San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2009

The Fall of the House of Usher (top); John Gilbert, Eleanor Boardman in Bardelys the Magnificent (middle); Douglas Fairbanks, Lupe Velez in The Gaucho (bottom)

Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, and Lillian Gish are only a few of the superstars to be found at the 14th San Francisco Silent Film Festival, which will take place July 10-12 at the Castro Theatre. Among those scheduled to provide musical accompaniment to the on-screen action are the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, Philip Carli, Stephen Horne, Dennis James, and Donald Sosin.
Among the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s highlights are:
The Gaucho (1927), an adventure tale involving faith and redemption, starring Douglas Fairbanks and Lupe Velez in her first important film role.
"A daring departure," is how [...]

Best Films – 1928

Evelyn Brent, Emil Jannings in The Last Command
FILM
The Crowd
d: King Vidor; scr: King Vidor, James V. A. Weaver; titles: Joseph W. Farnham
The Docks of New York
d: Josef von Sternberg; scr: Jules Furthman; titles: Julian Johnson
The Last Command
d: Josef von Sternberg; scr: John F. Goodrich; titles: Herman J. Mankiewicz
Sadie Thompson
d & scr: Raoul Walsh; titles: C. Gardner Sullivan
Street Angel
d: Frank Borzage; scr: Marion Orth, Philip Klein & Henry Roberts Symonds; titles: H. H. Caldwell & Katherine Hilliker
The Wind
d: Victor Sjöström; scr: Frances Marion
 

L’Argent by Marcel L’Herbier
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L’Argent
d: Marcel L’Herbier; scr: Marcel L’Herbier & Arthur Bernède
The Patsy
d: King Vidor; scr: Agnes Christine Johnson; titles: Ralph Spence
Show People
d: King Vidor; scr: Laurence Stallings & Agnes Christine Johnson; titles: Ralph [...]

Best Films – 1925

Ramon Novarro and May McAvoy in Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ
 
FILM
Ben-Hur
d: Fred Niblo (assisted by Christy Cabanne, Alfred L. Raboch, B. Reeves Eason); scr: Carey Wilson, Bess Meredyth, June Mathis; titles: Katherine Hilliker, H. H. Caldwell
The Big Parade
d: King Vidor; scr: Laurence Stallings, Harry Behn; titles: Joseph W. Farnham
Her Sister from Paris
d: Sidney Franklin; scr: Hans Kräly
Lady Windermere’s Fan
d: Ernst Lubitsch; scr: Julien Josephson; titles: Maude Fulton, Erik Yorke
The Merry Widow
d: Erich von Stroheim; scr: Benjamin Glazer, Erich von Stroheim; titles: Marian Ainslee
 

Battleship Potemkin
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Bronenosets Potyomkin / Battleship Potemkin
d: Sergei Eisenstein; scr: Nina Agadzhanova, Sergei Eisenstein; titles: Nikolai Aseyev, Sergei Tretyakov
 

Renée Adorée, John Gilbert in The Big Parade
ACTOR
John Gilbert
The Big Parade
 

Constance Talmadge, Ronald [...]

Best Films – 1924

Erich von Stroheim’s masterpiece and one of the best silent films ever made, Greed remains a powerful indictment against the deadly sin of the title. Based on Frank Norris‘ McTeague, the film revolves around the misdeeds of a California dentist (Gibson Gowland, center), his miserly wife (ZaSu Pitts, left), and her former lover (Jean Hersholt, not in the above picture), all of whom sacrifice their selves to the all-powerful God of Dollar Bills. Stroheim’s initial cut had 47 reels, though eventually Greed was pared down to 10 reels (approximately 2h15m). That is all that is known to survive from the original film. But in spite of the drastic cuts, many of Stroheim’s magnificently perverted excesses are very much [...]

Best Films – 1923

I must admit that I’m not a fan of Charles Chaplin’s comedies. Heresies aside, I did very much enjoy Chaplin’s dramatic A Woman of Paris, an attempt to turn his frequent leading lady Edna Purviance into a star. The film was a box-office success (despite rumors to the contrary), but Purviance’s career never took off. That is unfortunate, as she gives a moving performance in this tale of lost love and single motherhood. She is with Carl Miller in the photo. Things are obviously not going very well for the couple, but Purviance is surely suffering in style.
 
FILM
Cameo Kirby
d: John Ford; scr: Robert N. Lee
Scaramouche
d: Rex Ingram; scr: Willis Goldbeck
The White Rose
d, scr: D. W. Griffith
A Woman of Paris
d, scr: [...]

BARDELYS THE MAGNIFICENT at the Kansas Silent Film Festival 2009

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 [...]

Kansas Silent Film Festival 2009

The 13th annual Kansas Silent Film Festival (KSFF) will be held on February 27 and 28, 2009, at the White Concert Hall on the Washburn University campus in Topeka, Kansas. Sponsored by Washburn, admission is free.
This year’s KSFF highlight is the American premiere of the restored 1926 swashbuckler Bardelys the Magnificent, which until recently was thought to be a lost film. Based on a novel by Rafael Sabatini, and starring John Gilbert and Eleanor Boardman, Bardelys the Magnificent is set in 17th-century France, where a local Don Juan steals female hearts but is unable to conquer the one woman he truly loves. Directed by King Vidor, Bardelys was a major hit for [...]

SOULS FOR SALE on Turner Classic Movies

Souls for Sale on Turner Classic Movies. Souls for Sale, a 1923 dramatic comedy written and directed by Rupert Hughes (uncle of magnate Howard Hughes), stars Eleanor Boardman, Richard Dix, Lew Cody, Aileen Pringle, William Haines, Barbara La Marr, and has cameos by numerous stars of silent era.