A busy musical weekend in store: two silent film programs in Vt., then a concert in N.H.

A scene from F.W. Murnau's 'Sunrise' (1927).

This coming weekend, it's two shows in Vermont followed by a concert in N.H. where some of my music is on the program.

First up: F.W. Murnau's acclaimed drama 'Sunrise' (1927) on Friday, May 19 at 8 p.m. at Epsilon Spires in Brattleboro, Vt. 

I'll be playing the venue's original Estey pipe organ to accompany the film. Lots more details in the press release below. 

Then on Saturday, May 20, it's opening night of the 12th season of silent film screenings at Brandon (Vt.) Town Hall. Showtime is at 7 p.m.; featured attraction is Chaplin's 1923 comedy 'The Pilgrim,' his last non-feature-length film and celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

More on that, and a look at the whole season of silent films that I'll accompany, in a post a bit later this week. For now, you can browse the listings (via the 'Upcoming Silent Film Screenings' link at upper right) and see what's playing.

And then on Sunday, May 21, the N.H. Philharmonic is playing part of my 'Kilimanjaro Suite' for orchestra at its Spring Pops Concert, which is at 2 p.m. at Seifert Performing Arts Center, Salem High School, 44 Geremonty Drive, Salem, N.H.

I've been attending rehearsals during the past couple of weeks, and the orchestra sounds really good. To learn more about the piece, check out the 'Notes for Kilimanjaro Suite' link at upper right. And for tickets and more information, visit www.nhphil.org.

Hope to see you at some or all of these events!

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A poster for the original release of 'Sunrise' (1927).

MONDAY, MAY 8, 2023 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Academy Award-winning drama 'Sunrise' to be screened on Friday, May 19 at Epsilon Spires, Brattleboro

Silent film won three honors at first-ever Academy Awards, including 'Best Actress'; show features live musical accompaniment

BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—Silent film on the big screen with live music returns to Epsilon Spires in Brattleboro with the Academy Award-winning romantic drama 'Sunrise' (1927) on Friday, May 19 at 8 p.m.

The screening of 'Sunrise,' starring Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien, will take place at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., Brattleboro, Vt.

Admission is $20 per person. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.epsilonspires.org or at the door.

The screening will feature live accompaniment on the venue's Estey pipe organ by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician.

Gaynor, a popular female star of the silent film era, won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in 'Sunrise.' The movie took top honors in cinematography and was also recognized for "Unique and Artistic Production" at the inaugural awards.

'Sunrise' tells the story of a young country couple (played by Gaynor and O'Brien) whose marriage is threatened by the presence of a woman from the city (Margaret Livingston) who convinces the man to abandon his wife. Will the young husband go through with a plan to kill his wife? Will true love overcome the obstacles of temptation and the promise of short-term pleasure?

Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien in 'Sunrise' (1927).

'Sunrise' was directed by F. W. Murnau, a German filmmaker and one of the leading figures in German Expressionism, a style that uses distorted art design for symbolic effect. 'Sunrise' was made when Murnau was invited by studio chief William Fox to make a film in Hollywood.

The resulting movie features enormous stylized sets that create an exaggerated, fairy-tale world. The city street set alone reportedly cost over $200,000 to build, a huge sum at the time. Much of the exterior shooting was done at Lake Arrowhead, Calif.

Full of cinematic innovations, the groundbreaking cinematography (by Charles Rosher and Karl Struss) featured moving cameras and impressive tracking shots. Titles appear sparingly, with long sequences of pure action and most of the story told in Murnau's signature visual style. The extensive use of forced perspective is striking, particularly in a shot of the city with normal-sized people and sets in the foreground and smaller figures in the background by much smaller sets.

The story of 'Sunrise' is told as a visual allegory with few specific details. The characters have no names, and the setting is not named in order to make the tale more universal and symbolic.

With a full title of 'Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans,' the film is regarded as one of the high points of the silent cinema. In 1988, it was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress for films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." The Sight and Sound poll of 2012 for the British Film Institute named 'Sunrise' the fifth-best film in the history of motion pictures by critics, and 22nd by directors.

Critics continue to hail 'Sunrise' as one of the best films of all time.

"F.W. Murnau's 'Sunrise' conquered time and gravity with a freedom that was startling to its first audiences," wrote Roger Ebert in 2004. "To see it today is to be astonished by the boldness of its visual experimentation.

Rapsis (at right), who uses original themes to improvise silent film scores, said great silent film dramas such as 'Sunrise' used their lack of dialogue to create stories that concentrated on the "big" emotions such as Love, Despair, Anger, and Joy. 

Because of this, audiences continue to respond to them in the 21st century, especially if they're presented as intended — with a live audience and live music.

"Dramas such as 'Sunrise' were created to be shown on the big screen as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they still come to life as their creators intended them to. So the screenings at Epsilon Spires are a great chance to experience films that first caused people to fall in love with the movies," he said.

'Sunrise' will be shown with live music on Friday, May 19 at 8 p.m. at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., Brattleboro, Vt.

Admission is $20 per person. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.epsilonspires.org or at the door.

Tonight: Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command' at Epsilon Spires in Brattleboro, Vt., w/pipe organ

Original promotional art for Josef von Sternberg's 'The Last Command' (1928).

Quick post in advance of heading out to Brattleboro, Vt., where tonight I'll accompany the great Josef Sternberg drama 'The Last Command' (1928).

Come join us! The show starts at 8 p.m. at Epsilon Spires performance space, with music on the venue's Estey pipe organ augmented by digital synthesizer. 

It's worth attending, as the performance of Emil Jannings is one for the ages. Playing a deposed Czarist general forced to act out his personal drama on a Hollywood set, it's really something to see him go completely berzerk.

See for yourself. More info in the press release below.

For now, let me thank Leland Stein and the staff at the Regent Theater in Arlington, Mass. for their willingness to screen 'The Flying Ace' (1926) in observance of Black History Month.

Last night's show attracted a small audience, which surprised me. 'The Flying Ace' was recently added to the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. As a rare surviving "race drama" intended for segregated movie theaters, you'd think it would be of more interest. After all these years, I think it has a lot to say to us

Well—I'll accompany it again on Wednesday, Feb. 23 up at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. But right now I have to hit the road to make it through snow squalls over the river (the Connecticut River) and through the woods to Brattleboro and 'The Last Command.' 

See you there tonight!

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Evelyn Brent and Emil Jannings in 'The Last Command' (1928).
 

MONDAY, FEB. 7, 2022 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent epic 'The Last Command' with live pipe organ score at Epsilon Spires on Saturday, Feb. 19

Josef von Sternberg's groundbreaking psychological drama won 'Best Actor' for Emil Jannings at first-ever Academy Awards

BRATTLEBORO, Vt.—'The Last Command' (1928), a silent film drama that won Emil Jannings 'Best Actor' honors at the first-ever Academy Awards, will be screened with live music on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., Brattleboro, Vt.

Admission is $15 per person. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.epsilonspires.org or at the door.

The screening will feature live accompaniment on the venue's Estey pipe organ by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician.

'The Last Command,' directed by Josef von Sternberg, tells the sweeping story of a powerful general in Czarist Russia (Jannings) forced to flee his homeland during the Bolshevik Revolution. He emigrates to America, where he is reduced to living in poverty.

Finding work as an extra at a Hollywood studio, the former general lands the part of a commanding officer in a movie about the Revolution, causing flashbacks to his traumatic experiences. The conflict leads to a spectacular climax and a towering performance that earned Jannings 'Best Actor' honors.

The film takes audiences on a journey through big emotions as well as issues of history, time, power, and especially a man's duty to his country and to his fellow citizens—and what happens when the two obligations diverge.

'The Last Command' is also one of early Hollywood's most creative and challenging looks at the global conflicts that contributed to World War I.

The film also stars a young William Powell as a Hollywood movie director who crosses paths with the general during the Revolution, and 1920s starlet Evelyn Brent as a seductive Russian revolutionary.

Rapsis, the accompanist, will create the film's score live as the movie is shown by improvising on the venue's historic Estey pipe organ, built in Brattleboro and installed in 1906.

"Making up the music on the spot is kind of a high wire act," Rapsis said. "But there's nothing like the energy and excitement that comes with improvised live performance, especially when accompanying a silent film."

Critic Leonard Maltin hailed 'The Last Command' as "a stunning silent drama...a fascinating story laced with keen observations of life and work in Hollywood." Time Out of London called it "the first Sternberg masterpiece, expertly poised between satire and 'absurd' melodrama. The cast are fully equal to it; Jannings, in particular, turns the characteristic role of the general into an indelible portrait of arrogance, fervor and dementia."

Director Sternberg, a master of lighting and black-and-white photography, created 'The Last Command' as a visual tour de force. The film is often cited as a prime example of the emotional range and visual accomplishment of silent films at their height, just prior to the coming of pictures with recorded soundtracks.

Rapsis said great silent film dramas such as 'The Last Command' told stories that concentrate on the "big" emotions such as Love, Despair, Anger, and Joy. Because of this, audiences continue to respond to them in the 21st century, especially if they're presented as intended—in a theater on the big screen, with a live audience and live music.

"Dramas such as 'The Last Command' were created to be consumed as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, they come to life as their creators intended them to. This screening at Epsilon Spires is a great chance to experience films that first caused people to fall in love with the movies."

The non-profit Epsilon Spires, housed in Brattleboro's former Baptist church, builds connections between art and science by offering provocative performances and events, interactive art installations, and opportunities to engage in civil discourse by addressing current topics through the integration of diverse forms of expression. 

'The Last Command' (1928) will be screened with live music on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 8 p.m. at Epsilon Spires, 190 Main St., Brattleboro, Vt. Admission is $15 per person. Tickets may be purchased in advance at www.epsilonspires.org or at the door.

A century in the making: Town Hall Theatre to screen 1922's top five box office attractions

The #1 box office blockbuste of 1922: Douglas Fairbanks in 'Robin Hood.'

Get set for a four-month series exploring the top box office hits of 100 years ago!

It's at the Town Hall Theater in Wilton, N.H., and starts on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. with Harold Lloyd's comedy 'Grandma's Boy.'

More on that in the press release below. First, I'd like to recount my recent adventure with a pipe organ in the neighboring state of Vermont.

New Year's Day brought 2022's first screening: accompaniment for 'The Phantom Carriage' (1921) at Epsilon Spires, the Baptist Church-turned-performing arts venue in Brattleboro, Vt.

The interior of Epsilon Spires, which until recently was a Baptist Church.

Because it once was a church, it has an organ—in fact, an Estey organ built right there in Brattleboro and installed in 1906. 

 And that's what I used to do music for Victor Sjöström's influential drama. 

I don't get many chances to do live pipe organ accompaniment. So it was a real treat to start the new year working with the "king of instruments." 

The Estey, though technically a church organ rather than one built for movie accompaniment, is nevertheless up to the job of film accompaniment. 

It has a nice variety of stops, making possible a range of textures. And it can really rock the house when called for.

(And I've since learned that among the church's former congregants was Jacob Estey himself, who founded the organ-building company that bore his name.)

I augmented the organ's sound by using my digital synthesizer to add in percussion at key moments: timpani, bass drum, and cymbals. 

Although the organ was in tune with itself, I found it pitched about a half-tone lower than my synthesizer, which is defaulted to A = 440 Hz. So I had to pull the synth pitch down to about 415 Hz to compensate.

I've since read that this lowered pitch is standard practice for some instruments in playing music from the Baroque era. So much to learn!

One other odd thing is the Estey's pedal board—but in this case, it's me that's out of synch. 

The Allen organ I have at home is equipped with what's called a "Princess" pedalboard, meaning it's smaller than a full-sized pedalboard. 

Specifically, it's built to 3/4 size, I guess to make it easier to fit in a living room, which is where it would have been played back in the era of the home organ.

So my instincts regarding pedal location are off by a certain amount. It takes time to adjust to the different proportions of a full-sized pedalboard. Even so, I managed to hit most of the notes I aimed for. 

Accompanying the film on an unfamiliar instrument was a workout. 

But I have to say, from the standpoint of the accompanist, bringing a film to a conclusion with an organ is especially satisfying for some reason.

And it's not because I ended big—with 'The Phantom Carriage' (called 'Körkarlen' in Swedish'), I actually pulled a move from the ending of the Brahms Symphony No. 3, drawing up to a quiet close. 

Rather, in silent film accompaniment, there's something about the sound of an organ that helps the sum add up to more than the parts.

I want to thank Jamie Mohr and her colleagues at Epsilon Spires for the chance to work with the Estey and accompany 'The Phantom Carriage.' 

There's talk of follow-up screenings. I'd welcome that because it would mean to chance to really get to know the Estey.

Again, I just don't get a lot of chances to play pipe organ, so I'm excited about a venue with a working organ that's fairly close to home base.

As was once said in a non-silent movie, "This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

Okay, onto the future, which in this case means heading back into the past.

On Sunday, Jan. 9, the Town Hall Theatre will begin a series of 100th anniversary screenings of the top box office hits of 1922.

First up is Harold Lloyd's breakthrough feature comedy 'Grandma's Boy,' which clocks in at No. 5 in the box office records. 

Plenty of other great pictures are lined up, too—but rather than have me prattle on about them here, check out the press release below.

Hope you'll join me in catching up on all the big hits of 1922 that for some reason you missed on their original runs!

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Harold Lloyd in 'Grandma's Boy' (1922).

MONDAY, DEC. 20, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Start 2022 with Hollywood's top box office hits from a century ago

Town Hall Theatre to embark on 100th anniversary screenings of 1922's most popular big screen attractions

WILTON, N.H. — It's a film series 100 years in the making!

Starting in January, the Town Hall Theatre will reset the clock and celebrate the top box office hits of 1922, when the movies were just coming into their own.

The program includes now-classic blockbusters such as Rudolph Valentino's bullfighting drama 'Blood and Sand' (1922); Marion Davies in the medieval romance 'When Knighthood was in Flower' (1922); and the year's highest-grossing film, 'Robin Hood' (1922) starring Douglas Fairbanks Sr.

First up is Harold Lloyd's uproarious comedy 'Grandma's Boy' (1922), to be screened on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

Live music will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person to help cover expenses.

Subsequent programs will include all of 1922's five highest-grossing titles, each shown on the big screen with live music, as well as century-old oddities, short films, cartoons, and more.

"Putting these films back on the big screen is a great way to celebrate the 100th anniversaries of some terrific motion pictures," said Rapsis, the silent film accompanist who will create live music for all screenings.

"These are films that set the standard for Hollywood, and still retain their power to entertain, especially when shown in a theater with live music and an audience," Rapsis said.

'Grandma's Boy,' the first feature in the series, tells the story a cowardly young man (Harold Lloyd) who seeks the courage to battle a menacing tramp who terrorizes his small hometown.

Audiences loved 'Grandma's Boy.' The film grossed $1.1 million, making it the year's 4th-highest grossing picture and the year's most popular comedy. 

At the time, a successful feature film typically grossed $100,000. The picture helped establish Lloyd as a major star for the rest of the silent film era, and prompted rival comedians Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton to also make feature-length films.

In revival, 'Grandma's Boy' continues to delight movie-goers and serves as a great introduction to the magic of silent film. It also provides a window into small town American life as it was lived a century ago.

The Jan. 9 screening will include a special 100th anniversary cake to be enjoyed to movie-goers on a first-come, first-served basis.

Upcoming programs in the Town Hall's 100th anniversary series include:

• Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022 at 2 p.m.: 'Nanook of the North' Breakthrough 1922 documentary tells the story of Inuit hunter struggling to survive in far-north Canada.

• Sunday, Feb. 6, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Rudolph Valentino in 'Blood and Sand' Film's 'Latin Lover' in his first starring role, as a sexy bullfighter in this 1922 romantic thriller.

• Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022 at 2 p.m.: 'When Knighthood was in Flower' Marion Davies goes medieval in this epic big budget costume picture from 1922 that put her on the map as a top Hollywood star.

• Sunday, March 13, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Norma Talmadge in 'Smilin' Through' In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a 1922 romantic drama set in the Emerald Isle.

• Sunday, March 27, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Douglas Fairbanks in 'Robin Hood' Celebrate the 100th anniversary of this blockbuster adaptation. Massive sets, great action, and Doug Fairbanks in the lead made this the top grossing film of 1922!

• Sunday, April 10, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Chaney/Houdini Double Feature. In 'Flesh and Blood' (1922), escaped convict Lon Chaney hides out in Chinatown and plots revenge. In 'The Man From Beyond' (1922) illusionist Harry Houdini plays an Arctic adventurer frozen for 100 years!

• Sunday, April 24, 2022 at 2 p.m.: Emil Jannings in 'Othello' The Bard's immortal tragedy brought to the screen in this early German version. Silent Shakespeare in honor of the author's 458th birthday.

The 1922 series is made possible in part by the unlikely survival of so many of the year's top titles.

"With 80 percent of all films from the silent era lost or missing, we're fortunate to have all top five films from 1922 available to screen a full century after their release," Rapsis said.

"We invite all silent film fans, and also those who haven't experienced this type of cinema in a theater with an audience and live music, to come see the motion pictures that caused people to first fall in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'Grandma's Boy' will be screened with live music on Sunday, Jan. 9 at 2 p.m. at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. 

Admission is free, with a suggested donation of $10 per person to help defray expenses. For more info, call (603) 654-3456 or visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com.

 

P.S.: Check out this flyer promoting the series!