Unseen for a century: 'Straight is the Way' with live music on Thursday, 12/9 in Concord, N.H.

A vintage print ad promoting 'Straight is the Way' for its 1921 release.

I'm thrilled to be doing live music for upcoming screenings of 'Straight is the Way,' a comedy/drama released in 1921 and not seen in theaters for a full century.

The film's "World Re-Premiere" will take place on Thursday, Dec. 9 at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. Showings are scheduled at 5:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

For details about the screenings, check out the full press release pasted in below.

Why stage the premiere in New Hampshire? Because 'Straight is the Way' is set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.' (It was apparently shot, however, just outside New York City.)

And why now? Because after languishing in obscurity for 100 years, the sole surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' was recently transferred to digital media and is now available. 

The transfer was accomplished thanks to a successful crowd-funding effort (which I donated to) this summer led by Ed Lorusso, a Maine-based film buff. Ed has organized many such transfers of vintage films that survive in fragile one-of-a-kind film prints that otherwise wouldn't get shown.

Dig that vintage N.H. license plate!

So now 'Straight is the Way' is back among us. And although the transfer was done primarily to provide DVD copies to vintage film nerds, the movie's Granite State setting (as well as its 100th birthday) seemed to call for a theatrical run—to give this picture a chance to be seen once again on the big screen, and in a theater, with an audience and live music, as its makers envisioned it.

Thus, with Ed's blessing and the enthusiastic participation of Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., we're giving the film its first known theatrical screenings in 100 years.

The return of 'Straight is the Way' to the big screen has captured some attention. Already we've received a big write-up in the Concord Monitor, the region's daily paper. Check it out here.

To me, the most interesting aspect of  'Straight is the Way' was its setting. When I learned the story took place in my home state of New Hampshire, I simply had to back the Kickstarter campaign, and couldn't wait to see the movie.

Very few movies, and almost NO silent films, are set specifically in New Hampshire. In terms of movie locales, the Granite State is pretty much off the map. 

Maybe it's because we're so far away from Hollywood. And of the few movies that are set in New Hampshire, most get made somewhere else.

One big exception is 'On Golden Pond' (1981), starring Katherine Hepburn and Henry Fonda, which was filmed in the Squam Lake area. Also, scenes for the 1995 movie 'Jumanji' were shot in Keene, N.H.

From 'Jumanji': "looters" race through "Brantford, N.H.," a.k.a. Central Square in Keene, in a photo taken by my former colleague Michael Moore at the Keene Sentinel.

But more commonly, Granite State settings are subbed out to more other "stand-in" locations. 

Take the 1991 comedy 'What About Bob?' with Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Set on New Hampshire's Lake Winnipesaukee, it was actually filmed at Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia.

How about 'To Die For' (1995), an adaptation of the Pam Smart murder-for-hire scandal? It was also set in New Hampshire, but filmed in Toronto, Canada.

It's not like we're without celebrity connections. (Name dropping alert!) Comedian Sarah Silverman grew up in Bedford, N.H. in a house on the same road as mine. Talk show host Seth Myers grew up in Bedford, too—for decades, his mother taught French in a middle school two houses from mine. 

And from an earlier era...legendary actor Claude Rains is buried in Moultonborough, N.H. And back in Bedford, my own community was once home to a spa called "Belle Reve," a 1940s getaway that attracted the likes of Peter Lorre. 

In the case of 'Straight is the Way,' the New York City scenes are clearly filmed on location in the Big Apple, where the studio was based. 

For the "Hampton Center" scenes, Lorusso can find no evidence that any shooting took place in New Hampshire. It's most likely the scenes were shot outside New York, in either rural Long Island or New Jersey, a common practice at the time. 

The one clue about the location is that the mansion in the film appears to be the Long Island summer home of Ethel Watts Mumford, who wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' a story on which "Straight is the Way" is based.

But as they might say in Hampton Center, N.H., that don't make no never mind. It's a fun film that I think audiences will find enjoyable, especially if seen on the big screen with live music and an audience, as intended.

So thanks to Ed Lorusso for resurrecting this film, and for Red River Theatres for giving it a chance once again on the big screen a full century after its original release. 

See you there! More information in the press release below.

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A vintage 'Coming Attractions' slide promoting 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

MONDAY, NOV. 29, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Vintage feature film with story set in N.H. to get first screening in 100 years

Rare surviving comedy/drama 'Straight is the Way' (1921) to be shown with live music at Concord's Red River Theatres

CONCORD, N.H. — It's a film that hasn't played in theaters since its original release exactly one century ago. And it's set in fictional 'Hampton Center, N.H.,' a small town where a pair of big-city crooks hide out from the law.

It's 'Straight is the Way,' a Paramount release that proved a modest box office success in the spring of 1921.

The film then completely disappeared—until now.

Next month, Red River Theaters of Concord will host the world re-premiere of 'Straight is the Way,' which boasts a screenplay by two-time Academy Award-winning writer Frances Marion.

The film will run twice on Thursday, Dec. 9: once at 5:30 p.m., and again at 7:30 p.m. General admission is $12 per person, $10 for Red River members.

Both screenings will feature live music by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist who arranged for permission to screen the movie, which was transferred to digital media earlier this year.

The story follows two burglars who flee to rural "Hampton Center, N.H." to hide out in the unused wing of a mansion, where an impoverished family faces eviction.

Exposed to small town values, the pair resolve to change their ways.

 

A Ouija board scene in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' was promoted with the tagline: "They came to lift the silver, but they stayed to lift the mortgage."

The film, a comedy/drama, features scenes in which a Ouija board is used to contact the spirits of long-dead relatives.

Ouija boards had become popular in the years following World War I, when 'Straight is the Way' was released.

How does a film disappear for 100 years, and then resurface?

Produced by Cosmopolitan Pictures, 'Straight is the Way' was one of dozens of titles on Paramount's 1921 release schedule. After its initial run, the film was never reissued.

This was the fate of nearly all motion pictures of the era, most of which were lost to neglect, decay, or accident. Today, about 75 percent of all silent films no longer exist in any form.

But 'Straight is the Way' is among the survivors. A single 35mm print of the film is in the collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. The print was part of a hoard of film material donated long ago by 1920s star Marion Davies, whose pictures were produced by Cosmopolitan.

However, the print is on fragile and flammable nitrate cellulose film stock, meaning it can't be safely projected or loaned out. To keep the film from deteriorating, the print is kept in long-term storage at the Library of Congress media center in Culpeper, Va.

In 2021, Maine-based film archivist Ed Lorusso organized an online Kickstarter program to raise funds to transfer the surviving print of 'Straight is the Way' to digital media. The fundraiser was successful, and the transfer was completed earlier this year.

Lorusso made the film available on DVD to fellow vintage film enthusiasts, including accompanist Rapsis, who felt the film's Granite State setting merited a theatrical revival, complete with live music.

"Very few films are set in New Hampshire, then or now," Rapsis said. "What's interesting about 'Straight is the Way' is that it shows how the state was viewed at the time—a place of small towns and old-fashioned ways, including a constable patrolling the town in a horse and buggy."

Although 'Straight is the Way' contains authentic details such as New Hampshire license plates on the few autos that appear, Lorusso has found no evidence that any part of the film was shot in the state.

Instead, 'Straight is the Way' was produced in New York City, where Cosmopolitan Pictures was based, and which continued to host film production even after most movie-making moved to California in the 1910s.

'Straight is the Way' features several location shots of Manhattan scenes such as Washington Square in Greenwich Village as it appeared in 1921.

Lorusso believes the New Hampshire scenes were most likely filmed in the rural countryside of Long Island or New Jersey, just outside the city, as was common practice at the time.

Lorusso has identified one location: the mansion shown in the film is the summer home of author Ethel Watts Mumford in Sands Point, Long Island. Mumford wrote 'The Manifestations of Henry Ort,' on which 'Straight is the Way' was based.

The screenplay was by Frances Marion, the one recognizable name associated with the production.

Marion, a prolific writer, authored more than 300 screenplays in a career that spanned three decades. Her credits include silent classics such as 'The Wind' (1928); she would later win Academy Awards for writing the prison drama 'The Big House' (1930) and the iconic boxing story 'The Champ' (1931).

George Parsons as burglar "Loot" Follett in 'Straight is the Way' (1921).

'Straight is the Way' features a cast of solid performers, all unknown today: Matt Moore, Mabel Bert, Gladys Leslie, George Parsons, Henry Sedley, Van Dyke Brooke, and Emily Fitzroy.

The film was directed by Robert Vignola; the following year, he would direct Marion Davies in 'When Knighthood Was in Flower' (1922) a big budget costume drama.

Rapsis said the Red River screening of 'Straight is the Way' is a rare chance to see the film as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.

"On the 100th anniversary of the film's release, I'm delighted Red River will give New Hampshire audiences a chance to see the film as it was intended to be shown, and also see how our state was depicted in the early years of cinema." Rapsis said.

'Straight is the Way' (1921), a silent comedy/drama set in New Hampshire, will be screened with live music on Thursday, Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St. in Concord.

A live score will be created by accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in music for silent film presentations.

Tickets are general admission $12; Red River Theatres members $10. For more info and to purchase advance tickets, visit www.redrivertheatres.org or call (603) 224-4600.  

'Man Who Laughs' tonight in Concord, N.H. starts run of four spooky shows in three states

As the lyric goes: you're never fully dressed without a smile.

This year, Halloween has come upon us frighteningly fast.

One reason is that as we age, we perceive time as passing more rapidly. (That's scary just by itself.)

But this year, my obligations as director of a non-profit museum have served to put time into a trash compactor: weeks race by like days, months gallop by like weeks, and entire chunks of the calendar disappear every time my alarm goes off.

I do keep up with a pretty ambitious schedule of silent film screenings. I just don't have time to write about it.

But tonight starts a four-day stretch of spooky Halloween screenings that will take me all over the three states of northern New England: Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.

So in attempt to stir the bubbling cauldron of audience interest, here's a preview of my spooky road trip, which starts tonight in Concord, N.H. with live accompaniment for 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928) at Red River Theatres.

A press release with complete info is tacked on below. But I have to say right up front: how amazing that Victor Hugo could come up with these sprawling tales that turn on human disfiguration, and often find love amidst unbelieveably human cruelty!

Thursday's 'Man Who Laughs' will be followed by Murnau's 'Faust' (1926) on Friday, Oct. 25 in Brandon, Vt.; then it's 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923) at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine on Saturday, Oct. 26, followed by 'Man Who Laughs' again on Sunday, Oct. 27 in Wilton, N.H.

And then Halloween will race by, and the next thing you know I'll be in San Francisco for a William S. Hart film at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum. And then Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and Black History Month, and, and, and...

For complete details, check the "Upcoming Silent Films" link on the upper RH corner of this page.

And if you're up for 'The Man Who Laughs' tonight at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H., here's all you need to know:

Original poster art for 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928), which I'm accompanying tonight at Red River Theatres in Concord.

MONDAY, OCT. 7, 2019 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'The Man Who Laughs' (1928) to screen with live music on Thursday, Oct. 24 at Red River

Just in time for Halloween: Creepy silent film melodrama inspired the look of Batman's nemesis 'The Joker'

CONCORD, N.H. —'The Man Who Laughs' (1928), a silent film thriller, will be screened with live music on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St. in Concord.

A live score will be created by accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in music for silent film presentations. Tickets are general admission $12; Red River Theatres members $10.

Red River's silent film/live music series is sponsored by Alliance Audiology of Concord.

'The Man Who Laughs,' directed by Paul Leni and starring Conrad Veidt, is a silent drama about a disfigured man forced to wear an insane grin all his life.

The movie was a popular and ground-breaking silent film adaptation of a sprawling Victor Hugo novel set in 17th century England.

Veidt stars as Gwynplaine, a child born of English nobility. After his father is executed, a cruel King James II orders a royal surgeon to hideously disfigure young Gwynplaine's face into a permanent smile, so that he may always laugh at his father's foolishness.

Abandoned and shunned, young Gwynplaine is left to make his way on his own. He learns to conceal his face from strangers, befriending Dea, a blind girl who is not aware of his disfigurement.

The pair are then adopted and put to work by a traveling impresario, who makes use of Gwynplaine's startling face in his theatrical productions.

Gwynplaine and Dea grow to adulthood and eventually fall in love, but complications arise when Gwynplaine's noble lineage is revealed, entitling him to his father's estate—provided he marry another woman of noble birth.

An original lobby card for 'The Man Who Laughs.'

Veidt, who starred earlier in the German expressionist horror classic 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' (1919), played the role of Gwynplaine by using a prosthetic device inside his mouth to force his face into a hideous grin and display outsized teeth.

This striking look was later adapted by Batman creator Bob Kane as a model for the physical appearance of iconic villain 'The Joker.'

Critics have praised 'The Man Who Laughs' for its dark visual style and daring story content.

"'The Man Who Laughs' is a melodrama, at times even a swashbuckler, but so steeped in Expressionist gloom that it plays like a horror film," wrote Roger Ebert in 2004. "The film is more disturbing than it might have been because of Leni's mastery of visual style."

Director Leni, originally trained as an artist, made ample use of shadows and darkness in 'The Man Who Laughs,' which set the stage for many legendary Universal horror classics soon to follow, including 'Dracula' (1931) and 'Frankenstein' (1931).

'The Man Who Laughs' (1928) will be screened with live music by Jeff Rapsis on Thursday, Oct. 24 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St. in Concord. General admission $12, Red River Theatres members $10; for more info and to purchase advance tickets, visit www.redrivertheatres.org or call (603) 224-4600.

Harold, Gloria, Greta and Buster all wish you a very happy Valentine's Day

Harold Lloyd displays one reaction to romance in 'Never Weaken' (1921).

Every year I have such high hopes for Valentine's Day.

As a silent film accompanist, I imagine doing music for great old films while surprised couples find them so beguiling that the deal is sealed right there.

They love each other! Or they love silent film! I'll take either outcome.

So, will my latent Yente find satisfaction this time around?

We'll know soon, as here comes yet another Valentine's Day, and silent film romance is in the air—or at least on selected screens in my corner of the world.

Romantic or not, you're welcome to join us for a stretch of some great classic cinema in some really great venues.

We start off Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. with a Harold Lloyd program at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.

On the bill are two of what I would call Lloyd's sure-fire romantic comedies—the short 'Never Weaken' (1921) and feature-length 'Girl Shy' (1924).

To call these films "romantic comedies" is to reverse-engineer the label, which wasn't used to describe this genre of movies until much, much later.

Even so, Lloyd, by weaving somewhat plausible romance into his character and stories, pioneered the notion of the sweet boy-meets-girl picture that became a staple of the motion picture industry.

Harold Lloyd and Jobyna Ralston, along with dog and train conductor, in the midst of their "meet-cute" in 'Girl Shy.'

Also, among its other virtues, 'Girl Shy' boasts some of the most exciting and suspenseful sequences of any of the Lloyd features.

And there's nothing like seeing Lloyd films in a theater with an audience, which is how they were meant to be experienced.

So check it out—complete info for the Red River's Harold Lloyd Pre-Valentine's Day Show is found in the press release pasted in below, or visit www.redrivertheatres.org.

Then Saturday, Feb. 10, I haul myself up to the foothills of the White Mountains for what's become an annual tradition: pot luck supper and silent movie night at the Campton (N.H.) Historical Society.

This year our star is Gloria Swanson, who will hold the screen with 'Zaza,' her big 1923 feature for Paramount Pictures.

I created music for a DVD/Blu-Ray reissue of 'Zaza' by Kino-Lorber last year; Saturday night's screening will be a live recreation of the score.

Also on the program: Gloria's early appearance in 'Teddy At the Throttle' (1916), a Mack Sennett Keystone comedy.

Admission is free, but attendees are expected to bring a dish for the pot luck. Also, donations accepted to help support the historical society's programming.

Dinner is at 5 p.m., the movies start at "6-ish." For more info, visit the Campton Historical Society online.

And on Sunday, Feb. 11, it's a double helping of romance.

At 4:30 p.m., we're running Greta Garbo's 'Wild Orchids' (1928) at the Wilton Town Hall Theatre in Wilton, N.H.

When that wraps, I zip down to the Aeronaut Brewing Co. in Somerville, Mass., where at 8 p.m. we're running Buster Keaton's classic comedy 'The Cameraman' (1928).

More info about these screenings is on my online calendar. Hope you can make it!

Okay, here's the press release for our Harold Lloyd program on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.:

Not sure how Harold's approach to women will go over in the midst of the "Me, too" movement—but we'll find out.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 24, 2018 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

No words: Red River salutes Valentine's Day with silent comedy romance

Live music to accompany Harold Lloyd's uproarious feature film 'Girl Shy' on Thursday, Feb. 8

CONCORD, N.H.—When words can't express how you feel, then let a classic silent film do the talking.

That's the sentiment behind an upcoming screening of 'Girl Shy,' a vintage Harold Lloyd silent comedy, to be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.

'Girl Shy' (1924), along with a Lloyd comedy short 'Never Weaken' from 1921, will be screened on Thursday, Feb. 8 at 7 p.m. in Red River's Stonyfield Farm Theater. The films will be accompanied live by silent film musician Jeff Rapsis.

Admission to this special program is $12 per person.

'Girl Shy' (1924) stars Harold Lloyd as a shy young man from a small town who pens a book about imaginary female conquests. Trouble begins when bashful Harold falls in love for real, and then must rescue his beloved from marrying the wrong man in the big city.

Harold's dilemma prompts a climactic race to the altar that stands as one of the great chase sequences in all of cinema. The sequence was so successful that MGM used it as a model for the famous chariot race in the original 'Ben Hur' (1925).

Co-starring in 'Girl Shy' is actress Jobyna Ralston, who often played Lloyd's leading lady, including in later Lloyd masterpieces 'The Freshman' (1925) and 'The Kid Brother' (1927).

'Girl Shy,' directed by Lloyd's colleagues Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor, was among the top 10 grossing films of 1924.

The screening of 'Girl Shy' will be preceded by 'Never Weaken,' an earlier short film that features Lloyd's brand of "thrill" comedy. In it, a jilted Lloyd attempts to commit suicide, only to wind up stranded on the girders of an uncompleted skyscraper high over the street of Los Angeles.

Harold Lloyd, along with Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton, stands today as one of the three masters of silent comedy. Throughout the 1920s, Lloyd's films enjoyed immense popularity, ranking regularly among the highest-grossing of the era.

Though Lloyd's reputation later faded due to unavailability of his movies, the recent re-release of most of his major films on DVD and other media has spurred a reawakening of interest in his work and has led to more screenings of his work in theaters, where it was designed to be shown.

"Seeing a Harold Lloyd film in a theater with live music and an audience is one of the great experiences of the cinema of any era," said Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film musician who will accompany both films.

Rapsis emphasized the value of seeing early cinema as it was originally intended to be shown.

"These films were designed for the big screen, live music, and large audiences. If you can put those conditions together again, you get a sense of why people first fell in love with the movies," Rapsis said.

'Girl Shy' and 'Never Weaken,' two comedies starring Harold Lloyd, will be screened with live music on Thursday, Feb. 8 at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Admission is $12 per person.

For more info, visit www.redrivertheatres.org. or call (603) 224-4600. For more about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

For whom the dingy bell tolls: 'Cat and Canary' tonight at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.

Nailed! Character actor Tully Marshall in 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927).

Last night, after a well-received screening of the Fritz Lang epic 'Woman in the Moon,' I was leaving the Flying Monkey Moviehouse when one of the staff guys there, Jessie, called me back.

"I almost forgot," he said, opening the box office. He retrieved a "dingy bell" that I had left behind the last time I was there, doing music for Harold Lloyd's 'The Freshman.'

And isn't it odd that tonight, I DO need that dingy bell?

Specifically: I'm doing music for 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927) at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. Early in the film, we're treated to images of the insides of a clock as it chimes the midnight hour.

And I know what would have happened later today. Getting my stuff ready for the show, I would have gone crazy looking for my dingy bell, not knowing that I had left it in Plymouth, N.H. a month before.

Instead, I was reunited with my dingy bell just last night, and just in time for tonight's screening.

And yes, I know a dingy bell's official name is a "bellhop bell." But I prefer "dingy bell" if for no other reason it's the name of Mickey Rooney's character in 'It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.' (1963).

Hope you can join us for a pre-Halloween showing of one of the most visually interesting silent films in the catalog—a visual feast of strange camera angles, strange settings, and strange faces filling up the screen.

And it's all pretty spooky, too. More info in the press release below. Hope to see you there!

And this weekend brings a mini-roadtrip to venues in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Boston.

On Saturday night, I'm accompanying 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928) as our season-ending "Chiller Theatre" program at Brandon Town Hall in Brandon, Vt.

And Sunday brings a double-header.

It starts with an afternoon program of Lon Chaney pics 'The Unknown' (1927) and 'Phantom of the Opera' (1925) in Charlestown, N.H.—a town where I once worked as a reporter!

This will be followed by a mad dash to the Somerville Theatre (just outside Boston, Mass.) to do music for 'The Unknown' again.

Although in the case of the Somerville, 'The Unknown' will be in the form of a 35mm print as part of the theater's annual "Terrorthon" festival.

Showtimes and other details for each screening are listed in the "Upcoming Silent Film Screenings" link you'd find at the top right.

I'll be updating from the road, too. But for now, here's the complete press release for this evening's screening of director Paul Leni's great thriller, 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927). Enjoy!

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TUESDAY, OCT. 4, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'Cat and Canary' (1927) to play Red River with live music on Friday, Oct. 14

Just in time for Halloween: Creepy haunted house silent film thriller to be shown after sundown

CONCORD, N.H.—'The Cat and the Canary' (1927), a haunted house thriller from Hollywood’s silent film era, will be screened with live music on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.

Live music for the movie will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Admission is $10 per person.

'The Cat and the Canary' stands as the original movie thriller—the first picture to feature the reading of a will in a haunted mansion complete with clutching hands, a masked killer, disappearing bodies, and secret passageways.

Silent film starlet Laura LaPlante leads the cast as a young heiress who must spend the night in the creepy old mansion, which is filled with relatives who all have motives to frighten her out of her wits. Meanwhile, a dangerous escaped lunatic is loose on the grounds. Can she and the others make it through the night?

Created for Universal Pictures by German filmmaker Paul Leni and based on a hit stage play, 'The Cat and the Canary' proved popular enough to inspire several remakes, including one starring Bob Hope. It was also the forbearer of all the great Universal horror classics of the 1930s and '40s.

The Red River screening will use a fully restored print that shows the film as audiences would have originally experienced it. 'The Cat and the Canary' will be accompanied by live music by New Hampshire composer Jeff Rapsis, who specializes in silent film scoring.

Rapsis will improvise the score on the spot during the screening.

"Silent film is all about the audience experience, and this one is a perfect Halloween crowd-pleaser," Rapsis said. "It has something for everyone—spooky scenes, some good comedy, and it's all fine for the whole family."

Martha Mattox and Laura Laplante in 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927).

Critics praise the original 'Cat and the Canary' for its wild visual design and cutting edge cinematography.

Film reviewer Michael Phillips singled out the film for using "a fluidly moving camera and elaborate, expressionist sets and lighting to achieve some of the most memorable shots in silent film, from the amazing tracking shots down the curtain-lined main hallway to the dramatic zooms and pans that accompany the film's shocks."

Leonard Maltin called the original 'Cat and the Canary' a "delightful silent classic, the forerunner of all "old dark house" mysteries."

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.

'Cat and the Canary' will be shown on Friday, Oct. 14 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. in the Jaclyn Simchik Screening Room. Admission is $10 per person; for more info, call (603) 224-4600 or visit www.redrivertheatres.org. For more about the music, visit www.jeffrapsis.com.

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.

Next up: Murnau's 'The Last Laugh' (1924) on Friday, 3/18 at Red River in Concord, N.H.

Emil Jannings in 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

Tonight brings the chance to do music for one of my personal silent film favorites: 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

The screening is tonight (Friday, March 18) at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. Admission is $10 per person; for more details, see the press release below.

Many reasons for liking it: the overall concept, the way the story is told visually (with almost no intertitles!), the amazing performance of Emil Jannings in the lead role; the quality of the photography; the way director F.W. Murnau used the then-new medium of cinema so creatively.

But to me, the most important thing about this film is the reaction it inspires. I've accompanied it several times, and each screening provokes a very strong response from an audience. There's something about how Murnau presents the plight of his main character that works on a group of people.

So it's another case of silent film needing its natural environment — live music, and a live audience — to really be experienced as it was intended, I think.

I invite you to come join us tonight in Concord, N.H. and see for yourself!

* * *

Emil Jannings in 'The Last Laugh' (1924).

MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'The Last Laugh' (1924) to screen with live music at Red River on Friday, March 18

Oscar-winning actor Emil Jannings stars in ground-breaking silent drama from German director F.W. Murnau

CONCORD, N.H.—'The Last Laugh' (1924), a German silent film drama about a hotel doorman demoted to washroom attendant, will be screened with live music on Friday, March 18 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Tickets are $10 per person.

In 'The Last Laugh,' regarded as one of German director F.W. Murnau's best pictures, the story is told entirely in visual terms, without the use of title cards.

The film, a character study that chronicles the mental breakdown of an aging man who loses his position of authority, is also noted for its revolutionary use of camera movement.

Playing the lead role is Swiss/German actor Emil Jannings, widely recognized as one of the most versatile actors of early cinema.

Jannings would later move to Hollywood, where he earned the first-ever Best Actor Oscar at the inaugural Academy Awards for his towering performances in 'The Last Command' (1928) and 'The Patriot' (1928).

Critics and film writers regard 'The Last Laugh' as a landmark of early cinema.

" 'The Last Laugh' is a masterpiece of psychological study, perhaps the best ever portrayal of what goes through one man's mind under varying situations ... It is absolutely mind-boggling to see Emil Jannings age at least 10 or 15 years right in front of our eyes in the course of a couple of minutes," wrote author Robert K. Klepner in 'Silent Films' (2005).

Critic David Kehr of the Chicago Reader described 'The Last Laugh' as "the 1924 film in which F.W. Murnau freed his camera from its stationary tripod and took it on a flight of imagination and expression that changed the way movies were made."

The film's director of photography, Karl Freund, set new standards of cinematography in 'The Last Laugh,' setting up the camera to move through corridors and "see" action through a character's eye-view.

Freund's long career later included work in television in the 1950s in Hollywood, when he developed the "three camera" system for the "I Love Lucy" show, which became the standard format for shooting situation comedies.

'The Last Laugh' 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 'The Last Laugh' were created to be shown on the big screen and in a theater as a communal 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.

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

• Friday, April 15: 'Underworld' (1928); Josef von Sternberg's high-stepping crime drama started the gangster movie craze and paved the way for Film Noir.

• 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.

'The Last Laugh' (1924) will be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. on Friday, March 18 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.

Garbo's and MGM's last silent, 'The Kiss' (1929) on Friday, 2/19 at Red River in Concord, N.H.

Promotional art for 'The Kiss' (1929), the last silent film released by a major U.S. studio.

A freakish warm spell and heavy rain washed away much of our snow pack, but February continues like a toboggan ride out of control.

Coming up on Friday night is Greta Garbo's 'The Kiss' (1929), the last silent film released by MGM. I'm doing music for a screening at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H.

Showtime is at 7 p.m.; details in the press info pasted in below.

Then on Sunday, Feb. 21 comes another double-header in Boston.

First, a 2 p.m. screening of Buster Keaton's 'Steamboat Bill, Jr.' (1928) at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

Then a 7 p.m. showing of Jean Epstein's 'The Adventures of Robert Macaire' (1925) at the Harvard Film Archive.

More about the Sunday films after I get through the Garbo program, which launches another season of silent film with live music at Red River Theaters in Concord, N.H.

This small non-profit cinema complex screens a wide-ranging program of unusual and hard-to-see movies. (Hard to see in an actual movie theater, anyway.)

And I'm pleased to say they continue to make room for silent film with live music. And for 2016, we've upped the pace to one show per month.

If you're planning ahead, upcoming programs include:

• Friday, March 18: 'The Last Laugh' (1924) starring Emil Jannings, directed by F.W. Murnau. Ground-breaking character study.

• Friday, April 15: 'Underworld' (1928) directed by Josef von Sternberg; started gangster movie craze and paved the way for film noir.

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

• Friday, June 10: 'The General' (1927) starring Buster Keaton. Classic tale of locomotives during the U.S. Civil War.

Some great stuff on the schedule!

But first up is Garbo in 'The Kiss,' our slightly tardy salute to Valentines Day—with a slight tough of murder thrown in. (Hey, that can happen, depending on where Cupid's arrow hits.)

From 'The Kiss': No caption really needed.

This one is worth seeing—first, because Garbo is an eternally bankable star and worth watching no matter what the film happens to be. That face!

'The Kiss' is also notable in that it's the last silent film released commercially by a major U.S. studio.

MGM put the film in theaters on Nov. 16, 1929. By this late date, silent film was all but dead, with the public was clamoring for talking pictures as the 1920s ended and the Great Depression took hold.

Knowing this lends 'The Kiss' a kind of wistful quality, at least to me.

Here's the thing: although it's no masterpiece, 'The Kiss' flows naturally and confidently, making seamless use of the techniques used to tell a story visually, which is how silent film worked.

Shooting 'The Kiss': the last days of silent film production.

That it looks so effortless, of course, is the product of several decades of hard-won experience. It took plenty of trial and error for directors and actors and cinematographers to get where they were at the end of the 1920s.

What would happen if silent films had continued to be produced into the 1930s and beyond? They could have been made alongside talking pictures, as many observers at the time predicted would happen.

Well, we'll never know. After 'The Kiss,' the silent film went silent.

But among its other qualities the last silent film, 'The Kiss' conveys a sense of what was still possible in the form.

There's a freshness to it that persists to this day—perhaps even more so, as the disciplined way of telling a story visually in well-made silent film is indeed new again to most audiences today.

So watch 'The Kiss,' and you'll see an art form that wasn't dying. Rather, it was killed outright.

And how appropriate for a "who-dunnit" story. For more info on 'The Kiss' and our screening on Friday night, the press release text is pasted in below.

* * *

Promotional poster for 'The Kiss' (1929).

MONDAY, FEB. 15, 2016 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

'The Kiss' (1929), Garbo's final silent film,
to screen at Red River on Friday, Feb. 19

Intense romantic who-dunnit to be show with live music; drama kicks off Red River's 2016 silent film series

CONCORD, N.H.—It was the very last silent film produced by a major studio in the United States.

Starring Greta Garbo, 'The Kiss' (1929) was released by MGM in November 1929, long after all other Hollywood studios had abandoned the silent genre in favor of the popular new "talkies."

'The Kiss,' an intense romantic murder mystery, will be screened with live music on Friday, Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. Tickets are $10 per person.

In 'The Kiss,' Irene (Greta Garbo) plays a young woman unhappily married to an older gentleman; to add to her woes, she is in love with a young lawyer, André (Conrad Nagel).

Unable to find a solution to continue their romance, they stop seeing each other. Irene starts spending her time with young Pierre (Lew Ayres), the son of her husband's business associate, who is infatuated with her.

When Pierre leaves for college, he begs her for a goodbye kiss. After a chaste kiss, Pierre steals another more passionate one—as Irene's husband takes notice. This sets the stage for a murder mystery, the ensuing trial, and a dramatic conclusion.

Directed by Jacques Feydau, 'The Kiss' also stars actors Conrad Nagel and Lew Ayres.

Courtroom scene in 'The Kiss.'

MGM kept releasing silent films with Garbo in part because the Swedish actress lacked a solid command of English, which she spoke with a very thick accent.

Worried at damaging the appeal of a highly bankable star, MGM continued to feature Garbo in silents for as long as possible, even as the industry otherwise switched over to sound films.

However, following 'The Kiss,' Garbo found continued success in talking pictures beginning with 'Anna Christie' (1930), her husky and distinctive voice proving to be a large part of her enduring appeal.

'The Kiss' 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.

"Films such as 'The Kiss' were created to be shown on the big screen and in a theater as a communal 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.

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.

'The Kiss' (1929) will be shown at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H. on Friday, Feb. 19 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.

—30—

Dogs, the French revolution, spies, and trains: Accompanying four feature films in four days

Rin Tin Tin proves way smarter than his human co-stars in 'The Night Cry' (1926), coming up on Thursday, July 9 at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H.

I'm revving up for what amounts to a home stretch of silent film accompaniment prior to taking some time away from the keyboard for the rest of the month.

That means four films in four days, and in four different theaters, too. It's the silent film equivalent of hitting for the cycle, I guess.

But before getting into the details, let me address yesterday's screening of 'The Big Parade' (1925) in 35mm at the Somerville Theatre in Davis Square.

An original poster for 'The Big Parade' (1925).

We had a pretty strong turnout for the last day of a three-day holiday weekend—and for a matinee on a beautiful summer day at that. It wasn't too long ago when Davis Square was all but shut down, the streets clogged with four feet of snow.

But they came to see 'The Big Parade,' in the form of a great 35mm print on an enormous screen in a big old movie theater. (And unlike all the 4th of July parades this year in my home state of New Hampshire, there was nary a presidential candidate to be seen.)

It's a familiar film to me that I love accompanying. And because it's one of the big ones, it's worth reviewing prior to a screening just to make sure all the cues and cuts are fresh in your head.

This is especially important with my referee's whistle, which I match to the half-dozen times a whistle gets blown on screen as a key part of the action: the police who break up the fight in Champillon, the mail call scene, and several other points.

I think it adds a nice burst of sonic realism, but of course it has to be right on the money if it's going to work and not draw attention to itself. So it's worth getting to know those points of the film extremely well.

Same with the bugle calls, of which 'The Big Parade' has several. And on that score, not all bugle calls are alike. The purist in me, for instance, knows you really shouldn't play "Reveille" when the troops are being called to chow, as happens in 'The Big Parade.'

Instead, you should play "Mess Call," which goes like this:

Likewise, when a bugle is played calling the troops to assemble and move out, you ought to play "To Arms," which sounds like this:

Most people at a screening wouldn't know the difference. But for those who might, it's one more thing done "right" that doesn't break the mood and thus keeps the spell of silent film intact.

As you may know, all bugle calls are based on a simple triad, or the notes in a major chord. Because of that, it makes them easy to fit around other material—including the big love theme I was using in yesterday's score.

So this all works out really well in the big "moving out" sequence in 'The Big Parade,' where repeated shots of a bugler alternate with scenes of the troops assembling, and then footage of John Gilbert and Renee Adorée frantically searching for each other amid the chaos.

I was able to mix "To Arms" with the love theme pretty fluently, modulating all over the place and sometimes even playing the love theme using the rhythms of the bugle call just to add to the chaos.

Renee Adorée and John Gilbert providing reason for a "love theme" in 'The Big Parade' score.

But the most important thing about 'The Big Parade' is to HOLD BACK. As powerful as many of its scenes are, it's crucial to save something for the climactic battle scene, which Vidor cut together with the rhythm of a good 4th of July fireworks show.

At the battle's true climax, the screen is filled with a blinding series of rapid explosions that lasts only just a few seconds, but it's enough—any more would have probably been excessive. And it's only THEN that you hold nothing back, musically, I think.

So: KABOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM!

Tom O'Brien, John Gilbert, and Karl Dane prepare for the climactic battle.

At the end, it was gratifying to hear such strong applause for this 90-year-old picture that still plays so well. It's a great honor to do music for it, especially on a 4th of July weekend, and I hope to play for it again very soon.

Okay, here's a brief round-up of the four upcoming screenings. I'll post detailed press releases later as we get closer. If nothing else, this is just to help me keep them all straight.

I had no idea that dog star Peter the Great started out as a stunt double for fellow canines Strongheart and Thunder the Wonder Dog.

• Thursday, July 9, 2015, 6:30 p.m.: "A Dog Double Feature" spotlighting silent-era canine stars Peter the Great and Rin Tin Tin; The Flying Monkey Movie House and Performance Center, 39 South Main St., Plymouth, N.H.; (603) 536-2551; . In 'The Sign of the Claw,' a police dog helps solve a crime wave. The only surviving film of Peter the Great, a popular German shepherd performer. 'The Night Cry' (1926) finds iconic dog superstar Rin Tin Tin accused of killing sheep. Can he find the real bandit and clear his name? Part of a monthly silent film series at a newly restored moviehouse in Plymouth, N.H. Admission, $10 per person.

With hair like that, no wonder there was a revolution.

• Friday, July 10, 2015, 7 p.m.: "Orphans of the Storm" (1921); Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.; (603) 224-4600; http://www.redrivertheatres.org/. Just in time for Bastille Day, D.W. Griffith's sweeping story of two sisters (Lillian and Dorothy Gish) caught up in the throes of the French revolution. Griffith's last major box office success fills the screen with a succession of iconic images. Silent film with live music at this popular venue for independent and arthouse cinema in New Hampshire's state capital. Admission $10 per person.

In my favorite scene from 'Hands Up!' (1926), Raymond Griffith teaches his Native American captors the latest dance moves.

• Saturday, July 11, 2015, 7 p.m.: "Hands Up!" (1926) starring Raymond Griffith; Brandon Town Hall and Community Center, Main Street/Route 7, Brandon, Vt.; http://www.brandontownhall.org. We mark the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War with this uproarious Raymond Griffith comedy. A southern spy must work every angle to prevent a shipment of western gold from reaching Union forces. Plus Laurel & Hardy comedy shorts! Join us for series silent films and live music in a wonderfully restored town hall in Brandon Vt. that features great acoustics. Admission free, donations accepted, with proceeds to help continuing preservation work.

Looking for big-screen thrills and spills? With 'The Great K & A Train Robbery' (1926), even this poster is action-packed.

• Sunday, July 12, 2015, 4:30 p.m.: "The Great K & A Train Robbery" (1926) starring Tom Mix; Wilton Town Hall Theatre, Main Street, Wilton, N.H.; (603) 654-3456; www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com. Treachery on the rails as our hero goes undercover to learn who is tipping the bandits. One of the best Tom Mix films, with plenty of action and some fantastic stunt work. Part of a series of silent films with live music at a theater where movies have been shown since 1912! Admission free, donations of $5 per person encouraged.

Hope to see you at one or more of these screenings. And if anyone makes it to all four, I'll buy you lunch at the nearest White Castle. (Transportation not included. By the way, it's in the Bronx.)

Encore screening of 'Nosferatu' (1922) tonight (Friday, 11/14) at Red River, Concord, N.H.; Plus, W.C. Fields as an abusive husband?

He knows if you've been sleeping, he knows if you're awake...

If the prospect of Christmas in six weeks isn't enough to terrify the bejesus out of you, then come see this evening's screening of 'Nosferatu' (1922).

It's an encore presentation of the pioneer silent horror film, prompted by a sold-out screening prior to Halloween.

We'll be running 'Nosferatu' tonight (Friday, Nov. 14) at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres in Concord, N.H. Live music by yours truly.

More info in the press release below.

But first, a few words on last night's screening of 'Running Wild' (1927), a silent comedy starring W.C. Fields as a hen-pecked husband who undergoes a drastic change of personality following an encounter with a vaudeville hypnotist.

This film, screened before a small but enthusiastic audience at the Flying Monkey Moviehouse and Performance Center in Plymouth, N.H., is a perfect example of a silent film not regarded as any kind of classic, but which really comes to life and holds up well when shown in the right environment.

By that, I mean screened in a theater, with live music, and with an audience. Take any of those elements away, and you're likely to rob any silent film of much of its intended impact.

That was certainly true with 'Running Wild.' All it takes is a few people laughing to prompt others to join in. And before you know it, you have that great silent comedy bonfire of laughter going.

In terms of accompaniment, I've found an important element to keep the bonfire going is to not overplay the music. If it's too loud, an audience can't hear itself laughing, and so the spontaneous combustion never sets in. Once it does, however, you can grow the music with it.

I'm especially excited by the audience reaction to 'Running Wild' because the transfer we used last night was from a 16mm print. So the visual quality was okay, but not pristine. Even so, that didn't seem to impede the audience response at all, which was generous throughout.

We're running this same film at the Somerville Theatre next year, but using a 35mm print from the Library of Congress. So I have high hopes that the visual quality will be at a whole other level, which ought to really help this film go over even better. We'll see. It's part of a double bill of W.C. Fields silents on Sunday, March 8 at the Somerville, the other being 'Sally of the Sawdust' (1925).

Either way, 'Running Wild' is also a great example of a film that's perhaps more interesting to us now that when it was first released.

In this case, attitudes toward male and female roles have changed so much that what's presented as normal in a domestic comedy such as 'Running Wild' comes across as utterly astonishing to audiences today.

In the world of 'Running Wild,' a businessman is supposed to be physically intimidating as a matter of course, and also be willing to resort to violence in a moment's notice. Just look at what it takes to collect a disputed bill!

In the case of 'Running Wild,' as in so many other silent films, this alternate view of reality enriches the experience, I think. Not only does it add to the comedy, but it shows a viewer how different things were not that long ago.

And that, to me, serves to underscore the idea that very few things in life remain fixed as we move from generation to generation. Change is constant—in attitudes, in fashion, technology, in the roles we play, in what's acceptable behavior, and so much more.

Family man or abusive husband?

Near the end of 'Running Wild,' look at the way Fields treats his wife and then his stepson. He physically intimidates both, wrecking the house in the process, and actually flogs the kid during an extended beating that doesn't stint on the violence. Wow!

And this action is presented in support of Fields as a good husband and a man worthy of respect! After Fields manhandles and bullies his wife enough to cause her to faint, the first thing she says to him upon awakening is to tell him he's "so wonderful."

Apparently no "anger management" classes at the local community college.

However you feel about Fields' behavior, and even factoring in for comedy, it suggests that domestic violence wasn't just the norm, but it was expected and even necessary in a well-run household. Yes, there's some satire involved (he's 'Running Wild, after all), but underlying it all is a very different vision of what's acceptable under one's roof.

Was it better? Can we learn something from seeing it depicted in a film like this, however exaggerated it might have been for comic effect? Have we lost anything in moving on from this vision?

Interesting questions that make 'Running Wild' an interesting cultural artifact.

But a few things don't change. Most of us still center our lives around family. Most of us struggle with balancing life's priorities. Most of us struggle with temptation, with moral dilemmas, with questions that have vexed humanity for centuries. Most of us, if we're truly alive, will experience the BIG emotions of life from time to time: Love, Hate, Joy, Anger, Despair, and so on.

And as more years pass, even a mild domestic comedy such as 'Running Wild' can provide an increasingly clear window into what about life changes and what remains constant. What's ephemeral, and what's lasting. What will change, and what won't.

Even as it still makes us laugh! Imagine that!

* * *

Actor Max Schreck plays the title role in F. W. Murnau's 'Nosferatu' (1922).

MONDAY, NOV. 3, 2014 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Encore screening of 'Nosferatu' at Red River Theatres on Friday, Nov. 14

Sold-out Halloween show prompts follow-up screening of pioneer classic horror movie on the big screen with live music

CONCORD, N.H.—If you missed out for Halloween, you have another chance to get frightened.

'Nosferatu' (1922), the first screen adaptation of Bram Stoker's novel 'Dracula,' will be screened with live music on Friday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at Red River Theatres, 11 South Main St., Concord, N.H.

The show has been scheduled as an encore presentation following a sold-out pre-Halloween screening at Red River.

The film will include live music performed by New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis. Admission is $10 per person.

"Last month's screening of 'Nosferatu' proved popular enough to sell out," said Shelly Hudson, Red River's executive director. "So we scheduled this encore screening to provide another chance to see this great film presented with live music."

'Nosferatu' (1922), directed by German filmmaker F.W. Murnau, remains a landmark work of the cinematic horror genre. It was among the first movies to use visual design to contribute to an overall sense of terror. 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 screening.

"The original 'Nosferatu' is a film that seems to get creepier as more time goes by," said Rapsis, a resident of Bedford, N.H. who ranks as one of the nation's leading silent film accompanists.

In 'Nosferatu,' German actor Max Schreck portrays the title character, a mysterious count from Transylvania who travels to the German city of Bremen to take up residence. A rise in deaths from the plague is attributed to the count's arrival. Only when a young woman reads "The Book of Vampires" does it become clear how to rid the town of this frightening menace.

Director F.W. Murnau told the story with strange camera angles, weird lighting, and special effects that include sequences deliberately speeded up.

Although 'Nosferatu' is suitable for all family members, the overall program may be too much for very young children to enjoy.

Modern critics say the original 'Nosferatu' still packs a powerful cinematic punch.

“Early film version of Dracula is brilliantly eerie, full of imaginative touches that none of the later films quite recaptured,” Leonard Maltin wrote recently. Critic Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader called 'Nosferatu' "...a masterpiece of the German silent cinema and easily the most effective version of Dracula on record.”

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.

Upcoming events in Red River's silent film programming include:

• Friday, Nov. 28 at 7 p.m.: 'Charlie Chaplin Comedy Night.' Spend part of Thanksgiving weekend with the Little Tramp on the 100th anniversary of his first screen appearances. The whole family will enjoy restored prints of some of Chaplin's most popular comedies shown the way they were intended: on the big screen, with live music, and an audience.

An encore presentation of ‘Nosferatu’ will take place on Friday, Nov. 14 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.