The San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2012

(Image: Starts Thursday Blog)

The good news is here at last! 

 

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival has published the schedule of films for the summer event. The festival runs from July 12 through July 15^th at the gorgeous Castro Theater. All films are screening at the Castro with plenty of time in between films for a break to nosh at some of the local eateries in the neighborhood. Buy your tickets and/or festival pass here.

Right off the bat, one of the films that I am most excited about seeing is The Canadian, highly recommended from friends who were fortunate enough to have seen it a few years back.  I am also extremely excited to get a chance to see The Spanish Dancer with Pola Negri.  This will be my first Negri silent on the big screen.  We're treated to two films with Clara Bow featured, Wings and Mantrap.  It's always a real pleasure to see anything with Clara Bow.  Wings has recently been restored to much acclaim and has been on the fesitval circuit, I'm looking forward to it.  It's a film I've always enjoyed on the big screen.  The Mont Alto Orchestra will return to San Francisco for this, gotta love it.

Ernst Lubitsch gets to show off the pre-Hollywood spectacle version of a Lubitsch film with The Loves of Pharaoh.  The amazing trailer can be seen here.  The massive sets and huge cast look like it will out-de Mille Mr. Cecil B. de Mille. 

Fans of Louise Brooks will have a new restoration of Pandora's Box to look forward to.  This new restoration boasts some added footage.  The fabulous Matti Bye Ensemble will play for the film, that's an event in iteself.

 

 

At the festival last year we enjoyed a rare Marlene Dietrich silent film, this year we will see one of her mentor's.  Josef von Sternberg's late 1920's silent films The Docks of New York.

Not only will be swashbuckling with Antonio Moreno and Pola Negri in the aforementioned The Spanish Dancer, we'll get to see Douglas Fairbanks in his first big action costume role, The Mark of Zorro.  Dennis James will be playing the mighty Wurlitzer and that will be a grand event as it always is.

We're also being treated to what promises to be another wonderful film starring the great Chinese actress Ruan Lingyu in Little Toys. 

The 1925 version of the hoary tearjerker Stella Dallas starring Belle Bennett is reputed to be the best version.  The fact that Ronald Colman is also cast holds no attraction for me whatsoever.  (Snort, I am lying, bigtime)  I'm looking forward to using a box of kleenex for this one.

Stephen Horne and Donald Sosin will fill out the musical slots as they capably and entertainingly do.

The remainder of the lineup is shown below.  I hope to be doing a bit more blogging about what's in store in July.  This is simply an amuse bouche to get your mouth watering, as is mine!  See you in July!

Wings

Thursday, Jul 12, 2012 7:00 PM
Opening Night
Accompanied by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra with Foley sound effects by Ben Burtt
USA, 1927, approximately 141 minutes
Directed by William Wellman
Cast: Clara Bow, Richard Arlen, Buddy Rogers, Gary Cooper

The screening of Wings will be followed by an opening night party at the McRoskey Mattress Company on Market Street.

Opening Night Party

McRoskey Mattress Company
Thursday, Jul 12, 2012 9:30 PM

Amazing Tales from the Archives

Friday, Jul 13, 2012 10:30 AM
Archivists and film historians – to be announced! - will shed light on their work to find, rescue, and preserve cinematic treasures for generations to come.

Admission to this event is free. You do not need a ticket, but please arrive 15 minutes early to guarantee a seat.

Little Toys

Friday, Jul 13, 2012 1:00 PM
(XIAO WANYI)
Accompanied by Donald Sosin on the grand piano
China, 1933, approximately 110 minutes
Directed by Sun Yu
Cast: Ruan Lingyu, Li Lili

The Loves of Pharaoh

Friday, Jul 13, 2012 4:00 PM
(DAS WEIB DES PHARAO)
Accompanied by Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer
Germany, 1922, approximately 100 minutes
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Cast: Emil Jannings, Dagny Servaes, Paul Biensfeldt, Friedrich Kühne

Mantrap

Friday, Jul 13, 2012 7:00 PM
Accompanied by Stephen Horne on the grand piano
USA, 1926, approximately 71 minutes
Dir. Victor Fleming
Cast: Clara Bow, Ernest Torrence, Percy Marmont, Eugene Pallette

The Wonderful Lie of Nina Petrovna
Friday, Jul 13, 2012 9:15 PM
(DIE WUNDERBARE LÜGE DER NINA PETROWNA)
Accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Germany, 1929, approximately 115 minutes
Directed by Hanns Schwarz
Cast: Brigitte Helm, Francis Lederer, Warwick Ward, Lya Jan

Irrepressible Felix the Cat!

Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 10:00 AM
Accompanied by Donald Sosin and Toychestra
USA, 1925–1929, Approximate total running time: 70 minutes
Created by Otto Mesmer and Pat Sullivan

The Spanish Dancer

Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 12:00 PM
Accompanied by Donald Sosin on the grand piano
USA, 1923, approximately 105 minutes
Directed by Herbert Brenon
Cast: Pola Negri, Antonio Moreno, Wallace Beery, Kathlyn Williams, Adolphe Menjou

The Canadian

Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 2:30 PM
Accompanied by Stephen Horne on the grand piano.
USA, 1926, approximately 88 minutes
Directed by William Beaudine
Cast: Thomas Meighan, Mona Palma, Wyndham Standing, Dale Fuller

South

Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 5:00 PM
Accompanied by Stephen Horne on the grand piano, with Paul McGann narrating.
United Kingdom, 1919, approximately 72 minutes
Directed by Frank Hurley

Pandora's Box

Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 7:00 PM
Accompanied by the Matti Bye Ensemble
Germany, 1929, approximately 143 minutes
Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Franz Lederer, Carl Gotz

The Overcoat

Saturday, Jul 14, 2012 10:00 PM
(SHINEL)
Accompanied by the Alloy Orchestra
USSR 1926, approximately 71 minutes
Directed by Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg
Cast: Andrei Kostrichkin, Antonina Yeremeyeva, Sergei Gerasimov

The Mark of Zorro

Sunday, Jul 15, 2012 10:00 AM
Accompanied by Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer
USA, 1920, approximately 90 minutes
Directed by Fred Niblo
Cast: Douglas Fairbanks, Marguerite De La Motte, Noah Beery

The Docks of New York

Sunday, Jul 15, 2012 12:00 PM
Accompanied by Donald Sosin on the grand piano
USA, 1928, approximately 76 minutes
Directed by Josef von Sternberg
Cast: George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook

Erotikon

Sunday, Jul 15, 2012 2:00 PM
Accompanied by the Matti Bye Ensemble
Sweden, 1920, approximately 106 minutes
Directed by Mauritz Stiller
Cast: Anders de Wahl, Tora Teje, Lars Hanson, Karin Molande

Stella Dallas

Sunday, Jul 15, 2012 4:30 PM
Accompanied by Stephen Horne on the grand piano
USA, 1925, approximately 120 minutes
Directed by Henry King
Cast: Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Alice Joyce, Jean Hersholt

The Cameraman

Sunday, Jul 15, 2012 7:30 PM
Accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
USA, 1928, approximately 76 minutes
Directed by Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton
Cast: Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin

The Cameraman screens with the restoration of Georges Melies 1902 film A Trip to the Moon

Kevin Brownlow - Honorary Oscar Recipient

Kevin Brownlow (image courtesy www.fiba-filmbank.org)

The news that The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be honoring Kevin Brownlow with an Academy Award for lifetime achievement spread like wildfire all over the internet yesterday. The reaction from film fans, film buffs, authors, filmmakers, historians, preservationists and scholars across the globe was instant and unanimous, that of unbridled joy. I can think of no other figure with regard to silent film, the need for preservation and the recording of its history to be more influential than Kevin Brownlow. I can think of no other historian, documentarian, filmmaker or author, each of which is a hat worn by Brownlow, that is more deserving of such a lifetime achievement award.

The Academy summed up Brownlow thusly:

Brownlow is widely regarded as the preeminent historian of the silent film era as well as a preservationist. Among his many silent film restoration projects are Abel Gance’s 1927 epic “Napoleon,” Rex Ingram’s “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” (1921) and “The Thief of Bagdad” (1924), starring Douglas Fairbanks. Brownlow has authored, among others, The Parade’s Gone By; The War, the West, and the Wilderness; Hollywood: The Pioneers; Behind the Mask of Innocence; David Lean; and Mary Pickford Rediscovered. His documentaries include “Hollywood,” “Unknown Chaplin,” “Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow,” “Harold Lloyd: The Third Genius” and “D.W. Griffith: Father of Film,” all with David Gill; Brownlow also directed “Cecil B. DeMille: American Epic” and “Garbo,” the latter with Christopher Bird.

The Academy is correct, but really, Brownlow's influence runs so much deeper, in ways that cannot be counted by the listing as above which feels as dry as the IMDB.

In the cinematic circles in which I travel, I'm fairly confident that if it were not for Kevin Brownlow, not one of us would be here blogging, writing, researching or preserving films. The influence and power of this humble and incredibly generous man is like a force of nature.

Brownlow beguiled us with the "book I did not want to write" The Parade's Gone By. He astonished us with the massive and landmark documentary Hollywood. He brought us The Unknown Chaplin, a key that unlocked some of the mystery of how Chaplin formed and perfected his character of the "Little Tramp" and honed his comedic genius. With D.W. Griffith The Father of Film, he paid homage to one of the earliest pioneers of cinematic language in one of the most moving documentaries I've ever seen. His documentaries on Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd are second to none (and like the landmark Hollywood not on DVD). Not content to focus only on the output of Hollywood, the facsinating Cinema Europe The Other Hollywood tells the story of what fine work was going on across the pond. The founding of Photoplay Productions with the late David Gill and Patrick Stanbury has resulted in preservation and documentary work that is the gold standard. Photoplay strives to present silent films in the way they should be seen, as "Live Cinema."

Brownlow's "trilogy" of books the previously mentioned The Parade's Gone By, as well as The War the West and the Wilderness, and Behind the Mask of Innocence are (to me) three volumes that are required reading for anyone with even the most basic interest in film history and silent film. Do not for a moment think that this "history" is dull. It most assuredly is not. Like the subjects Brownlow interviewed, the words leap off the pages and are as engaging as they are delightful. So, too, are the stories. Brownlow interviewed just about everyone who was still alive and willing to talk about silent films including the larger than life figures Allan Dwan, King Vidor, Gloria Swanson, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Mary Pickford, Clarence Brown and Louise Brooks. He did not stop with the "big names" he spoke with everyone, including family members, stuntman Harvey Parry, editors Grant Whytock and Margaret Booth and to the people who played for the films in the movie palaces like Chauncy Haines and Gaylord Carter and everyone else in between to capture what seemed to be the joy of making these films. All of these interviews have been preserved and that alone is worthy of an Oscar.

Then there is his work on Abel Gance's Napoleon. As a young film collector, a reel of film he picked up sparked a lifelong passion and a lifetime restoration project. His earlier restoration of this film brought acclaim to it's director/producer Abel Gance. His passion and continuing work has resulted in a film that is nearly complete. The latest version of Napoleon is well over 5 hours long.

Brownlow's own films, It Happened Here and Winstanley add more fuel to the fire of his achievements.

He is a man who is curious about all aspects of film from the film stock used, to the machine that makes it and the machine that screens it. He's a critic, he's a fan and he's a geek in the nicest sense of the word. He is generous to a fault with his material and is always willing to help someone else with their projects. I can attest to this generosity personally with regard to my own book. He's truly humble about his accomplishments and perhaps a little embarassed by the acclaim, veneration and respect with which he is regarded by the film geeks like me. I get tongue tied every time I talk to him and turn into a silly fangirl. He can't know all the personal stories, but he must realize that his work has changed lives. It changed mine and I am profoundly grateful.

That the Academy has chosen to recognize him for his achievements is a wonderful thing. I applaud the Academy and the Board of Governors for this decision. I applaud Kevin Brownlow for all his achievements, past, present and those in the future. Bravo!

NEH Grant to the National Film Preservation Foundation

William S. Hart

NEH AWARDS $305,000 TO THE
NATIONAL FILM PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
TO PRODUCE TREASURES 5

New DVD Set Will Present the American West in Early Film

Thanks to a $305,000 grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Film Preservation Foundation will produce Treasures from American Film Archives 5, a ten-hour DVD set presenting the American West in early film. The anthology will draw from the preservation work of the nation's preeminent silent-film archives—the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, George Eastman House, the Library of Congress, the Museum of Modern Art, the National Archives, and the UCLA Film & Television Archive—and explore how film recorded and mythologized the American West from 1897 to 1938.

Some of America’s earliest movies brought the West’s distinctive landscapes and peoples to faraway audiences. By 1910, narratives set in the West accounted for one-fifth of all U.S. releases and had emerged internationally as the first film type for which “American-made” become a selling point. While Westerns were helping to put Hollywood on the map, the real West became a popular subject in educational shorts, travelogues promoting rail and auto travel, industrial profiles, newsreels, and government films about agriculture, Native Americans, and conservation. Film exported the West to every part of the globe and inspired a movie-made vision of America far beyond our shores.

The three-disc anthology will reclaim this little known history by presenting an array of features and shorts previously unavailable on video. Scheduled for release in fall 2011, Treasures 5 will feature audio commentary, new musical accompaniments, and program notes and will reunite the production team from previous NFPF DVDs: curator Scott Simmon (UC Davis), music curator Martin Marks (MIT), and designer Jennifer Grey. The NEH grant builds on a generous start-up grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts in December 2009.

The NFPF's critically acclaimed Treasures DVD series is widely used in libraries and universities around the world. The sets have won awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the Video Software Dealers Association, and Il Cinema Ritrovato, the festival of film preservation in Bologna, Italy, and have become a staple in the teaching of film and history.

The Treasures 5 grant was made through the NEH’s Preservation and Access program. These grants support initiatives that “provide an essential foundation for scholarship, education, and public programming in the humanities.” The NEH designated Treasures 5 as a We the People project, a special recognition for efforts that promise to “strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of American history and culture.”

The National Film Preservation Foundation is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to help save America's film heritage. Since starting operations in 1997, the NFPF has assisted institutions in 48 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, and helped preserve more than 1,560 films. The NFPF is the charitable affiliate of the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress. For more information on the NFPF's programs, please visit http://www.filmpreservation.org/.

Fifty Years and Fifty Films

Le scarabée d'or (1907)

My lofty goal for the next six months is to watch 50 different films and comment about them here. This initial list may change, in particular with regard to some of the older films this is subject to their availability on DVD. I also doubt the films will be viewed in chronological order.

Some of the films on this list of 50 are genuine Hollywood classics and well known to most people. That said, as much as I love them, you will not find The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, Wizard of Oz, The Women or a billion other films on this list. I wanted to avoid some of the more obvious classic choices and to explore some films I've not seen as well as revisit a few very old and dear friends. I've seen roughly half of them previously. Most of those prior viewings were quite some years back, so the films will be nearly new again. A few are old and dear favorites and I simply could not imagine not listing them, Sunset Blvd, for example. I've sprinkled in a few foreign films, and really should have added more of them. Maybe save that for another posting reserved for all the foreign films I've never managed to watch (shame on me).

Some of the films on the list present the opportunity to view some very early screen debuts of later greats. A few titles I am not sure I will be able to view. I'm going to ask around for those, we'll just have to see how it plays.

tba - 1900
tba - 1901
President McKinley Inauguration Footage 1902
The Great Train Robbery 1903
The Mermaid 1904
The Whole Dam Family and the Dam Dog 1905
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces 1906
The Golden Beetle 1907
The Thieving Hand 1908
A Corner in Wheat 1909
Frankenstein 1910
The Lonedale Operator 1911
The Musketeers of Pig Alley 1912
The Perils of Pauline 1914
A Fool There Was 1915
Gretchen the Greenhorn 1916
The Poor Little Rich Girl 1917
The Cook 1918
The Roaring Road 1919
The Last of the Mohicans 1920
The Affairs of Anatol 1921
Flloish Wives 1922
A Woman of Paris 1923
Aelita Queen of Mars 1924
The Goose Woman/The Eagle 1925
The Winning of Barbara Worth 1926
The Cat and the Canary 1927
Lonesome 1928
A Cottage on Dartmoor 1929
City Girl 1930
The Millionaire 1931
The Mummy 1932
Footlight Parade 1933
Crime Without Passion 1934
Captain Blood 1935
Sabotage 1936
The Prisoner of Zenda 1937
Holiday 1938
The Women 1939
The Letter 1940
The Devil and Miss Jones 1941
Random Harvest 1942
Destination Tokyo 1943
The Uninvited 1944
The Picture of Dorian Gray 1945
The Razor's Edge 1946
Kiss of Death 1947
Sudden Fear 1948
Kind Hearts and Coronets 1949
Sunset Blvd. 1950

L'éclipse du soleil en pleine lune (1907)

Silents Onward

From the silent era onward through the 1950's, as I watch them, I'll cover them here.

I can be an imperious snob about films and, alternatively, very indulgent about the worst dreck to hit the silver sheet since The Great Train Robbery of 1903. One suspects that what will follow will be a grand mix of the two.

It is no secret amongst my friends that I love movies, in particular, old classic movies. Not that I need another hobby, I don't, really I do not. What I do need is another outlet with regard to my views on classic and old, but not so classic films. Hence, Strictly Vintage Hollywood.

In addition to old films, I adore the psuedo-classic architecture shown in films. This also includes real life architecture ranging from classic and grand movie palaces (sadly so few survive) and the grand palaces that dot Hollywood and Brentwood where the stars lived and played. I plan on highlighting some of that here. It's a rich era, fascinating and fun.

It may be a solitary adventure, but movies are always fun to share with friends.

I initially thought to begin with Cecil B. De Mille's 1934 delicious pre-code Cleopatra with Claudette Colbert and that hunk of catnip to the pre-code fans, Warren William? I got distracted, of course, Warren William as Julius Caesar is shown above and is a preview of coming attractions.