Pirates! (...but not in the Caribbean)

The holiday season is here, and of course that brings with it...pirates! Arrrgh the 'Erald Angels Sing, right?

Well, I suppose actually 'Robin Hood' is the Douglas Fairbanks film most appropriate for the season of giving, as at least some actual giving takes place (from the rich to the poor), as opposed to 'The Black Pirate,' in which the pirates give their victims nothing but gunpowder-powered blasts into eternity.

But anyway, we're screening 'The Black Pirate' in Plymouth, N.H. on Thursday, Dec. 9. Come one, come all. And I'm looking forward to audience reaction to the lesser-known 'Mystery of the Leaping Fish' (1915), with its shockingly casual images of gleeful cocaine use. How times have changed!

Here's all the details in the latest press release...

TUESDAY, NOV. 30, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film ‘The Black Pirate’ (1926) in Plymouth, N.H. on Thursday, Dec. 9

Adventure flick stars Douglas Fairbanks, Hollywood’s original action hero

PLYMOUTH, N.H.—He was the Indiana Jones of his day, thrilling early filmgoers with amazing stunts and feats of heroic derring-do. He was Douglas Fairbanks Sr., one of Hollywood’s first megastars, and his timeless charisma can be seen again in a double feature of two of his best pictures on Thursday, Dec. 9 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center in Plymouth, N.H..

Featured is ‘The Black Pirate’ (1926), a swashbuckling tale of the high seas that proved one of Fairbanks’ most popular blockbusters. The forerunner of all pirate movies, it was also one of the first Hollywood films to be released in color. Also on the program is ‘The Mystery of the Leaping Fish’ (1915), an early Fairbanks spoof of the Sherlock Holmes tales.

The double feature starts at 7 p.m. Admission is free; contributions are encouraged. The films will be accompanied by live music by local composer Jeff Rapsis. Dinner is also available for patrons who arrive early at the Flying Monkey, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H. For more information, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com.

Fairbanks, originally a stage actor, broke into films in the industry's early years. By 1920, starring roles in a romantic comedies established Fairbanks as a popular leading man. He then turned to historic adventure films, including ‘The Mark of Zorro’ (1920) and ‘The Three Musketeers’ (1921), which cemented his reputation for on-screen athleticism, heroism, and romance.

In 1920, Fairbanks’ marriage to fellow megastar Mary Pickford was one of the era’s biggest media events and resulted in Hollywood’s first celebrity power couple. They combined their last names to call their estate “Pickfair,” and massive crowds turned out everywhere during the couple’s European honeymoon.

At the peak of his popularity, pictures starring Fairbanks set the standard for Hollywood action adventure films, including such titles as ‘Robin Hood’ (1922), ‘The Thief of Bagdad’ (1924), and ‘The Black Pirate’ (1926), all of which were major box office successes.

When the silent film era ended in 1929, an aging Fairbanks found he was less enthusiastic about the effort required to make movies and retired from the screen. He died in 1939 at age 56 after suffering a heart attack; his now-famous lasts words were, “I’ve never felt better.”

The Fairbanks double feature is the latest in a series of monthly silent film screenings at the newly renovated Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center. The series aims to recreate the lost magic of early cinema by bringing together the elements needed for silent film to be seen at its best: superior films in best available prints; projection on the big screen; live musical accompaniment; and a live audience.

“These films are still exciting experiences if you show them as they were designed to be screened,” said Rapsis, accompanist for the screenings. “There’s a reason people first fell in love with the movies, and we hope to recreate that spirit. At their best, silent films were communal experience very different from today’s movies—one in which the presence of a large audience intensifies everyone’s reactions.”

For each film, Rapsis improvises a music score using original themes created beforehand. None of the the music is written down; instead, the score evolves in real time based on audience reaction and the overall mood as the movie is screened.

‘The Black Pirate’ and ‘The Mystery of the Leaping Fish’ will be shown on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 7 p.m. at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performing Arts Center, 39 Main St., Plymouth, N.H. Free admission; contributions encouraged. For more info, call (603) 536-2551 or visit www.flyingmonkeynh.com.

A successful, suspenseful 'Peter Pan'

Okay, silent film screenings are a bit like going to the casino because you never know what's going to happen. On Sunday, Nov. 28, when we screened the original 'Peter Pan' (1924) in Wilton, N.H., we experienced adventures equal to anything depicted onscreen.

First, the good news: In the spirit of author J.M. Barrie donating all 'Peter Pan' royalties to a London children's hospital, we once again donated all proceeds of our screening to a similar charity—in our case, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute down in Boston, Mass. We've done this each year for the past three years at the behest of Dave and Ali Stevenson, who help organize the screenings. This year, thanks in part to a pre-show raffle organized by Dave (and featuring prizes from his 'Looser Than Loose' vault), we were able to raise $356 for the cause.

Now the bad news: We almost didn't show the film! What happened was on Sunday, my wife and I pulled in after driving 17 hours straight from Chicago. This made me addle-brained enough to not be as organized as I usually try to be, which in turn led to a scene about an hour before showtime in which I simply could not find the film.

After about 15 minutes of panicked searching, I found a copy of it and rushed off to the theater, which is a half-hour drive away. Getting there, I found the 2 p.m. showing of 'The Girl Who Kicked Over the Hornet's Nest' hadn't ended yet (hey, it pays the bills), so our audience was cooling its heels. This led to little time to set up and do our raffle; in the meantime, Dave Stevenson showed up with another disc with Peter Pan on it, which we chose to use.

Well, unfortunately, about a half-hour into the film, the disc began having troubles—image break-up, then slowdown and stop issues. It cleared up for a bit, but then came back with a vengeance, causing the film to skip around and ahead alarmingly. Finally, when it seemed jammed for good, I had to stop playing and rushed back to the projection booth with the version I had. We resumed, and thankfully the disc played without problems, but the all-important spell had been broken and musically, it's tough to recover the zone after something like that.

Still, people liked it, and all was well, until afterwards, when all the money collected for the raffle (kept in a popcorn bucket at my feet) was missing, as was my cell phone. A search proved fruitless; I was just about to give up when both the money and the phone were discovered in one of the theater's trash barrels! Talk about your last-minute cliff-hanging race-to-the-rescue finishes! Anyway, the day was saved, but not after a certain amount of suspense...

And what was really nice is that for some reason, we had a larger-than-usual group (it seemed to me) of first-timers who came up to me afterwards and said how much they enjoyed the experience. Hope they keep coming back. But thanks to all who attended, and especially to those who helped the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, and also to Dave Stevenson for organizing the effort and for Wilton Town Hall Theatre manager Dennis Markaverich for his support of the silent film series.

'Paths to Paradise' (1925) on Saturday, Nov. 20

Got an exciting screening coming up: the Raymond Griffith comedy 'Paths to Paradise' (1925) as part of this weekend's Somewhere North of Boston film festival at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. This festival of independent films, revived this year after being dormant for a bit, is a great event to celebrate the achievements and potential of non-mainstream cinema.

And though 'Paths to Paradise' was hardly a niche film when it was released, today the whole genre of silent film stands as a category that's definitely outside the herd, and organizers were kind enough to offer me a slot.

The basis for showing 'Paths' is two-fold, actually: first, it's hardly ever screened, and then also there's a slight New Hampshire connection, as mentioned in the press release below. Hope to see you at the screening! (By the way, turns out there are individual tickets available on a first-come, first-serve basis, which I didn't know about when I sent out the info below.)

Nov. 11, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SNOB film festival to highlight forgotten comic with N.H. ties

Silent star Raymond Griffith featured in 'Paths to Paradise' on Saturday, Nov. 20

CONCORD, N.H.—He was a silent film star who really was silent, thanks to a childhood vocal injury. He was Raymond Griffith, the "Silk Hat" comedian, whose popularity in the 1920s rivaled that of Charlie Chaplin. But Griffith's lack of a speaking voice led to an abrupt end to his on-screen career when talkies arrived in 1929. Since then, most of his films have been lost, causing Griffith to be virtual unknown today.

But the elegantly dressed comic, who as a youngster attended St. Anselm Prep School in Goffstown, N.H., will return to the cinematic spotlight once again at the upcoming Somewhere North of Boston film festival. 'Paths to Paradise' (1925), one of his few surviving works, will be shown with live music on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at the Red River Theaters, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is by weekend pass or day pass to the festival.

The Somewhere North of Boston film festival is a grassroots effort to showcase and support independent filmmaking. Running from Friday, Nov. 19 through Sunday, Nov. 21 at the Red River Theatre complex in Concord, N.H., it strives to bring films to the area that local audiences might not otherwise see. Proceeds from the SNOB Film Festival will be used to support the arts.

This year, organizers chose to include a vintage silent film to acknowledge the important and today largely unknown achievements of early filmmakers. 'Paths to Paradise,' which has no soundtrack, will be brought to life in the manner it was originally intended: on the big screen, in a good print run at the proper speed, with music performed live and with an audience.

"All those elements are important for silent film to succeed," said Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based musician and composer who specializes in accompanying silent film. "These movies weren't designed to be seen at home alone on your TV screen, where they rarely have an impact. However, if you can show them as they were intended, it's surprising how they can come back to life. These are the films that caused our great-grandparents to first fall in love with the movies, and with good reason."

'Paths to Paradise' (1925) stars Griffith as a polished con man who competes with a feisty female jewel thief to steal a heavily guarded diamond necklace. The film, which costars Betty Bronson, finishes with a wild car chase through the California desert. Unfortunately, all existing prints of 'Paths to Paradise' are missing the final 10 minutes, but the film ends at a point that completes the plot and provides a satisfying finish.

"Griffith's character was that of a worldly, shrewd, and quick-thinking gentleman, usually dressed in a top hat and a cape, who enjoyed outwitting con artists and crooks at their own game," said Rapsis, who has composed new material for the screening and will use it to improvise the full score. "It turns out he was very different from Chaplin or Buster Keaton, and so were his films—they seem a bit more cynical and so perhaps more modern. We've shown them before and they hold up well with a live audience today."

Born in Boston in 1895, Griffith injured his vocal cords at an early age, rendering him unable to speak above the level of a hoarse whisper. After appearing in circuses and attending at least one year (1905-06) at St. Anselm Preparatory School in Goffstown, N.H., he went on to serve in the U.S. Navy prior to World War I and in 1915 wound up in Hollywood, where the movie business was already booming.

Early on, Griffith worked at Mack Sennett's Keystone studio, where he developed a reputation as an excellent actor on screen and a superb comedy writer and director. He eventually concentrated on behind-the-camera duties, making him Sennett's right-hand man for a time, but he eventually moved to the then-new Paramount studios in the early 1920s, where he began to appear again in on-camera roles.

Griffith's mastery of character parts made him immediately popular, prompting Paramount to star him in his own movies starting in 1924. In the next few years, he completed a dozen feature films, most of which today are lost due to neglect or improper storage. If not cared for properly, older film stock will decompose and sometimes burst into flames. About 80 percent of all silent film is presumed lost today.

Following the arrival of sound pictures in 1929, Griffith's lack of a speaking voice forced a return to behind-the-camera work, with one notable exception: he played a non-talking role as a dying French soldier in Lewis Milestone's World War I classic 'All Quiet on the Western Front,' (1930) which won that year's Academy Award for Best Picture.

As a producer, Griffith's work included the classic family film 'Heidi' (1937) and 'The Mark of Zorro' (1940). He retired in 1940, and died in 1957 at age 62 after choking at a Los Angeles restaurant.

"Though he's not as well known today as Charlie Chaplin, Raymond Griffith was doing some really good work during the peak of his career," Rapsis said. "It's great that film-goers will get a chance to appreciate Griffith's work as part of this year's SNOB festival."

'Paths to Paradise' will be shown on Saturday, Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is either by weekend pass ($50), which allows entrance into all films of the three-day festival, or Saturday day pass ($25), which allows entrance to all films on Saturday only. Tickets available at the door or in advance from the Red River box office online at www.redrivertheatres.org or by calling (603) 224-4600. For more info on the Somewhere North of Boston Film Festival, visit www.snobfilmfestival.com.

Halloween spookiness in Wilton, N.H. on Oct. 31

I'm really looking forward to our upcoming screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927) on Halloween, Sunday, Oct. 31, at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre. It's a terrific-looking film, one of the most watchable silents I've ever encountered, and I can't wait to see how it plays with an audience.

We do screenings in Wilton on the last Sunday of every month, and when I saw that this year, our show fell right on Halloween Day, I wanted to do something special. 'The Cat and the Canary' promises to fill the bill: a silent film creep show that served as the inspiration for decades of haunted house thrillers to come, with its lonely hallways, sliding panels, secret passageways, and more.

Also, I consider it both poor form and bad karma to talk too much about music in advance of a screening (because sometimes I change my mind in the process, even during the show) but in this case, I've worked up some good stuff that I hope will help 'The Cat and the Canary' be as effective as possible in a theater. Our shorts include a couple of Halloween-themed films, including one starring our pals Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy. Hope to see you there!

For more info, here's the press release that just went out. It's a little late due to time constraints lately, but we're still hoping to scare up a big crowd on Halloween. There might even be candy! Trick or treat!

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 27, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

'Cat and Canary' (1927) to play Wilton (N.H.) with live music on Sunday, Oct. 31

Haunted house silent film thriller to be shown at sundown on Halloween

WILTON, N.H.—'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), a haunted house thriller from Hollywood’s silent film era, will be screened with live music on Halloween, Sunday, Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

The Halloween screening is free and open to the public, with donations accepted to defray costs.

'The Cat and the Canary' stands as the original movie thriller—the first picture to take audiences to the reading of a will in a haunted mansion that features clutching hands, a masked killer, disappearing bodies, and secret passageways.

Silent film starlet Laura LaPlante leads the cast as a young heiress who must spend the night in the creepy old mansion filled with relatives who all have motives to frighten her out of her wits. Meanwhile, a dangerous escaped lunatic is loose on the grounds. Can she and the others make it through the night?

Created for Universal Pictures by German filmmaker Paul Leni and based on a hit stage play, 'The Cat and the Canary' proved popular enough to inspire several remakes, including one starring Bob Hope. It was also the forbearer of all the great Universal horror classics of the 1930s and '40s.

The Wilton screening will use a fully restored print that shows the film as audiences would have originally experienced it. 'The Cat and the Canary' will be accompanied by live music by New Hampshire composer Jeff Rapsis, who specializes in silent film scoring. Rapsis will improvise the score on the spot during the screening.

"Silent film is all about the audience experience, and this one should be a perfect Halloween crowd-pleaser," Rapsis said. "It has something for everyone—spooky scenes, some good comedy, and it's all fine for the whole family."

Critics praise the original 'Cat and the Canary' for its wild visual design and cutting edge cinematography. Film reviewer Michael Phillips singled out the film for using "a fluidly moving camera and elaborate, expressionist sets and lighting to achieve some of the most memorable shots in silent film, from the amazing tracking shots down the curtain-lined main hallway to the dramatic zooms and pans that accompany the film's shocks."

Leonard Maltin called the original 'Cat and the Canary' a "delightful silent classic, the forerunner of all "old dark house" mysteries.

The program also includes vintage short subjects. One screening only on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, Main Street, Wilton, N.H.

The Wilton Town Hall Theatre's silent film series gives movie-goers the chance to experience silent films the way they were intended to be seen: in best quality prints on the big screen with live music, and with an audience. See for yourself the pictures that made audiences to first fall in love with the movies!

Admission to 'The Cat and the Canary' is free, with donations accepted to defray costs. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456. For more info on the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com

The vampire still packs 'em in!

A slightly belated note about our recent double feature of 'Nosferatu' (1922) and 'The Golem' (1920), which took place this past Monday (four days ago) at the Palace Theatre in downtown Manchester, N.H.

First, I was delighted with the relatively heavy turnout for this program. Something like well over 100 people attended, easily the highest number for any Palace screening in the three years we've been showing silents there.

One reason, perhaps, is that word is getting around. Another is that we got lucky with some good publicity in the local media. But mostly, I think 'Nosferatu' itself carried the day. With sunsets coming earlier each evening and Halloween looming at month's end, people were in the mood for a vampire flick, so this caught them just right.

With two films, it was a long program: more than three hours, and we included a brief intermission between the two. 'Nosferatu' went fine, but I think I was too ambitious right from the start and so probably overdid things (special effects, weird sounds) a little too early. Probably should have waited until Hutter was at the castle to start up with the really weird stuff. But 'The Golem' was immensely satisfying.

I'd only looked at the film once (and a lot of that was in FF mode) and so knew how it went generally, though I didn't have any complicated plan. However, the music had a spontaneity that seemed to bring out the best in this picture: not only its spooky parts, but also a lot of humor. Some of the humor might not have been intentional by the film's German makers, but it did help the film, er, come to life. (No pun intended.)

Also helping was a serendipitous "plodding" melody I came up with that evolved into a main theme for the picture. It's actually a small snatch of a larger melody from Bach's "Little Fugue" in G minor, but it came into its own here as a perfect musical representation of steps being taken, either to build the leading man of clay or bring to life or to accompany him marching around the ghetto. Nice!

I also had another melody that I put in a mode with a flatted second so it would sound vaguely Jewish. However, any interest in creating a characteristic sound world for this film was diminished by the filmmaker's depiction of Jews as occultists led by Rabbis who wear pointy sorcerers hats and communicate with the underworld. Sheesh! Still, a remarkable film, and one that (with hindsight) contains many seeds, I think, of the anti-semitism that was to bloom so ferociously in Germany in not too many years hence.

The crowd had MANY new faces, and reaction was palpable when we previewed upcoming films in the series: 'Birth of a Nation' (1915) on Monday, Jan. 17, 2011 (yes, that's Martin Luther King Day) and 'Metropolis' (1927), among others. One thing that helped was a marvelous "coming attractions" slide show created by Dave Stevenson that gave attendees a glimpse of scenes from films to come, and which we ran prior to Monday night's frightfest. Let's hope we keep the crowds coming and that the Palace remains open to showing films there in a way that celebrates early cinema on, well, a palatial scale.

Get scared in 16mm on Saturday, Oct. 16

We just arranged for an afternoon of vintage film screenings (including some silents) at the Manchester (N.H.) Public Library, 405 Pine St., in beautiful downtown Manchester. My colleague Dave Stevenson is unlocking his vault of 16mm prints as part of a meeting of the local "tent" of the Sons of the Desert, the Laurel & Hardy Appreciation Society. (By the way, Manchester is hosting their international convention in 2012, which we're all excited about. More about that in months to come.)

The screenings on Saturday, Oct. 16, which have a Halloween flavor to them, are in the library's classic downstairs auditorium. They're free and open to the public and will run from 1:30 to 5 p.m. All films will be shown from 16mm prints.

Dave has put together a quick schedule, which I'm copying and pasting below. I'll do live music for the silents. Hope to see you there. Oh, and the chapter's business meeting will take place afterwards at Lala's Hungarian Restaurant not far away on Elm Street. Hope to see you there, too!

The program will consist of memorable cartoons and comedy shorts featuring Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Betty Boop and two stars from this area: Walter Long, who was born in Milford, NH, and Thelma Todd who hailed from Lawrence, Massachusetts. The films will be shown in beautiful 16mm prints on a real projector. Both silent and sound movies will be shown. Silent titles will be screened with keyboard accompaniment by local composer Jeff Rapsis. A fun time is guaranteed for all.

Film Program:

BIMBO'S INITIATION (Fleischer-Paramount; 7-24-1931); Dir. by Dave Fleischer. Betty Boop Series. Bimbo the dog is initiated into a secret society in a sadistic 'fun house'; then Betty Boop (with dog's ears) takes a hand. 10 min.; Sound; B&W.

DO DETECTIVES THINK? (Roach-Pathé; 11-20-1927); Dir. by Fred Guiol. Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Noah Young, Viola Richard and Frank Brownlee. An escaped convict is out to kill Judge Foozle (Finlayson) who sentenced him to hang. Two inept detectives (Laurel and Hardy) are hired to guard the judge and his wife. 20 min.; Silent with live accompaniment; B&W.

THE LIVE GHOST (Roach-MGM; 12-8-1934); Dir. by Charley Rogers. Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Walter Long, Charlie Hall, Arthur Housman and Mae Busch. A gruff sea captain is having trouble manning his ship because of rumors it's haunted. He inveigles Stanley and Oliver into helping him shanghai a crew from the sailors at a dockside bar. Once aboard, the captain warns them that whoever says the word "ghost" will get his head twisted from north to south. At sea, one of the drunken sailors falls into a trough of whitewash, terrorizing Stanley and Oliver into blurting out "ghost" in front of the enraged captain. 20 min.; Sound; B&W.

THE SCARECROW (Metro Pictures; 12-22-1920); Dir. by Eddie Cline and Buster Keaton. Cast: Buster Keaton, Joe Roberts, Sybil Seely, Al St. John, Joe Keaton and Luke the Dog. Farmhands Keaton and Roberts share a cottage full of mechanical devices for making life easy. They are rivals for the farmer's daughter. Keaton , disguised as a scarecrow, causes troubles for his rival and the farmer. When Keaton stoops to tie his shoe, the girl accepts what she thinks is his kneeling proposal. 20 min.; Silent with live accompaniment; B&W.

SEAL SKINS (Roach-MGM; 2-6-1932); Dir. by Morey Lightfoot and Gil Pratt. Cast: ZaSu Pitts, Thelma Todd, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Hall and Leo Willis. An old dark house comedy in which the Girls are chasing a stolen "seal" and a big story for the local news. 20 min.; Sound; B&W.

INTERMISSION

PETER PAN HANDLED (Standard-F.B.O.; 4-26-1925); Dir. by Walter Lantz. Dinky-Doodle series. A turn on the Peter Pan tale with a combination of live action and animation. 10 min.; Silent with live accompaniment; B&W.

PUBLIC GHOST Nº 1 (Roach-MGM; 12-14-1935); Dir. by Harold Law. Cast: Charley Chase, Joyce Compton, Edwin Maxwell, Clarence Wilson and Harry Bowen. Charley Chase is an inventor who is hired to haunt a house. 20 min.; Sound; B&W.

LIBERTY (Roach-MGM; 1-26-1929); Dir. by Leo McCarey and Stan Laurel. Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Sam Lufkin, Tom Kennedy and Harry Bernard. Two escaped convicts (Laurel & Hardy) change clothes in the getaway car, but wind up wearing each other's pants. The rest of the film involves their trying to exchange pants, in alleys, in cabs and finally high above the street on the girders of a construction site. 20 min.; Silent with live accompaniment; B&W.

HOT MONEY (Roach-MGM; 11-16-1935); Dir. by James W. Horne. Cast: Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, James Burke and Fred Kelsey. A thief on the run dumps some hot money in Thelma and Patsy's lap. Shortly thereafter, his untimely demise turns the story into a murder mystery. 20 min.; Sound; B&W.

TECHNO-CRAZY (Educational-Fox; 3-12-1933); Dir. by Charles Lamont. Cast: Monte Collins, Billy Bevan, Eleanor Hunt and John T. Murray. A weird tale of technological utopia, Bolshevism and love set in the demented mind of Monte Collins. 20 min.; Sound; B&W.

-30-

For further info please contact:
Dave Stevenson e-mail: dwms@yahoo.com

A pair of nice-looking ads

Here's a look at a couple of print ads that have been running in HippoPress, our local arts newspaper, to promote two upcoming screenings.

The first promotes a double-feature screening of 'Nosferatu' (1922) and 'The Golem' (1920) that we're doing at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H. on Monday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Visually, it's quite striking. We've been running it for the last few weeks and I hope it'll help boost turnout a bit. I love playing for films at the Palace, but we can only do screenings on Monday nights (they're busy at other times) so attendance has been an issue. We'll see.

This next one is a very sharp-looking ad for a screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), which we're showing at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Oct. 31 (hey, that's Halloween!) at 4:30 p.m. I credit myself for the line "In Silent Film, No One Can Hear You Scream," but the ad itself was put together by the crack production team (okay, unfortunate word choice) at HippoPress. I think it's very effective and I'm quite lucky to have such support in our local screenings in the southern New Hampshire area.

Coming soon: 'Nosferatu' (1922) on Oct. 18

Here's the press release for our screening of 'Nosferatu' (1922) and 'The Golem' (1920) at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H. on Monday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. Designer Glenn Given did a great job with the black & white poster, which we're putting up all around the town.




THURSDAY, SEPT. 23, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film frightfest at Palace Theatre on Monday, Oct. 18

'Nosferatu' (1922) and 'The Golem' (1920) screened with live music in Manchester, N.H.

MANCHESTER, N.H.—Get into the Halloween spirit with a pair of timeless silent horror films to be screened with live music at the Palace Theatre in Manchester, N.H. on Monday, Oct. 18. General admission is $8 per person.

'Nosferatu' (1922), the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula,' remains a landmark work of the cinematic horror genre. Directed by German filmmaker F.W. Murnau, 'Nosferatu' was among the first movies to use visual design to contribute to an overall sense of terror. 'The Golem' (1920), a precursor of the Frankenstein films, tells the story of an artificial man made of clay and brought to life to protect Jews from persecution.

To modern viewers, the passage of time has made both these unusual films seem even more strange and otherworldly. It's an atmosphere that silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will try to enhance in improvising live music on the spot for the screenings.

In 'Nosferatu,' German actor Max Schreck portrays the title character, a mysterious count from Transylvania who travels to the German city of Bremen to take up residence. A rise in deaths from the plague is attributed to the count's arrival, but only when a young woman reads "The Book of Vampires" does it become clear how to rid the town of this menace.

In 'The Golem,' set in 16th century Prague, a rabbi creates a giant creature from clay, called the Golem. Using sorcery, brings the creature to life in order to protect local Jews from persecution. Like 'Nosferatu,' 'The Golem' is also a German film that uses surrealistic sets and lighting to create an eerie mood. The story is taken from a medieval Jewish legend.

Both films were filmed by legendary German cinematographer Karl Freund, who went on to work on such Hollywood horror classics as 'Dracula' (1931) and 'The Mummy' (1932).

All movies in the Palace Theatre's silent film series were popular when first seen by audiences in the 1920s, but are rarely screened today in a way that allows them to be seen at their best. They were not made to be shown on television; to revive them, organizers aim to show the films at the Palace as they were intended—in top quality restored prints, on a large screen, with live music, and with a live audience.

Screenings in the Palace Theatre's silent series take place on Mondays at 7 p.m. ‘Nosferatu’ and ‘The Golem’ will be shown on Monday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. the Palace Theatre, 80 Hanover St., Manchester, N.H. Admission is $8 per person, general admission seating. Tickets available at the door or in advance by calling the Palace Theatre box office, (603) 668-5588 or online at www.palacetheatre.org.

The Palace Theatre’s silent film series is sponsored by HippoPress and Looser Than Loose Vintage Entertainment of Manchester.

CRITIC COMMENTS on ‘NOSFERATU’

“Early film version of Dracula is brilliantly eerie, full of imaginative touches that none of the later films quite recaptured.”
—Leonard Maltin

“A masterpiece of the German silent cinema and easily the most effective version of Dracula on record.”
—Dave Kehr, The Chicago Reader

CRITIC COMMENTS ON ‘THE GOLEM’

“ ‘The Golem,’ a carefully crafted and visually impressive work, has lost little of its power over the decades.”
—TV Guide’s Movie Guide

Report on 'The Last Laugh' (1924)

Yesterday's screening (Sunday, Sept. 26) of 'The Last Laugh' in Wilton, N.H. was a great silent film experience: good crowd, great-looking print, and the right kind of weather (kinda dreary outside). Even the music came together nicely.

For openers, we chose Laurel & Hardy in 'Double Whoopee' (1929)—the one in which they play doormen in a high class hotel, which seemed appropriate as an appetizer for 'The Last Laugh.' 'Whoopee' has never been one of my favorite L&H shorts, and I was surprised at how much laughter it produced. You never know. When it was over and we were waiting for 'Laugh' to come up, I even heard some people in the audience (about 100 people) behind me commenting how it was "just beautiful." And I guess it really was, in how the mayhem builds quite well once it gets going. It's a well constructed film in that sense.

'The Last Laugh' was quite a project for us, especially after a summer of silent film comedy. An all-visual German dramatic allegory, it's one of several silent film masterpieces that director F.W. Murnau produced. In an effort to keep my remarks brief, the one main point I tried to make was that 'Laugh' is unlike most of the Hollywood-produced pics that we usually screen. Instead, it's more of a character study, and in that sense very much a "European" film, so you should bring those expectations to it.

The screening went fine, though I made the mistake (for me) of playing through it earlier in the day. I did this because I wanted to sharpen my sense of the film (which I'd never played before), but it turned out to be a mistake because the morning run-through was just exactly what I wanted. And so what happens is that when it's time to play the film for real, I'm still somewhat under the spell of what I just did, and it really gets in the way. Nothing seems to build as effectively as it did earlier in the day; I often tell my wife afterwards, "I wish they could have all heard how it came out this morning."

On the other hand, when I play a film cold (having never seen it) or after a long absence, there seems to an energy present and it all coalesces in a way that doesn't happen otherwise. I'm reminded of something I read about the pianist Franz Liszt, who would sight-read a piece through for the first time and play it straight, but if he attempted it again, he would invariably embellish it or elaborate on it or "improve" it in some way. I ain't no Franz Liszt, but I sense there's something related to this phenomenon in what happens to me, though in my case I can't ever seem to match what I just did, and instead of improving it I end up "deproving" it, if that's a word.

This seems to be such as well-established pattern at this point that I should really just give in and make it a rule: no same-day run-throughs.

I had a surprising conversation afterwards with a woman who seemed genuinely distraught by Murnau's film. Essentially, she didn't want to be a member of the human race if someone like the Emil Jannings character could be treated as he was in the film. When I realized she wasn't joking (we live in a world of entirely too much irony these days), I tried pointing out that it's only a movie, and that it has a happy ending, but she wasn't hearing any of it, saying the ending was "artificial." Things got a bit confusing when another fan, who happens to be a kind of Christian numerologist, came over and made a case for the film being a parallel to the Jesus story, and that the twist of fate at the end represented Christ's resurrection. So it was an interesting discussion.

I need to put in a word here for my colleague Dave Stevenson, who did a great job putting together a trailer for our upcoming Halloween screening of 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), which we're screening in Wilton on, yes, Sunday, Oct. 31 at 4:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

'The Last Man' coming Sunday, Sept. 26

Here's the text of a press release that went out about 'The Last Laugh' (1924), which we're screening at the Wilton (N.H.) Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 26. I'm excited about this one. Who would have thought that cinematographer Karl Freund would go on to shoot the "I Love Lucy" sitcom decades later?

Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

'The Last Laugh' (1924) to play Wilton (N.H.) with live music on Sunday, Sept. 26

Emil Jannings stars in ground-breaking silent drama from German director F.W. Murnau

WILTON, N.H.—'The Last Laugh' (1924), a German silent film drama about a hotel doorman demoted to washroom attendant, will be screened with live music on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

The screening is free and open to the public, with donations accepted to defray costs.

In 'The Last Laugh,' regarded as one of German director F.W. Murnau's best pictures, the story is told entirely in visual terms, without the use of title cards. The film, which follows the mental breakdown of an aging man who loses his position of authority, is also noted for its revolutionary use of camera movement.

The Wilton screening will use a fully restored print that shows the film as audiences would have originally experienced it. 'The Last Laugh' (original German title: 'Der Letzte Mann') will be accompanied by live music by New Hampshire composer Jeff Rapsis, who specializes in silent film scoring. Rapsis will improvise the score on the spot during the screening.

Critics and film writers regard 'The Last Laugh' as a landmark of early cinema.

" 'The Last Laugh' is a masterpiece of psychological study, perhaps the best ever portrayal of what goes through one man's mind under varying situations ... It is absolutely mind-boggling to see Emil Jannings age at least 10 or 15 years right in front of our eyes in the course of a couple of minutes," wrote author Robert K. Klepner in 'Silent Films' (2005).

Critic David Kehr of the Chicago Reader described 'The Last Laugh' as "the 1924 film in which F.W. Murnau freed his camera from its stationary tripod and took it on a flight of imagination and expression that changed the way movies were made."

The film's director of photography, Karl Freund, set new standards of cinematography in 'The Last Laugh,' setting up the camera to move through corridors and "see" action through a character's eye-view. Freud's long career later included work in television in the 1950s in Hollywood, when he developed the "three camera" system for the "I Love Lucy" show, which became the standard format for shooting situation comedies.

The program also includes vintage short subjects. One screening only on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 4:30 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, Main Street, Wilton, N.H.

The Wilton Town Hall Theatre's silent film series gives movie-goers the chance to experience silent films the way they were intended to be seen: in best quality prints on the big screen with live music, and with an audience. See for yourself the pictures that made audiences to first fall in love with the movies!

Admission to 'The Last Laugh' is free, with donations accepted to defray costs. For more info, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456.