Up next: 'Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at Derry (N.H.) Opera House

A scene from 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920).

It's gonna be one crowded cabinet!

This morning I got word that more than 130 people have pre-registered for a screening of 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920), which I'll accompany on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry (N.H.) Opera House.

Wow! Unless a lot of people ghost us (it IS the Halloween season, after all), that's a big turnout, which always adds to the excitement.

But there's still room for more. Check out the press release below, which has info about the film plus how to register for the screening. 

For now, I'm pleased to report that last night's screening of 'Phantom of the Opera' (1925) attracted more than 100 spooks to what the final silent film program for the 100th anniversary season of the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine.

If it seemed even more crowded than that, it's because for the Halloween season the Leavitt Theatre populates is main screening room with stuffed scarecrow-like goblins that occupy a fair number of seats.

Such as:

Here's an overview...

Great crowd full of people willing to shriek at the famous "unmasking" scene—and which continued to shriek at all of Chaney's big moments afterwards. This might have had something to do with the Leavitt now offering bar service, but who can say?

I'll do 'Phantom' again this afternoon at the Mattapoisett Free Library in Mattapoisett, Mass. (showtime is 5:30 p.m.) and then once more on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the recently reopened Crandell Theatre in Chatham, N.Y. 

They're both new venues for me and I look forward to spreading the silent film gospel to newcomers and diehard fans alike. 

Boris Karloff makes a friend, sort of, in 'Frankenstein' (1931), an early talkie with no musical score. 

In addition, on Thursday, Oct. 30 at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport, R.I., I'm doing a live score for 'Frankenstein' (1931) starring Boris Karloff.

Wait, isn't that a talking picture? It is, but like many early sound films, studios hadn't quite gotten into the habit of creating recorded soundtracks as we know them today.

The Bela Lugosi' Dracula' (1931) is the same way—very eerie and atmospheric visuals, but not a scrap of dramatic music. 

With 'Frankenstein,' I've found adding music in certain places can—well, help bring the film to life.

It's alive! It's alive! 

To see what a difference music makes with 'Frankenstein' (especially in the laboratory sequences), check out a screening of this vintage horror classic on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. at the Jane Pickens Theatre in Newport, R.I.

And for now, here's all the details on 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at the Derry (N.H.) Opera House. 

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A scene from 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920).

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

Halloween special! 'Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at Derry Opera House

Screening of breakthrough silent thriller to feature live musical accompaniment

DERRY, N.H.—This halloween, a creepy silent film regarded as the forerunner of all horror movies is coming to haunt southern N.H.

'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920) will be shown live music on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, N.H.

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

The event is organized by the Derry Public Library, the Taylor Library, and the Greater Derry Arts Council.

Admission is free; advance registration is requested. To register, visit the Derry Public Library's website at derrypl.org and click on the online 'Events' calendar.

Set in an insane asylum, 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,' is considered a landmark in early cinema. Nearly a century after its release, the film still has the capacity to creep out audiences.

"A case can be made that 'Caligari' was the first true horror film, critic Roger Ebert wrote in 2007.

Actor Conrad Veidt in the actual cabinet from 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920).

'Caligari,' made in Germany after World War I and directed in expressionist style by Robert Wiene, stars Werner Krauss and Conrad Veidt.

The film employs stylized sets, with abstract, jagged buildings painted on canvas backdrops and flats.

To add to its strange visual design, the actors used an exaggerated technique that employed jerky and dancelike movements.

The movie is also cited as having introduced the surprise "twist" ending to cinema.

"Silents such as 'Dr. Caligari' are films that first caused people to fall in love with the movies," Rapsis said. "The aim is to present them as they were originally intended to be shown: in a theater, on a big screen, with live music, and with an audience. If you can put all those elements together, these films leap to life."

In scoring 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari,' Rapsis plans to augment the traditional orchestral sound with the vocabulary of film music from later eras.

"Because I improvise the music, it's hard to know what will happen until the film actually starts running," Rapsis said.

'Caligari,' a forerunner of the 'film noir' genre, has influenced generations of movie-makers.

A sequel of sorts was released in the 1980s with the film 'Dr. Caligari,' which dealt with the granddaughter of the original Dr. Caligari and her illegal experiments on her patients in an asylum.

'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1920) will be shown with live music on Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, N.H. 

Admission is free; advance registration is requested. To register, visit the Derry Public Library's website at derrypl.org and click on the online 'Events' calendar.

Ring a bell for 'Silent Movie Day' with Lon Chaney in the 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) this evening in Derry, N.H.

Happy Silent Movie Day!

I'm celebrating this not-quite-Hallmark holiday (yet) by accompanying a screening of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (19230 starring Lon Chaney.

Showtime is tonight (Friday, Sept. 29) at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House. Details in the press release below.

And talk about celebrating—this evening's screening comes in the middle of a run of six screenings in six days!

Last Wednesday, it was Buster Keaton's 'Seven Chances' (1925) at the Rex Theatre in Manchester, N.H.; then yesterday is was Keaton's 'Our Hospitality' (1923) for a retirement community in Concord, N.H. 

Tomorrow, I'll be down in Cambridge, Mass. to accompany a screening of Keaton's 'Three Ages' (1923) at the Brattle Cinema; then it's another 'Hunchback' on Sunday, Oct. 1 in Natick, Mass., and then on Monday, Oct. 2 it's the John Barrymore 'Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde' (1920) at the Garden Cinemas out in Greenfield, Mass. 

So as we observe Silent Movie Day 2023, I hope you'll join me for a silent film screening or two (or six) near you!

Here's the press release for tonight's 'Hunchback' screening:

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Lon Chaney in the title role of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

THURSDAY, SEPT. 21, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Chaney as Quasimodo in 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' on Friday, Sept. 29 in Derry, N.H.

Celebrate 100th anniversary of classic silent version with screening at Derry Opera House; featuring live music by Jeff Rapsis

DERRY, N.H.—It was a spectacular combination: Lon Chaney, the actor known as the "Man of 1,000 Faces," and Universal's big screen adaptation of Victor Hugo's sprawling tale of the tortured Quasimodo.

The result was the classic silent film version of 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923), to be shown with live music on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, N.H.

The special 100th anniversary screening will be accompanied with live music by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

The screening is organized by the Derry Public Library. Admission is free and the program is open to all.

"We felt that with the upcoming reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral in 2024, audiences would appreciate a chance to see this film, which takes place throughout the iconic structure," Rapsis said.

The famous cathedral, a symbol of Paris and France, was severely damaged by fire in 2019.

The film is based on Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, and is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris as well as for Chaney's performance and make-up as the tortured hunchback Quasimodo.

The film elevated Chaney, already a well-known character actor, to full star status in Hollywood, and also helped set a standard for many later horror films, including Chaney's 'The Phantom of the Opera' in 1925.

While Quasimodo is but one of many interconnecting characters in the original Hugo novel, he dominates the narrative of this expensive Universal production.

A scene from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

In the story, Jehan (Brandon Hurst), the evil brother of the archdeacon, lusts after a Gypsy named Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller) and commands the hunchback Quasimodo (Chaney) to capture her.

Military captain Phoebus (Norman Kerry) also loves Esmeralda and rescues her, but the Gypsy is not unsympathetic to Quasimodo's condition, and an unlikely bond forms between them.

After vengeful Jehan frames Esmeralda for the attempted murder of Phoebus, Quasimodo's feelings are put to the test in a spectacular climax set in and around the Cathedral of Notre Dame.

As the hunchbacked bellringer Quasimodo, Chaney adorned himself with a special device that made his cheeks jut out grotesquely; a contact lens that blanked out one of his eyes; and, most painfully, a huge rubber hump covered with coarse animal fur and weighing anywhere from 30 to 50 pounds.

Chaney deeply identified with Quasimodo, the deformed bell-ringer at Notre Dame Cathedral who was deafened by his work. Chaney was raised by deaf parents and did a lot of his communication through pantomime.

“The idea of doing the picture was an old one of mine and I had studied Quasimodo until I knew him like a brother, knew every ghoulish impulse of his heart and all the inarticulate miseries of his soul,” Chaney told an interviewer with Movie Weekly magazine in 1923.

“Quasimodo and I lived together—we became one. At least so it has since seemed to me. When I played him, I forgot my own identity completely and for the time being lived and suffered with the Hunchback of Notre Dame.”

A scene from 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923).

The film was a major box office hit for Universal Studios, and Chaney's performance continues to win accolades even today.

"An awe-inspiring achievement, featuring magnificent sets (built on the Universal backlot), the proverbial cast of thousands (the crowd scenes are mesmerizing) and an opportunity to catch Lon Chaney at his most commanding," wrote critic Matt Brunson of Creative Loafing in 2014.

Screening this classic version of 'Hunchback' provides local audiences the opportunity to experience silent film as it was intended to be shown: on the big screen, in restored prints, with live music, and with an audience.

"If you can put pieces of the experience back together again, it's surprising how these films snap back to life," said Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who creates music for silent film screenings at venues around the country.

"By showing the films as they were intended, you can really get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies."

In creating music for silent films, Rapsis performs on a digital synthesizer that reproduces the texture of the full orchestra and creates a traditional "movie score" sound.

'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) starring Lon Chaney, will be screened with live music on Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House, 29 West Broadway, Derry, N.H.

Admission is free. For more info, visit www.derrypl.org or call (603) 432-6140.

Change of venue! Tonight's screening of 'Phantom of the Opera' now at Derry (N.H.) Public Library

Join me this evening for a scary pre-Halloween screening of 'Phantom.'

It's just before show time but wanted to post this to get out the word that the location of tonight's screening is the Derry Public Library.

It was originally another venue, but had to be moved. So come to the library and enjoy the show!

Complete details in the press release below...

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TUESDAY, OCT. 4, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Phantom of the Opera' with live music at Derry Public Library on Friday, Oct. 21

Just in time for Halloween: Pioneer classic silent horror flick starring Lon Chaney shown on the big screen with live music

DERRY, N.H.—Get into the Halloween spirit with a spooky silent horror film!

'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925), the silent big screen adaptation of the classic thriller, will be shown with live music on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Public Library, 64 East Broadway, Derry, N.H.

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

Admission is free and the program is open to all.

The show will allow audience members to experience 'Phantom' the way it was intended to be seen: on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.  

'The Phantom of the Opera,' starring legendary actor Lon Chaney in the title role, remains a landmark work of the cinematic horror genre. To modern viewers, the passage of time has made this unusual film 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.

"The original 'Phantom' is a film that seems to get creepier as more time passes," said Rapsis, who frequently accompanies films throughout the nation. "It's a great way to celebrate Halloween, and also the power of silent film to transport audiences to strange and unusual places."

'The Phantom of the Opera,' adapted from a 19th century novel by French author Gaston Leroux, featured Chaney as the deformed Phantom who haunts the opera house. The Phantom, seen only in the shadows, causes murder and mayhem in an attempt to force the opera's management to make the woman he loves into a star.

The film is most famous for Lon Chaney's intentionally horrific, self-applied make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film's premiere.

Chaney transformed his face by painting his eye sockets black, creating a cadaverous skull-like visage. He also pulled the tip of his nose up and pinned it in place with wire, enlarged his nostrils with black paint, and put a set of jagged false teeth into his mouth to complete the ghastly deformed look of the Phantom.

Chaney's disfigured face is kept covered in the film until the now-famous unmasking scene, which prompted gasps of terror from the film's original audiences.

"No one had ever seen anything like this before," Rapsis said. "Chaney, with his portrayal of 'The Phantom,' really pushed the boundaries of what movies could do."

Chaney, known as the "Man of a Thousand Faces" due to his versatility with make-up, also played Quasimodo in the silent 'Hunchback of Notre Dame' (1923) and circus performer 'Alonzo the Armless' in Tod Browning's 'The Unknown' (1927).

The large cast of 'Phantom of the Opera' includes Mary Philbin as Christine Daaé, as the Phantom's love interest; character actor Snitz Edwards; and many other stars of the silent period.

'The Phantom of the Opera' proved so popular in its original release and again in a 1930 reissue that it led Universal Studios to launch a series of horror films, many of which are also regarded as true classics of the genre, including 'Dracula' (1931), 'Frankenstein' (1931), and 'The Mummy' (1932).

The silent film version of 'Phantom' also paved the way for numerous other adaptations of the story, up to and including the wildly successful Andrew Lloyd Webber musical from 1986 that continues to run on Broadway and in productions around the world.

‘The Phantom of the Opera’ (1925) will be shown on Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. at the Derry Public Library, 64 E. Broadway, Derry, N.H. Admission is free. For more information, contact the Derry Public Library at (603) 432-6140 or at lizr@derrypl.org.