An original lobby card promoting 'Annie Laurie' (1927).More than a month since I last posted anything on this blog. Wow!
I've still been accompanying as many films as ever. It's just that I've gone through a period where real life exceeded my capacity for writing about it.
But here I am again. And we'll pick up with a preview of an upcoming screening: the MGM epic 'Annie Laurie' (1927), starring Lillian Gish, which I'm accompanying this afternoon in at the Center for the Arts in Natick, Mass.
The Natick venue is a converted firehouse, which is appropriate, because this is one hot picture! Seriously—I think the climax (which, yes, involves fire) ranks right up there with Gish's near-death experience on the ice floes in 'Way Down East' (1921) a few years earlier.
Lots more info in the press release pasted in below. Hope you'll be able to join us on Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m. for a grand experience from the silent era. And I'll be back with more thoughts and reports before long.
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Lillian Gish stars in 'Annie Laurie' (1927), an MGM epic about Scottish clan battles.MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2026 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com
New restoration of MGM blockbuster 'Annie Laurie' at Natick Center for the Arts on Sunday, April 26
Lillian Gish stars in title role as Scottish clans do
battle in epic historical drama on the big screen; accompanied by live music
NATICK, Mass.— Return to the days of warring Scottish clans with 'Annie Laurie,'
a rarely screened MGM epic featuring silent-era megastar Lillian Gish.
A newly restored and remastered
version of 'Annie Laurie' will be screened on Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m.
at TCAN Center for the Arts, 14 Summer St.,
Natick, Mass.
The
screening, the latest in the Center for the Art's silent film series,
will feature live accompaniment by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based
composer who specializes in creating music for silent films.
Admission is $12 per person for members; $14 for non-members. Tickets are available online at
www.natickarts.org or at the door.
In
'Annie Laurie,' Lillian Gish plays a diplomat's daughter caught in the
violent 17th-century feud between the Scottish Campbell and MacDonald
clans.
Gish, a Campbell, falls in love with
rival clan chief Ian MacDonald (Norman Kerry) complicating peace efforts
between the two warring sides.
As the clans
prepare for battle, the romance forces Gish to choose between loyalty to
her family or to warn the rival MacDonalds in advance of the infamous
Massacre of Glencoe.
This intertitle from 'Annie Laurie' provides an clue about what kind of music you'll be hearing during the screening.
The film's spectacular
climax features Gish in a dramatic "race to the rescue" sequence filmed
in an early version of Technicolor.
'Annie
Laurie,' a major 1927 release for top studio MGM, has not been available
for public viewing since its original release. In 2024, the U.S.
Library of Congress transferred a pristine 35mm print in their
collection to digital media, doing restoration work when needed.
The
story of 'Annie Laurie' takes place in the late 1690s amid a backdrop
of clans battling fiercely for supremacy in the years before Scotland
joined England to form the United Kingdom.
To
tell the tale on an epic scale on screen, MGM director John S. Robertson
pulled out all the stops, staging enormous battle scenes set among the
craggy Scottish landscape.
Sumptuous period
costumes (yes, including men in kilts!) are a highlight of the 'Annie
Laurie,' which was released at the peak of silent film artistry, just
prior to the introduction of talking pictures.
At
the time, Gish was among MGM's biggest stars, having arrived at the
studio after playing iconic leading roles in early D.W. Griffith
features including 'The Birth of a Nation' (1915), 'Way Down East'
(1920), and 'Orphans of the Storm' (1921).
Lillian Gish and Norman Kerry in a strange background-less still promoting 'Annie Laurie' (1927). Leading
man Norman Kerry was a popular silent-era performer who often played
the heroic dashing swashbuckler or the seductive lothario. He was
extremely popular with female fans and was at the peak of his career in
'Annie Laurie.'
Among those in the large cast of supporting players was a very young John Wayne in one of his earliest roles as an extra.
'Annie Laurie' is the latest in TCAN's
silent film series, in which classic motion pictures from Hollywood's
silent film era are screened with
live music.
"It's
a great way for audiences to experience the magic of silent film in the
way it was intended: on the big screen, in restored editions, with live
music, and with an audience," said Jeff Rapsis, who provides live
musical accompaniment for each program.
"Early
movie-making was a shared experience that took place in a theater,"
Rapsis said. "Filmmakers at the time created motion pictures with that
in mind—and when you can present them the way they were intended, their
impact remains uniquely powerful."
'Annie
Laurie' (1927) starring Lillian Gish and Norman Kerry will be shown
with live music on Sunday, April 26 at 4 p.m.
at TCAN Center for the Arts, 14 Summer St.,
Natick, Mass.
Admission is $12 per person for members; $14 for non-members. Tickets available online at
www.natickarts.org or at the door. For more info, call (508) 647-0097.
