5 May
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) (Screening format – 35mm ) 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 Presented as the Opening Night Gala of the 2017 Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by the Orchestra of St Paul’s with the first performance of a newly composed score by Neil Brand. Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield Link
6 May
Cartoon Carnival (Dir. various) (Screening format – 35mm) Start the day off with Krazy Kat, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and more from the earliest days of animation. Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
The Cameraman (Dir. Edward Sedgwick/Buster Keaton, 1928) (Screening format – 35mm, 67mins) Keaton stars as a wannabe news cameraman trying to make his mark in the MGM newsreel department. One of Keaton’s last films as director and one of his very best. Find out more at wikipedia.org. Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
Girl With A Hat Box (Dir. Boris Barnet, 1927) (Screening format – 35mm, 67mins) Anna Sten plays a mischievous milliner who enters into a marriage of convenience with a homeless college student so that he can use her Moscow apartment. The film that proves that not all Russian silent films come with large doses of propaganda, this is one of the most delightful silent comedies ever made and Anna Sten is just knockout. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
Man Without Desire (Dir Adrian Brunel, 1923) (Screening format – 35mm) 18th-century Venetian Count Vittorio Dandolo (Ivor Novello) is 
devastated by the death of his lover Leonora (Nina Vanna) and loses all interest in life. Wishing to escape from his grief, he devises a method of putting himself in a state ofsuspended animation. He awakens 200 years later in 1920s Venice where he meets Genevia, Leonora’s double, who turns out to be a descendant of his former love. Falling immediately in love with Genevia, he proposes marriage which Genevia accepts. He then discovers that his 200-year slumber has left him with the ability to love but unable to experience passion, and the marriage remains unconsummated. The film was Brunel’s feature-length directorial debut and has been described as “one of the stranger films to emerge from Britain in the 1920s”. The film’s theme of loss of sexual desire, and by implication impotence, was exceptionally frank for its time; oddly however, it appears to have been passed for release without interference by the British film censors, who at this period has a reputation for extreme zealousness where sexual matters in film were concerned. Find out more at imdb.com Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
Tall Tales and Incredible Journeys (Dir. various) (Screening format – 35mm) Take a journey into the impossible with this collection of short fantasy films, some exquisitely hand coloured, by two of early cinema’s most extraordinary talents, George Méliès and Segundo de Chomón . Melies probably needs no introduction, being perhaps the best known early 
exponent of cinema trickery and innovation. His most well known film, A Trip to the Moon (1902), is included in this collection. By contrast, Chomon is almost forgotten. Starting work in his native Spain he soon moved to France to join the Pathe Freres where he made numerous innovative silent films from 1907-12. Some critics compared his work favourably to Melies although others saw him merely as a mere imitator. In 1912 he moved to Italy and helped provide special effects for the classical epic Calabria (1914) as well as working on visual effects on Gance’s classic Napoleon (1927). Find out more at wikipedia.org. Being screened as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry (harp), Jonathan Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion). Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
Flesh And The Devil (Dir. Clarence Brown, 1926) (Screening format – 35mm, 113mins) Greta Garbo, John Gilbert and Swedish heartthrob Lars Hanson star in MGM’s lavish melodrama about boyhood friends who each fall in love with the same woman. This is the film that made Garbo a star in the USA and it’s silent cinema at 
its most lush and intoxicating. The romantic chemistry between Garbo and Gilbert was a director’s dream because it was not faked. The two actors quickly became involved in their own romantic affair and before production of the film was completed had already moved in together. Flesh and the Devil marked the beginning of one of the more famous romances of Hollywood’s golden age. They would also continue making movies together into the Sound Era, though Gilbert’s career would collapse in the early 1930s while Garbo’s soared. Find out more at imdb.com Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
7 May
Ben Hur (Dir. Fred Niblo, 1925) (Screening format – 35mm, 155mins) Betrayed by his boyhood friend, Massala, Ben Hur is imprisoned as a galley slave on a Roman ship and left to die. Saved by a sympathetic general, he sets out to find his lost family. And one day, many years later, Ben Hur and 
Massala meet once more for a final, violent reckoning as competing Roman charioteers in the Circus Maximus……The most epic silent film of them all, Ben Hur is a gripping tale of love and revenge. At its premiere in 1925 nothing like it had ever been seen before. The dazzling special effects, thrilling action, glorious technicolour sequences and a cast of thousands helped Ben Hur make MGM’s reputation as the blockbuster studio. The famous chariot race is jaw-dropping even today – captured by forty two cameras, with hundreds of horses and thousands of extras, the sequence was recreated almost shot-by-shot for the 1959 remake with Charlton Heston. Find out more at moviessilently.com Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Jonathan Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion). Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield. Link
8 May
Ben Hur (Dir. Fred Niblo, 1925) (Screening format – 35mm, 155mins) Betrayed by his boyhood friend, Massala, Ben Hur is imprisoned as a galley slave on a Roman ship and left to die. Saved by a sympathetic general, he sets out to find his lost family. And one day, many years later, Ben Hur and Massala meet once more for a final, violent reckoning as competing Roman charioteers in the Circus Maximus……The most epic silent film of them all, Ben Hur is a gripping tale of love and revenge. At its premiere in 1925 nothing like it had ever been seen before. The dazzling special effects, thrilling action, glorious technicolour sequences and a cast of thousands 
helped Ben Hur make MGM’s reputation as the blockbuster studio. The famous chariot race is jaw-dropping even today – captured by forty two cameras, with hundreds of horses and thousands of extras, the sequence was recreated almost shot-by-shot for the 1959 remake with Charlton Heston. Find out more at moviessilently.com Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Jonathan Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion). Link
May 9
7th Heaven (Dir. Frank Borzage, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 110mins) Chico (Charles Farrell) is a poor Parisian sewer cleaner who aspires to work his way out of his dead-end job and into the middle class. 
When he meets Diane (Janet Gaynor), an abused prostitute, he sympathizes with her plight and tells the police she’s his wife to prevent them from arresting her. To keep up the appearances of marriage, he invites Diane to live with him, and a real romance blossoms until Chico is drafted in the army at the start of World War I. Janet Gaynor won the Best Actress award at the very first Academy Awards for her role in this gorgeously romantic drama of star-crossed Parisian lovers. With beautiful sets, stunning camerawork and a live harp score, 7th Heaven is silent-era Hollywood at its most powerful. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry (harp). Link
May 10
Dragnet Girl (Dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1933) (Screening format – not known, 110mins) Tokiko is an office typist who is more pleased at catching the owner’s son attention than he knows. That’s because her real boyfriend is Joji, a washed up boxer turned gangster and her employer is a great opportunity to milk him for them both. However, when Kazuko, the innocent
sister of Hiroshi, a hopeful new member of the gang, comes to Joji to plead with him to send Hiroshi away, the gangster is attracted to her. However, Tokiko is jealous and determined to win Joji back no matter what the cost…..Yasujiro Ozu’s cool and clever gangster film is one of Japanese cinema’s masterpieces. Find out more at silentfilm.org . Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. This screening will be accompanied by a new score for harp by celebrated silent film harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry. Showroom Cinema, Sheffield Link
Battle of the Somme (Dir.Geoffrey Malins, 1916) (Screening format – not known, 77mins) The Battle of the Somme gave its 1916 audience an unprecedented insight into the realities of trench warfare, controversially including the depiction of dead and wounded soldiers. It shows scenes of the build-up to the infantry offensive including the massive preliminary bombardment, coverage of the first day of the battle (the bloodiest single day in Britain’s military history) and depictions of the small gains and massive costs of the attack. The Battle of the Somme remains one of the most successful British films ever made. It is estimated over 20 million 
tickets were sold in Great Britain in the first two months of release, and the film was distributed world-wide to demonstrate to allies and neutrals Britain’s commitment to the First World War. It is the source of many of that conflict’s most iconic images. It was made by British official cinematographers Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell. Though it was not intended as a feature film, once the volume and quality of their footage had been seen in London, the British Topical Committee for War Films decided to compile a feature-length film. Find out more at Wikipedia Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival and as part of the Somme100Film Centenary Tour. To mark the centenary of the actual battle, a hundred screenings of the film are taking place around Britain, each one accompanied by a live orchestra performing Laura Rossi’s haunting score. Tonight’s screening is accompanied by Musica Kirklees YouthOrchestra and their conductor Thom Meredith. Picturedrome, Holmfirth Link
11 May
Chicago (Dir. Frank Urson & Cecil B.DeMille (uncredited), 1927) (Screening format – not known, 118mins ) Seventy-five years before Bob Fosse’s Oscar-winning musical version of Maurine Watkins’ successful stage play, Cecil B. DeMille’s production company made this saucy silent film version. 
Phyllis Haver is hugely entertaining as the brazen Roxie Hart “Chicago’s most beautiful murderess” – a woman so pathologically shallow she sees notoriety for a murder rap as an opportunity to secure her fortune. Egged on by her crooked lawyer (“they’ll be naming babies after you”) Roxie neglects her long-suffering loyal husband and sets about milking her celebrity status for all she’s worth. The sequence in the prison is an absolute delight – particularly the rivalry between Roxie and fellow-murderess Velma (played by DeMille’s mistress), as are the climactic courtroom scenes. A cracking, satire on fame and the media, this fun-filled tale of adultery, murder and sin (so sinful that DeMille – known for his Biblical epics – was at pains to keep his name off the credits) is as fresh and relevant as ever. Find out more at wikipedia.org . Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
Blackmail (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920’s London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she 
has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened. Alfred Hitchcock’s sinister, suspenseful tale of crime and romance is one of the last British silent films to be made. With his traditional cameo appearance in the first reel, to a spectacular moonlit chase through the British Museum in the final reel, Blackmail is a classic thriller from the Master of Suspense. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
12 May
Tall Tales and Incredible Journeys (Dir. various) (Screening format – not known) Take a journey into the impossible with this collection of short fantasy films, some exquisitely hand coloured, by two of early cinema’s most
extraordinary talents, George Méliès and Segundo de Chomón . Melies probably needs no introduction, being perhaps the best known early exponent of cinema trickery and innovation. His most well known film, A Trip to the Moon (1902), is included in this collection. By contrast, Chomon is almost forgotten. Starting work in his native Spain he soon moved to France to join the Pathe Freres where he made numerous innovative silent films from 1907-12. Some critics compared his work favourably to Melies although others saw him merely as a mere imitator. In 1912 he moved to Italy and helped provide special effects for the classical epic Calabria (1914) as well as working on visual effects on Gance’s classic Napoleon (1927). Find out more at wikipedia.org. Being screened as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry (harp), Jonathan Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion). Link
13 May
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) (Screening format – 35mm ) 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 Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live accompaniment by harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry. , Link
Slapstick for Kids (Dir. Various) Hilarious clips from the golden age of cinema, presented for a brand new audience by the inimitable Neil Brand. Neil’s infectious love of silent film shines through in his presentation and his piano playing, as he accompanies joyfully irreverent film moments live on stage. Young audience members will be invited to suggest music, hear it live and discover how it can transform a filmic story – a wonderful afternoon of laughter and discovery for kids of all age. With live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand. Stoller Hll, Manchester Link
Beggars of Life (Dir. William Wellman, 1928) (Screning 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! Find out more at silentfilm.org . With live music from the Dodge Brothers and Neil Brand. Stoller Hall, Manchester Link
14 May
Tall Tales and Incredible Journeys (Dir. various) (Screening format – not known) Take a journey into the impossible with this collection of short fantasy films, some exquisitely hand coloured, by two of early cinema’s most extraordinary talents, George Méliès and Segundo de Chomón . Melies probably needs no introduction, being perhaps the best known early 
exponent of cinema trickery and innovation. His most well known film, A Trip to the Moon (1902), is included in this collection. By contrast, Chomon is almost forgotten. Starting work in his native Spain he soon moved to France to join the Pathe Freres where he made numerous innovative silent films from 1907-12. Some critics compared his work favourably to Melies although others saw him merely as a mere imitator. In 1912 he moved to Italy and helped provide special effects for the classical epic Calabria (1914) as well as working on visual effects on Gance’s classic Napoleon (1927). Find out more at wikipedia.org. Being screened as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry (harp), Jonathan Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion). National Centre for Early Music, York Link
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 90mins) 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 Being screened as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live harp score by Elizabeth-Jane Baldry. National Centre for Early Music, York Link
16 May
Buster Keaton and the Yorkshire Dales on Film (Dir. Various) An evening of slapstick comedy and a fascinating glimpse at Yorkshire in days gone by with short films from Yorkshire Film Archive. Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Dales Jam and Richard Ormrod. Victoria Hall, Settle Link
17 May
Blackmail (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920’s London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice 
agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened. Alfred Hitchcock’s sinister, suspenseful tale of crime and romance is one of the last British silent films to be made. With his traditional cameo appearance in the first reel, to a spectacular moonlit chase through the British Museum in the final reel, Blackmail is a classic thriller from the Master of Suspense. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
18 May
Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) + The Goat (Dir. Buster Keaton/Mal St Clair, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 45/23 mins) 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. The Goat is one of the funniest of Keaton’s shorts, in which he is inadvertently identified as the notorious outlaw Dead Shot Dan. He is pursued throughout the city by the local police chief, using disguises and quick-thinking to elude the lawman. He encounters Virginia, a young lady friend, and goes to her home to visit and hide out, only to discover that Virginia’s father is the police chief. Find out more at tcm.com Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment by Colin Sell. Link
Chicago (Dir. Frank Urson & Cecil B.DeMille (uncredited), 1927) (Screening format – not known, 118mins ) Seventy-five years before Bob Fosse’s Oscar-winning musical version of Maurine Watkins’ successful stage play, 
Cecil B. DeMille’s production company made this saucy silent film version. Phyllis Haver is hugely entertaining as the brazen Roxie Hart “Chicago’s most beautiful murderess” – a woman so pathologically shallow she sees notoriety for a murder rap as an opportunity to secure her fortune. Egged on by her crooked lawyer (“they’ll be naming babies after you”) Roxie neglects her long-suffering loyal husband and sets about milking her celebrity status for all she’s worth. The sequence in the prison is an absolute delight – particularly the rivalry between Roxie and fellow-murderess Velma (played by DeMille’s mistress), as are the climactic courtroom scenes. A cracking, satire on fame and the media, this fun-filled tale of adultery, murder and sin (so sinful that DeMille – known for his Biblical epics – was at pains to keep his name off the credits) is as fresh and relevant as ever. Find out more at wikipedia.org . Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
19 May
Blackmail (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920’s London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice 
agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened. Alfred Hitchcock’s sinister, suspenseful tale of crime and romance is one of the last British silent films to be made. With his traditional cameo appearance in the first reel, to a spectacular moonlit chase through the British Museum in the final reel, Blackmail is a classic thriller from the Master of Suspense. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
20 May
7th Heaven (Dir. Frank Borzage, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 110mins) Chico (Charles Farrell) is a poor Parisian sewer cleaner who aspires to work his way out of his dead-end job and into the middle class. 
When he meets Diane (Janet Gaynor), an abused prostitute, he sympathizes with her plight and tells the police she’s his wife to prevent them from arresting her. To keep up the appearances of marriage, he invites Diane to live with him, and a real romance blossoms until Chico is drafted in the army at the start of World War I. Janet Gaynor won the Best Actress award at the very first Academy Awards for her role in this gorgeously romantic drama of star-crossed Parisian lovers. With beautiful sets, stunning camerawork and a live harp score, 7th Heaven is silent-era Hollywood at its most powerful. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Jonathan Best (piano). Link
21 May
Cartoon Carnival (Dir. various) (Screening format – not known) A cavalcade of animation from the early days of cinema, with Krazy Kat, Dinky Doodle and Walt Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Link
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) (Screening format – 35mm ) 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 Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment.
22 May
Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 45 mins) 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. Plus a selection of early cartoons including Walt Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
23 May
The House on Trubnaya (Dir. Boris Barnett, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 64mins) The film is set in Moscow at the height of the New Economic Policy era. The petty-bourgeois public carries out their philistine life full of bustle and gossip in the house on the Trubnaya Street. One of the 
tenants, Mr. Golikov (Vladimir Fogel), owner of a hairdressing salon, is looking for a housekeeper who is modest, hard-working and non-union. A suitable candidate for use seems to him a country girl nicknamed Paranya, full name Praskovya Pitunova (Vera Maretskaya) asthe house on Trubnaya receives shocking news that Praskovya Pitunova is elected deputy of the local council by the maids Trade Union …Another classic comedy from Boris Barnett, a real delight. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Jonathan Best (piano). , Link
26 May
Blackmail (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920’s London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice 
agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened. Alfred Hitchcock’s sinister, suspenseful tale of crime and romance is one of the last British silent films to be made. With his traditional cameo appearance in the first reel, to a spectacular moonlit chase through the British Museum in the final reel, Blackmail is a classic thriller from the Master of Suspense. Find out more at screenonline.org.uk Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment by Meg Morley. Link
27 May
Cartoon Carnival (Dir. various) (Screening format – not known) A cavalcade of animation from the early days of cinema, with Krazy Kat, Dinky Doodle and Walt Disney’s Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment by Meg Morley. , Link
Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 45 mins) 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. Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live piano accompaniment. Link
Ben Hur (Dir. Fred Niblo, 1925) (Screening format – 35mm, 155mins) Betrayed by his boyhood friend, Massala, Ben Hur is imprisoned as a galley slave on a Roman ship and left to die. Saved by a sympathetic general, he sets out to find his lost family. And one day, many years later, Ben Hur and Massala meet once more for a final, violent reckoning as competing Roman charioteers in the Circus Maximus……The most epic silent film of them all, Ben Hur is a gripping tale of love and revenge. At its premiere in 1925 nothing like it had ever been seen before. The dazzling special effects, thrilling action, glorious technicolour sequences and a cast of thousands helped Ben Hur make MGM’s reputation as the blockbuster studio. The famous chariot race is jaw-dropping even today – captured by forty two cameras, with hundreds of horses and thousands of extras, the sequence was recreated almost shot-by-shot for the 1959 remake with Charlton Heston. Find out more at moviessilently.com Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by Jonathan Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion). Link
28 May
The House on Trubnaya (Dir. Boris Barnett, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 64mins) The film is set in Moscow at the height of the New Economic Policy era. The petty-bourgeois public carries out their philistine life full of bustle and gossip in the 
house on the Trubnaya Street. One of the tenants, Mr. Golikov (Vladimir Fogel), owner of a hairdressing salon, is looking for a housekeeper who is modest, hard-working and non-union. A suitable candidate for use seems to him a country girl nicknamed Paranya, full name Praskovya Pitunova (Vera Maretskaya) asthe house on Trubnaya receives shocking news that Praskovya Pitunova is elected deputy of the local council by the maids Trade Union …Another classic comedy from Boris Barnett, a real delight. Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds Link
The Four Just Men (Dir. George Ridgwell, 1921) (Screening format – not known) This little known British silent crime film starring Cecil Humphreys, Teddy Arundell and Charles Croker-King was based on the 1904 novel The Four Just Men by Edgar Wallace. Its plot concerns four vigilantes who seek revenge for the public against criminals. Find out more at Link Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds Link
Behind The Door (Dir. Irvin Willat, 1919) (Screening format – not known, 70mins) With America entering World War I, German-American Oscar Krug (Hobart Bosworth) is thought to be an enemy sympathizer. He fights his foes to prove that they’re wrong, then immediately enlists and is 
assigned to the merchant marines. The night before boarding, he marries his sweetheart, Alice Morse (Jane Novak), and she sails with him. A German submarine torpedoes the craft and sinks it. Krug and his bride board a lifeboat. The Germans take Alice and leave Krug, who swears revenge to the commander (Wallace Beery)…. Restored from surviving incomplete copies held at the US Library of Congress and at the Gosfilmofond, the Russian national archive so that what Kevin Brownlow called “the most outspoken of all the [WWI] vengeance films,” can now be seen in its most complete form since its release in 1919. And it is possibly the ‘darkest’ silent film we have ever seen. Find out more at silentfilm.org . Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds Link
Chicago (Dir. Frank Urson & Cecil B.DeMille (uncredited), 1927) (Screening format – not known, 118mins ) Seventy-five years before Bob Fosse’s Oscar-winning musical version of Maurine Watkins’ successful stage play, Cecil B. DeMille’s production company made this saucy silent film version. Phyllis Haver is hugely entertaining as the brazen Roxie Hart “Chicago’s most beautiful murderess” – a woman so pathologically shallow she sees notoriety for a murder rap as an opportunity to secure her fortune. Egged 
on by her crooked lawyer (“they’ll be naming babies after you”) Roxie neglects her long-suffering loyal husband and sets about milking her celebrity status for all she’s worth. The sequence in the prison is an absolute delight – particularly the rivalry between Roxie and fellow-murderess Velma (played by DeMille’s mistress), as are the climactic courtroom scenes. A cracking, satire on fame and the media, this fun-filled tale of adultery, murder and sin (so sinful that DeMille – known for his Biblical epics – was at pains to keep his name off the credits) is as fresh and relevant as ever. Find out more at wikipedia.org . Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment. Hyde Park Picture House, Leeds Link
30 May
The Golden Clown (Dir. A.W. Sandberg, 1926) (Screening format – not known) The Golden Clown is a little known masterpieces of Danish silent cinema and develops the love triangle between the lovable clown, the circus princess and the 
Parisian bon vivant. Like so many films of the silent era, it is a tale of the old rural world and the glamour and danger in the big city. Sandberg was the leading director at the Nordisk Films Kompagni from 1916 until 1926 when he left the company due to their lack of support of his financial management in connection with the production of The Golden Clown. He finished the film with his own funds. Find out more at Link Presented as part of the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment by leading silent film musician Neil Brand. Link
31 May
The Woman Men Desire (aka The Woman One Longs For, aka Three Lovers, aka Die Frau, nach der man sich sehnt) (Dir. Curtis Bernhardt, 1929) (Screening forman – not known, 75mins) 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 the Yorkshire Silent Film Festival Finale. With live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand. , Link
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