Berlin Film Festival to Showcase Women’s Roles in Silent Films
by Andre Soares
The Retrospective sidebar of the 2007 Berlin Film Festival will feature thirty silent films, divided into four sections, depicting women’s roles in the 1910s and 1920s.
The “Working Girls” section will be populated by secretaries and salesgirls, among them Norma Talmadge in John Emerson’s comedy The Social Secretary (1916) and Clara Bow in Clarence Badger’s it-less It (1927).
“Flaming Youth” will include unconventional gals such as Ossi Oswalda, Germany’s own Mary Pickford, in Ernst Lubitsch’s gender-bending comedy Ich möchte kein Mann sein / I Don’t Want to Be a Man (1918), and British superstars Alma Taylor and Chrissie White in Lewin Fitzhamon’s Tilly’s Party (1911).
The “Husbands and Wives” section will present the conflicts arising from women’s new modes of conduct, including those depicted in Abram Room’s Tretya Meshchanskaya / Bed and Sofa (1927), starring Lyudmila Semyonova, and in Carl Theodor Dreyer’s marital drama Du skal ære din hustru / Master of the House (1925), with Astrid Holm.
And finally, the “Fate and Passion” section places the New Woman in what sounds like a decidedly reactionary setting. I’m assuming that there will be no happy ending for Nina Chernova in Yevgeni Bauer’s Sumerki zenskoi dushi / Twilight of a Woman’s Soul (1913), for Italian diva Francesca Bertini in Gustavo Serena’s Assunta Spina (1915), or for the female lead in Mikio Naruse’s Yogoto no yume / Every Night Dreams (1933).
I’m not sure if the Berlinale will be screening King Baggot’s 1925 drama The Home Maker, though they should. Adapted by Mary O’Hara from Dorothy Canfield’s novel, The Home Maker follows a couple (Alice Joyce and Clive Brook) who exchange roles at home. The husband takes care of the house and children — and enjoys doing it — while the wife becomes a stylist. Problems inevitably ensue, but the ending is surprisingly fair. (More on The Home Maker at the Alice Joyce website.)
The Retrospective films will be screened at the CinemaxX on Potsdamer Platz and at the Zeughauskino. Two publications will accompany the series: The book City Girls: Frauenbilder im Stummfilm ("Women’s Pictures in Silent Film"), with essays by Daniela Sannwald, Annette Brauerhoch, Heike-Melba Fendel, and Fabienne Liptay, and the journal FilmHeft 11, which offers contemporary reviews (in German and English), and detailed information on the Retrospective screenings.
CURSE OF THE GOLDEN FLOWER - AFI FEST 06 Closing Night Gala
AFI FEST 06 - Friday Evening Picks
Comments
5 Responses to “Berlin Film Festival to Showcase Women’s Roles in Silent Films”
Leave a Reply
Note: All comments are moderated. Different views and opinions are welcome, but abusive/bigoted/flaming comments will NOT be approved. Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has NO contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog or any information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
“Twilight of a Woman’s Soul” is on the Image DVD of Bauer short films that came out three or four years ago. It’s a stunningly beautiful little film. Bauer has a gift for striking, surreal, and beautifully lit visual compositions. It was a pretty good film with an extraordinary use of mobile camerawork. Particularly when compared with many other films from 1913. The acting is somewhat stilted, but it’s an impressive film, although my two favorite films on the set were the two films starring Russian ballerina Vera Karalli.
“Assunta Spina” is likewise an impressive film with a fascinating performance from Francesca Bertini. Kino released this one with a 1982 documentury” The Last Diva” featuring a 94 year old Bertini talking about her career. She claimed that her film preceeded the Neo-Realist era of Italian Cinema. The documentary also showed clips of several of her now-forgotten contemporaries in Italian silent cinema such as Soave Gallone, Lyda Gys, Maria Jacobini, and Bertini’s biggest rival the otherworldly and visually compelling Lyda Borelli.
“The Social Secretary” is a terrific film and one of Talmadge’s best films from this early period of her career. Too bad they didn’t screen Within The Law, which is even better and a very fine performance from Talmadge.
James,
Thanks for the commentary. I’ll have to look for that Bauer set. It sounds fascinating.
I’ve never seen Francesca Bertini in anything — I don’t think. Gotta look for that Kino DVD, too.
I’ve only seen Bertini in “Assunta Spina”(1914) and Lyda Borelli in “Rapsodia Satanica”(1915). I haven’t seen any of the other major Italian actresses from the silent era except Italia Almirante-Manzini who was a pretty big star I believe. She was the vamp in “Cabiria”. Bertini is quite interesting in “The Last Diva” At about 94, she still seems to have been quite a sharp and commanding lady. Most of the documentary was filmed while Bertini was in an Italian archive watching a print of “Assunta Spina” There was something interesting about seeing the old Bertini watching the young Bertini on screen in a film made nearly seventy years before.
Yes, the Bauer set is very fascinating. Bauer’s “Zhizn za Zhizn”(1916) starring the haunting Vera Kholodnaya is on Milestone’s 10-VHS set of early Russian films. A fascinating and visually compelling film and an interesting actress. I really hope more of these early Russian films make it to DVD. Unfortunately the Milestone set isn’t on DVD. The most widely seen Russian silents are the experimental silents from the 20’s by Eisenstein. These early Russian films are *much* different. A much more conventional filmmaking structure, yet very unlike American films. And featuring an interesting roster of Russian stars.
James,
With a name like Italia Almirante-Manzini, how could that actress *not* become a big star? I’ve seen “Cabiria,” but for the life of me I can’t remember any Italia in it. Gotta check it out again.
I’m quite sure Francesca Bertini has a small role in Bernardo Bertolucci’s “Novecento.” (I’m too lazy to look at the IMDb now.) I believe that one is available on DVD (or at least on video.) I’ll look for it, too.
And I have Yevgeny Bauer’s work on my Must See list. Thanks again for all the silent-film tips.
How could you forget Manzini?? She was way cool in “Cabiria”. “Cabiria” is a film that I find visually beautiful to look at but dramatically pretty dull. Manzini was one of the few performers who held my attention. Also Bartolomeo Pagano was rather likeable. Manzini was ravishingly beautiful and I got a kick out of her walking a pet leopard on a leash! Plus she has one of the coolest death scenes in movies.
Bertini was in movies for quite a long time. She made her first film around 1907, and made her last in the late 1970’s. A film career somewhat comperable to Lillian Gish’s here in America in terms of longevity. Actually I was mistaken, I *have* seen Bertini in other films. She’s in two of the films on Kino’s DVD of early silent Shakesphere films. Although she really doesn’t have any kind of standout screentime.