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January

7 January

The Goose Woman  (Dir. Clarence Brown, US, 1925) (Screening format – 35mm, 80mins) Louise Dresser plays Marie du Nard, a celebrated opera diva who loses her voice and her reputation after giving birth to an illegitimate son. Reverting to her given name of Mary Holmes, she returns to her hometown, living in a squalid shack and raising geese. Years later, a headline-making murder case is played out in her town. Hoping to capture her past celebrity, Mary claims to be a witness to the murder, but then discovers that her son may be implicated.…Find out more at silentfilm.org .  Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.   Introduced by silent film historian, writer and collector Kevin Brownlow.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

11 January

Celebrating 100 Years of Laurel and Hardy with Neil Brand  Neil Brand returns with the premiere of his all-new Laurel and Hardy Centenary Tour. Neil will introduce and live-accompany the best gags, stunts and stories from their earliest days, tracing the development of their timeless and hilarious comic technique, in pristine clips from the latest restorations. Two classic shorts, The Finishing Touch and You’re Darn Tootin’, complete the show with Neil’s own score.  With live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand.  BFI Southbank, London Link

 

17 January

The Blinking Buzzards – Quarterly Meeting.  Quarterly meeting of The UK Buster Keaton Society (AKA The Blinking Buzzards) – dedicated to the appreciation of the silent comedian.  With recorded score.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

18 January

High Treason  (Dir. Maurice Elvey, UK, 1929) (Screening format – 35mm, 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  With live musical accompaniment.  BFI Southbank, London  Link

 

21 January

The Fall of The House of Usher (Dir. Jean Epstein, Fr, 1928) (Screening format – 35mm, 63 mins) An unnamed man pays a visit to the decaying, aristocratic mansion of his childhood friend, Roderick Usher. He finds Usher to be demented… obsessed by death, consumed with fear that his beloved wife Madeline will die, and no less fearful that she will be buried alive. He spends his days painting an eerily lifelike portrait of Madeline, but with each brushstroke the life seems to drain from her. Director Jean Epstein and screenwriter Luis Buñuel studiously avoided cheap shocks and opted for a controlled, spookily subtle technique, in this tale of hereditary madness.   Epstein’s version changes the relationship of Madeline and Roderick from brother and sister to husband and wife but matches the horror and menace of Poe’s story, with weird, surreal images and an insidious atmosphere conveyed by the glowering halls, fluttering curtains, and nightmarish suggestiveness of the veil and coffin. Look out for French director Abel Gance, fresh from directing Napoleon (1927) in a minor role while his then wife, Marguerite, stars as Madeline. Find out more at rogerebert.com.   With live musical accompaniment by Marika Tyler-Clark       The Nickel  Cinema, London   Link

 

24 January

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 recorded scores composed by  Joanna MacGregor, Neil Brand and Joseph Havlat. Theatres and Museum, Worthing Link

 

Safety Last (Dir. Fred C Newmeyer/Sam Taylor, US, 1923) (Screening format – not known, 73mins) A boy (Harold Lloyd) moves to New York City to make enough money to support his loving girlfriend (Mildred Davis), but soon discovers that making it in the big city is harder than it looks. When he hears that a store manager will pay $1,000 to anyone who can draw people to his store, he convinces his friend, the “human fly,” (Bill Strother) to climb the building and split the profit with him. But when his pal gets in trouble with the law, he must complete the crazy stunt on his own. The image of Harold Lloyd hanging desperately from the hands of a skyscraper clock during Safety Last!  is one of the great icons of film history (although it was achieved with a certain amount of film trickery) and this remains one of the best and best loved comedies of the silent era.  Find out more at rogerebert.com.  With live organ accompaniment by Darius Battiwalla.   St Mary-at-Finchley, London Link

 

25 January

The Great White Silence (Dir. Herbert G. Ponting, UK, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 107 mins)  This documentary captured the story of the British Antarctic Expedition, led by Captain Scott, to reach the South Pole. With extraordinary footage of many stages of the exploration: on board the Terra Nova ship; life in the base camp; crew preparations and scientific research; and the local penguins, whales and seals. Still images, maps, miniature model shots, diary entries and recreations illustrate the rest of the journey across the ice. “The alien beauty of the landscape is brought dramatically to life and the world of the expedition revealed in brilliant detail.” – BFI. Find out more at bfi.org.uk.  With live piano accompaniment by Lillian Henley.  Palace Cinema, Broadstairs Link

 

Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) + Cops (Dir. Edward F Cline/Buster Keaton, US, 1922)(Screening format – not known, 45/18 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.   Cops sees Buster Keaton ending up with a load of furniture in the middle of parade of policemen. An anarchist’s bomb lands in his carriage. After lighting his cigarette with it, he tosses it into the ranks of police. When it explodes the police chase him all over town by the entire Los Angeles Police Department.  Find out more at wikipedia.org .  With live musical accompaniment by John Sweeney.  Barbican, London   Link

 

27 January

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 recorded scores composed by  Joanna MacGregor, Neil Brand and Joseph Havlat. Theatres and Museum, Worthing Link

 

28 January

Cinders (Dir. Louis Mercanton, UK, 1926)  + Daughter of the Regiment (Dir. Hans Behrendt, UK/Ger, 1929) A double treat for Betty Balfour fans.  Firstly, Cinders  (not to be confused with Ella Cinders, a vehicle for Colleen Moore released the same year) about a professor who inherits both a vast fortune and a luxurious hotel on the French Riviera. He leaves his modest family house in London – where he keeps his insects! – and takes Betty, the maid, along with him to his new home. Cinders survives in a four-reel 9.5mm abridgement with French titles.  Followed by Daughter of the Regiment a British/German co-production released in Germany as Die Regimentstochter.   The plot is loosely based on the 1840 opera composed by Gaetano Donizetti and revolves around Marie, a foundling raised by a regiment, who falls in love with a local boy named Tonio, screened tonight from a 16mm print. Presented by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

29 January

Pandora’s Box (Dir. G W Pabst, Ger, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 135mins)  Based on two plays by the German author Frank Wedekind, Erdgeist (Earth Spirit, 1895), which Pabst himself had directed for the stage, and Die Büchse der Pandora (Pandora’s Box, 1904), the silent drama follows the tumultuous life of the showgirl Lulu whose unselfconscious sexuality brings about the ruin of all those that fall for her and eventually her own.  In a daring move, Pabst chose a little known American actress over the more experienced Marlene Dietrich for the part of Lulu, a decision that made the young Louise Brooks an international star. Her innocent looks paired with her natural erotic allure and sense of movement – Brooks was also a dancer – perfectly matched Pabst’s idea of his heroine as unwitting seductress. Subjected to cuts to eliminate some of its “scandalous” content and unfavourably reviewed by critics at the time, it is now considered one of the boldest and most modern films of the Weimar era highlighting Pabst’s command of camera language and montage.  Find out more at silentlondon.co.uk .  With recorded score.  Film Theatre, Glasgow Link

 

31 January

An Evening with the Kings of Silent Comedy  Featuring four classic comedy shorts; Chaplin’s The Tramp; Harold Lloyd’s Number Please; Buster Keaton’s The High Sign; and Laurel and Hardy’s Angora Love.  With live piano accompaniment by Forrester Pyke.  Chalmers Church Hall, Bridge of Allen Link

 

February

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

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

 

25 February

Apart from You (Dir. Mikio Naruse, Jap 1933) (Screening format – Digital, 60mins) 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 by the Kennington Bioscope.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth Link

 

March

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

 

20 March

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

 

April

19 April

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