San Francisco Silent Film Festival - Upstream and Sunrise

Opening Night for the 16th Annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival promises to be a wonderful evening. 

The evening begins with the San Francisco Premiere of the recently re-patriated John Ford silent Upstream.

Upstream

Accompanied By: Sosin Ensemble

(U.S.A., 1927, 61 mins)

Directed By: John Ford

Cast: Nancy Nash, Earle Foxe, Grant Withers, Lydia Yeamans Titus, Raymond Hitchcock

Screening with the short WHY HUSBANDS FLIRT - new preservation premiere

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival opens on July 14 at the Castro Theatre with this spectacular restoration of a film directed by John Ford that was long believed lost.

UPSTREAM (1927) is one of 75 American films recently discovered in the New Zealand Film Archive. These “lost” films will be preserved over the next several years at five major American archives, including the Academy’s, in collaboration with the National Film Preservation Foundation. UPSTREAM is the first of the features to be preserved and screened for the public. The preservation work was carried out by Park Road Post Production in Wellington, New Zealand, under the direction of Twentieth Century Fox and the Academy Film Archive.

UPSTREAM focuses on a love triangle involving an egotistical actor (Earle Foxe) and a young couple (Nancy Nash, Grant Withers) who partner in a vaudeville knife-throwing act. The film is from an interesting chapter in the career of Ford, as he admitted that during this time he was strongly influenced by the work of German director F.W. Murnau, who had immigrated to the United States to make films for the Fox studios, enabling Ford to study his working methods first hand.

The Donald Sosin Ensemble (pianist/composer Sosin with featured players from the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra) will accompany UPSTREAM as well as another discovery from the New Zealand Archive—a short comedy by Al Christie with Dorothy Dane and Bobby Vernon, WHY HUSBANDS FLIRT(1918). The film has recently been restored thanks to Frank Buxton.

Print courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

WHY HUSBANDS FLIRT preservation funded by Frank Buxton and Cynthia Sears

Print courtesy of George Eastman House

Following Upstream will be the beloved classic, Sunrise directed by F.W. Murnau.  Sunrise is arguably one of the greatest silent films ever made.  It is a film held in high esteem by many historians, archivists and film fans (myself included).

Sunrise

Accompanied By: Giovanni Spinelli

(U.S.A., 1927, 94 mins, 35mm)
Directed By: F.W. Murnau
Cast: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston
Accompanied by Giovanni Spinelli on electric guitar

Presentation in association with Paolo Cherchi Usai

Silent cinema is the art form that died too young: "Not ripe for replacement," aesthetician Rudolph Arnheim wrote in 1930, three years after THE JAZZ SINGER broke the sound barrier, silent film “had not lost its fruitfulness, but only its profitability.” Indeed, many of the most innovative silent movies were produced in the mode's last days: Dreyer’s THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC, Sjöström’s THE WIND, Vertov’s THE MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA, Dovzhenko’s EARTH, and Murnau’s SUNRISE.

Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau (1888-1931), a protégé of the great German theatrical impresario Max Reinhardt, was a formidable technician and arguably the supreme cine-aesthete of the 1920s: painter of light, choreographer of camera movement, and maestro of mise-en-scène. Murnau’s 1924 visual tour de force, known in the U.S. as THE LAST LAUGH, was one of the first (and few) silent features made without the benefit of intertitles. Following this international success and Murnau’s ambitious 1926 FAUST, movie mogul William Fox brought the “German genius” to Hollywood and gave him the key to the studio.

SUNRISE was shot silent, with very few titles, and released in late 1927, with a synchronized musical soundtrack. The early reviews were sensational; the grosses were not. Thirty years later, the ultimate cinephile magazine Cahiers du Cinéma declared Murnau’s first American movie “the single greatest masterwork in the history of cinema.” It's an assertion as reckless, romantic, and extravagant as the movie itself. —J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

Print courtesy of Criterion Pictures USA

Individual tickets and festival passes may be purchased online at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival website.



George O'Brien - Local Boy Makes Good

Thomas Meighan, George O'Brien, Conrad Nagel and Daniel O'Brien
at the San Francisco Train Station May 1922
(Courtesy of The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley)

Silent film and western movie star George O’Brien was born in San Francisco, California on April 19, 1899. George was the elder son of Daniel J. and Margaret L. O'Brien. His younger brother Daniel O’Brien, Jr. came 3 years later. Like many others, the O’Brien’s lost their home and livelihood in the great earthquake and fire of 1906. The O’Brien clan lived in one of the many refugee camps set up in the city and over the years in several neighborhoods in San Francisco. They lived on Ocean Avenue, Tehama Street and Octavia Street in the Marina. The Ocean Avenue house enumerated on the 1910 census is still standing and can be seen below.

George O'Brien's boyhood home on Ocean Avenue
(Photo by me)

In 1908 desperate for work, Dan O’Brien, Sr. joined the San Francisco Police Force and by 1919 had become acting Chief of Police. Chief Daniel O’Brien was not only the Chief of Police, he was a city ambassador, much like Mayor James J. Rolph (nicknamed “Sunny Jim”). Many a Hollywood star would be greeted at the train station by both the Mayor and Chief O’Brien. It's easy to see where George got his good looks.

Chief Daniel O'Brien
(Courtesy of The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley)

George and his brother Dan passed happy days growing up in San Francisco. George excelled at athletics and worked hard to emulate his ideal, his Dad. After graduation from high school, George enlisted in the United States Navy to fight in World War I. He served on a Submarine chaser and volunteered to act as a stretcher bearer for wounded Marines. George was decorated for bravery.

After the Great War George moved back in with the family in San Francisco and was at loose ends. Originally intending to attend college, George instead sought some action behind the footlights. San Francisco, then as now, is an attractive city for filmmaking and George soon found stunt work and a small film role in Paramount's 1921 film Moran of the Lady Letty.

Moran of the Lady Letty starred Dorothy Dalton and Rudolph Valentino (fresh from success in The Sheik). George can be seen early on in the film and has a nice little death scene. George was reputed to also do the stunt work on the film. It has been erroneously reported that George took the fall for Valentino at the end of the film. In fact, if George did the stunt fall into the San Francisco Bay, it was for Walter Long, not Valentino.

Dorothy Dalton and George chatting on location in San Francisco
(Courtesy Francis Lacassin)

George appeared in small parts and bits in several films such as Thomas Meighan's The Ne-er Do Well for Paramount (1923) and Milton Sills' The Sea Hawk for First National (1924). It was later in 1924 when George scored his big break with the leading role in the Fox epic The Iron Horse. George also made a lifelong friend in the director, John Ford.

Madge Bellamy and George O'Brien posing with The Iron Horse (1924)
(Courtesy of The Bancroft Library. University of California, Berkeley)

George's notices for The Iron Horse earned him a contract with Fox and, as they say, a star was born. George made several films, including East Side West Side (which garnered rave reviews in 2009 at Cinecon). The great German director F.W. Murnau cast George in Sunrise based on his work in East Side West Side.

It is the 1927 film Sunrise that cements George O'Brien's place in the cinematic pantheon. With 20+ years of his career was left to him, Sunrise remains the best known and most beloved film of his career.

George's portrayal of a young farmer "The Man" who is tempted by a woman from the city (Margaret Livingston) to attempt to murder his wife (Janet Gaynor in a most unfortunate wig) and then, realizing his error, spends the rest of the film wooing her back is a strong, moving and tender performance. Murnau's lyrical and sensitive direction combined with the photography of Charles Rosher and Karl Struss and the simplicity of the story packs an emotional wallop for even the most jaded film-goer. Even today. Janet Gaynor may have been Academy Award nominee and winner for Sunrise and Seventh Heaven, but it was George who really gives the standout performance.

Margaret Livingston and George O'Brien in Sunrise

The "marriage sequence" shown below still moves this viewer to tears every single time.

George also loved and was proud of his work in Sunrise. While I was not in attendance (before this old timer's time), another old timer posted some recollections of favorite Cinecon festivals past with this small remembrance:

And my all-time favorite Cinecon moment...
1979: New York City
George O'Brien gets a standing ovation at the end of SUNRISE and starts wiping tears from his eyes. Unforgettable.

A Window Card for the film (1927)

George posed for some pretty hunky and spectacular nude art shots for the film Fig Leaves. No need to post them here, you can find them all over the internet, hubba hubba, quite a hunk of man.

George's career continued on with a loan out to Warner Brothers/First National for the epic Michael Curtiz film Noah's Ark. Grueling is not the word. Poor George and his leading lady Dolores Costello took a real beating in this film. By the end of the 1920's George's career had moved firmly into the genre of westerns. George was an active and favorite B-Western star for the remainder of his film career.

George married Marguerite Churchill in 1933 and by all accounts the union was a happy one. George's great happiness with marriage in 1933 was tempered by the passing of his beloved father later that year. Their first child Brian died at 10 days, an unspeakable tragedy. The daughter Orin was born in 1935 and in 1939, son Darcy. George continued to make westerns and raise his family.

He rejoined the Navy and served in the Pacific in World War II. Like many veterans, George came back from battle a changed man. Marguerite took the children and filed for divorce. George never remarried.

As his career in film waned, George became a pioneer in another medium, television. Apparently nothing is extant from the early shows. Sadly, nothing at the Paley Center. His final screen appearances were with John Ford.

George O'Brien lived a full life, a generally happy life and left a legacy of wonderful films. George strove throughout his life to emulate his father, strong and honorable. He was handsome, a good actor and a decent man by all accounts. He served his country with honor and valour in the two world wars. I'm a day late with the birthday feliciations, but they are no less heartfelt today than yesterday.

George's 1937 film Windjammer can be seen on youtube in several parts. Grade B, but still fun and George is charming and hunky.

Happily, George O'Brien has a fan website. It's quite nice with loads of info and plenty of eye candy, too. Aptly named Gorgeous George O'Brien, he certainly was.