8 May

Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Dir. Robert Wiene, 1920) (Screening format – not known,  77 mins) In the village of Holstenwall, fairground hypnotist Dr Caligari (Werner Krauss) puts on show a somnambulist called Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who has been asleep for twenty three years.  At night, Cesare walks the streets murdering people on the doctor’s orders.  A student (Friedrich Feher) suspects Caligari after a friend is found dead and it transpires that the doctor is the director of a lunatic asylum.  Fueled by the pessimism and gloom of post-war Germany, the sets by Hermann Warm stand unequaled as a shining example of Expressionist design.  Find out more at  wikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by Minima. Northwick Arms Hall, Ketton, Rutland Link

9 May

Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Dir. Robert Wiene, 1920) (Screening format – not known,  77 mins) In the village of Holstenwall, fairground hypnotist Dr Caligari (Werner Krauss) puts on show a somnambulist called Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who has been asleep for twenty three years.  At night, Cesare walks the streets murdering people on the doctor’s orders.  A student (Friedrich Feher) suspects Caligari after a friend is found dead and it transpires that the doctor is the director of a lunatic asylum.  Fueled by the pessimism and gloom of post-war Germany, the sets by Hermann Warm stand unequaled as a shining example of Expressionist design.  Find out more at  wikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by Minima. Village Hall, Twyford, Leicestershire Link

10 May

The Woman That Men Yearn For (aka Die Frau Nach der Man Sich Sehnt  ) (Dir, Curtis Bernhard, Ger, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 78mins) The dreamy Charles Leblanc (Oskar Sima), about to marry into a wealthy steel-making family, glimpses Stascha (Marlene Dietrich) and her companion Karoff (Fritz Kortner) as they pause for a drink at a bar in his small southern France town. They meet again on the train taking him and his wife on their honeymoon. Overwhelmed by Stascha’s sexuality, and ignoring his distraught new wife, Leblanc agrees to help her escape from the domineering Karoff, setting in motion a chain of obsessive, destructive events.  Long before von Sternberg brought us Dietrich as Lola Lola in The Blue Angel, the actress had already created her femme fatale persona with this, her first starring role.  Although made on something of a shoestring budget and wholly studio shot, the film benefits from excellent direction from Bernhardt, Dietrich smoulders superbly and the rest of the cast are excellent.  Unfortunately the film was released just as audiences were clamouring for sound films and as a result it was not particularly successful. But this is a welcome opportunity to see this rarely screened classic which marked an important milestone in Dietrich’s career development Find out more at silentfilm.org .   Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment from Irine Røsnes (violin) and Jonny Best (piano).  National Centre For Early Music, York Link

13 May

Damsels and Divas:  European Stardom in Silent Hollywood  In this presentation Agata Frymus, Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Ghent, introduces her new book, Damsels and Divas, which investigates the meanings of Europeanness in Hollywood during the 1920s by charting professional trajectories of three movie stars: Pola Negri, Vilma Bánky and Jetta Goudal. It combines the investigation of American fan magazines with the analysis of studio documents, and the examination of the narratives of their films, to develop a thorough understanding of the ways in which Negri, Bánky and Goudal were understood within the realm of their contemporary American culture. This discussion places their star personae in the context of whiteness, femininity and Americanization. Every age has its heroines, and they reveal a lot about prevailing attitudes towards women in their respective eras. In the United States, where the stories of rags-to-riches were especially potent, stars could offer models of successful cultural integration.   Arnolfini, Bristol  Link

15 May

The Farmer’s Wife (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, Br, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 107mins) The Farmer’s Wife is a touching and funny romantic comedy directed by the young Alfred Hitchcock, who would go on to be the world famous master of suspense and creator of films such as Psycho, The Birds, and North by Northwest. This is a rare opportunity to see one of Hitchcock’s early films made in a far lighter vein.  Samuel Sweetland (Jameson Thomas), a Devonshire farmer, is alone; his beloved wife Tibby has just died and his daughter has married and left home. He lives in the old farmhouse with his loyal housekeeper, Minta. Just before she died, Tibby told Samuel that he must look for love and marry again once she is gone. So one day Samuel decides to do just that, confident that women will be fighting each other off to marry him. Samuel is brought down to earth quickly however, as the women he have very different ideas – it turns out that finding a wife is more complicated than he first thought. Find out more at ithankyouarthur.blogspot.com.  Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment from Neil Brand.  Plaza Cinema, Skipton Link

June