Showing posts with label Castro Theater. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Castro Theater. Show all posts

Sunday, December 1, 2019

San Francisco Silent Film Festival Day of Silents on December 7

SAN FRANCISCO SILENT FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES

A DAY OF SILENTS 2019   

December 7, 2019
Castro Theatre, San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO, CA—A DAY OF SILENTS takes place at the beautiful Castro Theatre on Saturday, December 7. Five programs with live musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Donald Sosin, and Berklee Silent Film Orchestra; this is a day of stunning silent cinema and thrilling live music not to be missed!  The day begins with three comedy shorts by the endlessly entertaining duo of Fatty + Buster. “Fatty” Arbuckle discovered Buster Keaton, and these three sparkling shorts demonstrate the striking chemistry between the two geniuses. The morning laughs are followed by more serious fare. In Redskin, Navajo Wing Foot navigates between his western education and the traditions passed down by tribal elders. The film was shot in breathtaking two-color Technicolor at locations in New Mexico and Arizona (including Acoma Pueblo and Canyon de Chelly). Our third program, "Woman with a Movie Camera," brings French filmmaker Alice Guy-Blaché to the Castro screen. She got into the movie business at the very beginning—in 1894! One of the very first directors to make narrative films, her work is marked by innovation—she experimented with color-tinting, and special effects. The program includes six of her shorts. At 5pm, Ernst Lubitsch works narrative magic with knowing looks and subtle gestures in The Marriage Circle. This superb comedy centering around two couples—the sublimely-in-love Monte Blue and Florence Vidor, and the less-so Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost. We close out the day with the oldest surviving film version of Phantom of the Opera. Starring Lon Chaney—the Man of a Thousand Faces—in his most celebrated role, the disfigured, cloaked “phantom” who haunts the Paris Opera House will do anything for his beloved Christine. With original Technicolor and hand coloring! Tickets/Passes/Information: http://bit.ly/ADOS2019
 

FATTY + BUSTER
11:00 am | $17 general / $15 member
Live Music by Donald Sosin
Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle was the preeminent film comedian of the 1910s. From the age of eight he appeared on stage as an acrobat and a clown and started his film career in 1913. By 1914, he had not only appeared in hundreds of Keystone comedies, but began directing the one-reelers. In 1917, he and producer Joseph M. Schenck formed the Comique Film Corporation—whose films were released through Famous Players—and Arbuckle became one of the highest-paid men in Hollywood. Arbuckle mentored Charlie Chaplin and discovered Buster Keaton, but his comedic brilliance has been overshadowed by the scandal that ended his career. These three sparkling shorts demonstrate a striking chemistry between Arbuckle and Keaton. Watching the two geniuses collaborate: a thing of beauty. The program includes THE COOK (1918, d. Roscoe Arbuckle), GOOD NIGHT, NURSE (1918, d. Roscoe Arbuckle), and THE GARAGE (1919, d. Roscoe Arbuckle).



REDSKIN
1:00 pm | $17 general / $15 member
Live Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
The story of a Navajo man, Wing Foot (Richard Dix), who was taken as a child to a US government boarding school and forced to assimilate resonates with contemporary headlines. Victor Schertzinger’s film explores the damage done by prejudice as it brings up issues of racial identity and cultural insensitivity to tell Wing Foot’s story. The film’s title acknowledges a racial slur used against its protagonist and it is used to illustrate intolerance, not endorse it. Wing Foot navigates between his western education and the traditions passed down by the tribal elders. Shot in breathtaking two-color Technicolor at locations in New Mexico and Arizona (including Acoma Pueblo and Canyon de Chelly)—the film changes from color to black-and-white when it leaves the Navajo and Pueblo lands.




WOMAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
3:15 pm | $17 general / $15 member
Live Music by Donald Sosin
French filmmaking pioneer Alice Guy got into the movie business at the very beginning—in 1894, at the age of 21. Two years later, she was made head of production at Gaumont and started directing films. One of the very first directors to make narrative films, her work is marked by innovation—she experimented with color-tinting, special effects, and sound! In 1910 she and her husband moved to the United States and she founded Solax film studio. But a series of reversals—a severe bout of Spanish flu, a nasty divorce, the loss of her studio to creditors—forced Guy out of business and she returned to France with her two children in 1922. Through her own efforts—lecturing at universities and politely correcting historians’ mistakes—along with the efforts of diligent archivists, she has been rescued from unwarranted obscurity. Ninety-nine years after the opening of Solax, Alice Guy remains the only woman to have ever owned a movie studio. The program includes MIDWIFE TO THE UPPER CLASS (1902), THE RESULTS OF FEMINISM (1906), THE DRUNKEN MATTRESS (1906), MADAME HAS HER CRAVINGS (1906), THE GLUE (1907), and THE OCEAN WAIF (1916).


 

THE MARRIAGE CIRCLE
5:00 pm | $17 general / $15 member
Live Music by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Ernst Lubitsch’s adaptation of the play Only a Dream was his second American film and would set the tone for all his sparkling comedies to follow. The titular “circle” alludes to the ring of infidelities that animate the plot—and while the story is exquisitely plotted with headlong narrative twists and sophisticated intelligence, it’s the intricacies of human behavior that concern Lubitsch. An expert at adapting dialogue-ridden theater to silent films with few intertitles, Lubitsch works narrative magic with knowing looks and subtle gestures—his characters are brimming with humanity ... and hilarity. Set in Vienna, “the city of laughter and light romance,” The Marriage Circle centers on two couples—the sublimely-in-love Monte Blue and Florence Vidor, and the less-so Adolphe Menjou and Marie Prevost. The New Yorker’s Richard Brody writes, “Ernst Lubitsch turned a drawing-room farce into bittersweet chamber music.”




THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
8:00 pm | $24 general / $22 member
Live Music by Berklee Silent Film Orchestra
The oldest surviving film version of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel stars Lon Chaney—the Man of a Thousand Faces—in his most celebrated role, the disfigured, cloaked “phantom” who haunts the Paris Opera House and will do anything for his beloved Christine (Mary Philbin). Universal’s opulent set design replicates the palatial interior of the actual Paris Opera and the Phantom’s residence—the subterranean catacombs beneath the Opera—have inspired generations of horror sets. The print features the original tints and Technicolor of the 1929 theatrical version, restored by Film Preservation Associates, as well as the meticulously hand-colored sequences that reproduce the Handschiegl Color Process. Chaney’s self-designed make-up was kept a studio secret until the film’s premiere in 1925. The famous unmasking scene when Christine unfastens the Phantom’s mask, revealing his grotesque disfigurement remains one of the most shocking moments in cinema history.

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Louise Brooks related booksigning one week from today

In case anyone is interested, I will be signing copies of my recent book, Louise Brooks the Persistent Star, one week from today at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, as part of the 24th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Follow THIS LINK for more information about this special event. Or, check out this earlier Louise Brooks Society blog.

I will be signing copies of Louise Brooks the Persistent Star following the 10:00 am showing of the Marion Davies film, The Lights of Old Broadway. The book signing is expected to start around 11:15 am. I will also have a few copies of two of my earlier books, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film (with a forward by William Wellman Jr, who will also be at the festival, see below), and Now We're in the Air: A Companion to the Once Lost Film (with a foreword by film preservationist Rob Byrne, who will also be at the Festival).

Here is the line-up of signings: 2019 Books and Authors

Thursday May 2

Douglas Fairbanks: The Fourth Musketeer edited by Kelley Smoot
Approximately 2:20 pm following Wolf Song

Clarence Brown: Hollywood’s Forgotten Master by Gwenda Young (with a forward by Kevin Brownlow)
Approximately 8:30 pm following The Signal Tower

Friday May 3

Wild Bill Wellman: Hollywood Rebel by William Wellman, Jr.
Approximately 11:20 am following You Never Know Women

Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays & Hollywoodland by Mary Mallory & Karie Bible
Approximately 1:30 pm following Tonka of the Gallows
 
Looking for Garbo by Jon Miller
Approximately 6:15 pm following Rapsodia Satanica

Saturday May 4

Louise Brooks: The Persistent Star by Thomas Gladysz
Approximately 11:15 am following The Lights of Old Broadway


Joe McBride (several books Searching for John Ford, How Did Lubitsch Do It?)
Approximately 1:15 pm following Hell Bent

JC Garrett’s Poster
Approximately 3:40 pm following Goona Goona

Fay Wray and Robert Riskin: A Hollywood Memoir by Victoria Riskin
Approximately 8:35 pm following The Wedding March

Sunday May 5

Wayne Shellabarger’s Poster
Approximately 6:55 until start of Our Hospitality

Friday, July 19, 2013

Prix de Beauté at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival


The house was packed at yesterday's historic screening of Prix de Beauté at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The Festival screened the rarely shown silent version of the 1930 Louise Brooks film, which was restored in 2012 by the Cineteca di Bologna in Italy. My guess is that at least 1200 people were in the attendance. Acclaimed British musician Stephen Horne accompanied the film on piano (mostly), as well as flute, accordion, and guitar.

The film was very well received. During the beauty pageant in San Sebastian, the audience in the Castro starting clapping along with the audience in the film (to ensure Brooks' victory). Another memoriable moment occurred at the end of the film, when Stephen Horne's live accompaniment gave way to the the recorded song heard in the sound version of Prix de Beauté, before Horne resumed playing the close the film.

Here are a few snapshots from inside the theater during the pre-film slideshow.




After the screening, I had the honor of being part of a three-person signing along with fellow Louise Brooks fans Hugh Munro Neely, the Emmy nominated filmmaker whose documentary Louise Brooks: Looking for Lulu is widely acclaimed, and comix artist amd early film enthuisiast Kim Deitch. As a teenager in 1957, Deitch said, he was in the audience along with his father, Gene Deitch, of a screening of Diary of a Lost Girl at the Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Also in the audience was Louise Brooks! Kim never met her, though his father did. Gene Deitch also had his picture taken with her. Below is a snapshot of myself (right) and Kim Deitch (left).

Saturday, July 14, 2012

Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks at the Castro Theater

It looks like tonight historic screening of Pandora's Box with Louise Brooks at the Castro Theater in San Francisco is going to sell out. That's 1400 Louise Brooks fans gathered together "spellbound in darkness." I can't wait!


Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Come to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival!

CONSIDER THIS BLOG YOUR FIRST WARNING: The event to attend this summer for every fan of Louise Brooks is the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. The event is scheduled to take place July 15th - 18th at the historic Castro Theater. For more info, visit the SFSFF website at www.silentfilm.org.

I really can't say much more, but Louise Brooks will shine at this special event - a gathering a like-minded silent film enthusiasts from around the world. Among those scheduled to be in attendance are Ira Resnick, author of Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (which features a bunch of posters and lobby cards from Brooks' films) as well as screenwriter Samuel Bernstein, author of the just published Lulu a novel. Those two guests - each of whom will be signing books - are just the tip of the iceberg, as they say. More, much more, will be revealed in the coming weeks.

By the way, if you have never been to the Castro Theater, it is well worth checking out. It is a grand old neighborhood movie place - one of the last standing in San Francisco. It was built in 1922, and Janet Gaynor used to work there as an usherette. I just saw a silent film there last night, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), with live musical accompaniment by Stephin Merritt (of the Magnetic Fields) and Daniel Handler (of Lemony Snicket fame).

And of course, films featuring Louise Brooks were shown there many times over the years. Actually, no theater in the city has shown more Louise Brooks' films over the years then the Castro. Here is a list of some of the films the Castro has shown which I have been able to document.

Love Em and Leave Em (Apr. 7-8, 1927)
Just Another Blonde (June 7-8, 1927)
Beggars of Life (Feb. 17, 1929)
Canary Murder Case (May 19-21, 1929)
It Pays to Advertise (June 8-9, 1931)
When You’re in Love  (June 3-5, 1937 with Criminal Lawyer)
Diary of a Lost Girl (Jan. 22, 1987 with Sadie Thompson as part of “Vamps” series)
A Girl in Every Port (Jan. 23, 1987 with Sadie Thompson as part of “Vamps” series)
Pandora’s Box (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series)
Prix de Beaute (Feb. 26, 1987 as part of “Vamps” series)
Diary of a Lost Girl (Nov. 8, 1988 with Pandora’s Box)
Diary of a Lost Girl (May 11, 1992 with Pandora’s Box)
Pandora’s Box (May 5-8, 1995 as part of the San Francisco Film Festival)
Pandora’s Box (Dec. 16-17, 1995)
Pandora’s Box (Apr. 2, 1996 with Wings)
Just Another Blonde (July 14, 1996 screening of fragments, as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)
Pandora’s Box (May 18, 1998 as part of Femme Fatale Festival)
Diary of a Lost Girl (Jan. 14, 2002 as part of the Berlin & Beyond Festival)
Pandora’s Box (July 15, 2006 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)
The American Venus (July 14, 2007 screening of a trailer & fragments as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)
Beggars of Life (July 14, 2007 as part of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival)

Undoubtedly there were others, but the records - including the local neighborhood newspaper which carried advertisements for the Castro, have been lost. The picture up top is of yours truly introducing Pandora's Box at the 2006 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. And the picture below is of me outside the theater that same year. I hope to see some of you this year.
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