Silent Film Classics presented by RMIC & the Richmond Public Library

Posted by: Tony – Nov 07, 2009

SILENT FILM CLASSICS
Presented by RMIC & the Richmond Public Library.
All films to be shown Thursdays at 2 pm in the Main Richmond Library Auditorium,
Admission free, Films are silent with score.

November 5
THE BLACK PIRATE (1926)
With Douglas Fairbanks, Billie Dove, Donald Crisp, 90 mins., dir.: Albert Parker
One of the silent screen’s biggest stars was the acrobatic Fairbanks (Mark of Zorro, The Thief of Bagdad) , who off-screen was married to America’s sweetheart, Mary Pickford. In his last successful action-spectacle, Fairbanks is at his swashbucklin’ best in this Robin Hood-ish fairy tale, especially when he disables the enemy galleons by slitting their sails with his sword.

November 12
COLLEGE (1927)
With Buster Keaton, 75 mins., dir.: Joe Horne
Second only to Charlie Chaplin in popularity was old "stone-face," the great silent comic, Buster Keaton (who’d been dubbed “Buster” as a child by escape-artist Houdini). No matter how frantic or dire the action, Keaton’s characters rarely betrayed any facial emotion. Like most of his romantic-adventure comedies (The General, Our Hospitality), Buster’s at his best trying to win his girl’s affections – this time on the athletic field – with predictably disastrous and hilarious consequences.

December 3
SON OF THE SHEIK (1926) pictured above
With Rudolph Valentino, 68 mins., dir.: George Fitzmaurice
The legendary Latin-lover Valentino recreates his most famous screen persona in this last picture before his untimely death. A sequel in the tradition of the immensely popular (The Sheik), the hero (Valentino) is seduced, duped and tortured by a tribe of thieves. Ultimately finding his lover loyal afterall, he then vanquishes the villains and rides off with the girl. Perhaps the first successful sequel ever, Son of the Sheik did ten times the boxoffice of the original.

December 10
SUNRISE (1927)
With Janet Gaynor, George O’Brien, 97 mins., dir.: F. W. Murnau
One of the great artistic triumphs of America’s golden age of silent cinema,
Sunrise paired the considerable talents of German director Murnau (Nosferatu, The Last Laugh) with Fox stars Gaynor and O’Brien. With a style anticipating the American-noir style two decades later in its expressive use of lighting and camera – Murnau tells the melodramatic tale of country husband and big-city vamp, and the loving wife who follows him to town.

For more information on this and many other great programs --> The Richmond Moving Image Co-Op.

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Some notes from the email I received from James Parrish of RMIC that I didnt know what to do with.

This week we kicked off a four part Silent Film Classics series at the Richmond Public Library: http://www.rmicweb.org/events/index.html#silent -- the programs are during the day, but free, plus Mike Jones is introducing each film, providing context for viewing these silent film gems.

Also, we're bringing Indie Grits Film Festival http://www.indiegrits.com/ from Columbia, SC, to Richmond on Sunday, November 22 (the Sunday before Thanksgiving) at Balliceaux for a screening of their 2009 festival winners. They are wanting to get the word out to Richmond and Virginia filmmakers about their festival to get more regional artists to submit. We'll be promoting the James River Film Festival short films competition call for entires as well. Would love help on this screening and calls for entries in particular. Plus, Balliceaux is a new venue for us. We held our James River Filmmakers Forum there last month and plan on doing several film programs with them in the coming year. Great venue for us.

Teasers for James River Film Festival -- ever heard of Michael Snow ("Wavelength") http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Snow -- he's a giant in avant garde cinema and music. Also, Patti Smith documentary with filmmaker Steven Sebring: http://www.dreamoflifethemovie.com/ and possibly Crispin Glover: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispin_glover