Sunday, June 12, 2016

San Francisco Silent Festival 2016



"When I go to see silent films, I'm constantly struck how everything that was done in the sound era was done by a silent film artist...the silent era is complete."


Amazing on location photography in harsh environments...progressive films about controversial political women...groundbreaking special effects that dazzle with a flurry of colors. These films might sound like what showed up at the Oscars last year, but they were all made during the silent era. In his second trip to San Francisco's epic weekend of gems of the first decades of cinema, Peter once again finds himself in awe of the talent on display: whether it be the work of the archivists in discovering and restoring these prints, the cornucopia of musicians providing unique accompaniment, or the grand scale of the Castro Theatre itself. Silent Film devotee Victor Morton once again joins Peter as they tackle films from five countries with hobos, pie fights, cross-dressing, and split screens (take that, Brian De Palma!)

0:00-2:25 Opening
2:25-15:40 Varieté (E.A. Dupont, Germany, 1925)
16:14-25:38 Beggars of Life (William Wellman, USA, 1927)
26:05-37:20 The Battle of the Century (Clyde Brukman, USA, 1927)
38:06-41:42 Sponsorship Section
42:50-52:15 Restoring Napoleón with the Cinémathèque Française
53:17-1:03:42 I Don't Want To Be A Man (Ernst Lubitsch, Germnay, 1928)
1:05:06-1:15:43 The Strongest (Axel Lindblom and Alf Sjöberg, Sweeden, 1929)
1:16:19-1:28:36 Two Timid Souls (René Clair, France, 1928)
1:28:41-1:30:19 Close
Notes and Links from the Conversation
—Read Victor Morton on Letterboxd and follow him on Twitter
—Learn more about the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
—Dupont's Vareité
Kristin Thompson discusses the film
—Kino Lorber has not officially announced its Varieté Blu-Ray, but it will be transferred from the same digital restoration in this German Blu-Ray
—Fritz Lang's Destiny (YouTube Version)
—William Wellman's Beggars of Life (YouTube Version)
The Program Cover with Louise Brooks
—The murder sequence from Hitchcock's Sabotage with Sylvia Sydney
—Peter was particularly thinking of The Purchase Price when it came to Stanwyck and Wellman, which actually came out in 1932.
—Image of Brooks in her very silly dress
—Clyde Bruckman's The Battle of the Century
—A partial version of the pie fight appears on YouTube
—More on Century's discovery in 2015
Silent Fest's "Treasures from the Archive" Presentations
—The Cinémathèque Française has the Napoleón restoration video online in a French language version
—More about the Cinémathèque Française and Georges Mourier's work
—Laura Horak's "Girls Will Be Boys" program (See more about the book from Rutgers University Press)
—Hal Roach's What's the World Coming To
Ernst Lubitsch's I Don't Want To Be A Man
—Axel Lindblom and Alf Sjöberg's The Strongest
The Swedish Film Institute (Plus Interview with archivist Magnus Rosborn)
—We discussed The Swallow and the Titmouse on last year's show
—Rene Clair's Two Timid Souls and The Italian Straw Hat
—My take on The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser
James Gray on The Cinephiliacs
—My take on Two Late for Tears and Woman on the Run

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