2024 Silent Film Season in Brandon, Vt. concludes Saturday, Nov. 16 with 'Barbed Wire' (1927)

A lobby card for Paramount's 'Barbed Wire' (1927) starring Pola Negri.

This Saturday, it's up to Brandon, Vt. (about 2.5 hours) for the final screening of the 2024 season: 'Barbed Wire' (1927), a World War I drama that kind of bridges the season between Veterans Day and the holiday season.

It's also the final screening of silent films organized by the Friends of the Town Hall, a volunteer group that's worked for a quarter-century to rescue and restore Brandon's vintage 19th century town hall after a long period of abandonment and neglect.

The group is disbanding after this season, with the town recreational department taking over management of the venue. I'm pleased to say arrangements are in place for another season of monthly silent film programs starting in May 2025.

But I will certainly miss working with the Friends of the Town Hall volunteers and their long-tenured leader, Dennis Marden. He's the one who got me to start coming to Brandon back in 2010, and he's kept things fun and lively ever since.

He and his group have also transformed the formerly forbidding facility into a warm, inviting and versatile community center. Through physical improvements (like adding heat!) to bringing in a wide range of programming (yes, silent films, too!), their labors have given the Brandon community a great big gift—a vibrant gathering place that most communities can only dream of.

The imposing exterior of Brandon Town Hall, which dates from the 1860s.
 

The interior of Brandon Town Hall set up for an event. 

And my feeling is that in this day and age, we need places to gather and have shared experiences more than ever.

So if you happen to be within sledding distance of Brandon, Vt. this Saturday, why not join us for the shared experience of Pola Negri in 'Barbed Wire' (1927)? 

Lots more info in the press release below...

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A vintage one-sheet promoting the World War I drama 'Barbed Wire' (1927).

MONDAY, NOV. 11, 2024 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Barbed Wire' at Brandon Town Hall on Saturday, Nov. 16

Drama starring Pola Negri set in World War I prison camp to be screened with live music; highlighted by unusual Christmas scene

BRANDON, VT. — A rarely shown World War I prison camp drama with an unusual Christmas sequence will fill the big screen when 'Barbed Wire' (1927) is revived on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt.

'Barbed Wire,' a silent drama starring Pola Negri and Clive Brook, will be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

All are welcome to this family-friendly event. Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations.

Set in rural France, 'Barbed Wire' dramatizes the human conflicts that occurred throughout Europe during what was known as 'The Great War.'

In a small village, Mona Moreau (Pola Negri) and her aging father work their farm to feed the brave young men fighting for France. But when their farm is commandeered to build a camp for German POWs, they must feed the prisoners as well.

In the beginning, Mona resents the German prisoners she is forced to feed, but soon she begins to empathize with them. Mona's sympathies begin to raise the suspicion of her neighbors and worst of all, she fears she may be falling in love with handsome prisoner Oskar Muller (Clive Brook).

The relationship is opposed by the townspeople, who ostracize the girl's family, setting in motion dramatic events shaped by war, prejudice, forbidden love, and shared humanity.

"The ending of 'Barbed Wire' astounds viewers today because of the bitter lessons it tries to extract from the wartime experience, and how applicable they are to our world right now, so many years later," Rapsis said.

"At the time, society had just been through a global conflict fueled by hatred, bigotry, and intolerance, and people knew what that led to. They knew. And we can learn from them still," Rapsis said.

An original lobby card for 'Barbed Wire' (1927).

Directed by Rowland V. Lee for Paramount Pictures, a highlight of 'Barbed Wire' is a sequence in which the German prisoners celebrate a traditional Teutonic Christmas, by turns solemn and rowdy, despite being incarcerated.

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis specializes in creating music that bridges the gap between an older silent 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 support 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.

The screening is sponsored by Jean and Harold Somerset, Nancy and Gary Meffe, Bethany and Andrew Menkart, and the American Legion Post 55, Brandon.

'Barbed Wire' will be shown with live music on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. at 7 p.m. at the Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Route 7, in Brandon, Vt. All are welcome to this family-friendly event. Admission is free, with free will donations accepted in support of ongoing Town Hall renovations. 

Two more screenings for 2017—but first...accolades from an unexpected source

Two programs this week will finish out the 2017 performance calendar: a Buster Keaton show in Plymouth, N.H. on Wednesday, Dec. 13 and an intense Pola Negri drama (with a Christmas twist!) in North Andover, Mass. on Thursday, Dec. 14.

But first: this morning I was looking over the just-announced Golden Globe nominations, playing my usual game of "How many of these movies have I never even heard of?" Little did I suspect that this same day would bring recognition my way.

Although not on the level of the Golden Globes, I was pleased to receive word today that the Boston Society of Film Critics has included me in a 2017 commendation for efforts at silent film accompaniment in and around Beantown, a.k.a. the Athens of America, a.k.a. The Hub of the Universe. (All three actual nicknames for Boston.)

The honor was presented jointly to me and fellow accompanists Martin Marks and Robert Humphreville:

To Boston-based musicians and silent-film-music scholars Martin Marks, Robert Humphreville and Jeff Rapsis, whose live accompaniment at silent-film screenings have delighted Boston audiences for many years. Their artistry was particularly sublime this year during the silent component of The Harvard Film Archive’s “That Certain Feeling … The Touch of Ernst Lubitsch,” a series requiring music for broad comedies, extravagant adventures and subtle dramas.

Well, thank you, Boston Society of Film Critics! What a nice way to wind up an eventful year.

I understand the Society holds an annual banquet in February. If I attend, I promise an insider's look at this glamorous event. "Sorry Academy Awards—I've already accepted an invite from the Boston Society of Film Critics! Maybe next year!"

But before we get to next year, let's finish this one. What's coming up?

Buster and Ernest Torrence hanging around in 'Steamboat Bill Jr.' (1928).

• On Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 6:30 p.m., take a break from holiday stress with Buster Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928) at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.

This is the one where Buster stands in a street during a cyclone while the front end of a building comes down around him.

Does he make it? If you haven't seen it, I don't want to spoil it for you. Admission $10 per person.

After something like seven years, this is the final installment of the Flying Monkey's silent film series.

In 2018, we're switching to a schedule of silent film screenings every three months or so.

Original promotional artwork for 'Barbed Wire' (1927).

• On Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m., it's Pola Negri and Clive Brook in 'Barbed Wire' (1927), a Paramount World War I drama with a big Christmas scene in the middle of it.

It's screening at the Rogers Center for the Arts, on the campus of Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

I first saw this flick just last February, at the Kansas Silent Film Festival in Topeka, Kansas.

I had never heard of 'Barbed Wire,' but it turned out to be a powerful drama with a strong story and a lot of great scenes.

So once again, I am struck with now rich the silent era is, or was—that one can explore it for years, and still uncover unknown treasures.

In the case of 'Barbed Wire,' it also has the diminutive Clyde Cook (not to be confused with leading man Clive Brook) in a nice comedy relief role.

And the big Christmas scene? Well, all I'll say is that it takes place in a prisoner-of-war camp for captured German soldiers.

So it may not be the silent era's answer to 'It's a Wonderful Life.'

But it's still a darned good flick, and I look forward to doing music for it for the first time later this week.

Admission is free and the Roger Center silent film series is usually well attended. So it's a good place to experienced the "big audience" part of early cinema.

Hope to see you there!

Celebrate Tax Day with gangster movie 'Underworld' at Red River on Friday, 4/15

Clive Brook and Evelyn Brent on a poster for 'Underworld.'

When programming a silent film series, I sometimes look for occasions to celebrate.

If a screening is around July 14 (Bastille Day), then that's a good reason to run 'Orphans of the Storm' (1922), D.W. Griffith's French Revolution epic.

So in putting together this year's schedule for Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., I saw one of the dates was April 15.

April 15? Well, there's a day that's well-known to all U.S. residents, as it's the deadline for federal income tax filings.

What silent film would be appropriate for that? There's none about IRS agents that I can think of.

So I settled for a picture that would be something of a catharsis: a movie in which people battle government agents.

It's 'Underworld' (1927), a Josef von Sternberg drama set in the world of 1920s urban gangsters.

They're always one step ahead of the law, of course. What's more, the movie has extended shoot-outs with federal agents.

So what better way to blow off some steam after ponying up to the federal government to pay your share for all it does?

Clive Brook and Evelyn Brent in 'Underworld.'

Plus, it's one of those pictures I put in the category of "mature" silent film: the really polished productions that were hitting theaters in the last three or four years before talkies took over.

Well worth a look see. So pull the trigger and come join us this evening at Red River Theatres for 'Underworld.' You're sure to get a bang out of it.

More details? Check out the press release I've included below.

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A color-enhanced still for 'Underworld.'

THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Underworld' to screen with live music at Concord's Red River Theatres on Friday, April 15

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

CONCORD, N.H.—'Underworld' (1927), a silent drama that spurred a boom in 'gangster' movies, will be screened with live music on Friday, April 15 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.

The film will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis. Admission is $10 per person.

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

"We figured a fitting way to mark the date our taxes are due was to screen a picture full of people battling federal agents," Rapsis said.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So Red River's silent film screenings are a great chance for people to experience films that caused people to first fall in love with the movies," he said.

'Underworld' is the latest in an monthly series of great silent films with live music at Red River. Upcoming programs include:

• Friday, May 13: 'The Golem' (1920), a pioneering German fantasy in which a rabbi brings a statue to life protect the Jews of 16th century Prague from persecution.

• Friday, June 10: 'The General' (1927), Buster Keaton's classic comic adventure epic of an Southern engineer and his locomotive during the U.S. Civil War.

• Friday, July 15: 'Bardelys the Magnificent' (1926) starring John Gilbert in a big MGM historical swashbuckling adventure thought lost for decades until a print was found recently in France.

Red River Theatres, an independent cinema, is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to screening a diverse program of first-run independent films, cult favorites, classics, local and regional film projects, and foreign films.

The member-supported theater’s mission is to present film and the discussion of film as a way to entertain, broaden horizons and deepen appreciation of life for New Hampshire audiences of all ages.

'Underworld' (1927) will be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. on Friday, April 15 at 7 p.m. in the Jaclyn Simchik Screening Room at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is $10 per person; for more info, call (603) 224-4600 or visit www.redrivertheatres.org. For more information about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.