Showing posts with label Neil Brand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neil Brand. Show all posts

Saturday, September 28, 2019

Louise Brooks film Beggars of Life shows in England

The 1928 Louise Brooks film, Beggars of Life, will be shown on Sunday, October 6th in Dorset, England. More information can be found HERE.

According to the venue: The Dodge Brothers and Neil Brand play live to a screening of the classic 1928 silent film Beggars of Life. Renowned film critic Mark Kermode - who plays bass and harmonica - will be joining his bandmates and acclaimed composer Brand for a musical accompaniment to the seminal 1928 silent movie featuring Wallace Beery as a rail-riding hobo and Louise Brooks as a girl on the run. The Dodge Brothers (Mike Hammond, Mark Kermode, Aly Hirji and Alex Hammond) play an exuberant hybrid of country blues, rockabilly, jugband and skiffle. 


“Never has a film and a band been more perfectly matched than ‘Beggars of Life’ and the Dodge Brothers – deep dish Americana, rail-riding hoboes and Louise Brooks – they were made for each other.” – Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film, British Film Institute.

The performance has been met with glowing reviews following London shows, and the band became the first ever to accompany a silent film at Glastonbury Festival in 2014. Tickets: £17.50, Concessions £15.50 (including 50p Regent Centre Development Fee)

 

 Want to learn more about Louise Brooks and Beggars of Life? My book, Beggars of Life: A Companion to the 1928 Film, as well as the DVD / Blu-ray of the film from Kino Lorber, are the perfect compliment to one another. And what's more, the DVD, featuring the best copy of the film available anywhere, includes an informative commentary by yours truly!

My 106-page book on Beggars of Life looks at the film Oscar-winning director William Wellman thought his finest silent movie. Based on Jim Tully’s bestselling book of hobo life—and filmed by Wellman the year after he made Wings (the first film to win the Best Picture Oscar), Beggars of Life is a riveting drama about an orphan girl (played by Louise Brooks) who kills her abusive stepfather and flees the law. She meets a boy tramp (leading man Richard Arlen), and together they ride the rails through a dangerous hobo underground ruled over by Oklahoma Red (future Oscar winner Wallace Beery). Beggars of Life showcases Brooks in her best American silent—a film the Cleveland Plain Dealer described as “a raw, sometimes bleeding slice of life.” This first ever study of Beggars of Life includes more than 50 little seen images, a mention of the Dodge Brothers, and a foreword by actor and author William Wellman, Jr. (the director's son).

If you haven't secured a copy of either the book or the DVD / Blu-ray, why not do so today? Each is an essential addition to your Louise Brooks collection, and EACH IS AVAILABLE IN BOTH THE UK AND THE USA via amazon.com.


Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Pandora's Box screens tonight in UK at historic Aldeburgh Cinema

Pandora's Box (1929), starring Louise Brooks, screens tonight in the UK. Pianist Neil Brand will accompany the film at the Aldeburgh Cinema as part of their "Classic Silent Film& Live Music" series.

The Aldeburgh Cinema is located at 51 High Street in Aldeburgh, IP15 5AU. Telephone 01728 454884.

Neil Brand has worked around the globe with film and music for more than two decades. His mesmerizing series ‘Sound of Cinema: The Music that Made the Movies’ was broadcast to huge acclaim in on BBC in autumn 2013. In partnership with the Britten Pears Foundation, an educational programme of workshops and masterclasses has been devised and arranged and will be delivered by Neil Brand on the day of the evening shows.

The Aldeburgh Cinema has a fascinating history, and it has been screening films continuously since 1919 when the auditorium was built onto the back of a 19th century High Street store. For many years the cinema was privately run until in the mid-1960s, when there was the threat of closure. A group of local people, led by Lettie Gifford and including composer Benjamin Britten and his partner Peter Pears, banded together to purchase the cinema and run it on behalf of the local community. More information and images here.

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Dodge Brothers & Neil Brand accompany Beggars of Life in UK

The Dodge Brothers & Neil Brand will accompany Beggars of Life at the Aldeburgh Cinema in Suffolk, England. The May 5th screening, which takes place at 8:00 pm, is part of SOUNDS & SILENTS: A Festival of Silent Film & Live Music.


Directed by William Wellman, Beggars of Life (1928) tells the story of a girl who attempts to escape the country with a young vagabond after killing her abusive step-father. She dresses as a boy, they hop freight trains, quarrel with a group of hobos, and steal a car in their attempt to escape the police and reach Canada. The film stars Wallace Beery as rail-riding hobo Oklahoma Red and Louise Brooks as Nancy, the girl on the run. Many consider Beggars of Life Brooks' best American film.

The Dodge Brothers are composed of Aly ‘Dodge’ Hirji (acoustic guitar, mandolin), Mike ‘Dodge’ Hammond (lead guitar, lead vocals, banjo, dobro), Mark ‘Dodge’ Kermode (double bass, harmonica, ukulele, accordion, vocals), Alex ‘Dodge’ Hammond (washboard, snare drum,  percussion), and Neil ‘Dodge’ Brand (piano). More on the band can be found at http://www.dodgebrothers.co.uk/

"BEGGARS OF LIFE and the Dodge Brothers - deep dish Americana, rail-riding hoboes and Louise Brooks - they were made for each other." -- Bryony Dixon, Curator of silent film, BFI National Archive

"Wistful, sometimes mournful, sometimes dangerous, sometimes galloping blue-grass  … my advice to anyone is buy your ticket early!" -- Richard O'Brien (Rocky Horror Picture Show)

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Pandora's Box plays in Newcastle

A free screening of Pandora's Box (1929), directed by G.W. Pabst and starring the one and only Louise Brooks, will take place in Heaton Park, Newcastle (England) on August 28th. THAT'S TODAY! Musical accompaniment will be provided by pianist Neil Brand. More about this special event on the Huffington Post (UK).

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sight & Sound article on Pandora's Box

The current issue of Sight & Sound (the British film magazine) has a long, illustrated article about Pandora's Box (or at least their website does) focusing on Neil Brand's accompaniment of a restored print of the film the other day in London. Check it out at http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/newsandviews/festivals/blog/lff-2010-10-15-pandoras-box.php

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