4th Annual Silent Film Winter Event

I am excited about today's 4th Annual Silent Film Winter Event at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The event is put on by the good folks at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival (link to website). 

Saturday, February 14, 2009
Noon - OUR HOSPITALITY (1923)

Set against the drama of an age-old feud between two families, Buster Keaton's ingenious take on Romeo and Juliet is a laugh-out-loud parody of Southern hospitality, circa 1830. Upon learning he's inherited the ancestral estate, Buster takes the first train home to reclaim his heritage. Soon he's courting a sweetheart and dodging her family's bullets. Buster's daredevil rescue attempt above a waterfall is one of the all-time great movie stunts. 

Live piano accompaniment by PHILIP CARLI

Directed by John G. Blystone & Buster Keaton Starring: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Ralph Bushman, Craig Ward, Buster Keaton Jr. (1 year old) 35mm Print Source: Douris Corporation

Preceded by short, Alice Guy Blache's THE DETECTIVE AND HIS DOG (1912)

Admission Price: $12 Member/$14 General
__________________________________

2:40pm - A KISS FROM MARY PICKFORD (1927)
Co-Presented by The Mary Pickford Foundation and The San Francisco Film Society

Movie stardom gets a gleeful once-over in this madcap slapstick farce from Russia. Goga is a brash young ticket-taker smitten by aspiring actress Dusia, but she only has eyes for movie idols like Douglas Fairbanks. Goga decides to become a famous screen star himself, starting with a stunt man job at a movie studio. But when Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford arrive on a promotional tour, (with rare footage of the Hollywood couple which only exists in this film!) Goga gets all the fame he could ever want - at his own peril!

Live translation of Ukranian intertitles read by Steven Jenkins from San Francisco Film Society.

Live piano accompaniment by PHILIP CARLI

Written & Directed by Sergei Komarov Starring: Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Igor Ilinsky and Anel Sudakevich 35mm Print Source: The Mary Pickford Institute

Preceded by short, Alice Guy Blanche's MATRIMONY'S SPEED LIMIT (1913)

Admission Price: $12 Member/$14 General
__________________________________

Saturday, February 14, 2009
6:30pm - SUNRISE: A Song of Two Humans (1927)

Co-Presented by Film Noir Foundation

One of the supreme artistic achievements of the silent era, SUNRISE is a timeless ode to the forces of love, desire, guilt and redemption. Director F. W. Murnau infuses his fable of a man, a temptress, and a wife with a lyrical, dreamlike intensity that makes for a heightened emotional experience you'll never forget. Recipient at the very first Academy Award ceremony in 1929 of the only Oscar ever given for Unique and Artistic Picture.

Live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer by DENNIS JAMES

Directed by F.W. Murnau Starring: George O'Brien, Janet Gaynor, Margaret Livingston 35mm Print Source: 20th Century Fox

Preceded by short, Alice Guy Blache's FALLING LEAVES (1912)

Admission Price: $15 Member/$17 General
__________________________________

9:30pm - THE CAT AND THE CANARY (1927)
Co-Presented by MiDNiTES FOR MANiACS

At the stroke of midnight, the heirs of Cyrus West gather at his old dark house for the reading of the will. One of them will inherit his estate and take possession of the famous West diamonds - if they can survive the night without going insane. And wouldn't you know it, there's an escaped lunatic somewhere on the premises. Who shall live? Who shall die? In this thriller-chiller comedy, horror and hilarity lurk behind every secret panel! From the director of THE MAN WHO LAUGHS, our sold-out hit at this past summer's 2008 Festival!

Live accompaniment on the Mighty Wurlitzer by DENNIS JAMES and Foley Artist, Mark Goldstein.

Directed by Paul Leni Starring: Laura La Plante, Creighton Hale, Forrest Stanley, Tully Marshall 35mm Print Source: Film Preservation Associates

Preceded by short, Alice Guy Blache's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1913)

Admission Price: $12 Member/$14 General

Lulu von Frank Wedekind

Here is the cover of a recent German edition of Frank Wedekind's Lulu. It was published by Königshausen & Neumann in 2006. It's an edition I haven't seen before. I like the fact that Lulu is so bored.

Louise Brooks & the F. Scott Fitzgerald connection

Though it's known that Louise Brooks met F Scott Fitzgerald (and his wife Zelda) on a couple of occasions, the connection between the two Jazz Age figures is slight. In terms of actresses of the time, Fitzgerald was much more interested in Colleen Moore, and Lois Moran. He wrote about each of these silent film stars.

Nevertheless, Louise Brooks (or at least the image of Louise Brooks) is becoming increasingly linked to the life and works of the celebrated author. This fact came to my attention moments ago when I noticed the amazon Kindle edition of Fitzgerald's Flappers and Philosophers features Louise Brooks. That edition is depicted below.



I know of at least two other editions of Fitzgerald's works which features Brooks on the cover. They are both British softcover editions of the author's novels. And, of course, me being me, I collect such things. Its interesting to note that there are nearly enough books with Brooks on the cover (not about or by the actress) to fill a bookshelf. 

The It Girl

Speaking of flappers. The Atlanta Lyric Theatre is presenting "The It Girl" March 6th through the 22th at the Strand Theatre. The company's website describes their production this way:

This flapper musical is a light-hearted tribute to silent movies and Clara Bow that reinvents her 1927 film about a sassy department store salesclerk who wins an advertising contest held to find the girl with the elusive, thrilling quality known as "It." Among those she enchants with sexy charm is the heir to the retail empire that employs her.

Tickets range from $32 to $38 and season ticket packages are available through The Lyric box office at (404) 377-9948 or www.atlantalyrictheatre.com.

What caught the attention of Colleen Moore scholar Jeff Codori was the depiction of a flapper used in promoting the stage production. She is a Louise Brooks look-alike, complete with a bob haircut and strand of pearls.
 

"Show-Off" staged in Ann Arbor, MI

The Show-Off, the popular stage play by George Kelly which was the basis for the 1926 Louise Brooks film of the same name, is being staged at the University of Michigan - reports the Ann Arbor News. In recounting the remarkable history of this celebrated but now seldom staged work, the local newspaper noted

"The Show-Off" was the judges' choice for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in the year it premiered on Broadway, but Columbia University, which awards the prize, scandalously rejected the recommendation and instead awarded the prize to Columbia faculty member Hatcher Hughes for his play, "Hell Bent for Heaven." (Seemingly, as a kind of "make-up call," Kelly received a Pulitzer in 1926 for his play, "Craig's Wife.")

The article didn't mention the 1926 Brooks' film or subsequent movies with Spencer Tracy (1934) or Red Skelton (1946). No matter, Ford Sterling will always be my favorite Aubrey Piper. More information on the production, which runs February 12th through the February 15th, can be found here.

No wonder they complained about nudity

The 1926 film, The American Venus, was the subject of complaints from various state and local censorship boards. The complaints, which often demanded cuts in the film, usually centered around "nudity." While I don't think there was actual nudity in the film (as the film is lost, we shall never know for certain), there does seem to have been a fair number of scantily clad bodies. And among them was Louise Brooks', as can be seen in this image currently for sale on eBay.

Lulu in London at BFI

Pandora's Box will be shown at the British Film Institute in London on March 11. Louise Brooks shines as the free-spirited, luminous Lulu. With specially commissioned live musical accompaniment from The Monroe Transfer. For more info, see http://www.bfi.org.uk/whatson/pandoras_box_2 

Wed 11 Mar 18:00 NFT1

A distinguished society man becomes enraged by jealously on his wedding day, with disastrous consequences.

Free-spirited and luminous, Lulu affects those around her like a flame attracting moths. When her affair with distinguished society man Dr Schön (Kortner) becomes public, he marries her. But already on his wedding day Schön is enraged by jealousy, with disastrous  consequences. Brooks plays Lulu with astonishing insouciance and impenetrable allure; the film reveals, in Lotte Eisner's words, 'the
miracle of Louise Brooks'.

Directed by: GW Pabst 
Cast: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer 
Country: Germany 
Year: 1929 
Running time: c131min