This weekend: Lois Weber Film Festival, Buster Keaton, and 'Underworld' plus notes from this year's Kansas Silent Film Festival

A lobby card promoting Joseph Von Sternberg's gangster flick 'Underworld' (1928).

Coming up this weekend: I'm accompanying two screenings in the Boston area, and then a pioneering gangster flick in New Hampshire.

Here's the lineup:  

• Saturday, March 8, 2025, 12 noon to 10 p.m.: 3rd Annual Lois Weber Film Festival, Capitol Theatre, 204 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington, Mass. Scheduled to be shown as part of the two-hour opening ceremony starting at noon: "Hypocrites" (1915) directed by Lois Weber. Admission charges vary by segment; open ceremony is free, with donation of $15 per person suggested. For updates and more info, check out the festival's website at loisweberfilmfestival.org.

• Saturday, March 8, 2025, 7 p.m. "Seven Chances" (1925) starring Buster Keaton. Buster is about to be saved from bankruptcy by an unexpected inheritance of $7 million—but only if he gets married by 7 p.m. that very day. One of Keaton's best comedies, climaxed by one of the great chase scenes in all film, silent or otherwise. Silent film with live music on a Wurlitzer theater organ at the Stoneham Town Hall Auditorium, 35 Central St., Stoneham, Mass. Admission $8 per person.

• Sunday, March 9, 2025, 2 p.m.: "Underworld" (1928) starring George Bancroft, directed by Josef von Sternberg; Wilton Town Hall Theatre, Main Street, Wilton, N.H.; (603) 654-3456. Director Josef von Sternberg's groundbreaking tale of big city mobsters, widely considered the father of all gangster pictures. Tale follows crime boss "Bull" Weed (George Bancroft) as he battles rival 1920s gangsters. Incredible black-and-white photography; winner of first-ever Oscar for original story by Ben Hecht. Silent film with live music at a theater where movies have been shown since 1912. Admission free, donations of $10 per person encouraged. 

More info about the 'Seven Chances' and 'Underworld' screenings will be pasted in below, as I've sent out press releases for both. 

But for now, a few notes on attending the most recent Kansas Silent Film Festival, which took place on Friday, Feb. 28 and Saturday, March 1 at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas.

This was the 26th consecutive year I've attended the Kansas festival, going back to my first time in 2000 and including the off-year of 2021, when it was cancelled due to the pandemic so we held our own home-brewed version in New Hampshire. 

I was asked to play for a relatively small number of films: just two short comedies and one light-hearted feature, 'Something New' (1920) starring Nell Shipman. The upside of that was getting to hear all the great accompanists brought in for this year's program, including Ben Model, Rodney Sauer and the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, plus local stalwarts Marvin Faulwell, Bob Keckeisen, and Bill Beningfield.

Of the eight feature films shown during the festival, five were titles I'd never seen before. And this was after accompanying films for nearly 20 years now, so it shows how much material is out there to be discovered. 

Of those I haven't seen before, I'm most eager to program 'The Johnstown Flood' (1926) at one of my local screenings. The one feature I accompanied, 'Something New,' was essentially an hour-long commercial for the 1919 Maxwell automobile. 

While it got a good reaction, I can't see much interest in programming it unless I do a silent film for a vintage auto group—or for a Jack Benny fan club.

Jack Benny and his 1923 Maxwell touring car.

The proportion of films that were new to me was surprisingly high, as the Kansas festival has in the past focused on mainstream or well-known audience crowd-pleasers from the silent era. 

What makes it all worthwhile, I think, is that the screenings are all free and open to the public, and the audience is not all hardcore film buffs. Instead, they get a good cross-section of the general public—similar to the audience that these films were intended for. 

So it's one of the few places I know of where the silent-movie-going experience is recreated as it was 100 years ago, when these films first played in theaters.

Another reason to go was to perform what I call my 'Ritual of Creative Renewal,' which involves the solemn consumption of fried pickle spears at the Hanover Pancake House early on Saturday morning during the festival. 

The Hanover Pancake House anchors the south end of Topeka's downtown.

A plate of breaded fried pickle spears, served with ranch dressing.

This is a little hard to explain, but I've done this every single year since I first attended the Kansas Silent Film Festival in 2000. 

For me it's come to embody an acknowledgement that life remains full of possibilities. I will outline why in more detail in future writings about my silent film adventures—a project that's currently underway. 

For now, thanks to all the great folks in and around Topeka who labor all year round to make this festival happen. It's a wonderful community of people that I'm honored to be a part of. Only 359 days until next time!

And now, press releases for two upcoming screenings: 'Seven Chances' on Saturday, March 8 (accompanied by one of New England's few remaining Wurlitzer theatre organs!) and 'Underworld on Sunday, March 9. See you at the movies!

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Buster Keaton and a church full of would-be brides in 'Seven Chances' (1925.)

MONDAY, FEB. 17, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Buster Keaton comedy 'Seven Chances' (1925) on Saturday, March 8 at Stoneham Town Hall

Silent film presentation with live music features classic race-to-the-finish romantic farce

STONEHAM, Mass.—He never smiled on camera, earning him the nickname of "the Great Stone Face." But Buster Keaton's comedies rocked Hollywood's silent era with laughter.

See for yourself with a screening of 'Seven Chances' (1925), one of Keaton's landmark feature films, on Saturday, March 8 at 7 p.m. at Stoneham Town Hall Auditorium, 35 Central St., Stoneham, Mass. 

Admission to this family-friendly event is $8 per person; $5 for members of the Stoneham Community Action Network.

Live music for the screening will be provided on the town's Wurlitzer theatre organ by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

Adapted from a stage play, 'Seven Chances' finds Buster learning that he'll inherit $7 million if he's married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday—that very day!

Buster's hurried attempts to tie the knot on his own go awry. But then a newspaper story changes the game, creating an avalanche of would-be brides who relentlessly pursue Buster as he searches for his one true love before the deadline.

'Seven Chances' was the first screen adaptation of the now-familiar story, since used in movies ranging from the Three Stooges in 'Brideless Groom' (1947) to Gary Sinyor's 'The Bachelor' (1999), a romantic comedy starring Chris O'Donnell and Renee Zellwinger.

The program will also include a Keaton short comedy, 'The Goat' (1921).

Keaton, along with Charlie Chaplin and Harold Lloyd, stands today as one of the silent screen's three great clowns. Some critics regard Keaton as the best of all; Roger Ebert wrote in 2002 that "in an extraordinary period from 1920 to 1929, (Keaton) worked without interruption on a series of films that make him, arguably, the greatest actor-director in the history of the movies."

A remarkable pantomime artist, Keaton naturally used his whole body to communicate emotions from sadness to surprise. And in an era with no post-production special effects, Keaton's acrobatic talents enabled him to perform all his own stunts, including some spectacular examples in 'Seven Chances.'

In reviving Keaton's 'Seven Chances,' organizers aim to show silent film as it was meant to be seen—in restored prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"All those elements are important parts of the silent film experience," said Rapsis, who will accompany the film. "Recreate those conditions, and classics of early Hollywood such as 'Seven Chances' leap back to life in ways that audiences still find entertaining."

Similar to theatre organists from the silent film era, Rapsis improvises the complete score in real time during the screening.

"Creating a movie score on the fly is kind of a high-wire act, but it can often make for more excitement than if everything is planned out in advance," Rapsis said.

Organized by the Stoneham Community Action Network, the screening is sponsored by the Stoneham Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Buster Keaton's 'Seven Chances' (1925) will be screened with live music on Saturday, March 8 at 7 p.m. at Stoneham Town Hall Auditorium, 35 Central St., Stoneham, Mass. 

Admission $8 per person; $5 for Stoneham Community Action Network members. Tickets available at the door.

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Evelyn Brent and Clive Brook in a scene from 'Underworld' (1928).

MONDAY, FEB. 17, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Underworld' to screen with live music at Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, March 9

Oscar-winning silent crime drama directed by Josef von Sternberg was forerunner of Hollywood 'gangster' movies

WILTON, N.H.—'Underworld' (1927), a silent drama that spurred a boom in 'gangster' movies, will be screened with live music on Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free; donations are accepted, with $10 per person suggested to defray expenses.

The film will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

'Underworld,' directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring George Bancroft, is notable for being the first major motion picture to portray a criminal in a sympathetic light instead of as a villain. Its popularity touched off a Prohibition-era boom in Hollywood gangster pictures that reached its peak following the stock market crash of 1929.

The story of 'Underworld' follows gangster Bull Weed (George Bancroft), who becomes entangled in a love triangle involving a reformed drunkard, “Rolls Royce” (Clive Brook) whom he takes on as his right-hand man, and Bull’s girlfriend “Feathers” (Evelyn Brent). Bull Weed's imprisonment leads to a dramatic climax.

Bancroft's performance in 'Underworld' set the stage for memorable characterizations of gangster protagonists by Jimmy Cagney ('Public Enemy,' 1931), Paul Muni ('Scarface,' 1932), and Edward G. Robinson ('Little Caesar,' 1930), which all follow directly on from the model created by 'Underworld.'

The film's script, by Chicago newspaperman Ben Hecht, earned an Oscar for Best Screenwriting at the first-ever Academy Awards. The film is also noted for director von Sternberg's innovative use of black-and-white photography, which presaged many film noir techniques in following decades.

Director Von Sternberg was obsessed by light, and developed methods of “painting” his compositions with the arrangements of lamps, scrims, and reflectors on the set. Today he is remembered most for having used that skill in a series of films he made with Marlene Dietrich, starting with 'The Blue Angel' (1930) and continuing in six more star vehicles made in Hollywood, including 'Morocco' (1930) and 'Shanghai Express' (1932).

'Underworld' will be accompanied by live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who performs at venues across the region and beyond.

Using a digital synthesizer to reproduce the texture of the full orchestra, Rapsis will improvise the score on the spot during the screening.

"Films such as 'Underworld' were created to be shown on the big screen and in a theater as a shared experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they still come to life in the way their makers intended them to.

"So silent film screenings at the Town Hall Theatre are a great chance for people to experience films that caused people to first fall in love with the movies," he said.

'Underworld' (1927) will be shown on Sunday, March 9 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. 

Admission is free; donations are accepted, with $10 per person suggested to defray expenses. For more information, call the theater at (603) 654-3456.