Scots Kirk Mosman 9 Belmont Rd Mosman

Scots Kirk Mosman
9 Belmont Rd Mosman
Three magnificent programs of silent classics
Sundays at 3pm
9 March; 13 April; and 11 May
Digital restorations with live music
Tickets Phone 0419 267318 or through the website www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au
Comedy shorts Chaplin, Chase and Keaton Laughter and thrills for the Young at Heart: :
Rudolph Valentino in the Son of the Sheik; and Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jr.
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Australia’s Silent lm Festival with Roseville Cinemas presents five sensational sessions
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Tickets per session $25/$20 concession
Gold Festival Pass to all three sessions: $65/$50 concession
Sunday March 9
3.00 pm
Laughter and Thrills for the Young at Heart Charlie Chaplin is on the run from cops
in The Adventurer; Charley Chase is hilarious in his own unique way in Mighty Like a
Moose; and Buster Keaton is also on the run again in Cops. Musical accompaniment
by Heather Moen Boyd.
Sunday April 13
3.00 pm
The Son of the Sheik starring the greatest of the golden matinee idols, Rudolph
Valentino, has majestic swirling deserts, action and eruptive emotions a’plenty. Musical
accompaniment by Paul Paviour OAM.
Sunday May 11
3.00 pm
Steamboat Bill, Jr (1928) One of Keaton’s greatest feature films with breathtaking
stunts and action!
Musical accompaniment by Heather Moen Boyd.
LAUGHTER AND THRILLS FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART 90 minutes
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70 minutes Three of the era’s greatest comedians are featured in 20-minute short
films: the legendary Charlie Chaplin flees from the cops in The Adventurer (1917);
Charley Chase reveals his own unique talents in Mighty Like a Moose (1926); and
deadpan-faced Buster Keaton showcases his extraordinary skill for physical gags and
stunts as he gives police the run-around in Cops (1922). No Silent Film Festival would
be complete without a session dedicated to the Great Clowns of the silent screen,
whose skill and talent in creating comedy were so enormous, that their antics continue
to entertain generations nearly a century later, serving as a testament to their genius.
Innocent and cartoon-like in nature, these short comedies are comical masterpieces,
full of unpredictable, ridiculous and outrageous antics and stunts.
Charlie Chaplin’s The Adventurer (1917) features a recurring theme in slapstick
comedies, namely being chased by bungling policemen, making an enemy of the everpresent big, strong and ugly guy, and trying to impress the girl while hiding
embarrassing shortcomings.
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One of Chaplin’s contemporaries was Charley Chase, and in Mighty Like a Moose
(1926) Chase is fabulously convincing as the ugly Mr. Moose with ‘teeth like a walrus’,
married to a woman with a huge, unsightly nose. One day, this “homely couple”
decided to have their flaws corrected without telling each other. The result is that their
appearances changed so much that they did not recognize each other after their
operations, leading to a ridiculous but thoroughly entertaining series of events.
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Affectionately nicknamed ‘The Great Stone Face’ because of his world-famous
trademark deadpan expression, many modern-day scholars of film history believe
Keaton was the greatest comedy master of them all. Looking beyond the funny
façade, one cannot fail to marvel at the precise choreography of movements, stunts
and action which create great moments of thrills and laughs. This painstaking planning
is most evident in the chase and action scenes of Cops (1922) in which a ladder is
used like a see-saw over a fence as Buster once again tries to elude the police. Cops
is a highly regarded classic short comedy for its impressive scenes of crowds and
dozens of cops chasing Buster through city streets.
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The Son of the Sheik – 1926 (United States)
Starring: Rudolph Valentino and Vilma Banky
Director: George Fitzmaurice0
Film: Digital presentation of restored film
Duration: 69 minutes
The Son of the Sheik is the quintessential Hollywood-style Arabian Nights adventure,
complete with romance, humour, swordfights, a sandstorm and the happy couple riding
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off into the sunset. It is the sequel to The Sheik (1921) and the sets were designed by
William Cameron Menzies, whose unmistakable good taste and artistic talent always
add visual splendour and delight to any film.
On top of that, the screenplay was written by journalist/author Frances Marion, who
wrote scenarios for many Mary Pickford films as well as Greta Garbo in Camille (1933)
and Shirley Temple in Poor Little Rich Girl (1936).
But The Son of the Sheik is best remembered because it was the last film starring the
legendary silent film icon, Rudolph Valentino, and success at the box office was greatly
increased at the time of his funeral. His sudden death, from complications following an
operation, shocked and saddened a nation that had come to love Valentino and his
films. The nation came to a stand-still during the several days his coffin was
transported by train across the country, with masses of people lining the railway to
catch a glimpse.
The Son of the Sheik gives today’s audience a reasonably good idea of Valentino’s
onscreen charisma which captivated so many people in the 1920s. The dozen or so
earlier films in which he starred all reveal aspects of his character and versatile acting
style, from a devious con-man in The Married Virgin (1918) to a moody and deeply
troubled matador in Blood and Sand (1922), just to name a few. He rose to fame for
his role in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) and his starring role in The
Sheik is one of his most famous.
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Valentino is best remembered as the great screen lover, convincingly playing romantic
leads and causing women in the audience to swoon. Although his role as Ahmed, the
son of the Sheik, starts off in a sweet young romance, the couple’s rocky road of true
love has many unpredictable twists and turns, making The Son of the Sheik not as
superficial or typical as one might expect.
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His lovely co-star is Vilma Banky, who plays Yasmin, the dancing girl. Born in
Hungary, Vilma enjoyed considerable success during the silent era, appearing in
mostly German films until discovered by Samuel Goldwyn in 1925, which lead to her
co-starring with Valentino in The Eagle (1925) and playing the lead role in The Winning
of Barbara Worth (1926).
Not only is Valentino the handsome young hero in The Son of the Sheik, but he also
plays the role of his father, the Sheik. While the make-up is already impressively
deceptive, Valentino’s acting makes the dual roles appear like two separate characters
thereby revealing once again that he was much more than ‘just a pretty face’.
The cast of The Son of the Sheik showcases a range of colourful characters among
the gang of thieves and misfits, and has exciting action scenes of ambush, kidnap and
revenge balanced with drama and some humour. Most impressive, perhaps, are the
highly-charged emotional scenes with Ahmed and Yasmin which poignantly convey the
anger, anguish and pleading of the two characters without a word being heard.
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STEAMBOAT BILL JR. 69 minutes USA
Director: Charles Reisner Starring: Buster Keaton
No doubt the most recognised name and face of silent comedy next to Charlie Chaplin
is Buster Keaton. One of the many reasons why Steamboat Bill Jr. is so highly
acclaimed today is that it features one of the most famous and breathtaking stunts in
film history. Filmed in Sacramento, California, with a production cost of $135,000,
breakaway street sets and riverbanks were constructed and then their destruction by
six powerful Liberty-motor wind machines was filmed for the famous hurricane scene.
Keaton himself was suspended by a cable from a forty metre crane which turned him
around, as if airborne in the wind storm.
Buster who plays the sensitive college boy son, Bill Jr., reluctantly learns the river
boating trade from his tough and grouchy father but is more interested in the daughter
of his father’s riverboat rival, which leads to escalating antics, culminating in the
amazing windstorm scenes.
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AUSTRALIA'S SILENT FILM FESTIVAL
www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au
Phone 0419267318
[email protected]
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We acknowledge the invaluable and generous support from the renowned David
Shepard, Film Preservation Associates and Blackhawk Films, Jeff Masino and Flicker
Alley, Lobster Films and the sublime flair and talents of Stephanie Khoo,
Please visit and read about your favourite silent film with the superb reviews at
Amazon by the Festival’s tireless supporter,
Barbara Underwood.
www.ozsilentfilmfestival.com.au
A CELEBRATION
CHARLIE CHAPLIN’S 100 YEARS IN THE MOVIES 2014
Throughout the year Australia’s Silent Film Festival salutes Charlie Chaplin’s start in
film 100 years ago: 1914-2014
Charlie’s genius captivated and enchanted audiences around the world within a very
short period of time. That relationship has never ended. The whole world claims
Charlie as its own: the qualities in his roles as director, actor and composer are
timeless and universal.
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Thank you Charlie!
1914-2014
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