Celebrate 'Silent Movie Day' with 'Way Down East' (1920) tonight in Greenfield, Mass.

A dramatic poster promoting 'Way Down East' (1920).

Happy 'National Silent Movie Day' to one and all. Yes, Sept. 29 is the day we should all stop for...what, a moment of silence?

No! How about 2½ hours of silence, but with live music throughout?

That's what you'll get if you're anywhere near Greenfield, Mass. this evening (Monday, Sept. 29) and can make it over to the Garden Cinemas downtown.

That's where we're screening the great D.W. Griffith melodrama 'Way Down East' (1920) with live music by me. Showtime is 6:30 p.m.; a lot more info is in the press release below.

Hope to see you there!

*     *     *

Lillian Gish wanders the ice floes in 'Way Down East' (1920).
 

MONDAY, SEPT. 15, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Way Down East' at Garden Cinemas on Monday, Sept. 29

D.W. Griffith blockbuster starring Lillian Gish, filmed partly in New England, to be screened with live music on National Silent FIlm Day

GREENFIELD, Mass. — The iconic image of actress Lillian Gish trapped on an ice floe and headed straight for a waterfall will once again fill the big screen when 'Way Down East' (1920) is revived on Monday, Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St., Greenfield, Mass.

Admission is $10.50 adults, $8:50 for children, seniors, and students. Tickets are available online or at the door.

Live musical scoring will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating scores for silent films.

The screening is in honor of National Silent Movie Day, which occurs each year on Sept. 29.

The movie, a blockbuster melodrama directed by D.W. Griffith, is set in old-time rural New England, and was partly filmed on location in New Hampshire and Vermont. It stars Gish in an acclaimed performance as a wronged woman trying to make her way in an unforgiving world. Can she find love and redemption, or will she ride to her doom on the raging river's ice floes?

 

A poster for a later international re-release of 'Way Down East' (1920).

In 'Way Down East,' Gish stars as a poor New England country girl who travels to Boston to visit her rich relatives in the hopes of getting financial help. While there, she's dazzled by upper class society and romanced by a rich womanizer (Lowell Sherman) who takes advantage of her innocence by tricking her into bed with a fake marriage ceremony.

Convinced she's found the husband of her dreams, Gish returns home to the country, only to be abandoned. She informs her faux husband she's pregnant; he orders her to get an abortion. Instead, Gish goes into exile to have the baby, finds herself persecuted for giving birth out of wedlock, and flees into the rural countryside to seek refuge. The film was noteworthy in its time for addressing such topics as abortion and women's rights.

Modern critics hail 'Way Down East' for Gish's performance, which continues to mesmerize audiences nearly a century after the film's release. "Gish provides an abject lesson in screen acting and brings home the importance and effectiveness of seeing a film in a theater with a crowd," wrote Paul Brenner on www.filmcritic.com in 2007. "If you are not moved at the scene of Gish baptizing her dead baby, then you should check the obituaries of your local paper to see if you are listed."

The film also stars silent era heartthrob Richard Barthelmess. In the film's climax, Barthelmess must dash to rescue Gish from being carried away on the ice floes.

 

Lillian Gish gives her all for the part, and for "Mr. Griffith."

Much of the acclaimed ice floe sequence was filmed in March 1920 on location on the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and the White River in Vermont, as the winter pack ice was breaking up. No process shots or post-production special effects were available to filmmakers at the time, so Griffith and his crew had no choice but to stage and shoot it all on a real river, with the players out on the ice. To get the floes to break up and float down the river, Griffith's crew dynamited pack ice upstream.

Gish later said that she suffered frostbite by following director Griffith's command to always keep one hand in the water during the shooting.

Despite such hardships, 'Way Down East' cemented Gish's reputation as one of the silent era's major stars. Gish would continue to work in films and, later, television, until the 1980s. She died in 1993 at age 99.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis specializes in creating music that bridges the gap between an older film and the expectations of today's audiences. Using a digital synthesizer that recreates the texture of a full orchestra, he improvises scores in real time as a movie unfolds, so that the music for no two screenings is the same.

"It's kind of a high wire act, but it helps create an emotional energy that's part of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "It's easier to follow the emotional line of the movie and the audience's reaction when I'm able to follow what's on screen, rather than be buried in sheet music," he said.

Because silent films were designed to be shown to large audiences in theaters with live music, the best way to experience them is to recreate the conditions in which they were first shown, Rapsis said.

"Films such as 'Way Down East' were created to be shown on the big screen to large audiences as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, silent films come to life in the way their makers intended. Not only are they entertaining, but they give today's audiences a chance to understand what caused people to first fall in love with the movies."

D.W. Griffith directs the cast during the shooting of 'Way Down East' (1920).

'Way Down East' was based on a popular stage drama, for which director Griffith paid the then-astounding sum of $175,000 to turn into a movie. The picture proved to be a huge moneymaker, taking in $4.5 million, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie of the silent film era. 'Way Down East' would be the last of Griffith's great blockbusters; tastes changed as the 1920s rolled on and Griffith's Victorian style fell out of favor. Receipts from 'Way Down East' kept Griffith's studio afloat during a subsequent series of box office flops.

"This picture was a monster hit when it was released," Rapsis said, "and it still holds up well today. As a melodrama, it's a great film for an audience to cheer on the good folks and boo and hiss the bad guys. But there's an additional level of interest now because the film captured a way of life that's long since disappeared."

'Way Down East' will be shown with live music on Monday, Sept. 29 at 6:30 p.m. at the Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St., Greenfield, Mass.

Admission is $10.50 adults, $8:50 for children, seniors, and students. Tickets available at the door; advance tickets are available at www.gardencinemas.net. For more information, call the box office at (413) 774-4881.

 

Up next: Greta Garbo in 'Wild Orchids' on Wednesday, Jan. 29 in Manchester, N.H.

A photo showing the Alton Bay Ice Runway in 2015.

It's so cold in New Hampshire that for the first time in three years, the Alton Bay Ice Runway has opened!

That's right: the only FAA-approved ice runway in the lower 48 states—in an inlet of New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee—was declared open last week when the ice reached the requisite 12 inches of thickness.

So it's been perfect weather for a screening 'Way Down East' (1920), the D.W. Griffith melodrama in which Lillian Gish winds up on ice floes in the Connecticut River—not that far from the Alton Bay Ice Runway, as the crow flies.

If the story was set a little later in the development of aviation, Richard Barthelmess could have rescued Ms. Gish by taking off from the ice runway in his trusty Sopwith Camel and swooping down to whisk her to safety.

Well, it's a thought.

At our screening on Sunday afternoon at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H., 'Way Down East' proved once again Griffith's ability to lay out a story that pulls an audience along the same way the on-screen ice floes carry Lillian Gish to the edge of the mighty waterfall.

It's a fun film to accompany. It's such a hokey story, and yet the audience reaction in far-off 2025 was every bit as lively, I imagine, as audiences when the film was brand new. People of course cheered at the waterfall rescue, and the triple wedding that ends of the film produced genuine gales of laughter.

Looking ahead: a chance to warm up comes in the form of a screening of 'Wild Orchids' (1929), a steamy romantic thriller starring Greta Garbo that I'll accompany on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St. in downtown Manchester, N.H. 

It's one of the last MGM silents, made long after the studio had otherwise converted to talkies. But execs were worried that Garbo's heavily accented voice would ruin her box office appeal, and so kept her silent for as long as possible. 

Well, surprise! Turns out Garbo's husky delivery actually added to her mystique, and her career sailed on uninterrupted. Until, that is, she started turning up in places like a David Letterman Top 10 List.

But the good thing about this was that we got a whole additional year's worth of silent pictures out of Garbo, made at a time when silent filmmaking was at its peak, technically speaking. 

See for yourself—and warm yourself up while you're at it— with a screening of 'Wild Orchids' this Wednesday night. More details in the press release below.

*    *    *

Greta Garbo and Nils Asther star in 'Wild Orchids' (1929).

MONDAY, JAN. 20, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Greta Garbo stars in steamy silent film thriller on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at Rex Theatre

'Wild Orchids' (1929), one of MGM's final silent film releases, to be screened with live music at downtown Manchester, N.H. venue

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Chase away the mid-winter chill with a steamy movie featuring early Hollywood icon Greta Garbo.

Warm up with 'Wild Orchids' (1929), an intense romantic thriller starring Garbo, to be screened with live music at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, N.H.

'Wild Orchids,' one of the last silent films of MGM studios, will be shown on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 at 7 p.m.

General admission is $10 per person; tickets are available at the door or online at www.palacetheatre.org.

 

Live music will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

A tale of forbidden romance, 'Wild Orchids' opens with an older businessman (John Lewis) taking his young wife (Greta Garbo) on a business trip to the South Pacific.

Aboard ship, she witnesses a wealthy passenger (Nils Asther) brutally whipping a servant. The violent man notices Garbo and resolves to meet her.

Things get complicated, however, when the man turns out to be a royal heir crucially important to the business affairs of Garbo's husband.

Emotions boil over in the tropical heat, leading to a dramatic showdown in the jungle over Garbo's ultimate fate.

An original trade publication ad promoting 'Wild Orchids' (1929).

Released during the movie industry's chaotic transition from silent film to synchronized dialogue, 'Wild Orchids' proved a hit.

The silent film earned $1.1 million, making it one of the year's top 10 box office attractions.

Although MGM was already releasing talking pictures, the studio kept starring Garbo in silent pictures due to concerns about her heavy accent.

Originally from Sweden, in Hollywood Garbo quickly rose to silent film stardom based on her acting ability and her unique look.

Garbo spoke English, but with a Scandinavian accent, causing concerns that the public would reject her in talking pictures.

When she finally spoke on-screen, Garbo's distinctive delivery and husky accent added to her popularity, to the great relief of studio bosses.

Nils Asther and Greta Garbo in a scene from 'Wild Orchids' (1929).

A live musical score for 'Wild Orchids' will be performed by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis.

Rapsis specializes in creating music to help silent films connect with modern-day audiences.

"As one of the last commercial silent films produced, 'Wild Orchids' shows how fluent Hollywood had become at telling stories visually, rather than through dialogue," Rapsis said.

"These films were intended to be seen on the big screen, with live music, and—most importantly—with an audience. Put it all back together, and films like 'Wild Orchids' really leap back to life."

'Wild Orchids' (1929) will be shown on Wednesday, Jan. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Rex Theatre, 23 Amherst St., Manchester, N.H.

General admission is $10 per person; tickets are available at the door or online at www.palacetheatre.org. 

For more information, call (603) 668-5588.

Off to Cleveland to accompany 'The Lost World' at Case Western Reserve's 50th annual sci-fi marathon; then 'Way Down East' in Wilton, N.H.

Original poster art for 'The Lost World' (1925).

This weekend takes me to the fair city of Cleveland, Ohio, where I'll accompany 'The Lost World' (1925) at this year's annual Sci-Fi Marathon at Case Western Reserve University.

It's the 50th annual edition of the Case Western Film Society's marathon, at which diehard movie buffs spend a mid-winter weekend watching sci-fi films of all types 30 to 36 hours non-stop.

And next month, I get to do music for a silent film at a similar event: the Boston Sci-Fi Marathon, also celebrating its 50th year on Presidents Day Weekend at the Somerville Theatre in Somerville, Mass.

The Boston folks have programmed an unusual title this time around: 'Algol: A Tragedy of Power' (1921), a German silent that I've never accompanied before.

I've done films at earlier editions of both marathons. What I love about them is that the audience is always so engaged. They may get into a "Mystery Science Theatre 3000" groove sometimes, but overall you won't find a more enthusiastic crowd than the sci-fi marathon audience.

If you're in the Cleveland area this weekend, I understand the Case Western marathon lets you buy tickets for individual screenings. 

Although I encourage you to take in the experience in its entirety, if you'd like to attend just 'The Lost World,' it's scheduled to run on Saturday, Jan. 18 at 3 p.m. (Start time subject to change due to the ebb and flow of the marathon schedule.)

For more information about attending, check out the marathon's webpage. 

Looking ahead: after a quiet start to 2025, things perk up with a cluster of screenings in late January and early February. 

I'm accompanying 'Way Down East' (1920) on Sunday, Jan. 26 in Wilton, N.H.; 'Wild Orchids' (1929) on Wednesday, Jan. 29 in Manchester, N.H.; 'Straight is the Way (1921) in Campton, N.H.; 'The Flying Ace' (1921) on Sunday, Feb. 2 in Somerville, Mass.; and 'Nanook of the North' (1922) on Monday, Feb. 3 in Greenfield, Mass.

Hoping for a good turnout for 'Way Down East,' as I've found a crowded theater always helps the Griffith films "click" with modern audiences.

Seen in isolation, the early pioneering features directed by D.W. Griffith really seem to drag. But shown with an audience, they spring to life. 

I think this has something to do with what Griffith did prior to the movies. For many years, he staged and directed melodramas for theatrical troupes that toured through small towns.

Back then, if you didn't entertain people, they'd throw things at you—or worse. So Griffith got very skilled at telling stories that would grab an audience early and then not let go. 

I believe that more than anything else, this was Griffith's superpower: to be able tell a story in such a way that an audience can't stop watching. 

Find out for yourself by being part of the experience when I accompany 'Way Down East' later this month at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. More details in the press release pasted in below.

*    *    *

Original promotional art for 'Way Down East' (1920).

MONDAY, JAN. 6, 2025 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Way Down East' at Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 26

D.W. Griffith blockbuster starring Lillian Gish, filmed partly in New England, to be screened with live music

WILTON, N.H. — The iconic image of actress Lillian Gish trapped on an ice floe and headed straight for a waterfall will once again fill the big screen when 'Way Down East' (1920) is revived on Sunday, Jan. 26, 2025 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Live musical scoring will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free; donations are accepted, with $10 per person suggested to defray expenses.

The movie, a blockbuster melodrama directed by D.W. Griffith, is set in old-time rural New England, and was partly filmed on location in New Hampshire and Vermont. It stars Gish in an acclaimed performance as a wronged woman trying to make her way in an unforgiving world. Can she find love and redemption, or will she ride to her doom on the raging river's ice floes?

In 'Way Down East,' Gish stars as a poor New England country girl who travels to Boston to visit her rich relatives in the hopes of getting financial help. While there, she's dazzled by upper class society and romanced by a rich womanizer (Lowell Sherman) who takes advantage of her innocence by tricking her into bed with a fake marriage ceremony.

Lillian Gish on the ice-bound Connecticut River in 'Way Down East' (1920).

Convinced she's found the husband of her dreams, Gish returns home to the country, only to be abandoned. She informs her faux husband she's pregnant; he orders her to get an abortion. Instead, Gish goes into exile to have the baby, finds herself persecuted for giving birth out of wedlock, and flees into the rural countryside to seek refuge. The film was noteworthy in its time for addressing such topics as abortion and women's rights.

Modern critics hail 'Way Down East' for Gish's performance, which continues to mesmerize audiences nearly a century after the film's release. "Gish provides an abject lesson in screen acting and brings home the importance and effectiveness of seeing a film in a theater with a crowd," wrote Paul Brenner on www.filmcritic.com in 2007. "If you are not moved at the scene of Gish baptizing her dead baby, then you should check the obituaries of your local paper to see if you are listed."

The film also stars silent era heartthrob Richard Barthelmess. In the film's climax, Barthelmess must dash to rescue Gish from being carried away on the ice floes.

Lillian Gish on location near White River Junction, Vt.

Much of the acclaimed ice floe sequence was filmed in March 1920 on location on the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and the White River in Vermont, as the winter pack ice was breaking up. No process shots or post-production special effects were available to filmmakers at the time, so Griffith and his crew had no choice but to stage and shoot it all on a real river, with the players out on the ice. To get the floes to break up and float down the river, Griffith's crew dynamited pack ice upstream.

Gish later said that she suffered frostbite by following director Griffith's command to always keep one hand in the water during the shooting.

Despite such hardships, 'Way Down East' cemented Gish's reputation as one of the silent era's major stars. Gish would continue to work in films and, later, television, until the 1980s. She died in 1993 at age 99.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis specializes in creating music that bridges the gap between an older film and the expectations of today's audiences. Using a digital synthesizer that recreates the texture of a full orchestra, he improvises scores in real time as a movie unfolds, so that the music for no two screenings is the same.

"It's kind of a high wire act, but it helps create an emotional energy that's part of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "It's easier to follow the emotional line of the movie and the audience's reaction when I'm able to follow what's on screen, rather than be buried in sheet music," he said.

Because silent films were designed to be shown to large audiences in theaters with live music, the best way to experience them is to recreate the conditions in which they were first shown, Rapsis said.

"Films such as 'Way Down East' were created to be shown on the big screen to large audiences as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, silent films come to life in the way their makers intended. Not only are they entertaining, but they give today's audiences a chance to understand what caused people to first fall in love with the movies."

D.W. Griffith (in bowler hat) directs the cast of his blockbuster melodrama 'Way Down East' (1920).

'Way Down East' was based on a popular stage drama, for which director Griffith paid the then-astounding sum of $175,000 to turn into a movie. The picture proved to be a huge moneymaker, taking in $4.5 million, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie of the silent film era. 

'Way Down East' would be the last of Griffith's great blockbusters; tastes changed as the 1920s rolled on and Griffith's Victorian style fell out of favor. Receipts from 'Way Down East' kept Griffith's studio afloat during a subsequent series of box office flops.

"This picture was a monster hit when it was released," Rapsis said, "and it still holds up well today. As a melodrama, it's a great film for an audience to cheer on the good folks and boo and hiss the bad guys. But there's an additional level of interest now because the film captured a way of life that's long since disappeared."

'Way Down East' will be shown with live music on Sunday, Jan. 26 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.

On Friday, 3/15: at the Cleveland Cinematheque to do music for 'The Last Command' (1928)

Original promotional art for Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command' (1928).

Just a few notes prior to heading out to Cleveland to do music this Friday for 'The Last Command' (1928), one of the greatest silents (in my opinion) and which, surprisingly, they've never run at the Cinematheque.

I say surprisingly because the guy who's managed the Cinematheque for nearly 40 years, John Ewing, has an encyclopedic knowledgeable about cinema and often includes silent film programs in the venue's schedule.

Somehow, director Josef von Sternberg's most powerful silent, featuring a towering performance by Emil Jannings that helped him win the very first Academy Award for Best Actor, never made it to the Cinematheque's screen.

Well, that omission will be rectified on Friday, March 15—and just in time, too, as John is retiring this spring after almost four decades of service to Cleveland-area cinephiles. 

It's been my pleasure to accompany Cinematheque programs over the years. And I appreciate the opportunity to head out for one last show during John's storied tenure.

Storied? Indeed—his impending retirement made headline news all over Ohio: here, and here, and here.

Happy trails, John! But not until I head out to Cleveland for one last round-up, which starts at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 15, and which includes not only 'The Last Command' but also a French film I've never heard of before: 'Menilmontant' (1926) from director Dimitri Kirsanoff.

Although it's my last screening under John's watch, it won't be my last visit to Cleveland as an accompanist. I'm already booked to do music on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 for 'The Lost World' (1925) at the 50th annual 36-hour sci-fi marathon at Case Western Reserve University, which is just a few blocks down Euclid Ave. from the Cinematheque. 

Okay, see you in Cleveland. But before I leave, a quick glance back at recent screenings, which included a seasonally and locationally appropriate showing of 'Way Down East' (1920) on Wednesday, March 6 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.

I saw "seasonally" because the film's climax takes place in New England at this time of year. And "locationally" because the Flying Monkey is not that far from the part of the Connecticut River Valley where the many of the film's exteriors were shot, including the sequence with Lillian Gish adrift on the ice floes.

We showed the 1931 re-release version of the film, which is about 40 minutes shorter than director D.W. Griffith's original cut. People seemed to enjoy it, and cheered when Gish was rescued by Richard Barthelmess just as she was about to go over the falls. 

But somehow, to me it lacked the full-length version's monumental quality. The climax seemed to come too fast. Once again, I'm reminded that Griffith really knew what he was doing.

In other news, a screening of the silent version of 'Peter Pan' (1924) in my hometown on Sunday, March 10 brought familiar faces to the Bedford (N.H.) Public Library. One woman asked me about a weekly column that I used to write for the local paper—which I stopped writing nearly 20 years ago now!

Pre-show remarks at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H.

But the real highlight of the past week was my now-annual appearance at the Blazing Star Grange Hall in Danbury, N.H., where a capacity crowd enjoyed Buster Keaton and Ernest Torrence in 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928).

New Hampshire towns are full of former Grange Hall buildings that no longer house Grange chapters. But not Danbury, where the local Grange still maintains its own hall, which I think looks very much like it might have 100 years ago.

Although the programming includes a silent film program each year at about mud season, that doesn't mean new ideas aren't welcome. In that vein, last Saturday night saw the debut of a new "soup and bread supper" option to go along with movie night.

I was busy setting up, and I'd already eaten, so I didn't get downstairs until most of the soup was gone. Here's the impressive line-up:

This one seemed especially ambitious. Or maybe it was just the high tech crockpot used to serve it.

 And if the soup didn't fill you up, a makeshift concessions counter upstairs was ready for movie-goers.

The paper bags contain popcorn, freshly popped. Alas, Grange members sold only a handful of bags—maybe because everyone was full of soup!

And it was a conversation after the screening that gave me confidence that this was one Grange chapter that hadn't lost touch with its agricultural base.

What would happen to the uneaten and unsold popcorn? "The pigs would love it!"

Mid-winter melodrama: Lillian Gish stars in 'Way Down East' on Thursday, 2/4 in Plymouth, N.H.

 A poster for the French release of 'Way Down East' (1920).

This is the one that helped me understand what D.W. Griffith accomplished.

Yes, the film is justly famous for its climactic sequence. But what about all that stuff—more than two hours of antique hokum—leading up to it?

About 10 years ago, I was preparing to score this warhorse for the first time. As I watched it at home, without music, I kept wondering how anyone could take this movie seriously.

The one-dimensional characters. The cornpone humor. The slow pace. 

But at show time, was I ever surprised. We were blessed with a heavy turnout, and the crowd was with it right from the start. 

Really! They were hooting and hollering even during Griffith's moralistic introductory titles, laden as they are with long-outmoded Victorian sentiment.

And it never let up. Long sequences that I felt played at a glacial pace suddenly snapped to life. 

The missing ingredient, of course, was the audience. Griffith knew what he was doing: he knew how to tap into what is essentially mob psychology and engage a large group right from the start. And he knew how to keep everyone watching all the way through.

We may wear different clothes today, and have different gadgets, and be different in a hundred different ways. But we're still human, and in very elemental ways we respond just as humans have for thousands of years. 

Griffith understood that dynamic, and harnessed it to make pictures that would grab an audience's attention and then never let go. That was his big accomplishment!

Why? Because more than anyone in early cinema, I think, Griffith showed that movies could tell tales on a grand scale—tales that could be engineered to keep an audience spellbound for three hours at a time. 

See for yourself when I accompany 'Way Down East' on Thursday, Feb. 4 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H. Part of the film was made close by, on the Connecticut River! Details and more information in the press release below.

Hope to see you there!

*   *   *

Lillian Gish on the Connecticut River near White River Junction, Vt.

MONDAY, JAN. 18, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Way Down East' at Flying Monkey on Thursday, Feb. 4

D.W. Griffith blockbuster starring Lillian Gish, filmed partly in New England, to be screened with live music

PLYMOUTH, N.H. — The iconic image of actress Lillian Gish trapped on an ice floe and headed straight for a waterfall will once again fill the big screen when 'Way Down East' (1920) is revived on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H.

General admission is $10 per person.

The movie, a blockbuster melodrama directed by D.W. Griffith, is set in old-time rural New England, and was partly filmed on location in New Hampshire and Vermont. It stars Gish in an acclaimed performance as a wronged woman trying to make her way in an unforgiving world. Can she find love and redemption, or will she ride to her doom on the raging river's ice floes?

'Way Down East' will be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

At the Flying Monkey, accommodations are in place to keep patrons safe in the Covid-19 era.

Face-coverings are required to enter the theater, and should remain on at all times until movie-goers take their seats. Capacity is limited to 50 percent; audience members are asked to observe social distancing in choosing seats.

In 'Way Down East,' Gish stars as a poor New England country girl who travels to Boston to visit her rich relatives in the hopes of getting financial help. While there, she's dazzled by upper class society and romanced by a rich womanizer (Lowell Sherman) who takes advantage of her innocence by tricking her into bed with a fake marriage ceremony.

Convinced she's found the husband of her dreams, Gish returns home to the country, only to be abandoned. She informs her faux husband she's pregnant; he orders her to get an abortion. Instead, Gish goes into exile to have the baby, finds herself persecuted for giving birth out of wedlock, and flees even further into the country to seek refuge. The film was noteworthy in its time for addressing such topics as abortion and women's rights.

Modern critics hail 'Way Down East' for Gish's performance, which continues to mesmerize audiences nearly a century after the film's release. "Gish provides an abject lesson in screen acting and brings home the importance and effectiveness of seeing a film in a theater with a crowd," wrote Paul Brenner on www.filmcritic.com in 2007. "If you are not moved at the scene of Gish baptizing her dead baby, then you should check the obituaries of your local paper to see if you are listed."

The film also stars silent era heartthrob Richard Barthelmess. In the film's climax, Barthelmess must dash to rescue Gish from being carried away on the ice floes.

Much of the acclaimed ice floe sequence was filmed in March 1920 on location on the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and the White River in Vermont, as the winter pack ice was breaking up. No process shots or post-production special effects were available to filmmakers at the time, so Griffith and his crew had no choice but to stage and shoot it all on a real river, with the players out on the ice. To get the floes to break up and float down the river, Griffith's crew dynamited pack ice upstream.

Gish later said that she suffered frostbite by following director Griffith's command to always keep one hand in the water during the shooting.

Despite such hardships, 'Way Down East' cemented Gish's reputation as one of the silent era's major stars. Gish would continue to work in films and, later, television, until the 1980s. She died in 1993 at age 99.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis specializes in creating music that bridges the gap between an older film and the expectations of today's audiences. Using a digital synthesizer that recreates the texture of a full orchestra, he improvises scores in real time as a movie unfolds, so that the music for no two screenings is the same.

"It's kind of a high wire act, but it helps create an emotional energy that's part of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "It's easier to follow the emotional line of the movie and the audience's reaction when I'm able to follow what's on screen, rather than be buried in sheet music," he said.

Because silent films were designed to be shown to large audiences in theaters with live music, the best way to experience them is to recreate the conditions in which they were first shown, Rapsis said.

"Films such as 'Way Down East' were created to be shown on the big screen to large audiences as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, silent films come to life in the way their makers intended. Not only are they entertaining, but they give today's audiences a chance to understand what caused people to first fall in love with the movies."

'Way Down East' was based on a popular stage drama, for which director Griffith paid the then-astounding sum of $175,000 to turn into a movie. The picture proved to be a huge moneymaker, taking in $4.5 million, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie of the silent film era. 'Way Down East' would be the last of Griffith's great blockbusters; tastes changed as the 1920s rolled on and Griffith's Victorian style fell out of favor. Receipts from 'Way Down East' kept Griffith's studio afloat during a subsequent series of box office flops.

"This picture was a monster hit when it was released," Rapsis said, "and it still holds up well today. As a melodrama, it's a great film for an audience to cheer on the good folks and boo and hiss the bad guys. But there's an additional level of interest now because the film captured a way of life that's long since disappeared."

'Way Down East' will be shown on Thursday, Feb. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H. General admission is $10 per person. For more info, visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com or call (603) 536-2551.

Next week: 'The Storytellers,' five days of film that pioneered the full-length motion picture

Showing on Tuesday, Jan. 12: D.W. Griffith's 'Intolerance' (1916).

I've known of D.W. Griffith as 'The Father of Film' since at least the 1970s, when I'd eagerly await my monthly Blackhawk Films catalog in the mail.

But for many years, I just didn't understand his work. The films—either the short dramas for Biograph, or the longer features—either weren't interesting, or left me cold. 

Okay, I thought: Griffith is the father of film. But as a teenager, I'd rather run my Super-8 print of Keaton's 'Cops' (1922) for the 80th time rather than sit through 'Way Down East' (1920), the legendary Griffith melodrama. (That's Lillian Gish on the ice floes below, at the climax of 'Way Down East.')

My first sense of what I was missing, however, came thanks to the Kansas Silent Film Festival, which I began attending back in 2000. Every year, they'd run at least one Griffith title (usually one of the Biograph shorts) in honor of his role as an industry pioneer.

So I got to see some of Griffith's work on the big screen, with an audience, and with live music—in other words, the way it was intended to be shown. And I found that under those circumstances, the Griffith films had a certain elemental quality that I hadn't picked up on until then.

By elemental, I mean they could hold a crowd. Through simple, basic stories, they got your attention quickly, and then held it.

Later, when I began accompanying silent film programs, I found a curious thing: the Griffith films—even the famous ones regarding as classics—seemed really lame when viewed in isolation to prepare for a screening. 

But in front of an audience in a theater, they leaped to life. People would hoot and holler at what they saw. They'd stamp their feet, totally engaged in what they were seeing unfold in front of them.

As I learned more about Griffith's background and career, I realized what as going on. Griffith was the father of film, yes, but not for technical innovations such as close-ups and such. It was because of his ability to lay out a story to get an audience's attention right away, and then keep them on the edge of their seats.

That, as demonstrated more or less throughout his work, I feel was Griffith's most valuable contribution to cinema. He showed how full-length feature films could hold an audience's attention throughout an entire evening-long narrative journey.

And he did it so well that the films still work today, if you can show them as intended. 

The big "Ancient Babylon" set for Griffith's 'Intolerance.'

I remember once when we ran 'Birth of a Nation' (1915), Griffith's incredibly racist blockbuster set in post-Civil War America. The film climaxes with the Ku Klux Klan riding to the rescue,  and I remember of friend of mine saying afterwards, "You're like, 'Yes, ride to the rescue,' and then 'But no, it's the Klan!' " Such was (and is) the elemental narrative power of Griffith's tales.

Of course this is evident only if one experiences the films as intended, of which there are precious few opportunities these days. But not next week, when the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. presents 'The Storytellers,' a five-day festival of early films that still keep audiences on the edge of their seats.

The festival includes two big Griffith films: 'Intolerance' (1916) and 'Way Down East' (1920). We're also running two early films made in Germany by Fritz Lang: 'Destiny' (1921) and 'The Spiders' (1919).

For details, check out this info sheet for the series. 

Or you can peruse the press release below. Either way, I hope you'll join us for some or all of the series. It's a rare chance to see some terrific cinema that still holds up well if you experience it as intended—in a theater, with live music, and with an audience.

*    *    *

 

A scene from Fritz Lang's 'Destiny' (1921), being shown Monday, Jan. 11.

MONDAY, JAN. 4, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Week-long film series at Town Hall Theatre turns spotlight on early directors, great stories

'The Storytellers,' Jan. 11-15, highlights talent of D.W. Griffith, Fritz Lang to mesmerize movie audiences with terrific tales

WILTON, N.H.—Everyone loves a good story.

In early cinema, a talent for story-telling was a key factor in popularizing feature-length movies.

Pioneering directors such as D.W. Griffith in the U.S. and Fritz Lang in Germany helped transform the motion picture from a sideshow novelty into a major art form—and a big business.

See for yourself when the Town Hall Theatre presents a week-long series, 'The Storytellers,' designed to highlight filmmakers who told tales that kept early movie-goers coming back for more.

With programs every evening from Monday, Jan. 11 to Friday, Jan. 15, 'The Storytellers' will showcase five spectacular full-length movies that helped build the audience for feature films.

Two are directed by Griffith: the mega-epic 'Intolerance' (1916) and the melodrama 'Way Down East' (1920). Two are from Lang: the afterlife drama 'Destiny' (1921) and action-adventure film 'The Spiders' (1919).

Although produced in Germany, the Lang films will be shown with titles translated into English.

The series finishes with Wall Street comedy 'The Saphead' (1920), the first feature-length film starring Buster Keaton. (There's a poster at right, although without Buster in it.)

All shows in 'The Storytellers' begin each night at 7:30 p.m. Each screening will be accompanied by live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician.

Admission is free; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to support the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series.

The Town Hall Theatre ordinarily programs the latest first-run feature films. But the ongoing pandemic, plus Hollywood's resistance to releasing new material to theaters, has prompted the highly regarded venue to focus on alternative programming.

The aim of 'The Storytellers' is to highlight a factor in the rapid growth of the movie business that's often overlooked: the power of the narrative.

Early directors such as D.W. Griffith and Fritz Lang are often noted for their technical innovations or sense of visual design, which helped establish the basic grammar of cinema.

But another major factor in audiences returning for more was the story itself.

"In early cinema, the best directors had a knack for laying out a story that could keep people on their edges of their seats for an entire evening," Rapsis said. 

"Up until the mid 1910s, most movies were 10 or 20 minutes long," Rapsis said. "Griffith and Lang were among the directors who led the way to feature-length films, and their stories were the foundation of their success."

'The Storytellers' aims to highlight this enduring quality of the tales that brought cinema from a carnival sideshow attraction to an art form that would dominate the 20th century.

A scene from Fritz Lang's action-adventure 'The Spiders' (1919).

"The films were so well built with audience reaction in mind that they still work when shown as intended: on the big screen, with live music, and in a darkened theatre with other people joining in a shared experience," Rapsis said.

Among early directors, Griffith was uniquely positioned to understand how to engage an audience for an evening of story-telling.

Prior to his motion picture work, Griffith spent two decades directing stage melodramas in small towns across the U.S., where keeping an audience occupied was an essential skill.

"In Griffith's stage experience, if you didn't hook the crowd right away, and keep them hooked, they'd throw things at you—or worse," Rapsis said.

This experience honed his story-telling skills, which became essential when creating movies in studios where no audience was present during the filming and editing.

"Griffith knew in his bones how large crowds would react to a story, and built that into his most popular films," Rapsis said.

"His ability to hold an audience was based on a profound understanding of human nature, and how people react, especially when part of a crowd," Rapsis said. "Because of this, his films still work today when presented as intended, which we'll do at the Town Hall Theatre."

Lang exploited a similar knack for story-telling to expand the scope of full-length movies in his native Germany.

Lang was among the first to exploit the ability of cinema to take viewers to exotic places or to travel in time. This helped him craft stories that showed early audiences the power of cinema. 

A scene from Lang's 'Destiny' (1921), screening on Monday, Jan. 11.

'The Storytellers' will focus on five early feature films. It's a rare chance to experience them as intended: on the big screen, with live music, and in a darkened theater with an audience present:

• Monday, Jan. 11 at 7:30 p.m.: Fritz Lang's 'Destiny' (1921). Years before his classic 'Metropolis,' German director Fritz Lang brought this ground-breaking expressionist fantasy to the big screen. It's a powerful tale in which human lives are each represented by a candle, and a figure representing 'Death' grants a woman three chances to rescue her lover from a premature demise.

• Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m.: D.W. Griffith's 'Intolerance' (1916). D.W. Griffith's early blockbuster about man's inhumanity to man weaves together four stories spanning four eras of civilization. Filmed on a vast scale, setting a new standard for Hollywood extravagance, and new levels of editing fluency in pulling together four story climaxes simultaneously. A movie made for the big screen.

• Wednesday, Jan. 13 at 7:30 p.m.: Fritz Lang's 'Spiders' (1919). Early Lang opus that anticipates Indiana Jones by three generations. An intrepid explorer looking for an Incan diamond must stay ahead of a criminal syndicate known as 'The Spiders,' which seeks it for nefarious purposes.

• Thursday, Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m.: Griffith's 'Way Down East' (1920). One of the most popular films of the silent era features Lillian Gish as a wronged woman in old-time New England who can't escape her past. Still-thrilling climax on ice floes heading towards the falls was filmed on location on the Connecticut River.

• Friday, Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m.: Buster Keaton in 'The Saphead' (1920). Buster Keaton's debut in a feature-length picture, although not a Keaton film. Rather, a stage adaptation in which the comedian was hired to play a role originated by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. A rare chance to see this seldom-screened landmark picture on the big screen.

The Town Hall Theatre continues to observe procedures to comply with all state and CDC public health guidelines, including reduced seating capacity.

For complete information about safety protocols, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com

'The Storytellers,' a five-day series of early motion pictures from directors D.W. Griffith and Fritz Lang, will run from Monday, Jan. 11 through Friday, Jan. 15 at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Screenings start at 7:30 p.m.; live music will accompany each film. Admission is free; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to support the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series.

For more info, call (603) 654-3456 or visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.   

Thoughts on 10 years of silent film music

Me in action in 2010 at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre, which I consider home base.

This past Halloween marked my 10th anniversary as a silent film accompanist. Since October 2007, I've been creating live music in the dark to support early motion pictures.

It's been a great ride and I look forward to doing more, and different things as well. That will mean slightly fewer live performances in 2018.

Consider: this year, I'm on track to do live accompaniment for 135 screenings. While I love doing it, that represents a serious time commitment—time that I find I need to work on some long-range projects.

I'll still be on the circuit, probably as much as ever. The improvisational nature of silent film accompaniment has been an ideal place for me to forge elements of my own personal musical language.

So I see it as a crucial element of my working method—a kind of laboratory where I can test things out. So I'll keep at it, just maybe a little less often.

For now, here's a belated "dear diary" round-up of screenings so far this month, with notes and commentary.

• Last night I accompanied a program of Buster Keaton's 'Sherlock Jr.' (1924) and 'The General (1926) for the Wilmot Community Association.

Most of those who attended really got into Buster, greeting both films with constant astonished laughter, to borrow Walter Kerr's phrase.

That most were new to Keaton and to silent film was a special bonus. Always happy when this kind of screening clicks!

• Last Thursday night (Nov. 16) saw a marathon screening of D.W. Griffith's 'Way Down East' (1920) at a new venue for me: the Manchester (N.H.) Historic Association.

I say marathon not due to the film's 2½-hour length, but because a bronchial infection I'm battling made it hard to breath in the last hour!

What was satisfying, though, was that the movie kept a crowd of non-silent-film-goers glued to their seats the entire time.

The music came together nicely, but the narrative pull of 'Way Down East' is so strong that you could play klezmer music and it would still work.

• Wednesday night saw a return to 'Zaza' (1923), the Paramount costume vehicle for Gloria Swanson that I scored for Kino-Lorber earlier this year.

It was fun to revisit the film while accompanying it live at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.

It was somewhat less fun to announce to the audience that in 2018, I'll be scaling back my performance schedule at "the Monkey."

Just need to make time for projects that are proving difficult to work on when you're accompanying 130 film programs a year!

But one nice side effect of this news was heavy sales of 'Zaza' discs in DVD and Blu-ray that I got for Kino-Lorber.

• Tuesday night at the Manchester (N.H.) City Library was a bummer of a screening in several ways.

First, while loading in, my digital keyboard slipped from where I had positioned it against my car, with one corner of it landing directly on my foot.

Youch! This happened in a rainy street in downtown Manchester, just before a screening of 'What Price Glory?' (1926), which I was to accompany.

It hurt like hell, but I figured I'd get through the film first (the show must go on!) and deal with it later.

Alas, the copy of 'What Price Glory' (1926) was a disc that I hadn't previewed, and turned out to have significant problems.

About half-way through the movie, the image began to pixellate and freeze up. Finally, it got so bad, I stopped the music and told everyone I'd see what I could do.

One-man-band that I am (at the library, anyway), I went back to the utility room where the library's media equipment lives and looked at the disc.

It didn't seem flawed, at least visually. So I did the only thing I could think of: I wiped it carefully with my shirt sleeve just to see what would happen.

Surprise! It actually worked. So after recuing the film, off we went until about a half-hour later, it started deteriorating again.

I stopped it again and applied the same fix, which got us going through the key battle scenes.

But with 20 minutes to go, it started again. One more attempt at fixing didn't help, so I asked the audience and we all decided to call it day.

So I can still say that in all the screenings I've done, nary a show has been missed. But this is the first time I can recall where I couldn't finish a screening.

• A week ago Sunday saw me at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre with our make-up screening of 'Häxan' (1922), the bizarre pseudo-documentary about witchcraft.

We had a healthy crowd on hand for this, even though it wasn't the usual "last Sunday of the month" on which we run silents with live music at Wilton.

The reason for the make-up screening was that we'd originally scheduled 'Häxan' for the Sunday before Halloween, but at the last minute I discovered I didn't have the film!

So we substituted with Paul Leni's comedy thriller 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), which I hadn't done in Wilton for a long time. People loved it!

And the first weekend this month, I trekked out to the San Francisco Bay area for a gig at the Niles Essenay Silent Film Museum in Fremont, Calif.

I always seem to pass through when they program obscure Westerns, and this time was no exception: 'The Border Sheriff' (1926) starring Jack Hoxie. Huh?

Well, add another title to the list of silent film features I've accompanied, which is closing in on 300.

It actually turned out pretty well, considering I'd never seen the film, plus what seemed to be some incoherence on the part of the plot.

Still, it came together quite effectively. The audience, a majority of whom were first-time silent film attendees, ate it up, cheering on cue and all that.

While out West I managed to attend a performance of the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas, who is retiring after next season. Get it while you can!

On the program: Bernstein's 'Age of Anxiety' Symphony No. 2 (some good parts) and 'Ein Heldenleben' by Richard Strauss—a big, heavily orchestrated work that really needs to be heard in a concert hall.

It served to remind me of the excitement of live performance, and also reaffirmed my desire to spend more time putting notes on paper.

Crossing my fingers that 2018 is the year I make progress in that direction.

'Way Down East' on Sunday, Jan. 29 at Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre

An original poster for 'Way Down East' (1920).

Up next: 'Way Down East' (1920), the classic D.W. Griffith melodrama that finds Lillian Gish as an unwed mother cast out of her rural community, only to wind up on an ice floe rushing toward a giant waterfall and certain doom!

Phew! Just writing that one sentence leaves me breathless!

Showtime is Sunday, Jan. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre. More about this great flick in the press release below.

Now, a few notes from the present.

Wednesday night saw an enthusiastic crowd on hand for 'The Winning of Barbara Worth' (1926) at the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

We don't get many students at the Rogers screenings, but attendance has been steadily building among film buffs in the area. I think we had maybe 75 people.

And Wednesday night's audience seemed especially willing to boo the 'Jefferson Worth' character, a contractor who imperils a pioneer settlement by failing to reinforce a dam.

And for some reason, the score fell together quite effectively. More than once, I felt I came up with just the right music for important moments. Nice!

I'm not sure what things sometimes just work out, but it may be the law of averages.

Do something often enough (and I accompany about 100 live screenings a year), some will inevitably come up short, but others will surpass all expectations.

Or, to quote Groucho Marx: "They can't all be gems, folks."

In general, though, I think doing a lot of films has helped me develop my own musical language and voice that I'm now starting to use in written-down compositions.

The best example of this was my 'Kilimanjaro Suite,' a 30-minute long score for orchestra that was premiered last Sunday by the N.H. Philharmonic under music director Mark Latham.

Mark Latham, at left, and me on stage after the performance of my 'Kilimajaro Suite' for orchestra.

Although this had nothing to do with silent film, I don't think I could have done it without all the accompaniment I've been doing in recent years.

(I still need to post a write-up of the whole 'Kilimanjaro Suite' experience. Coming soon to a blog near you!)

Before this Sunday's screening of 'Way Down East,' I haul myself out to Schagticoke, N.Y. (north of Albany, in the 518 area code) for one of my favorite annual gigs.

It's a once-a-year mid-winter community pot luck supper and silent film night at Liberty Ridge Farm hosted by owners Bob and Cynthia Gifford.

Taking place in the farm's function room, the event brings together about 100 people who now seem like old friends.

This all started when Cynthia's parents were the winning bidders of my services ("Silent Film Screening with Live Music) at a charity auction about eight years ago.

They asked if I wouldn't mind driving out to New York. I said "No problem," and the rest is history."

We usually show comedies, but this year we're taking a different approach with a "Halloween in January" approach.

We'll open the program with Buster Keaton's 'Haunted House' (1921), and then the main attraction is 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927). Boo!

Tully Marshall gets a grip in 'Cat and the Canary' (1927).

And in-between is one of the best pot luck suppers served north of the Mason-Dixon line, or any other line you can name.

Interested? Anyone's welcome to attend, as long as you bring a dish for the pot luck or make a donation to the big glass jar to help defray expenses.

(More details in the 'Upcoming Screenings' page at upper right.)

Okay, about 'Way Down East.' I did music for this some years ago at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, and it was one of the most memorable screenings ever.

Why? Because I had prepared for the film, and didn't think it would go over too well—other than the undeniably exciting ending with Gish on those ice floes, it was too old and creaky. How could anyone take this seriously?

But Griffith, a former stage director, knew in his bones how to get a crowd excited. And so it was quite surprising to me to find the audience reacting strongly to 'Way Down East' right from the beginning.

This engagement continued throughout the picture. And when it came time for Gish to wind up on the ice floes, the place just went crazty!

So in seeing this film as it was intended—with live music and a live audience—you can still get a sense of why 'Way Down East' was one of the top-grossing films of the silent era.

You can also see what a different it makes when the original conditions of early cinema are in place: a lot of people, a big screen, live music. You get a real sense of why people fell for the movies, and fell hard. There's nothing like it!

See for yourself when we run 'Way Down East' (1920) on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre. Details in the press release below:

* * *

The classic shot of Lillian Gish on the ice floes.

FRIDAY, JAN. 20, 2017 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Way Down East' at Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Jan. 29

D.W. Griffith blockbuster starring Lillian Gish, filmed partly in New England, to be screened with live music

WILTON, N.H. — The iconic image of actress Lillian Gish trapped on an ice floe and headed straight for a waterfall will once again fill the big screen when 'Way Down East' (1920) is revived on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Admission is free; a donation of $5 per person is suggested to help defray expenses.

The movie, a blockbuster melodrama directed by cinematic pioneer D.W. Griffith, is set in old-time rural New England, and was partly filmed on location in New Hampshire and Vermont. It stars Gish in an acclaimed performance as a wronged woman trying to make her way in an unforgiving world. Can she find love and redemption, or will she ride to her doom on the raging river's ice floes?

'Way Down East' will be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

In 'Way Down East,' Gish stars as a poor New England country girl who travels to Boston to visit her rich relatives in the hopes of getting financial help. While there, she's dazzled by upper class society and romanced by a rich womanizer (Lowell Sherman) who takes advantage of her innocence by tricking her into bed with a fake marriage ceremony.

Convinced she's found the husband of her dreams, Gish returns home to the country, only to be abandoned. She informs her faux husband she's pregnant; he orders her to get an abortion. Instead, Gish goes into exile to have the baby, finds herself persecuted for giving birth out of wedlock, and flees even further into the country to seek refuge. The film was noteworthy in its time for addressing such topics as abortion and women's rights.

Modern critics hail 'Way Down East' for Gish's performance, which continues to mesmerize audiences nearly a century after the film's release. "Gish provides an abject lesson in screen acting and brings home the importance and effectiveness of seeing a film in a theater with a crowd," wrote Paul Brenner on www.filmcritic.com in 2007. "If you are not moved at the scene of Gish baptizing her dead baby, then you should check the obituaries of your local paper to see if you are listed."

The film also stars silent era heartthrob Richard Barthelmess. In the film's climax, Barthelmess must dash to rescue Gish from being carried away on the ice floes.

Lillian Gish on location.

Much of the acclaimed ice floe sequence was filmed in March 1920 on location on the Connecticut River in New Hampshire and the White River in Vermont, as the winter pack ice was breaking up. No process shots or post-production special effects were available to filmmakers at the time, so Griffith and his crew had no choice but to stage and shoot it all on a real river, with the players out on the ice. To get the floes to break up and float down the river, Griffith's crew dynamited pack ice upstream.

Gish later said that she suffered frostbite by following director Griffith's command to always keep one hand in the water during the shooting.

Despite such hardships, 'Way Down East' cemented Gish's reputation as one of the silent era's major stars. Gish would continue to work in films and, later, television, until the 1980s. She died in 1993 at age 99.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis specializes in creating music that bridges the gap between an older film and the expectations of today's audiences. Using a digital synthesizer that recreates the texture of a full orchestra, he improvises scores in real time as a movie unfolds, so that the music for no two screenings is the same.

"It's kind of a high wire act, but it helps create an emotional energy that's part of the silent film experience," Rapsis said. "It's easier to be in tune with the emotional line of the movie and the audience's reaction when I'm able to follow what's on screen, rather than be buried in sheet music," he said.

Because silent films were designed to be shown to large audiences in theaters with live music, the best way to experience them is to recreate the conditions in which they were first shown, Rapsis said.

D.W. Griffith directs a scene from 'Way Down East' (1920).

"Films such as 'Way Down East' were created to be shown on the big screen to large audiences as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, silent films come to life in the way their makers intended. Not only are they entertaining, but they give today's audiences a chance to understand what caused people to first fall in love with the movies."

'Way Down East' was based on a popular stage drama, for which director Griffith paid the then-astounding sum of $175,000 to turn into a movie. The picture proved to a be a huge moneymaker, taking in $4.5 million, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie of the silent film era. 'Way Down East' would be the last of Griffith's great blockbusters; tastes changed as the 1920s rolled on and Griffith's Victorian style fell out of favor. Receipts from 'Way Down East' kept Griffith's studio afloat during a subsequent series of box office flops.

"This picture was a monster hit when it was released," Rapsis said, "and it still holds up well today. As a melodrama, it's a great film for an audience to cheer on the good folks and boo and hiss the bad guys. But there's an additional level of interest now because the film captured a way of life that's long since disappeared."

'Way Down East' will be shown on Sunday, Jan. 29 at 4:30 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Admission is free; a donation of $5 per person is suggested to help defray expenses. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.