'The Big Parade' (1925) on Thursday, 11/29 at Merrimack College, North Andover, Mass.

Vintage promotional art for 'The Big Parade' (1925).

With so many screenings to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Armistice this month, it's starting to feel like I'm fighting World War I all over again.

Whether it's the aerial drama of 'Wings' (1927) or Chaplin yukking it up in 'Shoulder Arms' (1918), November has been a long march through movies about the "Great War."

Speaking of marching, next up is 'The Big Parade' (1925), the sweeping WWI epic directed by King Vidor that became the top-grossing film of its day.

See why by experiencing it on the big screen with live music on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Center for the Arts at Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass.

Details in the press release below. Hope to see you there.

Right now, I'm fresh off scoring a screening of 'Barbed Wire' (1927), a great Pola Negri drama set in France during (you guessed it) the WAR.

A scene from 'Barbed Wire' (1927).

Unusually, 'Barbed Wire' is not about the action at the front. Instead, the film focuses on the war's effect on a small rural village in France.

It's a tightly constructed drama with strong performances by Negri and Clive Brook in the lead roles, and Clyde Cook supplying comic relief. Even hard-working character actor Gustav von Seyffertitz shows up.

'Barbed Wire' also has a surprisingly moving Christmas scene, with captured German soldiers celebrating the season in a prison camp. So it's worth putting on the screen at this time of year.

Our audience at the Manchester (N.H.) Historic Association really seemed to enjoy the picture. The music came together quite nicely for the dramatic scenes, I thought, and Clyde Cook's antics got actual laughs!

Brook, by the way, has emerged as one of my favorite actors of the era. Everything I've seen him in, he's great. And he's flat-out terrific as the down-on-his-luck attorney in 'Underworld,' released just after 'Barbed Wire.'

On my list to see someday: Brook playing the title role in the early talkie 'Sherlock Holmes' (1932).

So many films, so little time!

Well...Hope you have time for 'The Big Parade' tomorrow night. See you there!

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John Gilbert and Renée Adorée commit massive public display of affection in 'The Big Parade' (1925).

TUESDAY, NOV. 20, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis at (603) 236-9237 • e-mail jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Epic WWI drama 'The Big Parade' to be screened on Thursday, Nov. 29 at Rogers Center

To be shown with live music to commemorate 1918 Armistice; blockbuster silent film changed the way Hollywood depicted battle on the screen

NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. — It was the 'Saving Private Ryan' of its time — a movie that showed audiences war as experienced by a front line soldier whose life is changed forever by its horrors.

It was 'The Big Parade' (1925), a sprawling World War I epic and a box office sensation that made MGM into a powerhouse studio.

'The Big Parade' will be screened one time only at the Rogers Center for the Performing Arts on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. The screening, part of the Rogers Center's Tambakos Film Series, is open to the public and admission is free.

The Rogers Center is located on Walsh Way on the campus of Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass.

The screening coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Armistice of Nov. 11, 1918, which ended the fighting of World War I.

The show will feature live accompaniment by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

'The Big Parade,' released just a few years after World War I ended, was hailed by critics as the first Hollywood film to depict the harsh reality of combat and its impact on troops. Its hellish battle scenes were staged on a massive scale and still retain their ability to shock audiences.

The picture, based on the best-selling novel "What Price Glory?", follows the story of a young man (John Gilbert) who rebels against his privileged background by enlisting in the army just before the U.S. enters World War I.

Comedy, romance, and a cow in 'The Big Parade' (1925).

He is shipped out to France, where he falls in love with a local French woman before being transferred to the front. There, he and his squadmates face the German war machine, where they must endure the ultimate tests of duty and honor in a battle they come to see as meaningless.

In addition to vivid war scenes, the film contains a famous dramatic sequence in which the French woman (Renée Adorée) realizes her love for the soldier, and tries to find him to say goodbye as the massive convoy of troops pulls out for the front. Another celebrated sequence depicts the light-hearted first meeting of the soldier and the girl, in which he teaches her how to chew gum.

'The Big Parade' went on to become the top-grossing movie of the entire silent film era, earning $6.4 million domestically and making director King Vidor into the Steven Spielberg of his day. It stood as MGM's biggest single box office hit until the release of 'Gone With the Wind' in 1939.

Rapsis will improvise a musical score to the film in real time. In creating accompaniment for the 'The Big Parade' and other vintage classics, Rapsis tries to bridge the gap between silent film and modern audiences.

"Live music adds an element of energy to a silent film screening that's really crucial to the experience," Rapsis said. " 'The Big Parade' is filled with great scenes that lend themselves well to music. It's a real privilege to create a score to help this great picture come back to life," Rapsis said.

MGM's silent blockbuster ‘The Big Parade’ will be shown with live music on Thursday, Nov. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Rogers Center, located on Walsh Way on the campus of Merrimack College, 315 Turnpike St., North Andover, Mass. Admission is free. For more information, call the Rogers box office at (978) 837-5355.

Time for another time change: Tomorrow's screening of 'Barbed Wire' starts at 5:30 p.m.

And you thought you were finished when you set your clocks back one hour earlier this month!

Well, if you're planning to attend a screening of 'Barbed Wire,' time for another adjustment.

The screening is Wednesday, Nov. 28 at the Millyard Museum in Manchester, N.H.

But the starting time is 5:30 p.m., not 7 p.m., which is the time that I inadvertently had in an e-mail I sent out to my mailing list about a month ago.

I'm sending out a follow-up today to make sure people know the correct starting time.

In the meantime, I hope you'll take time to come see this little-known Pola Negri film, which turns out to be a powerful World War I drama with a lot to say to us today, more than a century since the Armistice.

I first saw it a few years ago at the Kansas Silent Film Festival, and was struck by the intense emotion of the story.

And I was also thrilled to see it had a genuinely moving Christmas scene! There's no silent film equivalent of 'It's a Wonderful Life,' but 'Barbed Wire' turns out to be very much a film to remind us of the true meaning of the holiday season.

All that will come together, I hope, at the Millyard Museum. I want to thank my friends at the Manchester Historical Association for including silent film with live music as part of their programming!

And see you there...at 5:30 p.m.!

More info about the film and the screening is in the press release below.

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MONDAY, NOV. 5, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Silent film classic 'Barbed Wire' at Manchester Historic Association on Wednesday, Nov. 28

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

MANCHESTER, N.H. — A rarely shown World War I prison camp drama with an unusual Christmas sequence will once again fill the big screen when 'Barbed Wire' (1927) is revived on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Manchester Historic Association's Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford St., Manchester, N.H.

'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.

Admission is $5 for members; $7 for non-members. Attendees are asked to call the Millyard Museum at (603) 622-7531 to reserve a seat or visit www.manchesterhistoric.org to buy tickets online.

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.

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.

The film is being screened in conjunction with the Millyard Museum exhibit "Manchester and the Great War," currently on display now through Dec. 31, 2018.

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

"Films such as 'Barbed Wire' were created to be shown on the big screen to large audiences as a communal experience," Rapsis said. "With an audience and live music, silent films come to life in the way their makers intended. Not only are they entertaining, but they give today's audiences a chance to understand what caused people to first fall in love with the movies."

'Barbed Wire' will be shown with live music on Wednesday, Nov. 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Manchester Historic Association's Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford St., Manchester, N.H. Admission is $5 for members; $7 for non-members. Attendees are asked to call the Millyard Museum at (603) 622-7531 to reserve a seat or visit www.manchesterhistoric.org to buy tickets online.