Abel Gance, Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton: San Francisco Silent Film Festival
Chang by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (top); J’accuse! by Abel Gance (middle); Lon Chaney in Tod Browning‘s West of Zanzibar (bottom)
Abel Gance‘s 1919 anti-war drama J’accuse! is the centerpiece of this winter’s edition of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, to be held on Saturday, Dec. 12, at the Castro Theater.
The 162-minute, recently restored J’accuse!, which is having its US big-screen premiere at the festival, focuses on a love triangle set in World War I Europe, a time when men were slaughtering one another for some great cause or other. (As always, the great cause in question depended on which side you were fighting.) Actual soldiers took part in the film, and in one scene the dead return to life to ask the living if their sacrifice was worth it. A rhetorical question, I assume.
If you’re in the Bay Area, you probably shouldn’t miss J’Accuse!.
Earlier that day, the SFSFF will screen Chang (or Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness, 1927), a faux documentary set in the jungles of Southeast Asia that was directed by the King Kong duo of Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Can’t say I’m a big fan of this one, partly because of several animal-cruelty moments. But the elephant stampede is impressive, and so is a chirpy gibbon — proof positive that god doesn’t exist; if it did, human beings would be as cute and as smart as that creature.
I take that back: only god could have created Lon Chaney (above), a master of disguises who played all sorts of monsters and warped evildoers — some with a heart of gold — in dozens of silent films. In Tod Browning‘s West of Zanzibar Chaney makes life hell for poor Mary Nolan, the daughter of his archenemy, Lionel Barrymore. There’s a twist at the end and a pre-stardom Warner Baxter, too. No movie is more decadent than this one — except perhaps the talkie remake, Kongo, with a pre-Mexican Spitfire Lupe Velez as the take-it-and-like-it gal.
I’m not what you’d call a Buster Keaton (above) fan, but if I were to recommend one Keaton film, that would be Sherlock Jr. (1924), which features a number of clever situations and amazing stunts. Woody Allen must have really liked this one, as he used the premise — a film projectionist becomes part of the action in the film — as the basis for The Purple Rose of Cairo.
Sherlock Jr. will be preceded by The Goat, a 1921 short directed by Keaton and Malcolm St. Clair, who would later directed several sophisticated comedy features.
Photos: San Francisco Silent Film Festival
J’accuse! by Abel Gance (top); Buster Keaton in Sherlock Jr. (bottom)
San Francisco Silent Film Festival schedule and film info from the SFSFF website:
11:30 AM
CHANG: A DRAMA OF THE WILDERNESS
Produced and Directed by Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack (USA, 1927)
Cast: Kru, Chantui, Nah, Ladah, BimboShot entirely in Siam (present-day Thailand), Schoedsack and Cooper’s thrilling adventure is clearly the prototype for their later masterpiece KING KONG – and a spellbinding success in its own right. The publicity of the time touted a cast of 500 native hunters, 400 elephants, tigers, leopards, pythons, and other denizens of the wild! Chang is a simple story of one family’s survival on their small farm on the edge of the jungle – a way of life that often pits them against forces of nature. The film was nominated (along with Murnau’s SUNRISE and Vidor’s THE CROWD) for "Artistic Quality of Production" at the first ever Academy Awards.
35mm print from Milestone Film & Video. Approximately 68 minutes.
Donald Sosin will accompany Chang on the piano with an original score.
Introduced by Merian C. Cooper biographer Mark Vaz.
2:00 PM
U.S. Premiere!
J’ACCUSE
Directed by Abel Gance (France, 1919)
Cast: Romauld Joubé, Séverin-Mars, Maryse Dauvray, Maxime DejardinsAbel Gance’s brilliant pacifist epic is set against the backdrop of the Great War, delineating the tragedy of that war’s waste and carnage. Gance returned to active service in 1918 to film actual battle scenes and his expressionistic camerawork and rapid-cut editing are revolutionary, but the heart and soul of J’ACCUSE is the romantic triangle between poet Jean Diaz (Joubé), his beloved Edith (Dauvray), and her husband François Laurin (Séverin-Mars). Though a huge hit in France, the film was truncated for its American release to blunt its antiwar message, and it flopped. Gance’s original cut has been long unavailable until this major restoration made possible by Lobster Films Studios and Netherlands Filmmuseum.
35mm Print from Netherlands Filmmuseum. Approximately 162 minutes.
Robert Israel will perform his original orchestral score adapted to play on the Mighty Wurlitzer.
WINTER EVENT PARTY TICKET at 5:00 PM
After Gance’s J’ACCUSE and before Keaton’s SHERLOCK JR., join us on the mezzanine of the Castro Theatre for a festive party to celebrate the wonder and joy of silent film with drinks, hors d’oeuvres, and live music.
Admission price: $15 SFSFF Member/$20 General
7:00 PM
SHERLOCK JR.
Directed by Buster Keaton (USA, 1924)
Cast: Buster Keaton, Kathryn McGuire, Joe Keaton, Ward CraneOne of the great movies of all time about the movies – impeccably scripted, beautifully filmed, funny, moving – by one of the great geniuses of cinema, Buster Keaton. Keaton plays a cinema projectionist who dreams of being a famous detective. When he’s framed for petty theft by a rival for his sweetheart’s affection, Buster nods off on the job and his dream comes true – he projects himself onto the screen as Sherlock Jr., the world’s greatest detective who’s on the trail of the stolen watch. A brilliant meditation on the nature of the cinema, Sherlock Jr. contains some of the most astonishing effects ever put on film.
35mm Print from David Shepard, courtesy of Douris UK, Ltd. Approximately 45 minutes.
Preceded by short THE GOAT, directed by Buster Keaton and Malcolm St. Clair, USA, 1921. 35mm Print from David Shepard, courtesy of Douris UK, Ltd. Approximately 25 minutes.
Dennis James will accompany these Keaton classics on the Mighty Wurlitzer, aided by foley artist Todd Manley with special sound effects.
With special guests Melissa Cox, granddaughter of Buster Keaton, and Frank Buxton.
9:15 PM
WEST OF ZANZIBAR
Directed by Tod Browning (USA, 1928)
Cast: Lon Chaney, Lionel Barrymore, Mary Nolan, Warner BaxterLike THE UNKNOWN (2008′s Directors Pick), WEST OF ZANZIBAR is an inspired partnership between director Tod Browning and actor Lon Chaney. Chaney has never been more affecting than in this fever-pitched nightmare of betrayal and revenge. Moving from the vaudeville stage to the jungles of the Congo, WEST OF ZANZIBAR tells its story of darkness and redemption with great skill and beauty, investing each of its desperate characters with depth and humanity.
35mm Print from Warner Bros. Approximately 65 minutes.
Dennis James will accompany on the Mighty Wurlitzer.
More information about: Abel Gance, Buster Keaton, Chang, Ernest B. Schoedsack, J'accuse!, Lon Chaney, Merian C. Cooper, San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Sherlock Jr., silent films, The Goat, Tod Browning, West of Zanzibar
2 Responses to “Abel Gance, Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton: San Francisco Silent Film Festival”
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West of Zanzibar is just awsome! But it’s also fun to see Walter Huston playing Chaney’s part in 1932 Kongo. If I would do a porn spoof of it I would call it Wet of Zanzibar.
Thanks for sharing, Daniel.