Lucky ducks (like me) in San Francisco will get a chance to see all of the recently restored (and extant) silent films of Alfred Hitchcock at The Castro Theater presented as a special event by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. You can read about the programs and order your tickets here!
It was pointed out to me by a good friend the most wonderful comment from "Freddie" in this blog piece from the New York Times, do check it out! It's rare in an article that the comments are worth reading, this one most certainly is. Especially if you sing along!
The official announcement of the complete schedule for the 2011 San Francisco Silent Film Festival is imminent. Mark your calendars for July 14th-17th at the Castro Theater.
One of the films that has been announced is The Great White Silence. The performance at the SFSFF will be accompanied by the fabulous Mattie Bye Ensemble.
The film has been restored and re-scored by the British Film Institute. The BFI has posted a fabulous 13 minute video piece on the scoring and the film. I'm really anxious to see this on the big screen.
A hundred years ago, cinematographer Herbert Ponting joined Captain Robert F. Scott’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic as official photographer. Ponting not only captured the magnificent vistas and charming wildlife, but documented camp life and scientific work as well. In 1924, he edited the footage into this extraordinary feature complete with vivid toning and tinting. The British Film Institute has recently restored the film using modern techniques to recreate the dazzling color and brilliant detail of the original.
With any luck I will have more on the upcoming festival posted this weekend. With even more luck, once the festival is finished I will have photos to post that will have been taken with a vintage 1915 era brownie camera (my new fun project).
The British Film Institute needs our help! The 9 surviving silent films of Alfred Hitchcock need restoration and preservation. The blogoshpere came together in in February For the Love of Film and helped raise money for the National Film Preservation Foundation. Can you spare $1, $5, $10, or more to help save these important films?
The BFI site has a lot of information and has posted this fabulous commercial on their youtube channel and I encourage you to watch it and please make a donation. It made me want to give some filthy lucre.
What are The Hitchcock 9?
The PleasureGarden (1925) The Lodger (1926) The Ring (1927) Downhill (1927) Easy Virtue (1927) The Farmers Wife (1927) Champagne (1928) The Manxman (1929) Blackmail (1929)
In a perfect world someone would also turn up a print of The Mountain Eagle. Yeah, you know why I wanna see that, yes it's Hitch and YES, it's Nita Naldi.
We've done it before! Let's do it again! Help spread the word about this worthy cause.
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