---

 

February

1 February

Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) + Chaplin shorts (Screening format – not known, 45/45 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 atsilentfilm.org.With live organ accompaniment by Darius Battiwalla.  Howard Assembly Room, Leeds Link

 

4 February

Are Parents People? (Dir. Malcolm St. Clair, US 1925) (Screening format – not known, 70mins). The teenage daughter (Betty Bronson) of a wealthy couple (Florence Vidor and Adolphe Menjou) is horrified to find out that her parents, who spend most of their time fighting with each other, are planning to divorce. She schemes to get them back together by pretending to fall for a dimwitted actor, hoping that her parents will unite to prevent the “romance”.  Find out more at  wikipedia.org Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival.  Introduced by film historian and writer Andrew Kelly.  With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk.  Watershed, Bristol Link

 

Laurel & Hardy Rediscovered in 4K  A joyful triple bill celebrating 1928, the second year of Laurel & Hardy’s partnership and the moment when their distinctive comic rhythm, friendship and finely tuned partnership truly took shape.  In Two Tars (1928), a simple drive with their sweethearts descends into glorious vehicular anarchy, one of cinema’s greatest slapstick finales. In We Faw Down (1928), the boys tell their wives they’re off to the theatre, only to end up in a comic tangle of lies, misunderstandings and moral mayhem. And in From Soup to Nuts (1928), hired as waiters for a high-society dinner, their attempts at refinement go fabulously off the rails.  Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival.  Introduced by Chris Daniels (festival director) and Robin Ince (comedian, writer and broadcaster), With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk.  Watershed, Bristol  Link

 

For Heaven’s Sake (Dir. Sam Taylor, US, 1926)  + The Pilgrim (Dir. Charlie Chaplin, US, 1923) (Screening format – not known, 48/46mins)  In For Heaven’s Sake, Harold Lloyd plays a wealthy young spendthrift who is upset that his name is being used to bring parishioners into a storefront mission in the poorer part of town. He heads to the mission to have it out with the minister, only to fall in love with minister’s daughter (Jobyna Ralston).  But when they start to talk of marriage, Harold’s wealthy friends are dismayed that he is marrying beneath himself and so take desperate action.   The climactic chase is as hilarious and exciting a piece of celluloid as has ever been produced, but it is merely the capper to an uninterrupted stream of brilliant sight gags. Long underrated,this is one of the cleverest and most consistently entertaining of all of Harold Lloyd’s silent vehicles.  Find out more at silentfilm.org In The Pilgrim (1923), Charlie Chaplin’s Tramp dons the robes of a minister in a story that turns mistaken identity into a meditation on grace, guilt and forgiveness. Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival.  Introduced by Robin Ince (comedian, writer and broadcaster). With recorded score.   Megascreen, Bristol Link

 

5 February

The Rugged Island: a Shetland Lyric (Dir. Jenny Gilbertson, UK, 1933) (Screening format – not known, 56mins) A dramatised documentary story about a young couple torn between the choice of emigration to Australia or remaining to work their croft in Shetland.  Documentary film maker Gilbertson ( who also did all her own scriptwriting, filming, sound and lighting as well as direction) was initially encouraged in her work by John Grierson, who had purchased some of her earlier documentary films for the GPO Film Library.  While making The Rugged Island, she met and married John Gilbertson who was the star of the film.  Hailed by John Grierson – father of the British documentary movement – as “one of the best descriptions of life in the country anybody has yet made”, this tender and beautiful dramatisation of Shetland life surpasses the bounds of both fiction and non-fiction filmmaking.Find out more at movingimage.nls.uk .  Accompanied with new live score by Inge Thomson and Catriona Macdonald.  An Lanntair,  Stornoway    Link

 

A Gentleman Of Paris (Dir: Harry d’Abbadie d’Arrast, US, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 65mins)  In A Gentleman of Paris (1927), Adolphe Menjou stars as a suave boulevardier whose philandering ways finally catch up with him in this stylish and witty romantic farce. He plays Le Marquis de Marignan, a French aristocrat and seducer who flirts with every Parisian girl he meets. If dallying with youngster fräuleins isn’t enough to keep him busy, the Marquis also has to cope with an unexpected visit from his fiancée and her father.  Filled with sharp visual humour, exquisite Parisian detail and Menjou’s trademark charm, it’s an example of late silent-era sophistication. Find out more at wikipedia.org  Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival. Introduced by film historian and writer Andrew Kelly. With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.  Watershed, Bristol Link

 

Louise Fazenda: Queen Of Slapstick One of the unsung heroines of silent comedy is the much-overlooked but utterly brilliant Louise Fazenda. A huge star on Mack Sennett’s studio lot, Fazenda’s zany energy, expressive face and fearless slapstick made her a standout in dozens of two-reelers and features throughout the 1910s and 20s. Her ability to balance broad farce with finely tuned character comedy paved the way for later greats like Thelma Todd and Lucille Ball.  This specially curated programme of short comedies showcases Fazenda at her riotous best, including: Her Torpedoed Love (1917) and Heart and Flowers(1919).   Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival. Introduced by comedian Lucy Porter.   With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk.  Watershed, Bristol Link

 

6 February

The Flapper (Dir. Alan Crosland, US, 1920) (Screening format – not known, 88mins) Long before Clara Bow or Louise Brooks made the flapper a global icon, screen star Olive Thomas defined the look, attitude and energy of the modern young woman on screen. The Flapper (1920) – the first film ever to use the term in its title — captures a pivotal cultural moment: the dawn of the Roaring Twenties, when women’s lives, fashion and freedoms were rapidly changing.  A witty and stylish comedy, Thomas plays a small-town schoolgirl who ventures to an elite finishing school and discovers the excitement and complications of independence, flirtation and fun offering the audience a chance to see one of the earliest cinematic celebrations of freedom, fashion and female self-expression.  Find out more at wikipedia.org       Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival. Introduced by silent film writer Pamela Hutchinson.  With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.  Watershed, Bristol Link

 

Before And Beyond Laurel And Hardy The influence of Laurel & Hardy stretched far beyond Hollywood, inspiring countless comedy duos and imitators including a remarkable lineage of female partnerships who borrowed, reinterpreted, and sometimes subverted the boys’ brand of beautifully timed onscreen chaos.  This screening and discussion celebrates some of these overlooked acts: from US contemporaries Marion Byron & Anita Garvin to a trailblazing Scandinavian duo Ole & Axel/Pat & Patchon and Britain’s very own Tilly Girls. Featuring a selection of rare short films that illuminate this lesser-known chapter of screen comedy.  Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival. Introduced by silent film writer Pamela Hutchinson and comedian and actor  Lucy Porter. With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk.  Watershed, Bristol Link

 

Our Hospitality (Dir. Buster Keaton/John G Blystone, US, 1923) (Screening format – not known, 73mins)  Our Hospitality is a riotous satire of family feuds and Southern codes of honor. In 1831, Keaton leaves his home in New York to take charge of his family mansion down South. En route, Keaton befriends pretty Natalie Talmadge (Keaton’s real-life wife at the time), who invites him to dine at her family home. Upon meeting Talmadge’s father and brothers, Keaton learns that he is the last surviving member of a family with whom Talmadge’s kin have been feuding for over 20 years. The brothers are all for killing Keaton on the spot, but Talmadge’s father insists that the rules of hospitality be observed: so long as Keaton is a guest in the house, he will not be harmed. Thus, Keaton spends the next few reels alternately planning to sneak out of the mansion without being noticed or contriving to remain within its walls as long as possible. But once he is out of the house the chase is on, with the father and brothers in hot pursuit.  In the climactic waterfall stunt a dummy stood in for Talmadge but Keaton used no doubles, and nearly lost his life as a result.  This 7-reel silent film represents the only joint appearance of Buster Keaton and Natalie Talmadge; Keaton hoped that by spending several weeks on location with his wife, he could patch up their shaky marriage (it didn’t work). Also appearing are two other members of the Keaton family: Keaton’s ex-vaudevillian father Joe (who performs an eye-popping “high kick”) and his son Joseph Keaton IV, playing Buster as a baby. Find out more at wikipedia.org  Presented as part of Bristol’s Slapstick Festival.  Introduction by Polly Rose (University of Bristol). With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.  Watershed, Bristol Link

 

14 February

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 live musical accompaniment by Minima.  The Nutshell, Winchester Link

 

15 February

La Boheme  (Dir. King Vidor, US, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 95mins)  After leaving her mentor, D.W. Griffith, Lillian Gish made a triumphant debut (and a contract for $800,000) on the MGM lot in 1926 with La Boheme, a romantic adaptation of the classic opera, but despite strong box office, critical approval and the favor of studio head Louis B. Mayer, who hailed her as his favorite actress, her clashes with the studio anticipated the problems that would make her stay there surprisingly short, if far from undistinguished.  The story is of struggling Bohemians who find love in the Paris slums, with Gish starring as Mimi, the seamstress whose romance with a young playwright (John Gilbert) is destroyed by poverty.  The film earned profits of almost $400,000, and was particularly popular in Europe. However, Gish’s own popularity was already beginning to wane and she only completed five of the six MGM films she had been contracted to make before giving up film work to concentrate on the stage.   Find out more at silentfilm.org   With live organ accompaniment by Donald Mackenzie.  Musical Museum, Brentford  Link

 

The Garden Of Eden (Dir. Lewis Milestone, US, 1928) (Screening format – digital, 80  mins)  Minus only the gatling-gun dialogue, this is effectively a silent screwball. Scripted by Hans Kraly, Lubitsch’s regular writer, the film follows the fortunes of Corinne Griffith’s radiant young singer as she flees a pretzel bakery for the bright lights of Budapest, only to find herself on offer to wealthy men in a disreputable music hall. The action then traces her journey to Monte Carlo and the notorious Hotel Eden, where Viennese comedy joyfully turns to French farce. Find out more at  moviessilently.com    Introduced by Bryony Dixon, Curator, BFI National Archive.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  BFI Southbank, London Link

 

20 February

The Immigrant (Dir, Charles Chaplin, US, 1917) +  Big Business (Dir. James W Horne/Leo McCarey, US, 1928) (Screening format not known ,   22/19 mins) In The Immigrant, A penniless Chaplin falls in love with a girl on a boat bound for America, only to be separated on their arrival in the Land of Liberty. Will they overcome the harsh realities of their new home and be reunited…? There are belly laughs aplenty in this poignant tale featuring Chaplin’s mischievous “Tramp” character whose ingenuity always sees him through. This is Chaplin’s best loved silent short and the film that he himself cherished most – both for its craft and its rags-to-riches theme, which was always close to his heart.     Big Business sees Stan and Ollie  at their anarchic best as a pair of door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen whose attempts to secure the custom of James Finlayson turns into an epic duel of mutual destruction. Larbert born Finlayson, with his incredulous glare and bristling moustache, gives a superbly combustible performance as the indignant homeowner, and provides the perfect foil for the boys’ delirious brand of slapstick, escalating every gag to delightful extremes. . Find out more at wikipedia.org   Introduced by HippFest Director Alison Strauss.  With live musical accompaniment by Jane Gardner.  Dobbie Hall, Larbert. Link

 

21 February

L’Inhumaine   (Dir.  Marcel L’Herbier, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 135mins)  Famous singer Claire Lescot (Georgette Leblanc), who lives on the outskirts of Paris, is courted by many men, including a maharajah, Djorah de Nopur (Philippe Heriat) , and a young Swedish scientist, Einar Norsen (Jaque Catelain). At her lavish parties she enjoys their amorous attentions but she remains emotionally aloof and heartlessly taunts them. When she is told that Norsen has killed himself because of her, she shows no feelings. At her next concert she is booed by an audience outraged at her coldness. She visits the vault in which Norsen’s body lies, and as she admits her feelings for him, but all is not what it seems and further tragedy looms. While the plot of the film was something of a creaky melodrama with strong elements of fantasy,  from the outset L’Herbier’s principal interest lay in the style of filming: he wanted to present “a miscellany of modern art” in which many contributors would bring different creative styles into a “single aesthetic goal”, in effect a manifesto of the modern decorative arts.   Find out more at sensesofcinema.com  With live piano accompaniment by Meg Morley.  Droichead Arts Centre, Drogheda, Ireland Link

 

22 February

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927)(Screening format –not known, 60mins)  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.  Find out more at silentfilm.org With live musical accompaniment by multidisciplinary artist Joe Harvey-Whyte.  Theatreship, Canary Wharf, London  Link (matinee)  Link (evening)     NB    This is a severly truncated version of the full film and a print of likely poor quality.

 

Man With a Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929)  + Un Chien Andalou (Dir. Luis Bunuel/Salvador Dali, Fr, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 68/28mins) Part documentary and part cinematic art,Man With a Movie Camera  follows a city in the 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, from morning to night. Directed by Vertov, with a variety of complex and innovative camera shots (filmed by Vertov’s equally talented and innovative brother Mikhail Kaufman), the film depicts scenes of ordinary daily life in Russia. Vertov celebrates the modernity of the city, with its vast buildings, dense population and bustling industries. While there are no titles or narration, director and cameraman still naturally convey the marvels of the modern city.  Find out more at rogerebert.com .  The opening sequence of Un Chien Andalou, Buñuel’s first film, contains one of the most indelible images, and most primal “cuts”, in film history – the chillingly tranquil slicing of an eyeball with a razor blade. From there, Buñuel and collaborator Slvador Dali use a Surrealist version of narrative to thread together sequences involving a heterosexual couple, a disembodied hand and a rotting carcass inside a piano.  Find out more at rogerebert.com.  With live piano accompaniment by Lillian Henley.  Palace Cinema, Broadstairs  LInk

 

L’Inhumaine   (Dir.  Marcel L’Herbier, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 135mins)  Famous singer Claire Lescot (Georgette Leblanc), who lives on the outskirts of Paris, is courted by many men, including a maharajah, Djorah de Nopur (Philippe Heriat) , and a young Swedish scientist, Einar Norsen (Jaque Catelain). At her lavish parties she enjoys their amorous attentions but she remains emotionally aloof and heartlessly taunts them. When she is told that Norsen has killed himself because of her, she shows no feelings. At her next concert she is booed by an audience outraged at her coldness. She visits the vault in which Norsen’s body lies, and as she admits her feelings for him, but all is not what it seems and further tragedy looms. While the plot of the film was something of a creaky melodrama with strong elements of fantasy,  from the outset L’Herbier’s principal interest lay in the style of filming: he wanted to present “a miscellany of modern art” in which many contributors would bring different creative styles into a “single aesthetic goal”, in effect a manifesto of the modern decorative arts.   Find out more at sensesofcinema.com  With live piano accompaniment by Meg Morley.  Light House Cinema, Dublin Link

 

25 February

No Blood Relation (Dir. Mikio Naruse, Japan, 1932) (Screening format – Digital, 79 mins) An actress returns to Tokyo after a successful stint in Hollywood to reclaim — with the help of her gangster brother — the daughter she abandoned years before.  Mikio Naruse was one of the most important directors and screenwriters in what has become known as the `Golden Age’ of Japanese cinema (which, unlike its Western counterpart, continued to be silent for some time into the 1930s). His focus on `common people’ drama and fusing of traditional and modern Japanese motifs have drawn comparisons with his more celebrated contemporary Yasujirō Ozu. Much of his earlier work, mostly from the 1920s, is considered lost. No Blood Relation, photographed by Suketaro Inokai, is his earliest surviving feature-length film. Based on a novel by Shunyo Yanagawa, No Blood Relation is a gripping early example of Mikio Naruse’s cinematic boldness, featuring a screenplay by Ozu’s famed collaborator Kogo Noda.  Find out more at  dennisschwartzreviews.com   Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment .  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

27 February

Battleship Potemkin (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) (Screening format – not known, 75mins) Considered one of the most important films in the history of silent pictures, as well as possibly Eisenstein’s greatest work, Battleship Potemkin brought Eisenstein’s theories of cinema art to the world in a powerful showcase; his emphasis on montage, his stress of intellectual contact, and his treatment of the mass instead of the individual as the protagonist. The film tells the story of the mutiny on the Russian ship Prince Potemkin during the 1905 uprising.Their mutiny was short-lived, however, as during their attempts to get the population of Odessa to join the uprising, soldiers arrived and laid waste to the insurgents.  Battleship Potemkin is a work of extraordinary pictorial beauty and great elegance of form. It is symmetrically broken into five movements or acts. In the first of these, “Men and Maggots,” the flagrant mistreatment of the sailors at the hands of their officers is demonstrated, while the second, “Drama on the Quarterdeck,” presents the actual mutiny and the ship’s arrival in Odessa. “Appeal from the Dead” establishes the solidarity of the citizens of Odessa with the mutineers. It is the fourth sequence, “The Odessa Steps,” which depicts the massacre of the citizens, that thrust Eisenstein and his film into the historical eminence that both occupy today. It is unquestionably the most famous sequence of its kind in film history, and Eisenstein displays his legendary ability to convey large-scale action scenes. The shot of the baby carriage tumbling down the long staircase has been re-created in many films. The sequence’s power is such that the film’s conclusion, “Meeting the Squadron,” in which the Potemkin in a show of brotherhood is allowed to pass through the squadron unharmed, is anticlimactic.  Find out more at classicartfilms.com  With live musical accompaniment by Body Orchestra.   Theatreship, Canary Wharf, London Link

 

28 February

City Lights (Dir. Charlie Chaplin, US, 1931) (Screening format – not known, 84mins) Subtitled ‘A Comedy in Pantomime’, City Lights is viewed by many as Chaplin’s greatest film – a ‘silent film’ released three years into the talkie era.  The melodramatic film, a combination of pathos, slapstick and comedy, was a tribute to the art of body language and pantomime – a lone hold-out against the assault of talking film.  The writer-director-star achieved new levels of grace, in both physical comedy and dramatic poignancy, with this silent tale of a lovable vagrant falling for a young blind woman who sells flowers on the street (a magical Virginia Cherrill) and mistakes him for a millionaire. Though this Depression-era smash was made after the advent of sound, Chaplin remained steadfast in his love for the expressive beauty of the pre-talkie form. The result was the epitome of his art and the crowning achievement of silent comedy.  Find out more at rogerebert.com.  With recorded musical score composed by Chaplin himself.  FeckenOdeon Cinema, Redditch Link

 

Battleship Potemkin (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) (Screening format – not known, 75mins) Considered one of the most important films in the history of silent pictures, as well as possibly Eisenstein’s greatest work, Battleship Potemkin brought Eisenstein’s theories of cinema art to the world in a powerful showcase; his emphasis on montage, his stress of intellectual contact, and his treatment of the mass instead of the individual as the protagonist. The film tells the story of the mutiny on the Russian ship Prince Potemkin during the 1905 uprising.Their mutiny was short-lived, however, as during their attempts to get the population of Odessa to join the uprising, soldiers arrived and laid waste to the insurgents.  Battleship Potemkin is a work of extraordinary pictorial beauty and great elegance of form. It is symmetrically broken into five movements or acts. In the first of these, “Men and Maggots,” the flagrant mistreatment of the sailors at the hands of their officers is demonstrated, while the second, “Drama on the Quarterdeck,” presents the actual mutiny and the ship’s arrival in Odessa. “Appeal from the Dead” establishes the solidarity of the citizens of Odessa with the mutineers. It is the fourth sequence, “The Odessa Steps,” which depicts the massacre of the citizens, that thrust Eisenstein and his film into the historical eminence that both occupy today. It is unquestionably the most famous sequence of its kind in film history, and Eisenstein displays his legendary ability to convey large-scale action scenes. The shot of the baby carriage tumbling down the long staircase has been re-created in many films. The sequence’s power is such that the film’s conclusion, “Meeting the Squadron,” in which the Potemkin in a show of brotherhood is allowed to pass through the squadron unharmed, is anticlimactic.  Find out more at classicartfilms.com  With live musical accompaniment by Body Orchestra.   Theatreship, Canary Wharf, London Link

 

March

3 March

Man With a Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 68mins) Part documentary and part cinematic art, this film follows a city in the 1920s Soviet Union throughout the day, from morning to night. Directed by Vertov, with a variety of complex and innovative camera shots (filmed by Vertov’s equally talented and innovative brother Mikhail Kaufman), the film depicts scenes of ordinary daily life in Russia. Vertov celebrates the modernity of the city, with its vast buildings, dense population and bustling industries. While there are no titles or narration, director and cameraman still naturally convey the marvels of the modern city.  Find out more at rogerebert.com .  With live musical accompaniment by Joe Harvey-Whyte and Owen Spafford.  Theatreship, Canary Wharf, London Link

 

6 March

Phantom of the Moulin Rouge (aka Le Fantôme du Moulin Rouge)(Dir Rene Clair, Fr, 1925) (Screening format – not known, 90 mins)  After two short films, Entr’acte and Paris qui Dort (both 1924) Rene Clair went on to direct this, his first feature length film. The Phantom of the Moulin Rouge continues with the same mischievously surreal themes of his first two short films with the story of a man, frustrated in his romantic ambitions, who becomes the victim for a scientific experiment in which a strange doctor separates the soul of the man from his body. Disembodied and invisible, the man whiles away his time playing practical jokes but eventually seeks to return to his own body.  However, that body has now been discovered by the police and the doctor charged with murder.   Will soul and body ever be reunited.  Perhaps not in the same class as later Clair silents such as The Italian Straw Hat or Les Deux Timides (both 1928) this is a wonderfully amusing tale.   Find out more at imdb.com.   With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  Fleapit Cinema Club, Westerham Link

 

8 March

Phantom Of The Opera (Dir. Rupert Julian, 1925)  (Screening format – not known, 103mins)  A title that needs no introduction, The Phantom of the Opera has spawned many remakes, remasters and sequels. This original film version, produced with moments of early Technicolour, sees Lon Chaney, the ‘Man of a Thousand Faces’ perform one of his most iconic roles. His ghastly make-up and outrageous performance made this title a benchmark in the American silent film era. The film was a critical and commercial success upon release, and still stands as an important film in cinematic history to this day, with press quotes from the time labelling the film an ‘ultra-fantastic melodrama’ (New York Times), ‘produced on a stupendous scale’ (Moving Picture World) and ‘probably the greatest inducement to nightmare that has yet been screened’ (Variety).  The mysterious phantom (Lon Chaney) is a vengeful composer living in the catacombs under the Paris Opera House, determined to promote the career of  the singer he loves (Mary Philbin).  Famed for the phantom’s shock unmasking, incredible set designs and the masked ball sequence, it still packs a punch. Find out more at wikipedia.org  With live musical accompaniment by Minima.  Crayford Community Hall, Castle Cary  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 (a sound version, which involved some re-shooting and dubbing and is now famous for its ‘KNIFE!!!’ scene, was subsequently released). 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  With live musical accompaniment with a new score by Barbara de Biasi, performed by a classical ensemble.  Barbican, London   Link

 

18 March

Man In The Fire ( Released in the US as When Duty Calls.) (Dir. Erich Waschneck, Ger, 1926) (Screening format – 35mm, 89mins)  A serious accident occurs at a Berlin subway station, and firefighter Johann Michael (Rudolph Rittner) is so severely injured during the rescue efforts that he can never return to his profession. He finds work on an assembly line, which increasingly depresses him.  His daughter Lore (Helga Thomas) is a costume designer at the Scala Theater, and head lighting technician Karl Winter (Kurt Vespermann), a ward of her father, has fallen in love with her. Lore, however, only has eyes for fire engineer Frank, who reciprocates her feelings, unaware that she is the daughter of firefighter Michael, whom he recently dismissed. A conflict immediately erupts between father and daughter, and the rejected Karl Winter further incites the father.  Rudolph Rittner became a celebrated stage actor at the beginning of the 20th century, but surprised the world of the theatre when he retired from acting in 1907.  He returned to acting in 1922, but this time in films. His appearance in front of the camera in Der Graf von Charolais (1922), was followed by other movies such as Ein Glas Wasser (1923), Fritz Lang’s Die Nibelungen (1924), Zur Chronik von Grieshuus (1925) and Der Meister von Nürnberg (1927).  Find out more at  wikipedia.org   Presented by the Kennington Bioscope. With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

The Outlaw And His Wife (Dir. Victor Sjöström, Swe, 1918) (Screening format – not known, 111 mins)  A tempestuous melodrama  set in 18th century Iceland. While not as well known as Sjöström’s The Wind, The Outlaw and His Wife is considered by many to be his silent-era masterpiece. The outlaw (magnificently played by Sjöström himself) arrives at the farm of a rich widow (Erastoff), seeking work. The pair soon fall happily in love, until they are forced to flee to the mountains to make a life in the wilds. Here, among the majestic glaciers and volcanic hot springs, the outlawed couple live out their love affair to the bitter end. This powerful portrayal of two characters trying to escape their destiny is played out against  nature’s impervious and devastatingly beautiful backdrop. The portrayal by Sjöström and Erastoff of two people bound by an all-consuming passion is immediate and palpable, with the pair’s real-life romance lending potency to the performances.  Find out more at silentfilm.org.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Meg Morley.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Finis Terrae (Dir. Jean Epstein, Fr, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 80 Mins) On a tiny island off Brittany two young men eke out a living by harvesting seaweed to burn for prized soda. When one of them cuts his thumb and an infection sets in, it challenges the boundaries of their relationship and galvanises the neighbouring community. Jean Epstein’s timeless narrative about survival in extremis is underpinned by avant-garde techniques and deeply resonant images, such as the recurrent lighthouse or the sight of women sheltering by rocks like giant black birds. Even without sound you can almost hear the ocean. This is a film about the possibilities of cinema and anyone thinking of picking up a camera should watch and be inspired. Find out more at worldscinema.org.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Composer / guitarist Dan Abrahams and French drummer Philippe Boudot.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness  Link

 

Fante-Anne  (Dir. Rasmus Breistein, Nor, 1920) (Screening format – not known, 75mins)  Rasmus Breistein’s classic film (and Norway’s first indigenous feature film) tells the story of the spirited orphan Anne and her complicated love for farm boy Haldor, set amidst the rural life, folk traditions and stunning landscapes of Norway.  The film is charming, painterly, dramatically truthful and uniquely Norwegian.  It was a huge success on its release and marked the beginning of  Norway’s national romantic cinema. Find out more at  kosmorama.org Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment (and the UK premiere of a new score) by Dina Konradsen and Jo Einar Jansen.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

19 March

Kidnapped  (Dir. Alan Crosland, USA, 1917) (Screening format – not known, 64mins) The first screen adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s rip-roaring adventure yarn set against the backdrop of the Jacobite Rebellion. In 18th century Scotland, David Balfour sets out to claim his inheritance from his greedy old uncle, who colludes with an unscrupulous sea captain to have David press ganged on board a ship. When Alan Breck (‘an outlaw and a gentleman’) joins the ship, he and David become unlikely allies, setting off across Scotland together to reclaim David’s birthright. The adventure proceeds briskly from the start, but the swash is firmly buckled in when Breck appears, cutting a dash with his splendid garb and prodigious moustache. The New Jersey locations may be a poor stand- in for the Scottish Highlands, and the scene at Queensferry may fudge the view across the Firth of Forth, but the film’s tartan heart is absolutely in the right place.  Find out more at moviessilently.com Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by John Sweeney.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases.  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, which was so popular it ran for 45 episodes, was sanctioned by Arthur Conan Doyle, who thoroughly approved of Eille Norwood as Holmes. This programme features a selection of three episodes: ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, wherein Holmes falls for ‘the woman’; ‘The Golden Pince-Nez’, which features Holmes’ deductive powers at work, and ‘The Final Problem’, featuring the sinister Professor Moriarty.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Günter Buchwald. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

The White Heather (Dir. Maurice Tourneur, USA, 1919) (Screening format – not known, 70mins)  Painter-turned-film-director Maurice Tourneur applies his pioneering talent for expressive lighting and composition to this sensational melodrama about class, morality and social ambition. Our story begins at ‘Shetland castle… nestled amongst the heather-covered hills of Scotland, where the ancient customs of that region are still scrupulously observed’. Here we meet Lord Angus Cameron, facing financial ruin and desperate to annul his secret marriage to lowly housekeeper Marion. The only proof of their union is a marriage certificate locked in a trunk aboard a sunken yacht: The White Heather. The hunt is on as Marion, with the help of lovelorn Alec McClintock and the gamekeeper Dick (played by a young John Gilbert, just before he found fame as cinema’s hottest heart-throb besides Valentino!) fights to save her reputation and secure a future for her son. The film’s dramatic climax features groundbreaking underwater sequences that enraptured contemporary reviewers and still thrill today.  Find out more at silentfilm.org Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

20 March

April Fool (Dir. Nat Ross, USA, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 75mins)  Devoted single father Jacob Goodman is a Jewish immigrant ‘who landed in America without a pair of shoes to his back’. Jacob is a hard-worker and keen to better himself, but when his efforts at book-learning cost him his job at a garment sweatshop, he is forced to rely on his business acumen to provide for his young daughter (played by Baby Peggy). As Jacob gradually builds a successful business, and secures a chance of a happy, prosperous marriage for his now grown-up daughter, trouble looms when the nefarious nephew of Jacob’s rival threatens to derail everyone’s chance of a happy ending.  This charming rom-com is an undiscovered gem – with the tender relationship between the older of the two pairs of would-be lovers stealing our hearts even more than their junior counterparts. As Jacob and Amelia navigate the rise and fall of their respective finances, meddlesome matchmakers, and misunderstandings, the film balances humour with genuine emotional warmth.  Find out more at catalog.afi.com Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Meg Morley. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

High Treason  (Dir. Maurice Elvey, UK, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 95mins)  A British sci-fi thriller set in 1950s London, involving a plot by evil arms dealers to blow up the Channel Tunnel and fly planes into buildings. Based on a stage-play by Noel Pemberton-Billing MP, the film features imagined variants of television used for broadcasting and televisual telephony. A very British vision of the future, it was unquestionably influenced by Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. Find out more at scifist.net Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Mike Nolan. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Why Be Good (Dir. William A Seiter, US, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 89mins)  One of the defining ‘flappers’ of the 1920s, Colleen Moore sparkled in a series of deliciously frothy light comedies. Why Be Good? is a classic jazz-age tale set in a metropolitan world of department stores and night clubs: a real time capsule. Life-of-the-party Pert Kelly (Moore) falls for the boss of the department store where she works – but will her free-spirited ways be tolerated by high society? For a movie that’s nearly 100 years old, Why Be Good? remains remarkably fresh and modern with a great commentary on the double standards for women.  Considered lost for many years, a copy of Why Be Good?  was discovered in an Italian film archive and eventually restored in 2014, complete with its original ‘Vitaphone’ music and effects soundtrack.  Find out more at  silentfilm.org. Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment Meg Morley and Frank Bockius. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

21 March

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   With live organ accompaniment by Donald Mackenzie.  Musical Museum, Brentford Link

 

The Cameraman (Dir. Edward Sedgwick/Buster Keaton, US, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 67mins) Buster (Buster Keaton) meets Sally (Marceline Day), who works as a secretary for the newsreel department at MGM, and falls hard. Trying to win her attention, Buster abandons photography in order to become a news cameraman. In spite of his early failures with a motion camera, Sally takes to him as well. However, veteran cameraman Stagg (Harold Goodwin) also fancies Sally, meaning Buster will need to learn how to film quickly before he loses his job.  Find out more at slantmagazine.com Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by John Sweeney and Frank Bockius.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Captain January (Dir.  Edward F. Cline, US, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 65mins)  This heart-warming family drama showcases the extraordinary star appeal of Baby Peggy, one of the most popular child performers of the silent era. With her expressive face,  impeccable comic timing, and apparent emotional intelligence, Baby Peggy was just five years old when she shot this film – already with an astonishing 45 shorts and features to her name. In Captain January, she charms as a foundling adopted by Hobart Basworth’s grizzled old lighthouse keeper, forming an unlikely family together with only a parrot and the sea for company. The pair’s happiness is threatened when local do-gooders begin meddling and wealthy relatives arrive looking for the lost child. Unashamedly sentimental, brimming with gentle humour and playful mischief, this is a delight from start to finish – guaranteed to melt the most cynical of hearts. Peggy (later known as Diana Serra Cary) disappeared from the spotlight aged eight, re-emerging as an author and campaigner for child actors’ rights. Find out more at moviessilently.com Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.   Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Mountain of Destiny (Dir. Arnold Fanck, Ger, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 86mins)  A landmark of early mountain cinema, celebrated for its breathtaking alpine scenery and exhilarating realism, where physical endurance and cinematic ambition collide. Director Arnold Fanck coined the term ‘Natur-Spielfilm’ to describe this genre-defying natural-world drama, set amidst the vertiginous rock faces of the High Alps and photographed with enthralling clarity and scale. The story follows a young man who has vowed to his mother that he will never attempt to reach the summit of the formidable Guglia del Diavolo, the mountain on which his father died years earlier. His resolve is tested when his childhood friend Hella decides that she can conquer the mountain. When she gets into difficulty, the young man must decide between honouring his promise and risking everything to save her. Central to the film’s success are the performers, notably Olympic ski champion Hannes Schneider (the father) and professional mountaineer Luis Trenker (his adult son) who perform climbs and descents that are genuinely awe-inspiring, even today. Find out more at  wikipedia.org Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Günter Buchwald and Frank Bockius.   Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Saxophone Susy (Dir. Karel Lamač, Ger, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 83mins)  A joyous jazz-age comedy of errors about two girlfriends chasing very different dreams. Susy is a chorus girl who longs to pursue her education, but instead finds herself reluctantly enrolled at Tiller’s Dance School in London. Anni yearns for a life in showbiz, but her father thinks the best place for his wayward daughter is at a strict English boarding school. En route to their mismatched destinations, the girls hatch a bold plan: they will trade places! Anni’s enthusiasm more than makes up for her lack of training, and it’s not long before her eccentric dancing is taking London by storm. Czech film star Anny Ondra shines as Anni, the good-time gal whose infectious vivacity is more than a match for mere men.  Find out more at giornatedelcinemamuto.it  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Jane Gardner, Hazel Morrison and John Burgess .   Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

The Bat (Dir. Roland West, US, 1926) (Screening format -not known, 90 mins)  The Bat, a master criminal terrorizing the city wearing a fearsome bat costume, sets his sinister sights on the eerie Fleming mansion. Within the walls of this spooky house, a bank robber has stashed $20,000 in stolen loot. Leasing the mansion is the wealthy Cornelia Van Gorder, along with her niece Dale. Dale’s fiance, Brooks Bailey, a cashier at the bank, becomes the prime suspect in the robbery investigation. But after the bank president is found dead, we’re in old dark house territory and everybody is a suspect.  Based on the famous play by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood, The Bat is renowned for its expert use of miniatures and striking set designs by William Cameron Menzies. In 1930, Roland West skillfully remade the film as a talkie, The Bat Whispers. Vincent Price starred in yet another version of The Bat in 1959. West, an innovator of movie-making techniques in the silent era, also made The Monster in 1925 with legendary silent star Lon Chaney. Along with the 1927 classic, The Cat And The Canary, The Bat is highly regarded as a prototype for the haunted house film genre that flourished in the ’30s and ’40s. Find out more at  silentology.wordpress.com Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

A Phantom Tram Ride Around the UK  Imagine a city without cars! You don’t have to – because before World War One early film-makers went around the globe capturing exactly that! The resulting filmic records give a fascinating glimpse of a world where the curb is not an impermeable barrier between safety and danger, and the streets are for all manner of pedestrians and vehicles.Paramount among these transportation modes are the new electric trams which glide majestically – and quite slowly (!) – around the cities of Britain. In this entertaining and informative show, Dr Lawrence Napper will guide you through familiar places made strange by the absence of motorcars and the dominance of trams. Hop on board for this series of carefully curated and beautiful phantom rides around the UK between 1898 and 1914.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  Introduced by Dr Lawrence Napper.  With live musical accompaniment by Mike Nolan.  Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway, Bo’ness 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 Julia Faye,  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 .  With live musical accompaniment by Jonny Best.  Brewery Arts, Kendal   Link

 

Winning of Barbara Worth (Dir. Henry King,  1926) (Screening format – not known, 89mins)  Based on the novel of the same name  by Harold Bell Wright this tells the story of  two engineers vying for the affections of the adoptive daughter of a landowner. Barbara Worth ( Vilma Banky) wants to help her father, Jefferson Worth (Charles Lane), build a dam on the Colorado River to help irrigate the desert land he owns. The elder Worth gets a loan from a New York banker, who brings with him his stepson, Willard Holmes (Ronald Coleman), an engineer. Local engineer Abe Lee (Gary Cooper, in one of his first big roles) and Holmes both fall in love with Barbara. But who gets the girl and does the dam ever get built?  This romantic Western is a story of ambition, love, and survival set against the stark beauty of the California desert. At its heart is a breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat flood sequence – a landmark in early cinema – brought to life with the full force of the orchestra live on stage.  Expect soaring melodies, dramatic tension, and the magic of classic cinema as you’ve never experienced it before. Whether you’re a film buff, a music lover, or just looking for something totally different –this will be a unique night out at the movies complete with a live symphonic twist.  Find out more at imdb.com .  With a score composed by Neil Brand and performed live by the Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra.  Victoria Hall, Sheffield.  Link

 

22 March

Laurel & Hardy Double Bill  First up is the world premiere of the new restoration of With Love and Hisses (Dir. Fred Guiol, US, 1927), with Oliver ‘Babe’ Hardy as a pompous sergeant in the Home Guard, driven to distraction by Stan’s well-meaning but infuriating private. James Finlayson joins the mayhem as Captain Bustle, exasperated by the hapless recruits in his charge. It’s an auspicious early outing for the Laurel-Hardy-Finlayson trio, whose comedy chemistry, sparked earlier that same year, would flourish across 13 years of filmmaking together. We finish with Slipping Wives (Dir. Fred Guiol, US, 1927) – an early on-screen pairing in which the gormless Stan is  enlisted in a society wife’s plot to make her neglectful husband jealous, much to the consternation of Ollie’s bullish butler. Expect farcical mishaps, mistaken identities and pantomime tussles… plus the first instance of Laurel and Hardy in a bed together, one of their trademark scenarios, later affectionately given homage in the sketches Morecambe and Wise.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by  Günter Buchwald  and Frank Bockius. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Apart from You (Dir. Mikio Naruse, Jap 1933) (Screening format – not known, 72mins)  Mikio Naruse was one of the most important directors and screenwriters in what has become known as the `Golden Age’ of Japanese cinema (which, unlike its Western counterpart, continued to be silent for some time into the 1930s). His focus on `common people’ drama and fusing of traditional and modern Japanese motifs have drawn comparisons with his more celebrated contemporary Yasujirō Ozu. Much of his earlier work, mostly from the 1920s, is considered lost. Apart From You was produced and distributed by Shochiku, the oldest of Japan’s `big four’ production companies.  Mitsuko Yoshikawa, the star of Apart From You, was a favoured actress of Ozu, appearing in several of his notable works. One of Japan’s most enduring screen talents, her career spanned more than five decades and over 260 films. By the late 1920s, she was a regular presence at Shochiku, often portraying maternal figures and women of quiet strength.  For Apart from You, Naruse turned his camera on the lives of working women, which he would continue to do throughout his long career. In this gently devastating drama, a critical breakthrough for the director, he contrasts the life of an ageing geisha, whose angry teenage son is ashamed of her profession, with that of her youthful counterpart, a lovely young girl resentful of her family for forcing her into a life of ignominy.  Find out more at silentfilm.org  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by  John Sweeney Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

Song (Dir. Richard Eichberg, Ger, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 122mins) Anna May Wong gives one of the most compelling screen performances of her career as a woman tormented by unrequited love.  This superb melodrama, a British-German co-production, was designed to appeal to international markets. Set in a bustling Asian port, it centres on a vaudeville artist (Chinese-American star Anna May Wong) whose emotional attachment to a knife-thrower (Heinrich George) is complicated by the reappearance of his former mistress. A lavish treat, with scintillating dance numbers and mesmerising close-ups of Wong. Find out more at berlinale.de.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne
and Frank Bockius. Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

The Crowd (Dir. King Vidor, US, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 98 mins) One of the last great masterpieces of the silent era, The Crowd combines awe-inspiring camera–work with a thrilling, often tender realism that would influence the great postwar directors, King Vidor’s pioneering film follows John and his wife Mary as they struggle against the de-humanising effects of ordinary life in the city, and strive to set themselves apart from the crowd.  More akin to the neo–realism of European films, The Crowd offers a rare morbid view of society far removed from the upbeat, lively fare reflected in most American silent films of the era. Vidor won universal acclaim for his innovative methods of illustrating the harsh, impersonal aspects of urban existence.  The cinematography by Henry Sharp (much of it shot on location in New York City with hidden cameras) earned enthusiastic praise for his innovative style and amazing camera angles. Under pressure from MGM, Vidor reluctantly filmed an upbeat alternate ending, where John inherits a fortune and ends living in the lap of luxury, but this was thankfully rejected by preview audiences and his more ambivalent finale prevailed.  Find out more at afi.com.  Presented as part of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by John Sweeney.   Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’ness Link

 

26 March

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 by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by Jonny Best. Old Woollen, Farsley Link

 

31 March

 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 .  With live musical accompaniment by Meg Morley.  Pound Arts Centre, Corsham Link

 

April

8 April

Our Dancing Daughters (Dir. Harry Beaumont, US, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 83mins) In Our Dancing Daughters, Joan Crawford stripped to her teddy and tore into a Charleston powered by a zillion watts of sexual energy – and shocked the corsets and cravats off parents who’d heard disturbing rumblings of what their children were up to. But the younger generation couldn’t get enough: they’d found their icon of Flaming Youth. Crawford became a star in this milestone silent about a good girl who hides her heart behind a party-girl mask and loses the man she loves to a gold digger. The film’s portrait of a fascinating (and a bit frightening) breed of young women who match men drink for drink and vice for vice was so popular it bred two similarly themed movies: Our Modern Maidens and Our Blushing Brides.    After the film’s release, box office grosses for Loew’s theaters soared, as did the volume of fan-mail for Joan (and as did her salary).  According to legend (well, Wikipedia!!) Joan Crawford stripped naked in front of the producer in order to get the lead role in this film. When the decision maker told Joan that the director was in charge of casting, Joan went to his office, repeated her performance, and got the part.  Find out more at ithankyouarthur.blogspot.com   Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth. Link

 

19 April

Voglio a Tte!  (aka I Want You, aka The Maiden From Amalfi, aka Consuelita) (Dir.  Roberto Roberti, It, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 60mins) Made in 1922 and shot on the Amalfi coast, the film was held up for 3 years by Italian censors who probably objected to the portrayl of Southern Italy as impoverished.  Eventually re-edited it was re-titled Consuelita and was now supposedly set in Spain.  The film was the last major role of Francesca Bertini, one of the great Italian divas of the silent screen who made over 145 films. She plays Consuelita, a young girl who desires to escape her small Spanish fishing village. The director, Roberto Roberti, was the father of director Sergio Leone. Find out more at silentfilm.org   With recorded score (?)   Megascreen, Bristol Link

 

My Grandmother (Dir. Kote Mikaberidze, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 80mins) This gem of early avant-garde Soviet Union filmmaking was banned for almost 50 years because of its less than subtle political criticism. But what stands out more is the sophisticated blending by director Kote Mikaberidze of real action, animated sequences,modern editing techniques, bold satire and absurdist set designs as he unfolds the story of a notoriously lazy bureaucrat who is fired from his comfortable job. On the advice of his ex-colleague, the unemployed pen-pusher sets out to find himself a “grandmother” – an influential bureaucratic patron who will provide him with a letter of recommendation in order to get his job back. But life never goes that smoothly! Find out more at obskura.co.uk.  With live musical accompaniment from Stephen Horne and Meg Morley.  Barbican, London  Link

 

29 April

Erotikon  (Dir. Gustav Machatý, Cz, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 85 mins)  Before his infamous erotic film Ecstasy (1932) starring Hedy Kiesler (later to become Hedy Lamarr), Gustav Machatý directed this exploration of the moral consequences of a night of passion between a Prague playboy and a stationmaster’s daughter. Erotikon tells the story of Andrea (Ita Rina) the beautiful but unsophisticated daughter of a rural railway worker. When rich, sophisticated womaniser George Sydney (Olaf Fjord) misses his train connection one stormy night he persuades the railway worker to let him stay at their house. When the railway worker is called away George seduces his daughter. Leaving the next morning, George has soon forgotten Andrea and embarked upon a new relationship with the married Gilda (Charlotte Susa). Andrea remains infatuated with George but, on discovering she is pregnant, leaves her village to avoid the shame.Now regarded as a landmark Czech silent film, shooting started in November 1928 with exterior scenes shot in Prague and Karlovy Vary. Machatý and his Czech cinematographer Václav Vích used modern American lenses making the image very soft. Vích worked on over a hundred films in different countries during his career. In the 1930s, he was one of the top technicians in the Italian film industry and often worked with the director Max Neufeld. The production designers on Erotikon were Julius von Borsody and Alexangr Hackenschmied.The masterly direction and camerawork transform a simple story into a work of compelling power, full of symbolism. It set a benchmark in the portrayal of female sexuality, as personified by the exquisite Ita Rina.  Find out more at silentfilmcalendar.org. Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth. Link

 

30 April

Silent Sherlock: Three Classic Cases.  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series, which was so popular it ran for 45 episodes, was sanctioned by Arthur Conan Doyle, who thoroughly approved of Eille Norwood as Holmes. This programme features a selection of three episodes: ‘A Scandal in Bohemia’, wherein Holmes falls for ‘the woman’; ‘The Golden Pince-Nez’, which features Holmes’ deductive powers at work, and ‘The Final Problem’, featuring the sinister Professor Moriarty.  With live musical accompaniment by Meg Morley.  Pound Arts Centre, Corsham Link

 

May

2 May

Another Fine Mess: The Madcap World of Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy are the eternal optimists of slapstick — two well‑meaning souls whose every attempt to do the right thing somehow ends in disaster.  In Soup to Nuts, they bungle as waiters at an upper‑class party. In Two Tars, a minor fender‑bender spirals into a full‑blown street war. And in Angora Love, a stray goat follows them home, leading to a chaotic water fight as they try to keep it hidden from their landlord.  Presented by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Jonny Best and percussionist Trevor Bartlett.  Stoller Hall,  Manchester Link

 

Steamboat Bill Jr   (Dir. Buster Keaton/Charles Reisner, US, 1928)   (Screening format – not known,  71  mins)  In Steamboat Bill Jr a crusty river boat captain hopes that his long departed son’s return will help him compete with a business rival.  Unfortunately, William Canfield Jnr (Buster Keaton) is an effete college boy.  Worse still, he has fallen for the business rival’s daughter (Marion Byron).     Featuring some of Buster’s finest and most dangerous stunts, it’s a health and safety nightmare maybe but it’s entertainment that will live forever.  The final storm sequence is still as breathtaking today as it was on first release. Not a commercial success at the time, this is now rightly regarded as a Keaton classic. Find out more at Wikipedia   Presented by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Jonny Best and percussionist Trevor Bartlett.  Stoller Hall,  Manchester Link

 

6 May

An Evening With Charlie Chaplin  Including three of his most famous shorts, The Immigrant, The Cure  and Easy Street all written and directed by Chaplin in 1917.  With live musical accompaniment by Meg Morley.  Plus a discussion with Jacqueline Riding, a specialist in British history and art, on how Chaplin’s work and outlook were always shaped by the world he came from.  Cidermill Theatre, Chipping Campden. Link

 

19 May

George Méliès and Buster Keaton in Concert   Two pioneers of visual fantasy meet in a specially created cine‑concert.  To set the stage, we celebrate Georges Méliès, whose imagination and technical ingenuity carried cinema beyond the simple recording of everyday life and opening up its magical possibilities for the first time.  Followed by Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) in which, 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, forcing him to use his amateur detective skills.  Although not a popular success on its initial release, the film has come to be recognised as a Keaton classic.  Find out more at silentfilm.org. Presented by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by Frame Ensemble.  National Centre for Early Music,  York  Link

 

20 May

The Red Kimono (Dir. Walter Lang, US, 1925) (Screening format – not known, 77mins)  The Red Kimono was the directorial debut of Walter Lang, whose greatest fame was from the 1930s to the 1950s, notably for Fox musicals. Written by famed journalist Adela Rogers St. Johns and adapted by future director Dorothy Arzner, The Red Kimono tells the story of a woman on trial for the murder of a man who had tricked her into prostitution. It was one of a series of social-conscience films produced by former actress Dorothy Davenport under her married name, Mrs. Wallace Reid. The first of these, Human Wreckage, was intended to draw attention to the issue of drug addiction that had caused her husband’s early death (Wallace Reid, a famous screen actor, became addicted to morphine after being given it repeatedly following an injury during filming). She introduces the film personally, in a scene set in a newspaper archive, informing us that it is a true story. She was sued by the woman in the real-life case on which it was based – thus establishing a landmark privacy law – because her real name had been used. Both The Red Kimono and Human Wreckage were banned by the British Board of Film Censors. While no copy of Human Wreckage is known to exist,  The Red Kimono has at least survived.  Find out more at moviessilently.com  Presented by the Kennongton Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

23 May

Mountain of Destiny (Dir. Arnold Fanck, Ger, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 86mins)  A landmark of early mountain cinema, celebrated for its breathtaking alpine scenery and exhilarating realism, where physical endurance and cinematic ambition collide. Director Arnold Fanck coined the term ‘Natur-Spielfilm’ to describe this genre-defying natural-world drama, set amidst the vertiginous rock faces of the High Alps and photographed with enthralling clarity and scale. The story follows a young man who has vowed to his mother that he will never attempt to reach the summit of the formidable Guglia del Diavolo, the mountain on which his father died years earlier. His resolve is tested when his childhood friend Hella decides that she can conquer the mountain. When she gets into difficulty, the young man must decide between honouring his promise and risking everything to save her. Central to the film’s success are the performers, notably Olympic ski champion Hannes Schneider (the father) and professional mountaineer Luis Trenker (his adult son) who perform climbs and descents that are genuinely awe-inspiring, even today. Find out more at  wikipedia.org Presented by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by Jonny Best.  Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate 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 Julia Faye,  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 by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Jonny Best,  violinist Susannah Simmons and percussionist Jeff Davenport.  Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate Link

 

June

4 June

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 Julia Faye,  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 by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Jonny Best.  Brewery Arts, Kendal. Link

 

10 June

The Strange Case of Captain Ramper (aka Ramper, der Tiermensch (Dir. Max Reichmann, Ger, 1927) (Screening format – 35mm, ??mins)  The film follows the story of an aviator who survives a plane crash in northern Greenland, descending into feral isolation before being rediscovered and eintegrated into society through scientific intervention. Produced by Deutsche Film Union and distributed internationally by First National Pictures, it explores themes of human survival, degeneration, and the clash between civilization and wilderness. The plot centres on Captain Ramper (Wegner), a daring German pilot, and his mechanic Charles Ipling (Kossuth), who crash-land during a flight to the North Pole. Ipling dies from the harsh conditions, leaving Ramper to survive alone in the frozen wilds, where he regresses into a beast-like existence among polar bears.  The screenplay was adapted by Curt J. Braun from the play Ramper by Max Mohr, with additional contributions from lead actor Paul Wegener. This adaptation preserved the core themes of isolation and psychological transformation from the source material, translating the stage narrative into a visual format suited for silent cinema.  Time magazine called it an “original, entertaining” tale of a lost explorer who regresses to an animal-like state during 15 years in the Arctic, only to reject civilization upon his return; the publication commended Wegener’s proficient portrayal. Find out more at wikipedia.org   Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

1 July

The Blood Ship (Dir. George B. Seitz, US, 1927) (Screening format – Digital, 70mins) Adapted by Fred Myton from the novel by Norman Springer, The Blood Ship stars Hobart Bosworth, Jacqueline Logan and Richard Arlen and was a big hit at the 2025 Pordenone film festival. As the title suggests, The Blood Ship is a rousing seagoing tale, set aboard a cargo vessel whose captain’s notoriety means that the majority of the crew are only there owing to having been shanghaied. One exception is a former, disgraced sea captain who signs on and discovers the tyrannical skipper to be the man who had framed him for murder and kidnapped his wife and daughter. Mutiny is sure to follow. Former stage actor Hobart Bosworth had been a prolific screenwriter and director alongside his acting career but had to limit his activities owing to a decades-long struggle with tuberculosis. Despite this, he maintained an image of considerable physical strength in his on-screen roles as `hard man’. Director Seitz remade the story as a talkie in 1931 under the title Shanghaied Love. The earlier silent version was for many years unseen because its last reel was believed to be lost. Fortunately it was found and the full film restored in 2007. Find out more atmoviessilently.com    Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

October

28 October

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 by Northern Silents.  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Jonny Best. National Centre for Early, York  Link