Going where few have gone: doing live music for all seven hours of Abel Gance's 'La Roue' (1923)

A scene from Abel Gance's epic drama 'La Roue' (1923).

The time has come, or is at least close upon us.

On Saturday, Sept. 28, starting at noon I'll attempt to create music for Able Gance's neglected masterwork 'La Roue' (1923)—all seven hours of it, all in one marathon screening.

The venue is the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. Tickets are $25 per person for this immersive cinematic experience, which will run from noon to about 8:30 p.m. 

Lots more info in the press release pasted in below. And here's few notes prior to the event.

I don't know how this will unfold, but I'm eager to find out. Most of all, I'm looking forward to seeing where the music goes.

I find that in scoring silent films, it helps to have room to develop the musical material over time. Well, I'll have plenty of that for 'La Roue.' 

Also, I plan to play continuously during two of the intermissions scheduled for the screening, as I don't want to break out of the "silent film zone" I get into when working with a film.

And yes, playing music for seven hours is something of a stunt. 

But I've been working at the craft of creating live music for silent cinema for nearly 20 years, and I feel ready to tackle one of the largest cinematic mountains to climb, so to speak.

Why do it? The answer is the same as in mountaineering: Because it's there!

And I hope you'll be there as well as we attempt the summit one of silent cinema's highest peaks.

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Silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis will play music for Abel Gance's 'La Roue' on Saturday, Sept. 28.

TUESDAY, SEPT. 17, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

At the Brattle: Silent film musician to play for seven hours to accompany rarely seen masterwork

Abel Gance's immersive epic 'La Roue' (1923) to be screened on Saturday, Sept. 28 with three intermissions as part of 'Silent Movie Weekend'

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.—No sheet music will be at the keyboard when Jeff Rapsis sits down to accompany 'La Roue' (1923) on Saturday, Sept. 28 at the Brattle Theatre.

That's because he'll be improvising an original score for the rarely screened French silent masterwork—all seven hours of it.

Starting with the opening titles of 'La Roue' at noon, Rapsis will continually make up music on the spot until 'Fin' appears on screen at about 8:30 p.m.

"It's a different kind of Boston marathon," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based musician who specializes in live accompaniment of silent film screenings.

The screening is part of a 'Silent Movie Weekend' at the Brattle, which will screen vintage classics from Friday, Sept. 27 through Monday, Sept. 30.

The programming is the Brattle's extended salute to this year's 'Silent Movie Day,' which falls on Sunday, Sept. 29.

This year's tribute will be highlighted by a rare complete screening of 'La Roue,' a drama directed by visionary French filmmaker Abel Gance.

Admission is $25 per person for the all-day screening, which includes two intermissions plus a brief dinner break at the halfway point.

Through it all, Rapsis will create music intended to bring Gance's vision to life for modern audiences, a century after the film's Paris premiere.

"People are surprised to learn that it's possible to improvise a film score for a movie of any length, never mind one that's seven hours long," Rapsis said.

"But the extraordinary running time of 'La Roue' can allow the music to go places it usually doesn't," he said.

'La Roue' (French for 'the wheel') tells the story of Sisif, a railroad engineer who adopts an orphaned girl following a train accident.

The ensuing decades bring both joy and tragedy in a film that has been compared to a Dickens novel as the story evolves and action plays out over time.

Along the way, Gance filmed sequences in French locations ranging from the grimy railyards of Nice to the snow-covered slopes of Mont Blanc.

The lead role of Sisif, the railway engineer, is played by noted French actor Séverin-Mars, who died of a heart attack just after Gance finished principal photography.

"It's a movie that is by turns ambitious, ground-breaking, extravagant, self-indulgent, audacious, and revolutionary," Rapsis said.

Rapsis keeps alive the nearly lost art of live silent film accompaniment by performing at more than 100 screenings a year, many of them in Boston-area venues.

During the silent era, most movies did not have official scores. Instead, local theater musicians played anything they felt helped a film, often with little advance preparation. 

The music would differ from theater to theater, all over the nation and around the world. 

It was only later, after soundtracks were introduced, that directors began working with composers to create film scores as we know them today.

"Back then, live music was a big part of the movie-going experience—and it was made locally, just like the popcorn is today," Rapsis said.

Unlike musicians of the silent era, Rapsis uses a digital synthesizer to create music with the sound of a full orchestra.

"Depending on the mood and setting, I can call up really any kind of texture that I feel helps support the film on screen," Rapsis said.

In nearly 20 years of accompanying films, Rapsis has become familiar with titles most often requested: Buster Keaton comedies, thrillers starring Lon Chaney, and Biblical epics from Cecil B. DeMille.

"For most screenings, I don't prepare in advance other than perhaps running the film fast-forward to remind me of the overall story," Rapsis said. 

"For the most part, the music for each screening  is created right there in the theater—to support the film, but also in response to audience reaction."

Rapsis said an experienced accompanist supports the movie, but can also help modern audiences "read" a film from the silent era, when stories often unfolded visually and without dialogue. 

"Today's audiences may not be used to this. If done right, the music can indicate a shift in mood or tension to confirm that something significant has just happened on screen," Rapsis said.

There are also practical realities of accompaniment that can affect an audience's enjoyment of a film.

"For comedies, it's very important to play quietly at first, so that audience members can hear each other laughing," Rapsis said. 

"Hearing people laugh often triggers laughter in others, which can lead to a theater full of people roaring at a classic silent film comedy."

"But if the music is too loud, that spontaneous combustion of laughter can't happen," Rapsis said.

Rapsis will put his two decades of experience to work in accompanying 'La Roue.'

Although the music will be improvised, Rapsis is developing a few ideas in advance that he'll weave together to create the score.

"I plan to draw from this bank of material," Rapsis said. "But I find that if I spend too much time making elaborate plans or studying a film, it interferes with the music that comes to me in the moment, in the theater, when the film is on the screen."

"It's harder to forget about everything and get immersed in the film, which is when the best stuff tends to happen."

Other than that, he's undertaking no special preparations for the seven-hour screening, other than reviewing the story line and adding extra miles to his bicycle rides.

"I think I'm up for it, at least physically," he said. "If nothing else, I have endurance. I'm like the Jake LaMotta of silent film accompaniment—it may not be pretty, but I just keep on coming."

Rapsis admits that the process is "a bit of a high wire act," but says creating live music on the fly can add a distinctive element to the silent movie experience.

"With improvised live accompaniment, a certain energy and excitement comes through that's different from a score that's planned in advance, or recorded," he said. 

A scene from 'La Roue' (1923), directed by Abel Gance.

In making 'La Roue,' director Gance aimed to explore the limits of movie making, then a still-new art form.

Among Gance's on-screen innovations are complicated optical effects, rapid cutting during climactic sequences, and extended visual symbolism.

'La Roue' was Gance's last major project prior to starting work on 'Napoleon' (1927), which would turn out to be his magnum opus that would go on to overshadow his other work. This includes 'La Roue,' a film that was no less ambitious or accomplished, but which has been neglected in comparison.

Recently restored to Gance's original 1923 cut, the complete 'La Roue' clocks in at 6 hours and 52 minutes.

For the Brattle screening, 'La Roue' will be divided into two parts. Part 1 will include a brief intermission about halfway through. A dinner break will follow.

For Part 2, another intermission will occur about halfway through. The screening will conclude at about 8:30 p.m.

"It's a rare chance to see 'La Roue' the way Gance intended it to be experienced: in a theater, on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience," Rapsis said.

Abel Gance's silent masterwork 'La Roue' (1923) will be shown in its entirety with live music on Saturday, Sept. 28 starting at noon at the Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Cambridge, Mass.

Tickets are $25 per person; purchase online at www.brattlefilm.org or in person at the theater's box office. For more information, call (617) 876-6837.

Don't miss a rare chance to see Tod Browning's rediscovered thriller 'The Show' (1927) on Sunday, Sept. 22 at Wilton, N.H.

An original lobby promoting MGM's lurid backstage thriller 'The Show' (1927)

This weekend! On Saturday, Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. I'll accompany Harold Lloyd's beloved comedy 'Speedy' (1928) in Brandon, Vt. Hope you're able to make it!

If you're here due to coverage in this week's edition of 'Seven Day,' the big Vermont alternative paper, welcome! See you at Brandon Town Hall and Community Center. Admission is free; any donations support on-going upkeep and restoration of the circa 1860 Town Hall building.

 

Then, on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.m., it's 'The Show' (1927), a twisted backstage drama from director Tod Browning, which I'll accompany at the Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H. Hope you can join us!

 

Below, I'm pasting in a press release about the rare screening of 'The Show,' which I've never done music for. Hope you can join us! Here goes...

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Silent thriller 'The Show' revived at Town Hall Theatre on Sunday, Sept. 22

 

Twisted backstage drama stars John Gilbert, Lionel Barrymore; to be screened with live musical accompaniment.

 

WILTON, N.H.—A bizarre silent thriller featuring a cast of notables makes a rare return to the silver screen this month at the Town Hall Theatre.

 

'The Show,' (1927), a backstage drama featuring top MGM stars John Gilbert, Renée Adorée, and Lionel Barrymore, will be screened on Sunday, Sept. 22 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

 

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

The screening, the latest in the venue's silent film series, will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.

 

Directed by Tod Browning, 'The Show' explores the world of a Budapest carnival sideshow, where performers encounter love, greed, and murder.

 

John Gilbert and Renée Adorée in 'The Show' (1927).
 

Cock Robin (John Gilbert) is a sideshow barker in Budapest. He also participates in one of the acts; his former girlfriend Salome (Renée Adorée) dances before Herod in exchange for the head of "Jokanaan". As Jokanaan, Robin has his head seemingly chopped off and presented to the dancer on a platter, much to the audience's delight.

 

As 'The Show' unfolds, Salome yearns to get back together with Robin, but he has his sights set on Lena (Gertrude Short), the daughter of a well-off sheep merchant. He lets the smitten Lena buy him things.

 

The Greek (Lionel Barrymore), Salome's current boyfriend, becomes angered when he learns of her feelings. The Greek and his henchman, the Ferret, also try to steal Lena's father's money, but things get complicated when murder enters the picture.

 

'The Show' is the latest in a monthly series of silent films presented with live music at the Town Hall Theatre. The series provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in good-looking prints, with live music, and with an audience.

 

"Put those elements together like we do at the Town Hall Theatre, and films from the silent era spring right back to life in a way that helps you understand why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

 

Tod Browning's twisted thriller 'The Show' will be shown on Sunday, Sept. 22 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.

A rare chance to see 'La Roue' with live music—all seven hours of it on Saturday, Sept. 28

A scene from Abel Gance's 'La Roue' (1923)

It's a different kind of Boston Marathon!

For New England movie fans, this month brings a rare chance to experience 'La Roue' (1923), a sprawling masterwork of early cinema from Abel Gance, who would go on to direct 'Napoleon' (1927).

On Saturday, Sept. 28, the Brattle Theatre in Cambridge, Mass. will present 'La Roue' as intended—on the big screen, with live music, in one day, and restored to its original running time of just under SEVEN hours. 

And yes, I intend to improvise a live score in real time for the entire picture—all 412 minutes of it.

I'm really looking forward to this. The sheer length of 'La Roue' may seem daunting, but as an accompanist I see it as an opportunity to immerse myself in the experience. I'm eager to see how the music evolves as the hours roll by.

I think I'm up for it, at least physically. If nothing else, I have endurance. I'm like the Jake LaMotta of silent film accompaniment: the results may not always be pretty, but I can just keep on coming.

A promotional poster for a later release of 'The Roue' (1923).

About the movie: 'La Roue' is French for "the wheel."—think of "roulette" as a "little wheel." The film tells the story of a railroad engineer who adopts an orphaned girl following a train accident. 

The ensuing decades bring both joy and tragedy in a film that is by turns ambitious, ground-breaking, extravagant, self-indulgent, audacious, and revolutionary. The action moves between the harsh world of the railway yard (filmed on location in Nice, France) and the rarified air of the French Alps (filmed on the slops of Mont Blanc.)

Recently restored to Gance's original 1923 cut, the complete 'La Roue' clocks in at an astonishing 412 minutes. 

Starting at noon on Saturday, Sept. 28, the Brattle will screen the movie in four parts with three intermissions, including a meal break half-way through, ending at 8:30 p.m. Tickets for the whole experience are $25 per person.

What place does La Roue hold in filmmaking history?

Check out this review of the film by critic Andre Soares when it was first released on DVD (in a four-hour version) in 2008:

“There is cinema before and after La Roue as there is painting before and after Picasso.”

That’s none other than Jean Cocteau, referring to the mammoth 1923 drama (original running time: nearly 8 hours) directed and written by Abel Gance – he of Napoleon.

Gance worked for three years on La Roue / The Wheel, which revolves around a locomotive engineer (Séverin-Mars, who died in 1921, two years before the film’s official release), his obsession with his adopted daughter (Ivy Close, mother of director Ronald Neame), and her (romantic) love for the engineer’s son (Gabriel de Gravone), who also happens to have fallen in love with her.

The director and his cinematographers (Gaston Brun, Marc Bujard, Léonce-Henri Burel, and Maurice Duverger) worked on all sorts of innovative cinematic experiments; as a result, the film’s technical virtuosity became a blueprint for numerous other productions. G.W. Pabst, for one, was encouraged by La Roue to begin his own explorations of human psychology in classics such as Pandora’s Box and Diary of a Lost Girl, while Akira Kurosawa once stated that “the first film that really impressed me was La Roue.”

Wow! So please join us for what is sure to be an unforgettable cinematic experience. Give yourself up to Gance's vision. Take this rare opportunity to truly immerse yourself in the world of 'La Roue.'

See you at the movies—and maybe the nearby Mount Auburn Hospital afterwards! 

Tickets and more info on the Brattle's website.

A scene from 'La Roue' (1923) directed by Abel Gance.
 

Featuring Babe Ruth cameo! Harold Lloyd's silent comedy 'Speedy' (1928) on Thursday, 9/12 at Rex Theatre, Manchester, N.H.

Two 1920s icons: Harold Lloyd and Babe Ruth while shooting 'Speedy' (1928).

It's a comedy home run!

It's Harold Lloyd and Babe Ruth in 'Speedy' (1928), a silent comedy filmed on location in New York City at the height of the Roaring '20s. 

Lloyd, then the biggest star in movies, plays a baseball-crazed young man who encounters his idol, Babe Ruth, at the time the biggest name in baseball.

I'll be accompanying this terrific film/time capsule on Thursday, Sept. 12 at the Rex Theatre in downtown Manchester, N.H. Showtime is 7 p.m. Lots more info in the press release below.

I say "time capsule" because one of the delights of screening 'Speedy' today is seeing what the Big Apple looked like a century ago. We get to ride the subway, head out to Coney Island, and visit Yankee Stadium, explore neighborhoods in the outer boroughs, and generally experience New York City as it existed many years ago.

As a side note, this screening is part of the activities for an unusual gathering. Manchester, N.H. is home to the 2024 convention of the "Association of Games and Puzzles International," which runs from Thursday, Sept. 12 through Sunday, Sept. 15.

Part of nearly every culture around the globe, games and puzzles have been part of the human experience for untold centuries. Association members are dedicated to collecting and celebrating all manner of games and puzzles that bring people together.

So I'm pleased to report that this screening of 'Speedy' is part of the association's official 2024 convention activity schedule. It'll be great to have AGPI join in with our regular audience.

Why 'Speedy?' Well, it has a strong baseball theme, and early in the film we get to see a classic mechanical baseball game that a large crowd is watching to follow the day's action at Yankee Stadium.

But I think the main interest for our AGPI friends will be in the extended Coney Island sequence, in which Harold and co-star Ann Christy make their way through the various midway-style games of skill and chance that are visible throughout. 

For more about the association, check out their web site. And for more about 'Speedy' and our screening on Thursday, Sept. 12, please check out the press release below.

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A promotional poster for Harold Lloyd in 'Speedy' (1928).

MONDAY, SEPT. 2,  2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Classic Harold Lloyd comedy 'Speedy' on Thursday, Sept. 12 at Rex Theatre

Screening features live music; 1920s rom-com filmed on location in NYC with cameo featuring Babe Ruth

MANCHESTER, N.H.— He was the bespectacled boy next door whose road to success was often paved with perilous detours.

He was Harold Lloyd, whose fast-paced comedies made him the most popular movie star of Hollywood's silent film era.

See for yourself why Lloyd was the top box office attraction of the 1920s in a revival of 'Speedy' (1928), one of his most popular comedies.

The film, shot on location in New York City, will be shown on Thursday, Sept. 12 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.

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

'Speedy,' Lloyd's final silent feature before the transition to talkies, finds Harold as a baseball-crazed youth who must rescue the city's last horse-drawn streetcar from gangsters bent on running it out of business.

Filmed almost entirely on location in New York, 'Speedy' features remarkable glimpses of the city at the end of the 1920s, including footage of Coney Island and the original Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

The latter scenes include an extended appearance by Babe Ruth, then at the height of his career during the team's storied 1927 season.

"In 'Speedy,' New York City is practically a part of the cast," Rapsis said. "In filming it on location, Lloyd knew scenes of New York would give the picture added interest to audiences across the nation and around the world.

"But what he didn't anticipate was that today, the location shots now provide a fascinating record of how life was lived in the Big Apple in the 1920s," Rapsis said.

Rapsis will improvise a musical score for 'Speedy' as the film is screened. In creating accompaniment for vintage classics, Rapsis tries to bridge the gap between silent film and modern audiences.

"Creating the music on the spot is a bit of a high-wire act, but it contributes a level of energy that's really crucial to the silent film experience," Rapsis said.

'Speedy' (1928) will be screened with live music on  Thursday, Sept. 12 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. For more about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

 

Finish Labor Day weekend with W.C. Fields in 'Running Wild' Monday, 9/2 in Greenfield, Mass.

A mustachioed W.C. Fields and co-star Mary Brian in a promotional lobby card for 'Running Wild' (1927).

Finish out this Labor Day weekend with a silent comedy starring W.C. Fields—a performer few think of as silent.

Fields plays the head of a family, sort of, in 'Running Wild' (1927), a silent comedy I'm accompanying on Monday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Garden Cinemas in downtown Greenfield, Mass.

If you can't imagine W.C. Fields without his trademark nasal twang, I encourage you to check out this film. 'Running Wild' is one a series of silent comedy features starring Fields that were very popular, and which hold up well today.

Although he later achieved true comic immortality in talking features, Fields in his younger years had toured the globe for decades as a performer who specialized in comic juggling and pantomime.

Such skills translated well to the visual medium of the movies, in which he appeared as early as 1915, although he remained primarily a stage performer in the 1920s, often based in New York and headlining lavish reviews.

His first major film role came in 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925), a circus comedy/drama directed by D.W. Griffith.

Fields' screen presence was enough to prompt Paramount to star him in a series of family comedies released during the remainder of the silent era. Most were filmed on Long Island during the day, allowing Fields to honor his New York stage commitments.

'Running Wild' (1927) is one of the entries, with Fields playing the henpecked husband of a blended household in a kind of 1920s 'Modern Family.'

I hope you'll join us to see how Fields could get laughs without relying on verbal wisecracks. More details in the press release below. See you there!

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A lobby card promoting 'Running Wild' (1927) starring W.C. Fields.

MONDAY, AUG. 19, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Garden Cinemas to screen rare silent film starring W.C. Fields

'Running Wild' (1927), uproarious comedy to be screened Monday, Sept. 2, shows legendary performer in his earlier prime

GREENFIELD, Mass.—He was a performer who could be recognized just by the sound of his voice.

But prior to reaching iconic fame in talking pictures, comedian W.C. Fields starred successfully in a popular series of silent feature films for Paramount Pictures and other studios in the 1920s.

See the non-talking W.C. Fields for yourself in 'Running Wild' (1927), one of Fields' most highly regarded silent pictures, in a screening on Monday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St., Greenfield, Mass..

The screening will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.

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

W.C. Fields remains famous for his comic persona as a misanthropic and hard-drinking egotist who remained a sympathetic character despite his snarling contempt for dogs, children and women. Although Fields achieved lasting fame as a movie star in talking pictures of the 1930s, his long career encompassed decades on the vaudeville stage as well as a series of silent film roles.

"People find it hard to think of W.C. Fields in silent films, but he was actually quite successful in them," said Rapsis, who will accompany the film using a digital synthesizer.

As a vaudeville performer and juggler, Fields cultivated a form of visual comedy and pantomime that transferred well to the silent screen. Also, as a middle-aged man, he was able to play a family father figure—the kind of role that wasn't open to younger comic stars such as Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton.

In all, Fields starred in 10 silent features in the mid-1920s. Several of these films are lost; in those that survive, Fields sports a thick mustache, part of his vaudeville costume as a "vagabond juggler" which he dropped in later years.

A lobby card promoting W.C. Fields in 'Running Wild' (1927).

In 'Running Wild,' Fields plays Elmer Finch, a cowardly and henpecked husband who is disrespected by his stepson, his co-workers, and even the family dog.

But every dog has his day, and Finch's comes when he undergoes hypnosis, which transforms him into a swaggering take-no-prisoners alpha male.

The result is a timeless domestic farce that continues to delight audiences when screened as intended: in a theater, with live music and an audience.

The Garden Cinema's silent film series aims to recreate the full silent film experience, with restored prints projected on the big screen, live music, and the presence of an audience. All these elements are essential to seeing silent films they way they were intended, Rapsis said.

"If you can put it all together again, these films still contain a tremendous amount of excitement," Rapsis said. "By staging these screenings of features from Hollywood's early days, you can see why people first fell in love with the movies."

The next installment in the Garden's silent film series will be 'Running Wild' (1927), to be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Monday, Sept. 2 at 6:30 p.m. at the Greenfield Garden Cinemas, 361 Main St., Greenfield, Mass. Admission is $10.50 adults, $8:50 for children, seniors, and students.

Tickets at the door; advance tickets are available at www.gardencinemas.net. For more information, call the box office at (413) 774-4881.