Louise Brooks film Prix de beauté made available for online streaming during coronavirus crisis

Yesterday's blog,Where and how to stream Louise Brooks and silent & classic film from home, featured a segment on Italy's Cineteca Milano. In response to the worldwide coronavirus crisis, that prestigious film archive has made parts of its rich catalogue available to stream online. Among the 500 films available for streaming are a number of silent era features and shorts, including the 1930 Louise Brooks film, Prix de beauté.

To access the Cineteca Milano film catalogue, you must first register at this address - click HERE. Instructions are pretty easy to follow, even if you don’t speak or read Italian. I used the the Chrome browser, which can translate pages on the fly. Once you have set up your free account, search for Louise Brooks, or Miss Europa (the Italian title for Prix de beauté).

I can't stress enough what an extraordinary opportunity this is to view this RARE version of this great Louise Brooks film. First, consider this. The sound version which most Louise Brooks fans are familiar with was released on DVD by KINO. That version runs 1 hour and 28 minutes. This Italian version runs 2 hours and 3 minutes. That's 35 more minutes! I realize that "projection speeds" or FPS can account for varying lengths - but I have watched the Italian version and believe it does contain footage I haven't seen before!

As is known, Prix de beauté was released as both a sound and silent film, and, it was released in four different languages, French, English, German and Italian. (I don't know that the film was released in four different language as both a silent and sound film. That questions still needs to be resolved.)

The version made available through the Cineteca Milano is the silent Italian version. There is no music, and the subtitles are in Italian. Here is the basic film information offered by Cineteca Milano.

TITLE: Miss Europa
ORIGINAL TITLE: Prix ​​De Beauté
FILM DIRECTOR: Augusto Genina
COUNTRY: France
DURATION: 124 '
YEAR: 1930

CAST & CREDITS: Cast: Louise Brooks Georges Charlia Augusto Bandini; Subject: Augusto Genina Rebé Clair Bernard Zimmer Alessandro De Stefani; Screenplay: GW Pabst René Clair; Photogafia: Rudolph Maté Louis Née; Editing: T. Edmond Greville; Scenography: Robert Gys; Costumes: Jean Patou; Production: Sofar-Film

SYNOPSIS: Lucienne, who has a modest job in an office, is a very beautiful and unscrupulous girl. Unbeknownst to her boyfriend, she takes part in the beauty contest for Miss Europe and wins it but then chooses to be his wife, giving up the courtship of a prince. One night, however, she leaves the house and her husband because she wants to try to live in luxury and, above all, she needs to feel surrounded by the admiration of others. The prince has not forgotten her and helps her to enter the world of cinema but her husband will find her and, not knowing how to forgive her, will be ruthless with her.

As I mentioned above, I have viewed the silent Italian version of Prix de beauté. I have always thought it was a good film, but now feel it is better in this longer, silent edition. I also now feel that Louise Brooks did some of the best acting of her career in this film, especially in scenes which I think are not present in the sound version I am far more familiar with.

I have seen a silent version once before. In 2013, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival screened a version of the film, which ran 1 hour and 48 minutes. That version was restored in a silent version by the Cineteca del Comune di Bologna from a silent copy with Italian intertitles from the Cineteca Italiana and a French sound copy from the Cinémathèque française.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival program essay on Prix de beauté states "Even as Brooks earned some kudos for her performance, particularly from the French critics, the film was a quick flop in Europe and didn’t even merit a U.S. release." While it is true that the film wasn't shown in the United States until 1957 when the Eastman House screened a print, it is NOT TRUE that "the film was a quick flop in Europe." In fact, it was something of a sensation. In Paris, the film enjoyed an extended run and ran  for more than two months. The film was shown across France and Europe in 1930 - in Germany, Norway, Switzerland, and elsewhere. The film continued to be shown in Europe - in Hungary, Spain, Iceland (shown below) and Turkey in 1931, in Poland and Switzerland in 1932, in The Netherlands in 1933, and in Luxembourg in 1934.

I have also documented screenings in Haiti in 1932, 1933, 1935, and 1936 - as well as in Algeria and even Madagascar in 1933. The film was a huge hit in Ro de Janiero, Brazil in 1930, and was also shown in Japan. There was even a revival screening in Uruguay in 1952!

A full record of the rich exhibition history of Prix de beauté will be documented in volume 2 of my forthcoming book, Around the World with Louise Brooks. In the mean time, here is a record of where the film was shown, as well as under what title.

Under its French title, documented screenings of the film took place in Algeria, Belgium, Haiti, Japan, Madagascar, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey.

Elsewhere, Prix de beauté was shown under the title Vanidad (Argentina); Miss Europa (Austria); Miss Europa (Brazil); El Premio Fatal (Cuba); Miss Europa and Der Schönheitspreis (Czechoslovakia) and Miss Európa (Slovakia); Miss Europa (Danzig); Beauty Prize and Miss Europe (England); Miss Europa and Preis der Schönheit and Der Schönheitpreis (Germany); A szépsvg vására or Szépségvásár and Miss Europa (Hungary); Fegurðardrottning Euröpu (Iceland); Miss Europa and Premio di bellezza and Regina di bellezza (Italy); Premija par skaistumu and Skaistuma godalga (Latvia); Miss Europa (Der Schonheitspreis) (Luxembourg); Miss Europa and Schoonheidsprijs (The Netherlands); Skjønhetskonkurransen (Norway); Kobieto nie grzesz and Nagroda pieknosci and Nie Grzesz Kobieto (Poland); Miss Europa (Der Schonheitspreis) and Weib, sündige nicht (Poland, German language publication); Prémio de Beleza (Portugal); Nagrada za lepoto and Zrtev velike ljubezni (Slovenia); Premio de belleza (Spain, including Catalonia); Miss Europe (Switzerland); Kuzellik Kirali-Casi and Güzellik Ödülü (Turkey); Nie Grzesz Kobieto! (Ukraine); Приз краси and Приз за красоту (U.S.S.R.); Vanidad (Uruguay); Vanidad (Venezuela).

In recent years, numerous screenings of the film have been taken place around the world, including first ever showings under the title Prix de beauté (or Beauty Prize or Miss Europe) in Australia, Canada, Europe, United States and elsewhere.

The Ukraine, Louise Brooks, Pandora's Box

I have learned a lot watching the Senate impeachment trial of Donald Trump on television, least of which is the pronunciation of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine. It is pronounced Keeeve, not Key-ev.

In the course of my ongoing research into the world-wide presentation of Brooks' films, I have found that that they were shown in the Ukraine, which in the silent and early sound era was unwillingly part of Russia (aka the former Soviet Union dba the U.S.S.R.) The results of my research will be published in Around the World with Louise Brooks, which will be released later this year.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to access search results on the sole Ukrainian newspaper archive I have come across, LIBRARIA Ukrainian Online Periodicals Archive. (Search results are only available to institutions, not individuals.) The one and only intriguing piece I found is this half-page article on Buchse de Pandora published in Vorwärts, a German-language newspaper from Chernivtsi in what is now western Ukraine. (UPDATE: In the 1920s, Chernivtsi was part of Romania.) As the Ukrainian database noted above won't let me see anything more than a thumbnail image, I have enlarged it and posted it below. Can any readers of this blog access the above mentioned database and clip this page? I emailed the archive earlier but never heard back.

Otherwise, I have found one other clipping which details when and where the actress' films were shown in the Ukraine. Below is an advertisement for a showing of Pandora's Box (known as Puszka Pandory or Dzieje Kokoty Lulu) published in May, 1929 in Chwila, a Polish-language Zionist daily from Lwów, a city in what is now western Ukraine, around 70 kilometers from the border with Poland. (UPDATE: In the 1920s, Lwów was part of Poland.)

Certainly, there is more to be found ....as I have a number of clippings from nearby nations such as Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, and Russia. Below, for example, is an ad from the English-language Moscow Daily News.

Upcoming San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The line-up of films for the 2019 San Francisco Silent Film Festival was recently announced. And it looks great. This year's festival, the 24th annual event, celebrates 24 years of live-cinema, presenting silent-era films with live musical accompaniment at San Francisco’s historic (silent-era) Castro Theatre. This year, the festival features five full days of dazzling silent-era movies set to extraordinary music by a diverse group of forty musicians from around the world! This year's festival will take place May 1–5. More information may be found HERE.

This year’s program features a number of new film restorations, including one by the SFSFF in partnership with Kevin Brownlow's Photoplay Productions, Clarence Brown’s The Signal Tower (1924). Films from ten countries will be represented, including films from Bali, Czechoslovakia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the USSR.

On opening night, Wednesday, May 1, there will be a screening of the new restoration of Buster Keaton’s The Cameraman. This exquisite 4k digital restoration was undertaken by The Criterion Collection, Warner Bros., and Fondazione Cineteca di Bologna, and will have its world premiere at SFSFF. Accompanying the film will be composer Timothy Brock, who will conduct his original score performed by an orchestra composed of students of the SF Conservatory of Music. [I interviewed Brock for this year's program booklet.]

Other highlights include a new preservation print of Goona Goona, a film made entirely in Bali with an all-Balinese cast which will be accompanied by Club Foot Gamelan (comprised of Club Foot Orchestra and Gamelan Sekar Jaya players); The Home Maker to be introduced by Oscar-honoree Kevin Brownlow and accompanied by Stephen Horne; the first Italian feature L’Inferno (1911), which will be accompanied by the Matti Bye Ensemble with intertitle narration by actor and Louise Brooks-fan Paul McGann (Withnail and I, Doctor Who); a beautiful new 4k print of Erich von Stroheim’s The Wedding March with its original Technicolor sequence, to be accompanied by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra; and the closing night’s presentation of another Buster Keaton masterpiece in a brand new restoration, Our Hospitality, also accompanied by Mont Alto.

Fans of Louise Brooks will be interested to note the various intersections between this year's Festival and Brooks' film career: directors William A. Wellman (Beggars of Life) and G.W. Pabst (Pandora's Box, Diary of a Lost Girl) are represented, while appearing on screen in various films are Fritz Rasp, Josef Rovensky, and Werner Krauss (Diary of a Lost Girl) as well as Wallace Beery (Now We're in the Air, Beggars of Life), Virginia Valli (Evening Clothes), and El Brendel (Rolled Stockings - which was filmed in nearby Berkeley).

I hope to be signing books on Saturday afternoon. Otherwise, here is the complete line-up of films. 

WEDNESDAY MAY 1

GRAND TOUR ITALIANO, 1905–1914
Special Afternoon Presentation at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley / Presented in partnership with BAMPFA An Illustrated Lecture with Gian Luca Farinelli, director of the Cineteca di Bologna
3:00 pm / Tickets and more information: bampfa.org
Over a century ago, a few years after the birth of the Italian nation and the birth of the new art form of cinema, early camera operators were alert to the potential of documenting the beautiful new country for the international cinema-going market and burgeoning tourist industry. Filmmakers from Germany and France flooded in to join Italian cineastes in documenting the landscapes and customs of far-flung Italian locales from Sicily to Venice. The Cineteca di Bologna has preserved a collection of these travelogues, shot between 1905 and 1914, and the Cineteca’s director Gian Luca Farinelli will present a selection of the most fascinating, providing context for the exquisite images. This early 20th-century grand tour will wend from Sicily through Amalfi, Rome, Bologna, and Milan before ending in Venice.  Musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.

THE CAMERAMAN
7:00 pm  $24/$22 Opening Night Presentation
Directed by Edward Sedgwick, Buster Keaton | US, 1928  | 72 m.
With Buster Keaton, Marceline Day, Harold Goodwin
Buster Keaton’s tintype photographer falls for MGM office gal Marceline Day and tries to impress her by becoming a newsreel cameraman. His efforts take him from Yankee Stadium to the middle of a Chinatown tong war. Sublimely romantic, hilariously funny, and now in a beautiful 4K restoration! Musical accompaniment by Timothy Brock conducting his original score performed by an orchestra composed of students of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

THURSDAY MAY 2

AMAZING TALES FROM THE ARCHIVES
10:00 am  FREE ADMISSION
Our Amazing Tales program started life in 2006 to highlight the importance of film preservation and to provide insight into the remarkable work done by film archives around the world. Since then it has become one of the most highly anticipated programs in the festival. And it's free! This year's presenters: Restorer ROBERT BYRNE and researcher THIERRY LECOINTE will share cinematic wonders they’ve discovered in fin de siècle novelty flipbooks. STEFAN DRÖSSLER, head of Filmmuseum München, discusses the restoration of Robert Reinert’s Opium and Germany’s flourishing national cinema at the end of WWI. HISASHI OKAJIMA, director of the National Film Archive of Japan, demonstrates the Mina Talkie Sound System used for Kenji Mizoguchi’s Furusato. BRUCE GOLDSTEIN, director of repertory programming at New York’s Film Forum and founder of Rialto Pictures, illustrates how “Silents Got No Respect” the minute talkies came in. Musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.

WOLF SONG
1:15 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Victor Fleming | US, 1929 | 65m.
With Gary Cooper, Lupe Velez, Louis Wolheim, Constantine Romanoff
Sam Lash (Gary Cooper) is torn between the call of the wild and his love for Lola (Lupe Velez), the beautiful daughter of a Mexican nobleman. The electricity between Velez and Cooper resonated on screen and off, and Cooper’s nude bathing scene sealed his reputation as a matinée idol. Musical accompaniment by Philip Carli.

THE OYSTER PRINCESS
3:00 pm  $17/$15
Original Language Title: DIE AUSTERNPRINZESSIN
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch | Germany, 1919 | 60 m.
With Ossi Oswalda, Victor Janson, Harry Liedtke, Julius Falenstein, Max Kronert
The heiress (Ossi Oswalda) to an immense fortune cajoles her father, the Oyster King of America (Victor Janson), to find her a royal match after the daughter of the Shoe-Cream King marries a count. The Lubitsch Touch is in full force here! Musical accompaniment by Wayne Barker.

EARTH
5:00 pm  $17/$15
Original Language Title: ZEMLYA
Directed by Aleksandr Dovzhenko | USSR, 1930 | 79 m.
With Semen Svashenko, Stepan Shkurat, Yuliya Solntseva, Elena Maksimova
Part Three of director Dovzhenko’s “Ukraine Trilogy,” Earth is his masterpiece. The film portrays the socialist movement to collectivize agricultural lands in the late 1920s and the resistance by landowners. One of the most important Soviet films—it is beautiful, rousing, and poetic. Musical accompaniment by the Matti Bye Ensemble.

THE SIGNAL TOWER
7:00 pm  $22/$20
Directed by Clarence Brown | US, 1924 | 84 m.
With Virginia Valli, Rockliffe Fellowes, Frankie Darro, Wallace Beery
This thrilling drama, set deep in the redwood forest of Mendocino on the Fort Bragg railroad line, pits a decent family against terrifying forces—a runaway train and Wallace Beery! Musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius.

OPIUM
9:00 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Robert Reinert | Germany, 1919 | 91 m.
With Eduard von Winterstein, Hanna Ralph, Werner Krauss, Conrad Veidt
With camerawork and color tinting that mirror the hallucinatory effect of its titular drug, Opium tells a fantastical story of addiction and vengeance with more than a touch of eroticism. Musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald.

FRIDAY MAY 3

YOU NEVER KNOW WOMEN
10:00 am  $15/$13
Directed by William A. Wellman | US, 1926  | 72 m.
With Florence Vidor, Lowell Sherman, Clive Brook, El Brendel
Clive Brook and Florence Vidor are part of an itinerant Russian circus troupe when she falls for a rakish dandy played by Lowell Sherman. This early film by William A. Wellman (Wings) shows his nascent mastery. Musical accompaniment by Philip Carli.

TONKA OF THE GALLOWS
12:00 NOON  $17/$15
Original Language Title: TONKA ŠIBERNICE
Directed by Karel Anton | Czechoslovakia, 1930 | 83 m.
With Ita Rina, Vera Baranovskaya, Josef Rovensky
Tonka (Ita Rina) is a country girl who becomes a prostitute in Prague where an act of selfless generosity—spending the night with a condemned man—marks her as a pariah. Musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.

HUSBANDS AND LOVERS
2:15 pm  $17/$15
Directed by John M. Stahl | US, 1924 | 93 m.
With Lewis Stone, Florence Vidor, Lew Cody, Dale Fulle, Winter Hall, Edithe Yorke
Lewis Stone is the not-so-doting husband to Florence Vidor’s devoted wife in this splendidly nuanced comedy that features the quintessentially caddish Lew Cody as the other man. Musical accompaniment by Philip Carli.

RAPSODIA SATANICA
5:00 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Nino Oxilia | Italy, 1917 | 43 m. (70 m. total)
With Lyda Borelli, Andrea Habay, Ugo Bazzini, Giovanni Cini
The divine Lydia Borelli is the aging Countess d’Oltrevita, who makes a Faustian bargain to regain youthful beauty. The catch: she’s forbidden to ever fall in love. This exquisitely colored film will be preceded by a sample of beautiful Kinemacolor shorts from Cineteca di Bologna’s collection, presented by Gian Luca Farinelli. Musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

THE LOVE OF JEANNE NEY
7:10 pm  $22/$20
Original Language Title: DIE LIEBE DER JEANNE NEY
Directed by G.W. Pabst | Germany, 1927 | 105 m.
With Édith Jéhanne, Uno Henning, Fritz Rasp, Brigitte Helm
Set against Russia’s post-revolution civil war, the story follows Jeanne Ney (Édith Jéhanne) who flees to Paris when her diplomat father is killed after receiving a list of Bolshevik agents from the duplicitous opportunist Khalibiev (Fritz Rasp)—a list that contains the name of Jeanne’s lover (Uno Henning)! Musical accompaniment by the Guenter Buchwald Ensemble.

WEST OF ZANZIBAR
9:20 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Tod Browning | US, 1928 | 65 m.
With Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan, Warner Baxter
Revenge consumes Lon Chaney’s paralyzed Phroso the Magician. He swears vengeance on the man he blames for his misfortune (Lionel Barrymore), pursuing him to Africa to extract horrifying retribution. Musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius.

SATURDAY MAY 4

LIGHTS OF OLD BROADWAY
10:00 am  $15/$13
Directed by Monta Bell | US, 1925  | 73 m.
With Marion Davies, Conrad Nagel, Frank Currier
Marion Davies plays twins who were separated at birth. One twin (Anne) becomes part of New York society, the other a tough cookie (Fely) who grows up in an Irish slum and takes to the stage. Musical accompaniment by Philip Carli.

HELL BENT
12:00 noon  $17/$15
Directed by John Ford | US, 1918 | 53 m. (75 m. total)
With Harry Carey, Duke Lee, Neva Gerber, Vester Pegg
John Ford’s fast-paced western uses the framing device of a writer who gets a complaint that his plots are unrealistic. In response, with a Remington illustration for inspiration, he concocts the story of a man who saves his girlfriend and than sets off across the desert on foot.  Musical accompaniment by Philip Carli  Plus: BROWNIE’S LITTLE VENUS (1921, starring Baby Peggy and Brownie the Wonder Dog, 22 m).

GOONA GOONA
2:30 pm  $17/$15
Directed by André Roosevelt and Armand Denis | Bali, 1932 | 65 m.
With Wyan, Dasnee, Seronee, Ktot, Nonga, Okan, Maday, Rajah of Bali
Two men, one a prince, the other low-born, are in love with Dasnee, a lower-caste girl. The prince cannot have her, but he conspires to drug Dasnee and have his way with her while her husband (his rival) is away. Filmed entirely in Bali. Musical accompaniment by Club Foot Gamelan.

L’HOMME DU LARGE
4:30 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Marcel L’Herbier | France, 1920 | 75 m.
With Jaque Catelain, Roger Karl, Marcelle Pradot, Claire Prélia, Suzanne Doris
Based on a short story by Balzac, this lyrical film is set on the rugged coast of Brittany where forces of good and evil beset a Breton fishing family.  Musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald and Frank Bockius / Intertitle narration by Paul McGann.

THE WEDDING MARCH
6:30 pm  $22/$20
Directed by Erich von Stroheim | US, 1928 | 116 m.
With Erich von Stroheim, Fay Wray, Cesare Gravina, George Fawcett, ZaSu Pitts
Impoverished Prince Nicki (Erich von Stroheim) is in love with the innkeeper’s daughter, Fay Wray, but his parents want him to wed the wealthy ZaSu Pitts. Director von Stroheim’s affecting tale captures the Vienna of his youth. Musical accompaniment by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

L’INFERNO
9:15 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Francesco Bertolini, Adolfo Padovan, Giuseppe de Liguoro | Italy, 1911 | 66 m.
With Salvatore Papa, Arturo Pirovano, Giuseppe de Liguoro, Attilio Motta, Emilise Beretta
Based on Dante’s Inferno, this 1911 production is the first full-length Italian feature and it became an international blockbuster! Its depiction of the nine circles of hell is full of wildly inventive scenes that have been heightened by Cineteca di Bologna’s pristine restoration of the original tinting and toning. Musical accompaniment by the Matti Bye Ensemble / Intertitle narration by Paul McGann.

SUNDAY MAY 5

JAPANESE GIRLS AT THE HARBOR
10:00 am  $15/$13
Original Language Title: MINATO NO NIHON MUSUME
Directed by Hiroshi Shimizu | Japan, 1933  | 77 m.
With Michiko Oikawa, Yukiko Inoue, Ureo Egawa, Ranko Sawa
“A knockout. Shimizu’s stunning tale of passion, crime, and decadence [is an] exhilarating triumph of ... experimental style [and] also a precious portrait of the great port city of Yokohama.”—Village Voice  Musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald and Sascha Jacobsen.

THE HOME MAKER
12:00 noon  $17/$15
Directed by King Baggot | US, 1925 | 85 m.
With Alice Joyce, Clive Brook, Billy Kent Schaeffer, George Fawcett, Virginia Boardman, Elaine Ellis
Alice Joyce and Clive Brook are a couple unsuited to traditional husband and wife roles. He’s ineffectual at work and she’s too exacting a housekeeper. And then he gets fired… Musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne.

SHIRAZ: A ROMANCE OF INDIA
2:15 pm  $17/$15
Directed by Franz Osten | India, 1928 | 106 m.
With Himansu Rai, Charu Roy, Seeta Devi, Enakshi Rama Rao
Based on Indian source material and filmed entirely in and around Jaipur, Shiraz tells the origin story of the Taj Mahal. Shiraz is the second of a trilogy by German director Franz Osten and Indian producer and star Himansu Rai that culminated in A Throw of Dice. Musical accompaniment by Utsav Lal.

SIR ARNE’S TREASURE
5:00 pm  $17/$15
Original Language Title: HERR ARNES PENGAR
Directed by Mauritz Stiller | Sweden, 1919 | 106 m.
With Richard Lund, Erik Stocklassa, Bror Berger, Mary Johnson
Mauritz Stiller’s adaptation of Nobel-prize-winning author Selma Lagerlöf’s novel of murder and revenge is set against a harsh, icy landscape perfectly captured by Julius Jaenzon’s painterly camerawork. Musical accompaniment by the Matti Bye Ensemble.

OUR HOSPITALITY
8:00 pm  $22/$20 Closing Night Presentation
Directed by Buster Keaton, John G. Blystone | US, 1923  | 65 m.
With Buster Keaton, Natalie Talmadge, Joe Roberts, Francis X. Bushman Jr., Craig Ward, Joe Keaton
Down South to claim his inheritance, New Yorker Willie McKay (Buster Keaton) meets and falls for the beautiful Virginia (Natalie Talmadge). She invites him to her home for dinner, where it’s revealed that she’s the youngest of the Canfield family, the ancestral feuding enemies of the McKays. Virginia’s brothers have itchy trigger fingers but the Canfield code of hospitality dictates no killing in the house! Musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

 

The 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Here is the line-up of films for the 2017 San Francisco Silent Film Festival at the historic Castro Theatre in San Francisco. Not only am I and Louise Brooks fans everywhere excited about seeing Now We're in the Air 90 years after it was first released, but I am especially thrilled to see what is certainly one of my favorite silent films, the Polish classic, The Strong Man. Hope to see you at one or more of these screenings!

THE FRESHMAN

with musical accompaniment by Berklee Silent Film Orchestra

Thu, Jun 1 7:00 PM 

 

Harold Lloyd’s biggest box-office hit stars Lloyd as Harold Lamb, a college freshman who dreams of being a big man on campus and gets advice from pamphlets such as “Clever College Clothes” and “How to Play Football.” A disastrous tryout lands him a spot on the football team as a human tackling dummy before he becomes the team’s water boy. But Harold holds on to his dreams, aided by his sweetheart, Peggy (Jobyna Ralston). The Freshman’s climactic football game was filmed at UC Berkeley’s Memorial Stadium! 

 

 

AMAZING TALES FROM THE ARCHIVES

with musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

Fri, Jun 2 10:00 AM

Sharing their amazing preservation tales are Library of Congress’s George Willeman, who has managed to sync cylinders from Edison National Historical Park with eight films from LOC’s collection for his presentation on Edison Kinetophones from 1912–13; Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi from EYE Filmmuseum, whose presentation will reveal the wonders of EYE’s UNESCO-inscribed Jean Desmet collection; and Heather Linville from the Academy Film Archive, sharing rarely seen footage of globetrotting filmmaker adventuress Aloha Wanderwell.

 

GET YOUR MAN

with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne / Introduced by Cari Beauchamp

Fri, Jun 2 1:00 PM

 

Silent-era “It” girl Clara Bow falls for French aristocrat (Buddy Rogers!) after they are locked overnight in a Paris wax museum. There’s a sticking point, though—Rogers’s blueblood is betrothed to another! The Library of Congress has reconstructed the film from recovered materials, filling in missing sequences with key photos and intertitles—and in the process rescuing Bow’s incandescent performance for posterity. Restoration by the Library of Congress

Plus: SFSFF’s Rob Byrne made a remarkable discovery in the National Film Archive of the Czech Republic—footage from the lost Wallace Beery/Louise Brooks comedy, Now We’re in the Air! He was able to restore the 23-minute fragment in time for its premiere in this program. Restoration by the San Francisco Silent Film Festival and National Film Archive, Czech Republic

THE DUMB GIRL OF PORTICI

with musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Frank Bockius / Introduced by Shelley Stamp

Fri, Jun 2 3:30 PM

 

Legendary ballet dancer Anna Pavlova was at the height of her fame when she teamed up with director Lois Weber to make The Dumb Girl of Portici. Pavlova choreographed, produced, and starred in this historical epic, Universal’s most expensive production to date and the first blockbuster ever directed by a woman. Set in mid-17th-century Spanish-occupied Naples, Pavlova’s mute fisher-girl sparks a revolution. 

 

BODY AND SOUL

Musical accompaniment and introduction by DJ Spooky

Fri, Jun 2 7:00 PM

 

One of the few surviving titles from the groundbreaking African-American filmmaker Oscar Micheaux, Body and Soul features the great Paul Robeson in his film debut. Robeson is magnificent in dual roles—as an escaped convict posing as a preacher and the corrupt preacher’s honorable twin brother.  

THE INFORMER

with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne, Guenter Buchwald, and Frank Bockius /
Introduced by Bryony Dixon, BFI Curator of Silent Film

Fri, Jun 2 9:30 PM

 

The earliest adaptation of Liam O’Flaherty’s novel, this Irish revolutionary drama anticipates film noir in its aesthetics and fast-moving narrative. Set among Dublin revolutionaries in the early days of the Irish Free State (formed in 1922), the action starts when a clandestine meeting of revolutionaries is raided by the police and the police chief is shot and killed. Director Arthur Robison's taut masterpiece was famously remade in 1935 by John Ford.

 

 

MAGIC AND MIRTH: A Collection of Enchanting Short Films, 1906–1924

with musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin and Frank Bockius / Introduced by Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films

Sat, Jun 3 10:00 AM

 

This enchanting collection of short films was selected by Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films to commemorate preservationist David Shepard’s contribution to film culture. Titles include THOSE AWFUL HATS (USA, 1909, d. D.W. Griffith), CARTOON FACTORY (USA, 1924, p. Fleischer Studios), THE MASQUERADER (USA, 1914, d. Charlie Chaplin), FIRST PRIZE FOR CELLO PLAYING (France, 1907, p. Pathé Frères), FANTASMAGORIE (France, 1908, d. Émile Cohl), TIT FOR TAT (France, 1906, d. Gaston Velle), WHEN THE DEVIL DRIVES (UK, 1907, d. Walter Booth), DOWN IN THE DEEP (France, 1906, d. Ferdinand Zecca), THE DANCING PIG (France, 1907, p. Pathé Frères), THE WITCH (France, 1906, d. Georges Méliès). 

 

 

A STRONG MAN

with musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald and Sascha Jacobsen / Introduction by Eddie Muller

Sat, Jun 3 12:00 PM

 

Unsuccessful writer Henryk Bielecki coaxes his friend Jerzy to suicide so he can steal the manuscript of Jerzy’s book and publish it as his own. The book becomes a bestseller, leading to fame and fortune for Henryk—and a stage production. But as the play is about to go on, Henryk’s secrets start to unravel. This elegant thriller is based on a novel by Polish modernist Stanislaw Przybyszewski. 

 

 

FILIBUS

with musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra /
Introduced by Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi of EYE Filmmuseum

Sat, Jun 3 2:30 PM

 

Glamorous Baroness de Troixmonde has a secret—her alternate identity is a criminal mastermind called Filibus! The masked sky-pirate flies around in her technologically advanced zeppelin—manned by black-suited, masked, obedient male acolytes—committing crimes and toying with the police. When a reward is offered for information leading to the capture of the notorious criminal, the Baroness visits the police station to declare her intention to prove that Filibus is no other than the detective assigned to the case! The beautifully tinted and toned print adds to the wonderment! 

 

 

OUTSIDE THE LAW

with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius

Sat, Jun 3 5:00 PM

 

San Francisco crime boss Silent Madden and his daughter, Molly ‘Silky Moll’ Madden are friends with respected Confucian master Chang Lo, whose influence is shifting the Maddens’ thinking toward the straight-and-narrow. But nefarious bad guy Black Mike Sylva has other ideas! Sylva frames Silent for murder and manipulates Molly into a return to crime. Lon Chaney has dual roles in the story—as the evil Sylva and as Ah Wing, Chang Lo’s dedicated servant—but the real star is the tough-as-nails Priscilla Dean as Molly. Look for Anna May Wong in one of her earliest roles!
 

BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN (Bronenosets Potyomkin)

with musical accompaniment by the Matti Bye Ensemble

Sat, Jun 3 7:15 PM

 

Battleship Potemkin changed cinema history forever. Commissioned to mark the 20th anniversary of the failed 1905 revolution, Sergei Eisenstein’s masterpiece is a vibrant paean to collective heroism. From the moment of its 1925 premiere at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre, the film was hailed as a masterpiece and Eisenstein’s theories of montage became aesthetic tools for filmmakers everywhere. But almost from the beginning, Potemkin was the object of censorship and suffered decades of re-cuts and re-translations that blunted its energy and originality—which makes it a special delight to present the film in its definitive restoration, completed in 2007.

 

 

A PAGE OF MADNESS (Kurutta Ichipeiji)

with musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra 

Sat, Jun 3 9:30 PM

 

A retired sailor volunteers to work odd jobs at the asylum where his wife has been confined since her attempt to drown their infant son many years before. Without intertitles, Page evokes a world as seen by the mentally disturbed—through shifting images and rapid editing—and creates a modernist tour-de-force as psychologically and aesthetically compelling as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. 

 

 

HE DOLL (Die Puppe)

with musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald and Frank Bockius / Introduced by Jay Weissberg, director of Le giornate del cinema muto

Sun, Jun 4 10:00 AM

 

Baron von Chanterelle has one condition in his will: His beloved nephew Lancelot must be married to inherit the estate. But Lancelot is so averse to marriage that he flees to a monastery, where the financially ailing monks devise a plan that will make everyone happy! One trip to the dollmaker and ersatz wedding later, Lancelot brings his mechanical bride back to the friary, planning to share the bequest with the brothers. What could possibly go wrong?

 

SILENCE

with musical accompaniment by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra / Introduced by SFSFF President Robert Byrne

Sun, Jun 4 12:00 PM

 

This Cecil B. DeMille production was considered lost for many decades and the recent discovery of materials at the Cinémathèque Française is cause for celebration! Based on a successful Broadway play, Silence opens with gallows being constructed. Jim Warren (H.B. Warner) awaits hanging for murder, but his lawyer is certain that Warren is innocent and shielding the guilty person. What follows is a gripping tale of love and sacrifice. 

 

A MAN THERE WAS (Terje Vigen)

with musical accompaniment by the Matti Bye Ensemble / Introduced by Jay Weissberg, director of Le giornate del cinema muto

 Sun, Jun 4 2:00 PM

 

Terje Vigen inaugurated Sweden’s Golden Age of film and confirmed Victor Sjöström’s primacy as a filmmaker. Here he brilliantly captures the spirit of Henrik Ibsen’s epic poem, aided by Julius Jaenzon’s beautiful camerawork. Sjöström plays the sailor Terje, who braves a British blockade to find food for his starving family but is captured and imprisoned by a heartless British captain. While languishing in prison, Terje’s family dies. His bitterness and desire for revenge grows until... 

 

THE LOST WORLD

with musical accompaniment by Alloy Orchestra / Introduced by Serge Bromberg of Lobster Films

Sun, Jun 4 4:00 PM

  

This was the first of many film adaptations based on Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel about an Amazonian land where prehistoric creatures hold sway, and for decades it could only be seen in an abridged version. This new edition combines portions of eleven film elements to present the most complete reconstruction possible. Wallace Beery arranges an expedition to the Amazon and a motley crew—including Lewis Stone, Bessie Love, and Lloyd Hughes—sign on. But the creatures engineered by Willis O’Brien (King Kong) are the true stars.  

 

 

TWO DAYS (Dva Dni)

with musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne

Sun, Jun 4 6:30 PM

 

Set during the 1917–21 Civil War in Ukraine, Two Days tells the story of a faithful servant, Anton, who remains behind to guard the master’s mansion as the family flees the approaching Bolsheviks. In the chaos of their escape, the landowner’s young son is left behind and Anton hides the boy in the attic. The Bolsheviks arrive to occupy the house, and it turns out that Anton’s son—whose political beliefs run counter to his father’s—is their leader. What unfolds is a complex drama, full of nuance and expressively told. 

 

THE THREE MUSKETEERS

with musical accompaniment by the Guenter Buchwald Ensemble / Introduction by Tracey Goessel

Sun, Jun 4 8:15 PM

 

The story is familiar—young Gascon D’Artagnan shows up in 1625 Paris eager to join forces with the King’s musketeers to save the Queen’s honor—it’s been told many times. But through sheer force of his exuberant physicality, Douglas Fairbanks puts his indelible stamp on Alexander Dumas’s character—and creates the playbook for swashbucklers in the meantime. The Three Musketeers features lavish sets, romance, intrigue, and sword play aplenty!