VOC bringing silent classic to Registry Theatre
KITCHENER — Local film buffs will have a rare chance this week to see “The Passion of Joan of Arc,” believed to be one of the 10 best films ever made.
The black-and-white silent film powerfully depicts the trial and execution of Joan of Arc in the 15th century.
Made in 1928 by Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer, the film will show Thursday night at Kitchener’s Registry Theatre with improvised music accompaniment by the local ensemble, VOC Silent Film Harmonic.
“It’s very much a story about passion and conviction and … being true to yourself,” said VOC director Ted Harms.
Joan was a French peasant girl who believed she was receiving divine guidance when she led the French army to repulse English attempts to conquer France during the Hundred Years War. She was captured a year later, tried and burned to death as a heretic.
The film, with Renée Maria Falconetti in the role of Joan, is based on original inquisition transcripts.
It ranks ninth in the top 50 greatest films of all time, according to the latest international poll of 846 critics, academics and distributors. The poll is done every 10 years by Sight & Sound, the journal of the British Film Institute.
The film opens the 10th anniversary of the group’s silent movie series at the Registry, said Harms. The season will continue in 2018 with “Faust” on March 8 and “Metropolis” on May 3.
In keeping with the custom of the silent movie era, the VOC group plays appropriate music while the movie is going on.
To prepare, Harms says he sketches out a central melody, and the group then works out the broad brush-strokes for accompaniment as they watch the movie, noting the changes of plot and scene.
But within those restrictions, the music is improvised, not scripted, and “it’s a team sport,” Harms said.
“We’re there to support what’s already there” in the film, he said.
“We’re not trying to force a vision.”
He says the VOC group (which stands for “Volatile Organic Compounds” but is sometimes also referred to as “Voice Of Cinema”) is grateful for the consistent support of Lawrence McNaught, manager of the Registry Theatre where the silent movie series is shown each year
McNaught is “very much our fifth Beatle,” said Harms.
And the ensemble also acknowledges the presence of the audience, which ensures that the tradition of silent film lives on in this community.
“If it wasn’t for them, we would not be here,” Harms said.
“We’d be in my basement playing for ourselves.”