1 October

Silent Film Evening   A selection of silent films (titles TBC) with live organ accompaniment by Donald MacKenzie. St Aidan and St George Church, Bristol   Link

The End of St Petersburg (Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin, USSR, 1927) (Screening format – not known,  87 min)  Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, The End of St Petersburg secured Pudovkin’s place as one of the foremost Soviet film directors. A simple peasant boy arrives in the city to obtain employment. Fate leads him to a factory where there are severe, almost slave-like working conditions. He unwittingly helps in the arrest of an old village friend who is now a labor leader. He attempts to fix this wrongdoing but his future is swept up in revolutionary fervour.  Pudovkin’s sophisticated analysis of the Revolution sits within a brilliant and dramatic reconstruction of the major events.  Find out more at sensesofcinema.com .  With live musical accompaniment composed by Paul Robinson and performed by Harmonieband.  Barbican, London Link

1-2 October

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 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 atsilentfilm.org . With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Cribb’s Causeway, BristolLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above. With recorded soundtrack. Vue, CamberleyLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above. With recorded soundtrack. Vue, CambridgeLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.   With recorded soundtrack.  Vue, CardiffLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Cheshire Oaks, South WirralLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above. With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Edinburgh Omni  Link

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, ExeterLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Finchley Road, LondonLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Islington, LondonLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Leeds Light, LeedsLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack.  Vue, Manchester Printworks, ManchesterLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Newcastle Under LymeLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, OxfordLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above. With recorded soundtrack.  Vue, Portsmouth Link

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.   With recorded soundtrack.Vue, ReadingLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, West End (Leicester Square), London Link

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, Westfield, London Link

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DCP, 149 mins ) For details, see above.  With recorded soundtrack. Vue, YorkLink

2 October

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 atclassicartfilms.com .  NB  This screening is for A Level students and their teachers only.  With recorded soundtrack.  Tyneside Cinema, NewcastleLink

4  October

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack.     Wivenhoe Film Club, The Nottage, Wivenhoe EssexLink

6 October

Shooting Stars (Dir. Anthony Asquith and A.V. Bramble,  UK, 1928) (Screening format – 35mm, 80mins)  At Zenith Studios, a starlet plots an escape to Hollywood with her lover and the murder of her superfluous husband. Shooting Stars is a must for any silent cinema fan. Offering a rare insight into the workings of a 1920s film studio, there are location scenes, comic stunts and an on-set jazz band which demonstrate just what life was like in the early days of cinema. Shooting Stars begins as a witty and affectionate look at the smoke-and-mirrors world of filmmaking, with many a wink to its audience, but as the paranoia associated with adultery takes its toll, the mood becomes somewhat darker.  Find out more atscreenonline.org.uk .  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Cyrus Gabrysch..  Birkbeck Cinema, London WC1 Link

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack. East Bergholt Cinema, East Bergholt, Suffolk. Link

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack. Followed by Q&A with director Alex Barrett after screening.  Shambhala Meditation Centre, London SW4Link

Bacon Grabbers (Dir. Lewis R Foster, US, 1929) + Do Detectives Think (Dir. Fred Guiol, US, 1927) +  The Second Hundred Years (Dir. Fred Guiol, US, 1927) +  Liberty (Dir. Leo McCarey, US, 1929)     (Screening format – not known, 20/19/20/20 mins). In Bacon Grabbers, repossession men Laurel and Hardy serve a summons to Mr. Kennedy, who has failed to pay the installments for his radio since 1921.  But he’s not willing to give up his radio without a fight… In Do Detectives Think when an escaped convict vows revenge on the judge who sentenced him, the judge engages a detective agency which sends its two best men, Laurel and Hardy, to protect him! The Second Hundred Years sees convicts Laurel and Hardy making ever more desperate and laughable efforts to escape prison.  Liberty sees Laurel and Hardy making a successful prison break but mixed up trousers and an escaped crab somehow leads them to the top a partially completed skyscraper!  Find out more atlaurel-and-hardy.com .  With live piano accompaniment by Forrester Pyke.  Festival Theatre, Edinburgh  Link

Silent ShakespeareThe cinema’s love affair with Shakespeare dates from the earliest days of film. In its infancy film was regarded as a rather lowbrow medium, and the budding film industry attempted to elevate its cultural status by imitating the theatre. Adapting the works of Shakespeare was the filmmakers’ greatest challenge, especially since films at that time  tended to be only one or two reels long.  Many films of both verve and variety were made that adapted Shakespeare’s plays for popular audiences. This is an opportunity to view some of these rare, surviving old films With a live piano accompaniment from Jonny Best, by performance interjections from live actors and by lively commentary from Judith Buchananan, an expert in silent cinema and Shakespearean performance history and the author of Shakespeare on Silent Film: An Excellent Dumb Discourse.  Rymer Auditorium, University of York, York.  Link

The Last Laugh (Dir. F W Murnau, Ger, 1924) (Screening format – not known, 90mins) A screening to mark the 100th anniversary of Germany’s UFA (Universum Film-Aktien Gesellschaft) film studios. The Last Laugh is one of the most important films of the Weimar Republic and a most important piece of cinema history.  Emil Jannings, probably the greatest actor of his time, plays a proud hotel doorman, whose character is devastated when his manager demotes him to washroom attendant because of his advanced years.  The film also gained importance for film history through a new camera technology, the “unchained camera” used by the famous UFA-cinematographer Karl Freund for the first time.  Find out more atrogerebert.com .  With live musical accompaniment by the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg conducted by Matt Dunkley.  St John’s, Smith Square, LondonLink

7 October

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 81mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational masterwork of the cinema. Forsaking the highly stylised sets typical of German expressionist films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Murnau imparted a sense of dread to a real world of forests, mountains and open sea. In the film, the vampire Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake as he seeks out the  Ellen, the beautiful wife of his associate  .  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  .  With live musical accompaniment by the internationally acclaimed organist, Alex Mason.  St Alphege Church, Solihull, Birmingham Link

By the Law (Po Zakonu)   (Dir . Lev Kuleshov, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 80mins )    Legendary director Lev Kuleshov adapted a short story by Jack London, fashioning a tense, existential study of moral pressure…in effect a pared-back Soviet Western.    Three gold prospectors are holed up in a cabin – one driven to murder by greed, the other two wrestling with whether to wait for the snow and ice to thaw and go for the authorities or to take the Law into their own hands.  The stage is set for a claustrophobic drama of raw power, combining naturalism and the grotesque, realism and melodrama…   Find out more atsilentsaregolden.com . With live musical accompaniment by multi-award-winning Scottish musician, singer and song-writer R.M. Hubbert (aka Hubby) performing his brand new guitar score, commissioned by the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  Platform, GlasgowLink

From Jealous Dolls to Brutish Bulldogs – A New History of British Animation (Dir. Various, UK, )  (Screening format – not known, 90mins) Taking a new look at British animation,  this genre-hopping, whistle-stop tour presents an animated century of surprises. All newly remastered by the BFI National Archive, this selection of shorts salutes the independence, innovation and irreverence of generations of British animation talent. Silent animated films been shown include; Jealous Doll, Or, The Frustrated Elopement (Dir Percy Stow. UK 1909. 6min), though likely intended as a charming comic tale of young love, this film takes on a strangely gothic hue thanks to the uncanny movements of a puppet plaything; Animated Doll and Toy Town Circus ( Dir Uncredited. UK 1912. 3min), an early experiment in bringing colour to animation sees a bubble-blowing doll, a toy circus and a stubborn donkey revelling in two-tone glory; Ever Been Had? (Dir Dudley Buxton. UK 1917. 10min), in which the man on the moon and the last Englishman on Earth appear in a clever mix of propaganda, science fiction and comedy, with a killer punchline; and, Booster Bonzo; Or, Bonzo in Gay Paree  (Dir Uncredited. UK 1925. 6min), where George Studdy’s cartoon pup makes the transition to the cinema screen and sets the tone for many a British tourist with his drunken high jinks in Paris. Presented as part of the London International Film Festival.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

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 atwikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by acclaimed musicians Minima. France Lynch Church Rooms, Chalford Hill, Glocs. Link

Neil Brand Presents Silent Laughter Neil Brand presents and accompanies an hour of furious comedy for all the family, from the earliest trick films to the greatest of Hollywood clowns, including the greatest of all – Laurel and Hardy. Dogs drive cars, houses explode and trains appear out of nowhere amidst breathtaking stunts, all accompanied by the fastest piano fingers in the business. Royal Albert Hall, LondonLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –DVD/BluRay, Jan ’05 pre-restored version, 118mins)  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 atsilentfilm.org  With live piano accompaniment by Dmytro Morykit.  Royal Conservatoire of Music, Glasgow Link  

8 October

A Cottage on Dartmoor (Dir. Anthony Asquith, 1929) (Screening format – BluRay, 84mins)  Joe (Uno Henning) works as a barber in a shop in a Devon town, alongside a manicurist called Sally (Norah Baring). He becomes infatuated with her and asks her out but  it is clear that Sally does not reciprocate Joe’s feelings.  Joe’s infatuation with her develops into obsession. Meanwhile a young  farmer Harry (Hans Schlettow), begins to woo Sally and the couple begin seeing each other which leaves Joe in despair. After a fight with Harry, Joe is jailed but swears revenge on Harry and Sally.  A Cottage on Dartmoor is a tale of love and revenge set in the bleak landscape of Dartmoor and a thoughtful distillation of the best of European silent film techniques from a director steeped in the work of the Soviet avant-garde and German expressionism. One of the last films of the silent era and a virtuoso piece of film-making, A Cottage on Dartmoor was a final passionate cry in defence of an art form soon to be obsolete. Find out more at   silentfilm.org.    Presented as part of the Landulph Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Wurlitza.  Village Hall, Landulph  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 atWikipedia  With live piano accompaniment by Daan van den Hurk.  Big Screen Bristol, Millennium Square, BristolLink

The Dumb Girl of Portici (Dir. Lois Weber, US, US, 1915) (Screening format – DCP, 115mins) Lois Weber directs ballet legend Anna Pavlova in this epic based on Auber’s opera, set against the backdrop of a 17th century Italian uprising. Pavlova plays Fenella, a mute fisher girl, caught up in the bloody revolt of the Italian peasantry against their oppressive Spanish overlords during the occupation of Naples. Lois Weber’s film tackles the scale of the grand opera settings with assurance, while allowing us to enjoy Pavlova’s exquisite physical performance, in her only feature film role. This previously unseen film is long overdue for recognition as one of Weber’s finest creations and a landmark in women’s cinema. Restored by the Library of Congress from elements held at the BFI National Archive and the New York Public Library. Find out more atwww.filmcomment.com .   Presented as part of the London International Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

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 atsilentfilm.org .  With recorded soundtrack.  Home Cinema, ManchesterLink

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 and see a stunning trailer at youtube.com  With live orchestral accompaniment by the Docklands Sinfonia Orchestra conducted by Spencer Down performing the world premier of a score specially composed for the film by renowned jazz musician and composer Roy Budd.  Budd composed scores for films such as Soldier Blue (1970), Get Carter (1971), Man at the Top (1973), Wild Geese (1978) and many more but died suddenly in 1993 before his score for Phantom of the Opera could ever be performed.    The London Coliseum Opera House, LondonLink

9 October

Little Veronika (Innocence) (aka Die kleine Veronika (Unschuld) ) (Dir. Robert Land, Aust-Ger, 1930) (Screening format – 35mm, 70mins) Austria’s ‘most beautiful silent film’, according to Nikolaus Wostry, curator of the Austrian Film Archive, Robert Land’s Little Veronika is a real rediscovery. Based on a novel by Felix Salten, who specialised in tales of Vienna’s brothel culture (as well as, bizarrely, being the author of both Bambi and a classic work of pornography), the film follows young Veronika from her Tyrolean village to her aunt’s Viennese apartment for her confirmation. The aunt’s flighty nature and her profession as a prostitute leave her niece in the company of men who assume she is just another new girl on offer. Land’s film is an elegant piece of filmmaking – the train journeys that bookend Veronika’s trip to the city are masterly – but apart from the natural performance of the lovely Käthe von Nagy, what lingers are the stunning views of a disappeared Vienna.  Find out more atwikipedia.org .   Presented as part of the London International Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Costas Fotopoulos.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

10 October

The Goddess (Shen nu) (Dir. Wu Yonggang, 1934) (Screening format – not known, 73mins)  A masterpiece of social realism featuring Chinese superstar Ruan Lingyu as a struggling mother who takes to prostitution on the streets of Shanghai in order to shelter her son from the corrupt city and give him a better chance in life.  This devastatingly beautiful and recently restored film was made by first time director/writer/designer Yonggang aged just 27-years-old, and draws its great power from the striking and subtle performance by Ruan. Ruan’s heart-rending and sympathetic portrayal of a self-sacrificing woman at the mercy of society’s hypocrisy was a sensation that was tragically echoed in her real-life.  On the eve of her trial for adultery and after months of tabloid harassment Ruan killed herself, aged 24, just one year after the release of ‘The Goddess’.  Find out more atshaoyis.wordpress.com .    With recorded soundtrack.  Sands Flm Club, Rotherhithe, LondonLink

Little Veronika (Innocence) (aka Die kleine Veronika (Unschuld) ) (Dir. Robert Land, Aust-Ger, 1930) (Screening format – 35mm, 70mins) Austria’s ‘most beautiful silent film’, according to Nikolaus Wostry, curator of the Austrian Film Archive, Robert Land’s Little Veronika is a real rediscovery. Based on a novel by Felix Salten, who specialised in tales of Vienna’s brothel culture (as well as, bizarrely, being the author of both Bambi and a classic work of pornography), the film follows young Veronika from her Tyrolean village to her aunt’s Viennese apartment for her confirmation. The aunt’s flighty nature and her profession as a prostitute leave her niece in the company of men who assume she is just another new girl on offer. Land’s film is an elegant piece of filmmaking – the train journeys that bookend Veronika’s trip to the city are masterly – but apart from the natural performance of the lovely Käthe von Nagy, what lingers are the stunning views of a disappeared Vienna.  Find out more atwikipedia.org .   Presented as part of the London International Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by John Sweeney.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

13 October

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 81mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational masterwork of the cinema. In the film, Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake.  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  .  With live musical accompaniment by organist Nick Millar.  St John’s Church, Hyde Park, LondonLink

Piccadilly (Dir E A Dupont, UK, 1929) (Screening format – not known, 92 mins)  A film noir before the term was in use, uncredited director E.A. Dupont’s Piccadilly is one of the true greats of British silent films, on a par with the best of Anthony Asquith or Alfred Hitchcock during this period. Valentine Wilmot (Jameson Thomas) owns a nightclub featuring dancers Mabel (Gilda Gray) and Vic (Cyril Ritchard). After a confrontation with Wilmot, Vic quits performing at the club. When the joint starts losing business, a desperate Wilmot hires former dishwasher Shosho (Anna May Wong) as a dancer. She is an instant hit and forms a rapport with Wilmot, which makes both Mabel and Shosho’s friend (King Ho Chang) jealous, leading to a mysterious murder.  A stylish evocation of Jazz Age London, with dazzlingly fluid cinematography and scenes ranging from the opulent West End to the seediness of Limehouse. One of the pinnacles of British silent cinema, Piccadilly is a sumptuous show business melodrama seething with sexual and racial tension – with an original screenplay by Arnold Bennett.  Find out more atscreenonline.org.uk .  With live organ accompaniment by Donald MacKenzie.  St John’s Notting Hill, London, W11 Link

Berlin: Symphony of a Great City (Berlin: Die Sinfonie der Groβtadt) (Dir. Walter Ruttman, Ger, 1927) (Screening format – DCP,   65mins)  This is a visual symphony in five movements celebrating the Berlin of 1927: the people, the place, the everyday details of life on the streets. Director Walter Ruttman, an experimental filmmaker, approached cinema in similar ways to his Russian contemporary Dziga Vertoz, mixing documentary, abstract, and expressionist modes for a nonnarrative style that captured the life of his countrymen. But where Vertov mixed his observations with examples of the communist dream in action, Ruttman re-creates documentary as, in his own words, “a melody of pictures.” Within the loose structure of a day in the life of the city (with a prologue that travels from the country into the city on a barreling train), the film takes us from dawn to dusk, observing the silent city as it awakens with a bustle of activity, then the action builds and calms until the city settles back into sleep. But the city is as much the architecture, the streets, and the machinery of industry as it is people, and Ruttman weaves all these elements together to create a portrait in montage, the poetic document of a great European city captured in action. Held together by rhythm, movement, and theme, Ruttman creates a documentary that is both involving and beautiful to behold. Find out more atsensesofcinema.com .  Presented by South West Silents. With recorded soundtrack.  Cube Cinema, BristolLink

14 October

The Prince of Adventurers (aka The Loves of Casanova,aka Casanova) (Dir. Alexandre Volkoff, Fr, 1927) (Screening format – DCP, 159mins) Ivan Mosjoukine stars as the world’s most notorious rake in this French super-production, with colour sequences beautifully restored by the Cinémathèque Française. What joyousness, what merrymaking, what lovemaking! We imagine Casanova perpetually kissing the hand of his latest innamorata, while half out the window and with a murderous husband leaping up the stairs. There have been some gorgeous Casanovas in recent years, but Ivan Mosjoukine was born to play this mischievous Harlequin with the melancholy heart. He was one of a group of Russian emigrés who fled to Paris in the 1920s – as was Alexandre Volkoff who, fresh from assisting on Abel Gance’s Napoléon, directed this sumptuous blockbuster, replete with stencil colour sequences bringing Venice’s 17th century carnivals to life. A thousand silk dresses (by Boris Bilinsky, designer of the famous Metropolis poster) dance in a rainbow of colours, while fireworks are reflected in the waters of the Grand Canal.  Find out more atwikipedia.org.  Presented as part of the London International Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

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 atwikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by Jonny Best.  Parish Church of St Augustine of Hippo, GrimsbyLink

Blinking BuzzardsQuarterly meeting of the UK Buster Keaton Society, featuring a selection of Keaton films chosen by members (titles TBC).  The Cinema Museum, Lambeth, LondonLink

Sherlock Jnr (Dir. Buster Keaton, 1924) + One Week (Dir. Buster Keaton/Eddie Cline, 1920) (Screening format – not known, 45/19 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.  One Week sees Buster and his new bride struggling with a pre-fabricated home unaware that his bride’s former suitor has renumbered all of the boxes.  Find out more atwikipedia.org .  With live musical accompaniment by Harmonieband.  Quad, DerbyLink

Shiraz (Dir. Franz Osten, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 97mins) Based on a play by Indian author Niranjan Pal, Shiraz tells the fictionalised love story of the 17th-century princess who inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal.  It was directed by Germany’s Franz Osten, one of at least 17 films he made in India between 1925 and 1939, best known of which are The Light of Asia (1925) and A Throw of Dice (1929).  The film was photographed entirely on location in India and all the actors are Indian although the crew were mostly German. Upon its release Shiraz was a considerable critical and popular success.  Find out more atsilentfilm.org. Presented as the Archive Gala event of the BFI London Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment by Indian composer and sitar player Anoushka Shankar.  Barbican, LondonLink

The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Dir. Alfred Hitchcock, 1927) (Screening format – not known ) 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 atsilentfilm.org With live musical accompaniment by acclaimed musicians Minima. Cube, Bristol Link

15 October

The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (Dir. Robert Wiene, 1920) (Screening format – not known,  77 mins) In the village of Holstenwall, fairground hypnotist Dr Caligari (Werner Krauss) puts on show a somnambulist called Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who has been asleep for twenty three years.  At night, Cesare walks the streets murdering people on the doctor’s orders.  A student (Friedrich Feher) suspects Caligari after a friend is found dead and it transpires that the doctor is the director of a lunatic asylum.  Fueled by the pessimism and gloom of post-war Germany, the sets by Hermann Warm stand unequaled as a shining example of Expressionist design.  Find out more atwikipedia.org.    Presented as part of the Organ Reformed 2017 Festival.  With the premier of a new score specially commissioned by the festival, composed by ‘ambient drone mastermind’ Adam Bryanbaum Wiltzie and performed by organist James McVinnie with the London Contemporary Orchestra soloists and choir.  Union Chapel, London N1Link

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 atsilentfilm.org .  With recorded soundtrack.  The Depot, Lewes, East Sussex Link

The End of St. Petersburg (Konets Sankt-Peterburga) (Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin, USSR, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 87mins) A peasant comes to St. Petersburg to find work. He unwittingly helps in the arrest of an old village friend who is now a labor leader. The unemployed peasant is also arrested and sent to fight in World War I. After three years, he returns ready for revolution…..Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, The End of St Petersburg secured Vsevolod Pudovkin’s place as one of the foremost Soviet film directors. His sophisticated analysis of the Revolution sits within a brilliant and dramatic reconstruction of the major events.  Find out more atsensesofcinema.com  .  With live musical accompaniment by Harmonieband. Home, Manchester Link

The End of St. Petersburg (Konets Sankt-Peterburga) (Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin, USSR, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 87mins) A peasant comes to St. Petersburg to find work. He unwittingly helps in the arrest of an old village friend who is now a labor leader. The unemployed peasant is also arrested and sent to fight in World War I. After three years, he returns ready for revolution…..Commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the October Revolution, The End of St Petersburg secured Vsevolod Pudovkin’s place as one of the foremost Soviet film directors. His sophisticated analysis of the Revolution sits within a brilliant and dramatic reconstruction of the major events.  Find out more at sensesofcinema.com  .  With live musical accompaniment by Harmonieband. Showcase, Sheffield Link

16 October

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 atsilentfilm.org .  With recorded soundtrack.  Picture House Central, LondonLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins )  .  See above for details.  With recorded soundtrack. Ritzy Picture House, London Link

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins )  .  See above for details.  With recorded soundtrack. Greenwich Picture House, LondonLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins )  .  See above for details.  With recorded soundtrack. Cameo Picture House, EdinburghLink

Metropolis (Dir. Fritz Lang, 1927) (Screening format –not known , 149 mins )  .  See above for details.  With recorded soundtrack. City Screen Picture House, York Link

17 October

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack.  Pine Grove Pictures, Crowborough Centre, Crowborough, East Sussex.  Link

18 October

Man With A Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – DCP, 68mins)  “An experiment in the creative communication of visible events without the aid of inter-titles, a scenario or theatre “aiming at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema,” is how the inter-titles describe what is about to be seen. Bold claims indeed, but in its awesome sophistication The Man with a Movie Camera does live up to them, making it one of the most contemporary of silent movies. The subject, the life of a city from dawn to dusk, was not original even for 1928, but its treatment was–the cameraman as voyeur, social commentator and prankster, exploiting every trick permissible with the technology of the day (slow motion, dissolves, split screens, freeze frames, stop motion animation, etc). A young woman stirs in her bed, apparently fighting a nightmare in which a cameraman is about to be crushed by an oncoming train. She wakes up, and the sequence is revealed to be a simple trick shot. As she blinks her weary eyes, the shutters of her window mimic her viewpoint, and the iris of the camera spins open. Self-reflexive wit like this abounds here–there’s even a delicious counterpoint made between the splicing of film and the painting of a woman’s nails.  Find out more at openculture.com .  With live musical accompaniment.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

One A.M. (Dir. Charles Chaplin, US, 1916) + I Do (Dir. Hal Roach, US, 1921) +  The High Sign (Dir. Edward F Cline/Buster Keaton, US, 1921) (Screening format – not known, 34/26/21 mins) In One A.M., Charlie Chaplin is the drunken homeowner having a difficult time getting in to his own home after arriving back late at night. I Do sees a young married couple (Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis) finding out just how difficult it is to look after a friend’s kids for the day.  Find out more atwikipedia.org .  In The High Sign, Buster Keaton plays a drifter who gets a job in a amusement park shooting gallery. Believing Buster is an expert marksman, both the murderous gang the Blinking Buzzards and the man they want to kill end up hiring him. The film ends with a wild chase through a house filled with secret passages. Find out more atsensesofcinema.com .  With live musical accompaniment by the theatre’s  in-house light orchestra, Gladstone’s bag!  Britannia Panoptican Music Hall, GlasgowLink

Underworld ( Dir.Josef von Sternberg, US, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 80mins)      Boisterous gangster kingpin ‘Bull’ Weed (George Bancroft) rehabilitates the down-and-out ‘Rolls Royce’ Wensel (Clive Brook), a former lawyer who has fallen into alcoholism. The two become confidants, with Rolls Royce’s intelligence aiding Weed’s schemes, but complications arise when Rolls Royce falls for Weed’s girlfriend ‘Feathers’ McCoy ( Evelyn Brent).   Underworld is now recognized as one of the great gangster films of the silent era.  The film “established the fundamental elements of the gangster movie: a hoodlum hero; ominous, night-shrouded city streets; floozies; and a blazing finale in which the cops cut down the protagonist.”   Find out more at   immortalephemera.com .  Presented by the   Kennintington Bioscope with live piano accompaniment.    Cinema Museum, Lambeth, London. Link

19 October

By the Law (Po Zakonu)   (Dir . Lev Kuleshov, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 80mins )    Legendary director Lev Kuleshov adapted a short story by Jack London, fashioning a tense, existential study of moral pressure…in effect a pared-back Soviet Western.    Three gold prospectors are holed up in a cabin – one driven to murder by greed, the other two wrestling with whether to wait for the snow and ice to thaw and go for the authorities or to take the Law into their own hands.  The stage is set for a claustrophobic drama of raw power, combining naturalism and the grotesque, realism and melodrama…   Find out more atsilentsaregolden.com . With live musical accompaniment by multi-award-winning Scottish musician, singer and song-writer R.M. Hubbert (aka Hubby) performing his brand new guitar score, commissioned by the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  Mareel, Lerwick, Shetland Link

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com .  With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the film’s director/editor Alex Barrett   Kingston Museum, Kingston Upon ThamesLink

20 October

In Search of Colour: Kinemacolor Shorts (Dir. Various, UK/Italy, 1907-14) (Screening format – not known, 80 mins) ‘Kinemacolor’, invented in 1906 by G. A. Smith of Brighton, was the cinema’s first successful colour system, flourishing commercially until 1917. Until recently, examples of the process were considered all but lost. But earlier this year – thanks to some exciting finds – a remarkable selection of newly restored shorts was unveiled at Cinema Ritrovato, Bologna’s renowned festival of archive film. This programme affords haunting glimpses of the past in exquisite, muted colour, including ravishing views of Lake Garda, children performing a drill at a Surrey Orphanage, and a spectacular parade of elephants from the Delhi Durbar of 1911.  Presented as part of the Cambridge Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment.  Emmanuel College – Queen’s Building, Cambridge  Link

Shoes (Dir. Lois Weber, US, 1916) (Screening format – not known, 60mins) Having directed several films in tandem with her husband Phillips Smalley, Lois Weber went solo with the 1916 production Shoes. The film was based on a Collier’s Magazine story by Stella Wynne Herron, which in turn was inspired by a quote from a book by 19th-century humanitarian Jane Addams. The heroine, working-girl Eve Meyer (Mary McLaren), is unable to afford a new pair of shoes on her meager wages. After several frustrating weeks of trying to scrimp and save, Eve is reduced to selling herself sexually for the sake of the shoes. She comes to regret this decision, bitterly ruminating over “what might have been” during the film’s somber closing scenes. Rarely seen, this forgotten classic has recently been beautifully restored by Eye Film Institute Netherlands and gives a sense of Weber’s talent behind the camera. Find out more at wikipedia.org .   Presented as part of the Dublin Workers Film Festival.  With introduction by Silent London’s Pamela Hutchinson.  With recorded soundtrack.  New Theatre, DublinLink

October: Ten Days That Shook The World (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 104mins) Borrowing its title from a book by American journalist John Reed, Sergei Eisenstein’s Ten Days That Shook the World reenacts the crucial week-and-a-half in October, 1918, when the Russian Kerensky regime was toppled by the Bolsheviks.  Eisenstein used the film to further develop his theories of film structure, using a concept he described as “intellectual montage”, the editing together of shots of apparently unconnected objects in order to create and encourage intellectual comparisons between them.  A largely non-professional cast was employed, the “actor” playing Lenin, a nonprofessional cement factory worker named Nikandrov, so closely resembles the genuine article that the effect is striking while a University student took on the role of Kerensky and Zinoviev was played by his real brother. The film was not as successful or influential in the Soviet Union as Battleship Potemkin with audiences finding the film stilted and artificial.  Eisenstein’s montage experiments met with official disapproval; the authorities complained that October was unintelligible to the masses and he was also required to re-edit the work to expurgate references to  Trotsky, who had recently been purged by Stalin.  Nevertheless, film historians now consider it to be an important film, a sweeping historical epic of vast scale, and a powerful testament to Eisenstein’s creativity and artistry.  Find out more atimdb.com.   Presented as part of the Dublin Workers Film Festival.  With introduction by Silent London’s Pamela Hutchinson.  With recorded soundtrack.  New Theatre, DublinLink

Silent Film Evening   A selection of silent films (titles TBC) with live organ accompaniment by Donald MacKenzie. St Paul’s Church, Royton, Lancs Link

21 October

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 organ accompaniment by Dave Hinitt and Adam Dickson.  Christ Church, Southgate, London N14 Link

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 organ accompaniment by Donald MacKenzie. The Musical Museum, Brentford, London  Link

Casanova ( aka The Prince of Adventurers)  (Dir. Alexandre Volkoff, Fr, 1927) (Screening format – DCP, 159mins) Ivan Mosjoukine stars as the world’s most notorious rake in this French super-production, with colour sequences beautifully restored by the Cinémathèque Française. What joyousness, what merrymaking, what lovemaking! We imagine Casanova perpetually kissing the hand of his latest innamorata, while half out the window and with a murderous husband leaping up the stairs. There have been some gorgeous Casanovas in recent years, but Ivan Mosjoukine was born to play this mischievous Harlequin with the melancholy heart. He was one of a group of Russian emigrés who fled to Paris in the 1920s – as was Alexandre Volkoff who, fresh from assisting on Abel Gance’s Napoléon, directed this sumptuous blockbuster, replete with stencil colour sequences bringing Venice’s 17th century carnivals to life. A thousand silk dresses (by Boris Bilinsky, designer of the famous Metropolis poster) dance in a rainbow of colours, while fireworks are reflected in the waters of the Grand Canal.  Find out more at  wikipedia.org.  Presented as part of the Cambridge Film Festival.  With live musical accompaniment.  Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge  Link

Comedy For Kids And Adults With Neil Brand  Hal Roach ran a comedy studio in the 1920s that contained some of the funniest comics in silent cinema, and in this show we meet five of them: the great Charley Chase, the even greater Laurel and Hardy, plus two very funny women: Anita Garvin and Marion Byron. Created and presented by acclaimed musician, broadcaster and Family Festival favourite Neil Brand, this show for kids of all ages reveals Neil’s wide-ranging knowledge, abundant wit and flair for musical story-telling. Children will be encouraged to get involved with the music!  Presented as part of the Cambridge Film Festival.  With live piano accompaniment by Neil Brand.  Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge. Link

By the Law (Po Zakonu)   (Dir . Lev Kuleshov, 1926) (Screening format – not known, 80mins )    Legendary director Lev Kuleshov adapted a short story by Jack London, fashioning a tense, existential study of moral pressure…in effect a pared-back Soviet Western.    Three gold prospectors are holed up in a cabin – one driven to murder by greed, the other two wrestling with whether to wait for the snow and ice to thaw and go for the authorities or to take the Law into their own hands.  The stage is set for a claustrophobic drama of raw power, combining naturalism and the grotesque, realism and melodrama…   Find out more atsilentsaregolden.com . With live musical accompaniment by multi-award-winning Scottish musician, singer and song-writer R.M. Hubbert (aka Hubby) performing his brand new guitar score, commissioned by the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.  Stromness Town Hall, OrkneyLink

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 atrogerebert.com.  With live musical accompaniment from Mike Nolan.  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’Ness, Scotland Link

22 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 as part of the Cambridge Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment.  Emmanuel College – Queen’s Building, Cambridge  Link

Shiraz (Dir. Franz Osten, 1928) (Screening format – not known, 97mins) Newly restored by the BFI, Shiraz comes to Cambridge straight from its Archive Gala presentation at the BFI London Film Festival.  The film is based on a play by Indian author Niranjan Pal and tells the fictionalised love story of the 17th-century princess who inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal.  It was directed by Germany’s Franz Osten, one of at least 17 films he made in India between 1925 and 1939, best known of which are The Light of Asia (1925) and A Throw of Dice (1929).  The film was photographed entirely on location in India and all the actors are Indian although the crew were mostly German. Upon its release Shiraz was a considerable critical and popular success.  Find out more at silentfilm.org. Presented as part of the Cambridge Film Festival. With live musical accompaniment.  Emmanuel College – Queen’s Building, Cambridge Link

Man With A Movie Camera (Dir. Dziga Vertov, USSR, 1929) (Screening format – DCP, 68mins)  “An experiment in the creative communication of visible events without the aid of inter-titles, a scenario or theatre “aiming at creating a truly international absolute language of cinema,” is how the inter-titles describe what is about to be seen. Bold claims indeed, but in its awesome sophistication The Man with a Movie Camera does live up to them, making it one of the most contemporary of silent movies. The subject, the life of a city from dawn to dusk, was not original even for 1928, but its treatment was–the cameraman as voyeur, social commentator and prankster, exploiting every trick permissible with the technology of the day (slow motion, dissolves, split screens, freeze frames, stop motion animation, etc). A young woman stirs in her bed, apparently fighting a nightmare in which a cameraman is about to be crushed by an oncoming train. She wakes up, and the sequence is revealed to be a simple trick shot. As she blinks her weary eyes, the shutters of her window mimic her viewpoint, and the iris of the camera spins open. Self-reflexive wit like this abounds here–there’s even a delicious counterpoint made between the splicing of film and the painting of a woman’s nails.  Find out more at openculture.com .  With recorded soundtrack.  BFI Southbank, LondonLink

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 81mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational masterwork of the cinema. Forsaking the highly stylised sets typical of German expressionist films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Murnau imparted a sense of dread to a real world of forests, mountains and open sea. In the film, the vampire Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake as he seeks out the  Ellen, the beautiful wife of his associate  .  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  .  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Tony Judge.  Plaza Cinema, Crosby, LiverpoolLink

Hamlet (Dir. Svend Gade/Heinz Schall, Ger, 1921) (Screening format – DCP, 130mins) A unique vision of the cursed Dane, this silent take on Shakespeare’s drama stands the test of time thanks to a unique and brilliant twist.  Starring the gorgeous Danish siren Asta Nielsen this adaption supposes that Hamlet’s inner turmoil centred on having been born a girl but having to pass incognito as the male heir to the throne.  Visually stunning, the film is presented here in a vibrant new restoration with tinted colour tones.  Find out more atsilentsplease.wordpress.com  .  With live piano accompaniment by Lillian Henley.  Curzon Cinema, ClevedonLink

24 October

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 atwikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by acclaimed musicians Minima.   Cheltenham Film Society, Bacon Close, Cheltenham. Link

25 October

Silent Clowns: A Slapstick Workshop.  Want to get the kids interested in silent film at an early age? Bring them along to this  workshop where they’ll be part of a group of budding silent comedians introduced to some of the funniest scenes from the silent film era, and taught some of the tricks of the silent comedy trade through clowning, games, and performing little skits. At the end of the workshop parents will be invited to see a short performance. Recommended for 5-11 year olds.  Presented as part of the Wolverhampton Comedy Festival. Newhampton Arts Centre, WolverhamptonLink

Custard Pie CeremonyIn 1909, veteran comic Ben Turpin became the first film actor to get hit in the face with a custard pie. After that, everyone was at it, and it became a staple for silent comedies. We’ll be celebrating the art of throwing the custard pie with a selection of silent and sound shorts and extracts from films from the 10s, 20s, and 30s. Featuring, amongst others, Mabel Normand and Roscoe Arbuckle in A Noise from the Deep (1913), Charlie Chaplin in His Trysting Places (1914) and Behind the Screen (1916), and everyone’s favourite comedy duo Laurel & Hardy in The Battle of the Century (1927). Presented as part of the Wolverhampton Comedy Festival.  Introduced by Katie O’Malley, with live musical accompaniment.  Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton.Link

26 October

Performing Wonders of Entertainment and Film 1895-1920 – This year the Jane Mercer Memorial Lecture will be celebrating the UNESCO World Day for Audiovisual Heritage and will be given by  Professor Vanessa Toulmin, Chair in Early Film and Popular Entertainment at the University of Sheffield, Founder and Research Professor at the National Fairground and Circus Archive and Director of City and Culture for the University of Sheffield.   Professor Toulmin  will show some clips of her 20 favourite early films that enabled discoveries in film history, help people remember the importance of entertainment and by virtue of the archives are now being shared and discovered.  With live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.  Cinema Museum, Lambeth, London Link

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 81mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational masterwork of the cinema. In the film, Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake.  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  .  With live musical accompaniment by musicians- the Cabinet of Living Cinema.  Old Street Church, St Luke’s, London Link

Dawson City – Frozen Time (Dir. Bill Morrison, US, 2016) (Screening format – DCP, 120mins) This stunning documentary pieces together the bizarre true story of a collection of some 500 films dating from 1910s – 1920s, which were lost for over 50 years until discovered buried in a sub-arctic swimming pool deep in the Yukon Territory, in Dawson City, located about 350 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Using these permafrost protected, rare silent films and newsreels, archival footage, interviews and historical photographs to tell the story, and accompanied by an enigmatic score by Sigur Rós collaborator and composer Alex Somers (Captain Fantastic), Dawson City: Frozen Time depicts a unique history of a Canadian gold rush town by chronicling the life cycle of a singular film collection through its exile, burial, rediscovery, and salvation – and through that collection, how a First Nation hunting camp was transformed and displaced. Find out more at picturepalacepictures.com  .   Presented as part of the Cambridge Film Festival. Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge  Link

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 atsilentfilm.org .  With recorded soundtrack.  Cinema City, NorwichLink

October: Ten Days That Shook The World (Dir. Sergei Eisenstein, 1927) (Screening format – not known, 104mins) Borrowing its title from a book by American journalist John Reed, Sergei Eisenstein’s Ten Days That Shook the World reenacts the crucial week-and-a-half in October, 1918, when the Russian Kerensky regime was toppled by the Bolsheviks.  Eisenstein used the film to further develop his theories of film structure, using a concept he described as “intellectual montage”, the editing together of shots of apparently unconnected objects in order to create and encourage intellectual comparisons between them.  A largely non-professional cast was employed, the “actor” playing Lenin, a nonprofessional cement factory worker named Nikandrov, so closely resembles the genuine article that the effect is striking while a University student took on the role of Kerensky and Zinoviev was played by his real brother. The film was not as successful or influential in the Soviet Union as Battleship Potemkin with audiences finding the film stilted and artificial.  Eisenstein’s montage experiments met with official disapproval; the authorities complained that October was unintelligible to the masses and he was also required to re-edit the work to expurgate references to  Trotsky, who had recently been purged by Stalin.  Nevertheless, film historians now consider it to be an important film, a sweeping historical epic of vast scale, and a powerful testament to Eisenstein’s creativity and artistry.  Find out more at imdb.com.  Presented by Kino Klassika to mark the centenary of the October Revolution. With live music accompaniment by the London Symphony Orchestra led by Frank Strobel.  Barbican, London Link

27 October

Chaplin: Silent Soundtracks – An evening of live musical accompaniment to a selection of films and film extracts featuring Charlie Chaplin including The Immigrant (Dir, Charles Chaplin, US, 1917) in which newly arrived immigrant Chaplin struggles to pay for a meal with his new found lady friend; The Adventurer (Dir. Charles Chaplin, US, 1917) in which Chaplin plays an escaped convict on the run from prison guards who falls into favor with a wealthy family after he saves a young lady from drowning; and The Vagabond (Dir. Charles Chaplin, US, 1916) in which itinerant violinist Charlie rescues a girl abducted by gypsies and love blossoms.   The live accompaniment will be performed by  Ashley Wass (piano) and Matthew Trusler (violin) including music written by Rachmaninov, Gershwin, Kreisler, and Chaplin himself at an event to celebrate 65 years of the Royal Over Seas League (ROSL) Arts.   ROSL London Clubhouse, London SW1 Link

Nosferatu (Dir. F W Murnau, 1922) (Screening format – not known, 81mins) A German Expressionist horror masterpiece starring Max Shreck as the vampire Count Orlok.  The film was an unauthorised adaption of Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ with names and other details changed because the studio could not obtain the rights to the novel.  Stoker’s heirs sued over the adaption and a court ruling ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed.  However, a few prints survived and the film came to be regarded as an inspirational masterwork of the cinema. In the film, Count Orlok travels across Europe leaving a trail of death in his wake.  Brilliantly eerie, with imaginative touches which later adaptions never achieved.  Find out more at wikipedia.org  .  With live musical accompaniment by pianist Jonny Best.  Hepworth Village Hall, Hepworth, West Yorks  Link

The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (Dir. Esfir Shub, USSR, 1927) (Screening format – 16mm, 87mins)  The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is notable for being constructed almost entirely out of stock footage which was compiled by director Esfir Shub, who had worked as an editor on several films before making this film. Whereas other documentary filmmakers, including Dziga Vertov, created films out of their own footage, Shub constructed a documentary narrative out of newsreel footage shot before the Revolution. Using this footage, she created a narrative about the brutality of the First World War and the neglect on the part of the Tsar and his ministers, one of the catalysts for the 1917 Revolution.  Find out more atedinburghfilmguild.org.uk .   Presented by the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image.  Birkbeck Cinema, London WC1Link

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 atwikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by acclaimed musicians Minima. The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol. Link

28 October

A Century of Chaplin.  Three classic Chaplin shorts including The Immigrant (Dir, Charles Chaplin, US, 1917) (Screening format – not known, 22 mins) The Immigrant sees the little tramp travelling as an immigrant  to America, being accused of theft on the voyage, finding the girl of his dreams (Edna Purviance) but then having trouble paying for a meal. Find out more atmoviessilently.com .  Presented as part of the Wolverhampton Comedy Festival.  With live musical accompaniment.  Light House Media Centre, The Chubb Buildings, Wolverhampton Link

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

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 atclassicartfilms.com .  With live musical accompaniment by Jonny Best (piano) and Trevor Bartlett (percussion).  Abbeydale Picture House, Sheffield Link

Sunrise; A Song of Two Humans (Dir. F W Murnau, US, 1927) (Screening format – 35mm, 94mins) F W Murnau’s debut American film, made at the technical zenith of the silent era  but already heralding the arrival of the talkies being one of the first silents made with synchronized musical score and sound effects soundtrack.  The simple story of a husband’s betrayal of his wife with a treacherous city girl, Sunrise moves from a fairytale-like depiction of rural life to a dynamic portrait of the bustling modern American city. Explored in elaborate tracking shots by Charles Rocher and Karl Struss’s pioneering camerawork, the city set was one of the most costly yet produced.  The result was a commercial flop, though the achievement did not go unheralded: Sunrise was awarded a special Oscar for unique and artistic production at the first ever Academy Awards and Janet Gaynor won the first Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance.  The film’s legacy has endured, and it is now widely considered a masterpiece with many calling it the greatest film of the silent era. Find out more attheguardian.com .  With a live accompaniment of Graham Stephen’s acclaimed score (winner of the Scottish Jazz Awards’ Innovation prize 2012).  Hippodrome Cinema, Bo’Ness, ScotlandLink

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com .  With live performance of  James McWilliamscore by the Covent Garden Sinfonia, conducted by Ben Palmer, and followed by a discussion featuring the filmmakers and Geetha Maheshwaran, co-ordinator of the Shree Ghanapathy Temple. Shree Ghanapathy Temple, London  SW19Link

One A.M. (Dir. Charles Chaplin, US, 1916) + I Do (Dir. Hal Roach, US, 1921) +  The High Sign (Dir. Edward F Cline/Buster Keaton, US, 1921) (Screening format – not known, 34/26/21 mins) In One A.M., Charlie Chaplin is the drunken homeowner having a difficult time getting in to his own home after arriving back late at night. I Do sees a young married couple (Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis) finding out just how difficult it is to look after a friend’s kids for the day.  Find out more atwikipedia.org .  In The High Sign, Buster Keaton plays a drifter who gets a job in a amusement park shooting gallery. Believing Buster is an expert marksman, both the murderous gang the Blinking Buzzards and the man they want to kill end up hiring him. The film ends with a wild chase through a house filled with secret passages. Find out more atsensesofcinema.com .  With live musical accompaniment by the theatre’s  in-house light orchestra, Gladstone’s bag!  Britannia Panoptican Music Hall, GlasgowLink

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.  It is by general agreement one of the most famous shots in silent comedy: a man in a straw hat and round horn-rim glasses, hanging from the minute hand of a clock 12 stories above the city street and it served to underline Lloyd’s comic genius.  Find out more atrogerebert.com .  With live organ accompaniment by Donald MacKenzie.  Chester Cathedral, ChesterLink

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 atwikipedia.org. With live musical accompaniment by acclaimed musicians Minima. The Wardrobe Theatre, Bristol. Link

29 October

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

30 October

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 atsilentfilm.org .  With recorded soundtrack. South Holland Centre, SpaldingLink

London Symphony (Dir.  Alex Barrett, UK, 2017) (Screening format – not known)  London Symphony  is a brand new silent film – a city symphony – which offers a poetic journey through London, a cosmopolitan city facing a challenge to its identity in the current political climate.  It is an artistic portrait of the city as it stands today, and a celebration of its culture and diversity. Find out more atlondonsymphfilm.com . With recorded James McWilliam soundtrack. Northern Light Cinema, Wirksworth, DerbyshireLink

31 October

Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages (Dir. Benjamin Christensen, Swe., 1922) ( Screening format – not known, 105mins) A fictionalized documentary with dramatic reconstructions showing the evolution of witchcraft, from its pagan roots to its confusion with hysteria in modern (1922) Europe. Based partly on Christensen’s study of the  Malleus Maleficarum, a 15th-century German guide for inquisitors, Häxan is a study of how superstition and the misunderstanding of diseases and mental illness could lead to the hysteria of the witch hunts.  Although it won acclaim in Denmark and Sweden when first released, Haxan was heavily censored or banned outright in many countries.  But it is now considered to be Christensen’s finest work, a witches’ brew of the scary, the grotesque, and the darkly humorous. Find out more at thedevilsmanor.blogspot.co.uk .  For this special Hallowe’en screening  Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen, High Rise, A Field in England), will be narrating a live translation of the Swedish inter-titles and renowned musician Stephen Horne. will be providing live musical accompaniment. Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley, London  Link