Thursday, January 27, 2011

Silent Film Festival Winter Event, 2011


Winter Event Banner
PRESS RELEASE
January 26, 2011
For Immediate Release
Silent Film Festival Winter Event
Features the West Coast Premiere of the Dazzling Restoration of
 L'ARGENT
Accompanied by Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
February 12 at the Castro Theatre, San Francisco

Brigitte Helm in L'ARGENT
The New York Times
hails the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra's recent performance at the Museum of the Moving Image's 'Recovered Treasures' series: "The undoubted highlight is Marcel L'Herbier's spectacular Art Moderne adaptation of Zola's L'Argent, restored to its full three-hour length by the French Film Archives and presented with a live accompaniment by that most sensitive and accomplished of silent film ensembles, the Mont Alto Orchestra."

Greed and sex drive L'Herbier's 1928 masterpiece that chronicles the contemporary Paris of high finance, speculation, and corruption. In spite of a butchered last-minute re-edit (rumored to be the result of a feud between the director and a studio head) the film was popular upon its release. But with this beautiful restoration struck from the original negative, featuring L'Herbier's original cut, L'Argent takes its place among other indisputable masterpieces of the silent era such as Von Stroheim's Greed, Murnau's Sunrise, Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. The excess of the story is mirrored in the filmmaking-opulent sets, breathtaking camerawork, and a rhythm that conveys glamour and modernity, with superb performances by Brigitte Helm, Pierre Alcover, and Alfred Abel. Our 35mm print comes from Archives Françaises du Film, with special permission by Marie-Ange L'Herbier, the director's granddaughter.

Mont Alto's main theme for L'Argent is the "Herod Overture" is by the American composer Henry Hadley. Hadley was the first conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, arriving exactly 100 years ago in 1911. He composed a variety of music for concert orchestras, several operas, and music for the Bohemian Grove's annual festivities, and is remembered today as the composer of the Movietone score for John Barrymore's "When a Man Loves," one of the finest period scores written for a late silent. There's a story that after Hadley left the SF Symphony in 1915, the musicians all got more reliable jobs playing in movie theater orchestras and the symphony had to cancel it's season. 

Complete Winter Event Program:
Our early program It's Mutual (1:00 pm, $15) is a collection of sparkling shorts by Charlie Chaplin, made during his stint at the Mutual Film Corporation where he honed his craft and became the genius director we think of today. The shorts - The Pawnshop, The Rink, and The Adventurer - contain some of the funniest moments ever put to screen, and are a glimpse into the development of this master of cinema. And supplying the perfect accompaniment to Chaplin's brilliance will be Donald Sosin at the baby grand piano. 35mm film prints from the David Shepard Collection.

Continuing our tradition of presenting world-class blockbusters at the Winter Event afternoon show, we present Marcel L'Herbier's L'Argent (3:30 pm, $15) accompanied by The Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

The evening show, La Bohème (8:00 pm, $17) is devoted to the one of the themes movies have excelled at from the beginning - the love story! This eternal romance set in bohemian Paris of the 1830s has been filmed many times, but King Vidor's classic starring Lillian Gish as Mimi and John Gilbert as Rodolphe is the definitive version. New 35mm print courtesy of Stanford Theatre Foundation and UCLA Film and Television Archive. The Master of the Mighty Wurlitzer, Dennis James, will accompany this perfect Valentine's weekend fare.

At 6:30 there will be a Winter Event Celebration Party ($20) on the Castro's mezzanine. Delicious hors d'oeuvres, hearty drinks, and pleasing conversation to be had by all! The extraordinary Michel Saga will serenade on the barrel organ, singing songs of old Paris.

For tickets and more information, please visit the Silent Film Festival.

Screeners and images are available for all films. Please contact Anita Monga, 510-843-4245 anita@silentfilm.org

High-res images can be downloaded from our pressroom

The Silent Film Festival is a nonprofit organization promoting the artistic, cultural, and historic value of silent film with live musical accompaniment.



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