Eleanor Boardman, John Gilbert in Bardelys the Magnificent
Kansas Silent Film Festival 2009: Feb. 27
Rudolph Valentino at the Kansas Silent Film Festival 2009
5:15 to 6:45pm
The first ever KANSAS SILENT FILM FESTIVALCINEMA-DINNER
Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center (17th & Jewell) – Washburn University campus
This special Dinner Event will begin with a reception followed by a buffet. Guests will be seated and have dinner in the Thompson Center’s banquet room on the main floor.
Special guest David Shepard – film restoration expert will be speaking about his recent film projects including our main feature for the evening – the previously ‘lost’ BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT. Attendees will receive a special gift before departing for White Concert Hall and the Cinema Event of the Season – the first U.S.A. screening of the newly restored BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT and the conclusion of KSFF 13
PLEASE NOTE: This is an informal dinner, but reservations with appropriate fees are required. Since this event is scheduled tightly between the afternoon shows and the evening performances, we want to do it as efficiently as possible. We would like for everyone to meet our special guests and musicians, but please respect their time constraints by letting them get back to the Concert Hall before they have to ‘go on’.
Total cost: $20 per person (non-refundable)
(a portion of this fee will go to the KSFF)
Send your reservation requests to:
KSFF Cinema-Dinner
P.O. Box 2032
Topeka, Kansas 66601-2032
(We must receive your check for reservations no later than February 10th, 2009)
Tickets are first come, first served
Evening – starts at 7:00 p.m.
Short: A Flash of Light (1910) Directed by D.W. Griffith (15 min.)
We continue a multi-year tradition of always running a short film or feature by the Father of Film, D.W. Griffith. Uniquely talented in many ways, Griffith discovered and created the ‘language of cinema’ in many of his short films (often less than 10 minutes long) which usually had a moral and a lesson built in. This wild melodrama deals with the issue of the ideal wife in an era of successive divorces. Mary Pickford has a small part in the supporting cast.
Organ music by Marvin Faulwell
Short: That's My Wife (1929) Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy (20 min.)
It is amazing to note that the primary output of what was arguably the greatest comedy team ever assembled in the history of the movies or popular media – Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy – lasted only a decade (from 1927 to 1937). They did make several feature films after 1937, but their core development as comedians came out of this prime ten-year period. Here is one of their best short films in which Ollie’s wife leaves him at the beginning (because he spends too much time with Stan). In comes rich Uncle Burnel, who wants to make sure that Ollie is happily married before he writes him into his will. Who can play Mrs. Hardy for a night? Well, Stan of course. The whole incredible story is a wild mixture of gags and routines that Stan and Ollie may have polished in the future, but rarely outdid.
Organ music by Greg Foreman
Feature: Bardelys the Magnificent (1926) John Gilbert (90 min.)
This classic was recently discovered in the cellar of a building in France. It was restored by Serge Bromberg and Eric Lange of Lobster Films in Paris. David Shepard and Jeffrey Masino of Flicker Alley Films assisted and are handling both the movie's U. S. theatrical and DVD release. Shepard and Masino used various sources including the English title list and continuity log to reconstruct an English version of the movie (when it was recovered, all of the inter-titles were in French). This reconstruction also utilizes a U.S. promotional trailer which luckily contained the original English main title artwork. The print is missing approximately ten minutes (equating one reel) which has been recreated using continuity and production stills. A new score is being assembled by KSFF's own Rodney Sauer and the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra; Mont Alto has been a long time favorite at the Kansas festival, playing every year since 1997. It was with the support of Sauer and the blessing of Shepard, both friends of the Kansas festival, that got the U.S. premiere event slated for Topeka. And both will be on hand at the festivalShepard to introduce the film and Mont Alto to perform their score live.
A New York Times review from November 1, 1926, described the main character as “a composite of d’Artagnan, Don Juan and that millionaire cowboy, Tom Mix. Nothing is too daring for the Marquis Bardelys, a French noble of the seventeenth century and one is almost impelled to pity the churls foolish enough to level their steel against him.” The film is based on the novel of Rafael Sabatini. MGM, formed only two years prior to the film's release, was already known for its elaborate (and expensively produced) period films and placed its top star and director on the project to insure its success. King Vidor was one of the most famous movie directors of the silent and sound film eras. His silent films include innovative masterpieces like The Crowd, The Big Parade and Show People. Leading man John Gilbert was a versatile dramatic actor who had been around Hollywood for many years, but had just gotten his big break in 1925's hugely popular Big Parade. Gilbert's leading lady is Eleanor Boardman, an actress who benefited greatly from her relationship with her new husband, director Vidor. Her greatest silent screen credits came in Vidor's films. Bardelys also holds the distinction of marking the first credited screen appearance of a lanky kid from Iowa who would change his name from Marion Morrison to John Wayne.
Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
(DVD Presentation of a "Lost" Film)