Silent films back at Castro
Festival dedicated to early cinematic works returns as theater turns 100
After a two-year pandemic delay, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary, Thursday-Wednesday, May 5-11, with a return to the Castro Theatre with a full slate of films.
There are 29 programs, including 19 restorations; screenings of classics like “Salomé,” based on Oscar Wilde’s play and featuring sets by Aubrey Beardsley, and Buster Keaton’s stuntfilled comedy “Steamboat Bill, Jr.;” and live scores from a variety of musicians, including the Club Foot Orchestra (dubbed Club Foot Hindustani for its work on the pre-Bollywood drama “Prem Sanyas”) and Tonynominated composer Wayne Barker.
Here are some highlights from this year’s movie lineup, all screening at the Castro Theatre, 429 Castro St. For tickets ($16-$25) and more information, go to silentfilm.org.
“Foolish Wives” (1922, USA): The Castro Theatre turns 100 this year, and so does the San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s opening night feature. Erich von Stroheim wrote, directed and stars in this melodrama as a scam artist and ladies’ man in Monte Carlo who pretends to be a Russian prince and makes an American diplomat’s young wife his latest mark for fleecing. Point Lobos, Monterey and other points along the California coastline stand in for Monaco.
A new restoration by the festival in partnership with the Museum of Modern Art makes its world premiere, restoring 30 minutes of run time to further flesh out the fervid scenario and reproducing the striking color tinting of the original Universal prints. Composer Timothy Brock unveils his new score as he conducts the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra.
7 p.m. Thursday, May 5
“The Primrose Path” (1925, USA): Ne’er-do-well drunk and degenerate gambler Bruce (Wallace MacDonald) is already well on the road to ruin when he becomes involved in a scheme to smuggle stolen gems into the United States, as a way to retire his poker debts. When things don’t go as planned, Bruce faces a death sentence.
Flapper-era “It Girl” Clara Bow also stars as the Broadway diva who only has eyes for Bruce, but the scenestealer is 12-year-old Pat Moore as Bruce’s sweet-natured Boy Scout brother. Composer Wayne Barker provides live musical accompaniment to the gorgeous 35mm print of the festival’s recent restoration, completed in November.
4:45 p.m. Friday, May 6
“Rebirth of a Nation”: D.W. Griffith’s 1915 “The Birth of a Nation” is a deeply racist work that celebrates the Confederate South and the Ku Klux Klan, but that remains an important film for its advancement of cinema language. In 2004, composer and artist Paul D. Miller, a.k.a. DJ Spooky, performed his first live remix of Griffith’s work, reassembling it to present a more accurate portrayal of history. Now, Miller brings his remixing alchemy to the Castro stage and provides live musical accompaniment along with the Classical Revolution ensemble and composer, conductor, violinist and pianist Guenter Buchwald.
A Q&A between Miller and New York Times writer Wesley Morris follows the screening.
7 p.m. Saturday, May 7
“Arrest Warrant” (Soviet Ukraine,
1926): In the midst of civil war, Ukrainian mother Nadia is entrusted with a cache of vital papers sought by the authorities. Arrested, mercilessly interrogated and fearful for her young son and her comrades, the woman struggles against the enormous pressure bearing down on her in an Expressionistic drama that focuses as much on psychology as it does on the situation facing her countrymen.
The Sascha Jacobsen Quintet provides the music in a benefit screening for two organizations aiding presentday Ukraine as it battles Russian forces, the World Central Kitchen and Kyiv’s Oleksandr Dovzhenko National Centre.
4:30 p.m. Sunday, May 8
“Dans la Nuit” (France, 1929):
Veteran actor Charles Vanel wrote and directed only a single feature film in his 78-year screen career, and it is dazzling. Said to be the last French film of the silent era, it was pulled from theaters shortly after its release as the talkies took over and silent films fell out of fashion, shabby treatment for such a self-assured filmmaking debut.
Set in a working-class town and its quarry, Vanel’s almost documentary approach adds urgency to his tale of a miner (Vanel) and his new bride
whose marriage turns rocky after a workplace accident maims him. London pianist and multi-instrumentalist Stephen Horne accompanies the screening.
7 p.m. Monday, May 9
“The History of the Civil War”
(Soviet Russia, 1921): Legendary for his striking cinema verite documentary “Man With a Movie Camera,” Dziga Vertov applies his artistry to recording moments of the post-revolution Russian Civil War in this sweeping documentary. Completed in 1921, it was screened just once before bits and pieces became fodder for newsreels. Recently restored and returned to feature length by film historian Nikolai Izvolov, the work is a record of Vertov’s experiences embedded with various military units, capturing battles, troop movements, military parades and smoldering ruins during the birth of the Soviet Union.
Providing the music for the screening will be the Anvil Orchestra, consisting of Terry Donahue and Roger Clark Miller, familiar to silent film fans as two-thirds of the recently disbanded Alloy Orchestra.
4:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 10