At the Center for the Arts in Natick, Mass.: 'Sunrise' in late afternoon on Sunday, May 2; plus, the 'real' mystery of Paul Leni's 'The Last Warning'

George O'Brien and 'The Other Woman' in 'Sunrise' (1927).

Random thoughts as we slowly emerge from the ongoing pandemic. 

- At a screening of 'The Last Warning' (1928) today in Wilton, N.H., I made my usual remarks about how we'll all putting the silent film experience back together: the theater, the big screen, the live music, and the audience. 

But then I added this thought, which only just occurred to me: the last major pandemic we endured was during the silent era, so we've got that going for us, too.

Well, so we do. We also have a booming stock market, so there's that, too. All we have to do now is ban alcohol and the atmosphere will be complete.

Sometimes I talk too much.

- 'The Last Warning' was our choice for the "half-way to Halloween" screening. Hey, they celebrate Christmas in July, so why not Halloween in late April? 

It was the first time I've done music for 'The Last Warning,' which was certainly worth running. The last film of director Paul Leni before his untimely death, it's filled with startling images and memorable sequences.

However...the restoration Universal did in 2016 seems to be missing material that would better explain the plot. 

An actor is murdered during a play and the body disappears. The theater is then closed for five years and considered haunted. Okay, I'm with you so far.

But then suddenly the theater is being opened and the cast members are rounded up for a reenactment. Great, but it's just not clear how this all comes about, why its being done, and what's at stake. 

Carrie Daumery's close encounter with cobwebs makes for a memorable image in 'The Last Warning.'

Why do all the performers return to a theater when they're clearly all terrified to be there? How is it possible for the producer to be someone no one has ever heard of? And how do the detectives force the production to go on when the theater owners would clearly object? And so on.

Running times for 'The Last Warning' are listed as long as 89 minutes. The Universal restoration clocks in at 78 minutes. I know length is subject to variables such as projection speed. But from what we saw on screen this afternoon, clearly there's footage missing that might answer some of the questions.

Where it is? Perhaps that's the real mystery of 'The Last Warning.'

- I'm pleased to announce that starting in July, I'll be accompanying a new series of silent films with live music at the Rex Theatre in Downtown Manchester, N.H. 

And this past week I was invited to accompany films at the recently relaunched 'Buster Keaton Celebration' next September in Iola, Kansas.

And this summer will see reinstated series (all canceled last year) at the Leavitt Theatre in Ogunquit, Maine; at Brandon Town Hall in Brandon, Vt., and other venues.

So maybe this whole pandemic thing really is loosening up. I get my follow-up Moderna shot on Thursday, May 6 but will observe precautions as long as the CDC guidance calls for it. Hope everyone stays healthy.

- Random rant: why, why, WHY does no Web site ever "remember me" despite me always checking the box when I enter my password and type in the authentication code and recite the Hebrew alphabet backwards to prove who I am?

- Next up: 'Sunrise' (1927) at the Natick Center for the Performing Arts, which I'm accompanying on Sunday, May 2 at 4 p.m. More details in the press release below.

I did this film some years ago, and the screening was attended by a friend who had somehow mixed it up with 'Metropolis,' I think. Afterwards, he asked me what kind of futuristic city has an amusement park where pigs slide down a chute?

You can see those same pigs, and a whole lot more, by seeing 'Sunrise' at the somewhat counter-intuitive time of 4 p.m. It's like showing 'London After Midnight' at high noon.

Anyway, hope to see you there!

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

MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Academy Award-winning drama 'Sunrise' to be screened on Sunday, May 2 at Center for the Arts in Natick

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

NATICK, Mass.—Silent film on the big screen with live music returns to the Center for the Arts in Natick with the Academy Award-winning romantic drama 'Sunrise' (1927) on Sunday, May 2 at 4 p.m.

The screening of 'Sunrise,' starring Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien, will feature music by silent film composer Jeff Rapsis, who will accompany the film live at the venue, which is located at 14 Summer St., Natick.

Tickets are $18; Center for the Arts members $15, with limited seating due to Covid-19 capacity restrictions.

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.

"It's a great way to follow the annual Academy Awards, which take place the week before on Sunday, April 25," said Rapsis, who creates live original scores for TCAN's silent film series. "If you've never experienced silent film with live music in a theater, 'Sunrise' is a good opportunity to check it out."

'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?

'Sunrise' was made by F. W. Murnau, a German director 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 an Expressionist 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, 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 Natick's Center for the Arts are a great chance to experience films that first caused people to fall in love with the movies," he said.

'Sunrise' will be shown on Sunday, May 2 at 4 p.m. at the Natick Center for the Arts, 14 Summer St., Natick, Mass.

Admission is $18, Center for the Arts members $15. Tickets must be purchased in advance online at www.natickarts.org. For more information, call the Center box office at (508) 647-0097 or visit www.natickarts.org.

Why is that set familiar? And other aspects of 'The Last Warning' (1928), to be screened with live music on Sunday, 4/25 in Wilton, N.H

A pretty drab two-color poster promoting 'The Last Warning' (1928).

This Sunday, I get a special treat — a chance to do music for a highly regarded silent film I've never accompanied before.

The film: 'The Last Warning' (1928), a late silent thriller for Universal and the last picture completed by director Paul Leni before his untimely death. 

It's a bigger occasion than most, as Leni's two other surviving films are masterpieces of visual design that influenced horror films to come.

Leni's 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927) was the original "bunch of people who stay overnight in a creepy mansion while a maniac is on the loose" picture, while 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928) brought the Victor Hugo novel to the screen in memorable fashion with Conrad Veidt in the title role. 

So what about 'The Last Warning?' Like many pictures at the time, it was released in more than one version: one completely silent one for theaters not equipped for soundtracks, and another with recorded music and sound effects.

Laura La Plante serves as eye candy in 'The Last Warning' (1928). 

Only the silent version survived, but for many years prints weren't available to be screened or seen. You could get "copy of a copy of a copy" versions of 'The Last Warning' that floated around. But a restored first generation version simply didn't exist.

That is, until a few years ago, until Universal collected the best surviving material, which was held by the Cinémathèque Française and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. 

And 2016, 'The Last Warning' was released on DVD and BluRay for modern audiences to appreciate. 

And I have to say: the magnanimous move on the part of Universal almost makes up for the studio's recent demolition of the long-standing "theater" set built in 1925 for 'The Phantom of the Opera.' 

The massive set, used by many other pictures over the decades, was torn down a few years ago to expand parking for the Universal Studios tour. (Boooooo!)

And one of those pictures was...'The Last Warning.' So for Phantom fans — if some of the settings of 'The Last Warning' look familiar, there's a reason.

For more info about this Sunday's screening, check out the press release below!

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Another less-than-compelling promotional effort for 'The Last Warning.' Don't say you weren't warned!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 14, 2021 / FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Jeff Rapsis • (603) 236-9237 • jeffrapsis@gmail.com

Town Hall Theatre to screen spooky silent thriller on Sunday, April 25

Wilton moviehouse to screen 'The Last Warning' (1928) with live music; whodunnit filmed on 'Phantom of the Opera' set

WILTON, N.H.—It's a murder committed in full view of a Broadway audience. And the culprit can only be identified by literally re-enacting the crime—on the same stage it happened.

It's 'The Last Warning' (1928), a late silent film thriller to be screened on Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H.

The screening is free to the public; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to support the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series.

The Town Hall Theatre continues to observe procedures to comply with all state and CDC public health guidelines. Capacity is limited to 50 percent; patrons are required to maintain social distance and wear masks until seated.

Live music will be provided by Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based silent film accompanist.

'The Last Warning' stars  Laura La Plante, Montagu Love, and Margaret Livingston. The plot follows a New York producer's attempt to re-stage a play five years after one of the original cast members was murdered.

'The Last Warning' was the final film directed by Paul Leni, a German expressionist director who came to Hollywood in the late 1920s to work for Universal Pictures.

At Universal, Leni directed several innovative films, including 'The Cat and the Canary' (1927) and 'The Man Who Laughs' (1928), both of which created the creepy visual style that would prevail in Universal horror classics such as 'Frankenstein' (1931) and 'Dracula' (1931).

In 'The Last Warning,' Leni employs unusual camera angles and extreme lighting to create a sinister and unnerving atmosphere. The film was made using the massive theater set left over from Universal's megahit 'The Phantom of the Opera' (1925).

Oh, what a tangled web we weave — from 'The Last Warning.'

Before he could continue his promising career, however, Leni died of sepsis brought on by an untreated tooth infection only eight months after 'The Last Warning' was released. He was 44.

'The Last Warning' was successful enough at the box office to inspire a remake, 'The House of Fear' (1939).

Produced during Hollywood's transition from silent to talking pictures, 'The Last Warning' was released in two versions: one completely silent, and another with recorded music and sound effects for theaters that could play them.

Only the silent version of 'The Last Warning' survives intact. Long unavailable, the film was restored and reissued in 2016 by Universal.

Critics today find much to admire in Leni's films, which pushed the boundaries of what was possible in commercial cinema.

About 'The Last Warning,' film historian Graham Petrie wrote in 2002 that Leni and cinematographer Hal Mohr "handle the camera with the utmost possible freedom, culminating in a scene in which the camera swings on a rope with the villain from one part of the theater to another.

"Along the way, Leni revels in the shadows, cobwebs, tilted angles, subtly distorted perspectives, ominously confined spaces, and clutching hands that had by now become his trademark," Petrie wrote.

In 2021, critic Ralph McLean wrote in the Irish Times that "La Plante may be the star name on the posters but it's Leni's skill that draws you in here. ... Leni's camera never stops moving, offering cutaways and inventive trick shots at every opportunity. We see endless furtive close-ups of possible suspects and witness cast members fade into the surroundings of the darkened theatre setting with remorseless regularity."

Accompanist Jeff Rapsis will create a musical score for 'The Last Warning' live during the screening, in the manner of theater organists during the heyday of silent cinema.

"For most silent films, including 'The Last Warning,' there was never any sheet music and no official score," Rapsis said. "So creating original music on the spot to help the film's impact is all part of the experience of silent cinema."

"That's one of the special qualities of silent cinema," Rapsis said. "Although the film itself may be nearly a century old, each screening is a unique experience — a combination of the movie, the music, and the audience reaction."

'The Last Warning' (1928), directed by Paul Leni, will be screened with live music on Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. at the Town Hall Theatre, 40 Main St., Wilton, N.H. Free admission; a donation of $10 per person is suggested to support the Town Hall Theatre's silent film series.

For more information, visit www.wiltontownhalltheatre.com or call (603) 654-3456.