New York, NY: DON JUAN (1926)

[silentfilm]

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Summer 2011:
Charismatic Costumers
Gish! - Valentino! - Barrymore! - Fairbanks!

Over four consecutive Saturdays, we celebrate a selection of cinema's biggest stars in scintillating scenarios and period settings, the sort of productions which the silent era trailblazed – truly excelled – and reached a pinnacle of art and excitement. While not out-and-out comedies, these films provide a delicious mix of humor and drama in which the stars truly shine.

We would like to dedicate our season to the late motion picture distributor Donald Krim, president of Kino International in Manhattan for over three decades. The silent film era and so many of its artists have rarely had a greater friend than Don Krim.



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Live piano accompaniment by Ben Model at all shows.
Series programmed by Bruce Lawton.
Film notes by Steve Massa.

Saturday, August 6 at 2:30pm
John Barrymore in "DON JUAN" (1926)
* 85th anniversary screening! *
By the late 1920s stage star John Barrymore had conquered the silver screen in a number of crowd-pleasing costume epics. Although remembered today for his carousing and being Drew Barrymore's grandfather, Barrymore's films were class A productions. This one finds "The Great Profile" as "The Great Lover" of Renaissance Italy battling the Borgia family, and the supporting performances of Mary Astor, Warner Oland, and Myrna Loy, art direction of Ben Carre, and lush production values make it a real treat.
(film will be presented with live accompaniment, and not its 1926 recorded Vitaphone score)

[LeRoyShield1930]

(film will be presented with live accompaniment, and not its 1926 recorded Vitaphone score)

Isn't that like showing THE WIZARD OF OZ in black and white?

[BenModel]

Not necessarily. A lot of people saw DON JUAN without the Vitaphone score during its release as only a certain percentage of theaters were wired for sound (or even sound-on-disk) in 1926. That's the concept behind our screening it this way. Plus, the film+track experience is available on DVD (and laser, if you got it). I will be using the film's love theme by Wm Axt.

Ben