SF Examiner: Six reasons to go to the San Francisco Silent F

Post by **silentfilm** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:53 pm

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-4857 ... m-Festival

Six reasons to go to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival
June 23, 4:39 PMLouise Brooks ExaminerThomas Gladysz
If you’re a silent film buff, and a fan of Louise Brooks, and have been thinking about attending the upcoming San Francisco Silent Film Festival, and need just a few reasons to encourage you to purchase a ticket – then here are six.

Each, on its own, is reason enough.

1) The Festival, which is putting on its 15th annual event in July, will screen one of Brooks’ best films, Diary of a Lost Girl. As the Founder’s Pick film, this 1929 German movie has been designated the centerpiece work at this year’s event. It will be shown with live musical accompaniment provided by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra.

Diary of a Lost Girl marks the second collaboration between the great Austrian-born director G.W. Pabst and the American-born actress whose reputation today looms larger than ever before. Their first collaboration was Pandora’s Box, also from 1929. That film is now considered one of the great works of the silent era. Diary of a Lost Girl lags not far behind in terms of artistic achievement.

According to the world renowned British film historian Kevin Brownlow, the collaboration between the director and actress helped establish Brooks as an “actress of brilliance, a luminescent personality and a beauty unparalleled in screen history.”

2) Brownlow will be in attendance! If you know Brooks’ life story (or you’ve read Barry Paris’ outstanding biography), then you’re aware of the importance of this film historian in the late 20th century revival of interest in the actress.

There is no more important film historian in the history of silent film. And, there is no more important book than Brownlow’s classic 1969 study, The Parade’s Gone By. Interestingly, the book carries an acknowledgement, “I owe an especial debt to Louise Brooks for acting as a prime mover in this book’s publication.” Ther film historian lives in England, and doesn’t make all that many appearances in the United States. Brownlow will be signing books twice over the course of the Festival, as well as introducing a couple of films. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet the man.

3) Another author who also knew the actress will also be attendance. Ira Resnick, a longtime collector and the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery in New York City (the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies) will be signing copies of his new book, Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood (Abbeville). It features posters and lobby cards of Brooks’ films, including a one-of-a-kind poster for Diary of a Lost Girl for which the author once paid the near record setting sum of $60,000. Another illustration in the book is inscribed to Resnick from Brooks.

Resnick will be meeting the public and signing books following the July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl.

4) Also signing books following Diary of a Lost Girl will be Hollywood screenwriter Samuel Bernstein, whose Lulu: A Novel, has recently been published by Walford Press. The subject of this “non-fiction” novel is Brooks and the period in her life when she went to work with Pabst in Germany. It’s an enjoyable read, and the latest in a shelf worth of works of fiction which have taken the silent film star as its muse.

Bernstein, who lives in Los Angeles, will be meeting the public and signing books following the July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl.

5) The San Francisco Silent Film Festival takes place in the historic Castro Theater. Built in 1922, this grand theater is one of the last standing movie palaces in the San Francisco Bay Area. And what’s more, no theater in San Francisco can claim to have shown more Brooks films. As a neighborhood movie theater in the 1920’s and 1930’s, the Castro showed just about every Brooks’ film on its second run in The City. And beginning with the late 1970’s revival of interest in Brooks, the Castro has regularly shown the actress’ surviving works. The two Pabst films, along with A Girl in Every Port (1928), Beggars of Life (1928), Prix de Beaute (1930) and the remaining fragments of The American Venus (1926) and Just Another Blonde (1926) have all been shown at the Castro in recent decades.

6) I will be there. Recently, I edited and wrote the introduction to a new “Louise Brooks edition” of Margarete Böhme’s 1905 book, The Diary of a Lost Girl (PandorasBox Press). Böhme’s book was the basis for the 1929 film of the same name. This just published illustrated book includes the original English-language translation of this once controversial and bestselling work. It has been out of print in the United States for a century.

The Diary of a Lost Girl is making its debut at the Festival. I will be meeting the public and signing books following the July 17th screening of Diary of a Lost Girl.

Hopefully, one of these six reasons should provide the tipping point in deciding to attend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Please note, however, that when the Festival screened Pandora’s Box in 2006, it became the only film in the Festival’s now 15 year history to sell out in advance. The Castro Theater holds 1,400 people!

For more info: More about this year’s San Francisco Silent Film Festival can be found at http://www.silentfilm.org/ More about Diary of a Lost Girl can be found at its IMDb entry at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020475/.

Thomas Gladysz is a longtime fan of Louise Brooks, so much so he founded the Louise Brooks Society, an internet-based archive and fan club devoted to the legendary silent film star. Gladysz has contributed to books on the actress, organized exhibits, appeared on television, and introduced her films around the country.

LouieD · Post by **LouieD** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:25 pm

Oh, so this is the 6 reasons if you like Louise Brooks.

Post by **silentfilm** » Wed Jun 23, 2010 9:54 pm

http://www.examiner.com/x-7605-SF-Silen ... m-festival

Authors attend upcoming silent film festival
June 21, 11:42 AMSF Silent Movie ExaminerThomas Gladysz

In what’s being billed as a mini “festival within a festival,” the San Francisco Silent Film Festival has announced its schedule of book and DVD signings set to take place at the upcoming July event.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is the largest silent film festival in North America. It takes place July15th through the 18th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. More than a dozen films from the silent era will be screened. There will also be panel discussion on music for silent films, and two presentations on film preservation.

This year’s event marks the Festival’s 15th anniversary. And to celebrate the occasion, the Festival has expanded from three days to four. Also growing in size are the number of film historians, biographers, archivists and authors who will gather at the event. Each, in their own way, help keep silent film before the public eye.

The Festival’s ambitious schedule of signings represents a veritable who’s who in the world of film history. Among those set to attend are an Academy Award winning director (Pete Docter, of Up fame), one of the last surviving silent film stars (“Baby Peggy”), the son of acclaimed director William Wellman (whose film, Wings, won the first Academy Award in 1927), the son of silent film star Richard Dix, a couple of world renown film historians, celebrated archivists and collectors, and a handful of local authors. Some of those signing at the Festival are coming from as far afield as England, southern California, New York City and elsewhere.

Two of the authors coming from out of town have written books about local film stars. David W. Menefee, a Texas-based film historian and biographer, has recently written George O'Brien: A Man’s Man In Hollywood. O’Brien, a major star in the 20s and 30’s, was born and raised in San Francisco. He also stars in the Festival’s opening night film, The Iron Horse (1924). Sarah Baker, a North Carolina-based biographer and documentary film maker (Olive Thomas: Everybody's Sweetheart) has recently authored Lucky Stars: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell. Gaynor, as is well known, lived for a time in San Francisco and worked as an usherette at the Castro Theater.

Here is the schedule of signings for the 2010 San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Book and DVD signings follow screenings. Times are approximate.

THURSDAY JULY 15

9:30 pm David W. Menefee – George O'Brien: A Man’s Man In Hollywood
9:30 pm Ira Resnick – Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood

FRIDAY JULY 16

12:30 pm Diana Serra Cary – Whatever Happened to Baby Peggy?

4:00 pm Richie Meyer – Ruan Ling-Yu: The Goddess of Shanghai
4:00 pm Elaine Mae Woo – Anna May Wong, Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times and Legend (DVD)

7:30 pm Eddie Muller – Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir
7:30 pm Scott O’Brien – Ann Harding - Cinema's Gallant Lady
7:30 pm Sarah Baker – Lucky Stars: Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell

SATURDAY JULY 17

11:15 am Leonard Maltin – Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen
11:15 am Pete Docter – The Art of Up; Moster's Inc (DVD); Up (DVD),

1:30 pm Festival musicians signing their CDs and DVDs

3:30 pm Robert Dix – Out of Hollywood
3:30 pm William Wellman Jr. – The Man and His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture
3:30 pm Jeffrey Vance - Douglas Fairbanks

5:30 pm Kevin Brownlow - The Parade's Gone By, along with his DVDs

8:45 pm Thomas Gladysz – The Diary of a Lost Girl (Louise Brooks edition)
8:45 pm Samuel Bernstein – Lulu: A Novel
8:45 pm Ira Resnick – Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood

SUNDAY JULY 18

11:15 am Gregory Paul Williams – The Story of Hollywood: An Illustrated History
11:15 am David Kiehn – Broncho Billy and the Essanay Film Company
11:15 am David Shepard – Chicago (DVD)
11:15 am Elaine Mae Woo – Anna May Wong, Frosted Yellow Willows: Her Life, Times and Legend (DVD)

1:30 pm Anthony Slide – Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine
1:30 pm Lucy Autry Wilson (with David Kiehn) – George Lucas's Blockbusting

4:00 pm Donna Hill (with Emily Leider) – Rudolph Valentino, The Silent Idol: His Life in Photographs

6:30 pm Kevin Brownlow - The Parade's Gone By
6:30 pm Jeffrey Vance - Harold Lloyd: Master Comedian
6:30 pm John Bengtson – Silent Traces: Discovering Early Hollywood Through the Films of Charlie Chaplin
6:30 pm David W. Menefee – Sarah Bernhardt in the Theatre of Films and Sound Recordings

For more info: The San Francisco Silent Film Festival is set to take place July15th through the 18th at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. Details and ticketing info at www.silentfilm.org

Thomas Gladysz is an arts journalist and author. Recently, he wrote the introduction to the new edition of Margarete Böhme's classic novel, The Diary of a Lost Girl (PandorasBox Press). And, his interview with Allen Ginsberg on the subject of photography was included in Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg (National Gallery of Art / Prestel). Gladysz loves reading and writing and old movies. More at www.thomasgladysz.com.

George O'Brien · Post by **George O'Brien** » Sun Jun 27, 2010 4:29 pm

I hope the faked George O'Brien porn pictures won't be being sold under the table here. Beware, good people, they are fake.

milefilms · Post by **milefilms** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:28 pm

Okay, it does look like Amy, Adam and i will be attending at least a little of the SF Silent Film Festival. Who else is going?

Frederica · Post by **Frederica** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:38 pm

milefilms wrote:Okay, it does look like Amy, Adam and i will be attending at least a little of the SF Silent Film Festival. Who else is going?

Me!

greta de groat · Post by **greta de groat** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:16 pm

Me too!

Derek B. · Post by **Derek B.** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:00 pm

I'll be there every day but will miss most of the evening showings.

missdupont · Post by **missdupont** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:19 pm

Me three!

rudyfan · Post by **rudyfan** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:35 pm

milefilms wrote:Okay, it does look like Amy, Adam and i will be attending at least a little of the SF Silent Film Festival. Who else is going?

Squee! (the 7th good reason to attend this year, to meet you in person)

Count Me in, too!

radiotelefonia · Post by **radiotelefonia** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 3:55 pm

I wanted to go, but my budget is tight.

Fernando Martín Peña, however (of Filmoteca), will be there.

Jim Reid · Post by **Jim Reid** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:11 pm

Sounds like a great festival, but I'll be Slapsticoning on the other side of the country. I will be heading to California for Cinecon.

LouieD · Post by **LouieD** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:16 pm

Nope, not going. I am very sad that I will miss the ALLEGED drinking by the Daughters of Naldi. Slapsticon is where it's at for me this year.

Rodney · Post by **Rodney** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 4:29 pm

I and the Mont Altoids will be there, but we're only doing one show, so we're not staying for the whole duration. We'll arrive Friday around noon (for a sound check during that gap in the afternoon schedule), we'll be part of the musician seminar Saturday morning (if there's a Nitrateville Saturday lunch planned, let me know, or come up and grab me) and of course we're playing for the Lost Girl at 6:30 pm.

I just finished scoring the film today (whew!) and it'll be quite nice. I've found some more dramatic tensions by Gabriel-Marie, some late 1920s foxtrots for the cabaret, and a pretty E-minor waltz main theme called "Amo" from 1906.

I arranged to fly out late-ish on Sunday, which means we can see some films, but we'll need to find somewhere to leave our bags when we've checked out of the hotel.

And we hope to have a new CD by then too! It's scheduled to be delivered here the day before we leave, so things could still go wrong. We took 20 of our favorite tracks from six recent projects -- Faust, Way Down East, The Italian, The Italian Straw Hat, The Last of the Mohicans, and Bardelys the Magnificent -- and remastered them for a CD that we're calling "Love, Betrayal, and Redemption." Which are major themes of at least five of those films.

milefilms · Post by **milefilms** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 5:07 pm

We'll definitely be at the opening night party (look for a short Jewish couple and a son with curly hair) and I really want to have them see the comedy shorts. Hopefully, we'll all meet!

rollot24 · Post by **rollot24** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 5:25 pm

I so wish I could go!

thomas_gladysz · Post by **thomas_gladysz** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:26 am

The Festival is now less than a week away. Here are 15 Reasons to Attend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-gl ... 34479.html

LouieD · Post by **LouieD** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:31 am

thomas_gladysz wrote:The Festival is now less than a week away. Here are 15 Reasons to Attend the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/thomas-gl ... 34479.html

Maybe #14 should be removed. As beautiful a theater the Castro is, when I was there I sweated my rump off throughout the screening.

salus · Post by **salus** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 9:55 am

Just wish it was 30 years ago and they could bring in the stars of that era to discuss the pictures, oh well !!!

Chuck W · Post by **Chuck W** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:40 pm

God, I wish I could go -- but I'm wiped out financially, and couldn't find anyone to front the money. This is the same story every year, and I always wind up missing something incredible.

This year, the one I'm absolutely dying to see is The Woman Disputed, which sounds like some sort of masterpiece; even Kevin Brownlow seems over the moon about it. Shame those of us outside of the San Fran area will probably never see it.

Post by **Danny Burk** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:57 pm

Chuck W wrote:God, I wish I could go -- but I'm wiped out financially, and couldn't find anyone to front the money. This is the same story every year, and I always wind up missing something incredible.

This year, the one I'm absolutely dying to see is The Woman Disputed, which sounds like some sort of masterpiece; even Kevin Brownlow seems over the moon about it. Shame those of us outside of the San Fran area will probably never see it.

Not necessarily! Tim Lanza has hopes of getting it out in an upcoming Kino Talmadge DVD. Many of us also have hopes....

rudyfan · Post by **rudyfan** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 1:57 pm

Chuck W wrote:God, I wish I could go -- but I'm wiped out financially, and couldn't find anyone to front the money. This is the same story every year, and I always wind up missing something incredible.

This year, the one I'm absolutely dying to see is The Woman Disputed, which sounds like some sort of masterpiece; even Kevin Brownlow seems over the moon about it. Shame those of us outside of the San Fran area will probably never see it.

Oh ye of little faith, you never know!

Chuck W · Post by **Chuck W** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:13 pm

Danny Burk wrote:Not necessarily! Tim Lanza has hopes of getting it out in an upcoming Kino Talmadge DVD. Many of us also have hopes....

rudyfan wrote:Oh ye of little faith, you never know!

That's great news about The Woman Disputed. I had no idea Kino had any plans on continuing their Talmadge releases; I had assumed they were an isolated, almost serendipitous release. I guess now I'll have to cross my fingers and wait.

As for the lack of faith--well, maybe it all stems from my never-ending desire for a legitimate release of the recent restoration of Her Wild Oat, which screened in San Fran two years ago and never saw a legitimate release. Heck, even a TCM premier would have been nice. But, alas, sometimes living in the fly-over states has its drawbacks.

rudyfan · Post by **rudyfan** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 2:51 pm

Well, how about tweaking the gang that runs Cinevent? They usually have a nice lineup. I drove from VA to see Peter Pan the one Cinevent I attended!

Gagman 66 · Post by **Gagman 66** » Fri Jul 09, 2010 3:47 pm

Chuck W,

If there will be follow up Talmadge collections, I 'm hopeful about THE WOMAN DISPUTED, Not to mention THE LADY, or maybe SMILIN' THROUGH, and a nice print of THE LOVE EXPERT too. What's more EAST IS WEST was being restored. So far I have been disappointed that TCM hasn't picked up any of the Talmadge titles that were released by Kino in March.

The only word I have ever gotten on HER WILD OAT from TCM is this: "It's On Our Radar" a direct quote from Chuck Tabesh about August of 2008. No one is more anxious to see this than me. Or the restored LILAC TIME.

I've asked this question several times and never gotten an answer. Has anyone seen the Photoplay restoration of WATERLOO (1928)? It premiered on Film 4 and Arte Network last year I believe. The film is not even listed in the TCM Movie Data Base, so it is hard to find out many details about it. Would be nice if TCM would pick it up, but they don't seem to know the film even exists?

Chuck W · Post by **Chuck W** » Sat Jul 10, 2010 6:39 pm

Gagman 66 wrote:Chuck W,

If there will be follow up Talmadge collections, I 'm hopeful about THE WOMAN DISPUTED, Not to mention THE LADY, or maybe SMILIN' THROUGH, and a nice print of THE LOVE EXPERT too. What's more EAST IS WEST was being restored. So far I have been disappointed that TCM hasn't picked up any of the Talmadge titles that were released by Kino in March.

The only word I have ever gotten on HER WILD OAT from TCM is this: "It's On a Radar" a direct quote from Chuck Tabesh about August of 2008. No one is more anxious to see this than me. Or the restored LILAC TIME.

I've asked this question several times and never gotten an answer. Has anyone seen the Photoplay restoration of WATERLOO (1928)? It premiered on Film 4 and Arte Network last year I believe. The film is not even listed in the TCM Movie Data Base, so it is hard to find out many details about it. Would be nice if TCM would pick it up, but they don't seem to know the film even exists?

Do you mean Karl Grune's Waterloo?

I'm hopeful that Her Wild Oat (and, yes, Lilac Time... or any Colleen Moore silents) is broadcast on TCM sometime in the near future. It feels like we've had to wait an absurdly long time for a television premier. So frustrating. Here's hoping that The Woman Disputed has better luck; the Kino releases of the Talmadge films were quite excellent, and I'd love to see a second volume.

rudyfan wrote:Well, how about tweaking the gang that runs Cinevent? They usually have a nice lineup. I drove from VA to see Peter Pan the one Cinevent I attended!

Ha, ha. My attempts to go to Cinevent have been consistently thwarted, if not sabotaged, by my less cinema-friendly friends. I've lived in Columbus for two years, and each time Cinevent rolls around I have friends from out of town who come and visit. There's no way I could blow them off with something like, "Sorry, but there's a screening of The Sorrow of Satan on the other side of the city I want to attend. Fend for yourselves." Soooo... frustrating!

Penfold · Post by **Penfold** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:11 am

Gagman 66 wrote: I've asked this question several times and never gotten an answer. Has anyone seen the Photoplay restoration of WATERLOO (1928)? It premiered on Film 4 and Arte Network last year I believe.

I don't know about Film Four; I may have missed it; it was screened in London a couple of months back, I couldn't make it; but a friend who did and whose judgement I respect thought it was pretty poor....barely competent filmmaking, and more like 1920 than '28.

It certainly isn't Abel Gance's Napoleon.

rogerskarsten · Post by **rogerskarsten** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:58 am

Penfold wrote:
Gagman 66 wrote: I've asked this question several times and never gotten an answer. Has anyone seen the Photoplay restoration of WATERLOO (1928)? It premiered on Film 4 and Arte Network last year I believe.
I don't know about Film Four; I may have missed it; it was screened in London a couple of months back, I couldn't make it; but a friend who did and whose judgement I respect thought it was pretty poor....barely competent filmmaking, and more like 1920 than '28. It certainly isn't Abel Gance's Napoleon.

And, as has been mentioned before on this board, it is scheduled for DVD release by Edition filmmuseum at some point.

~Roger

Arndt · Post by **Arndt** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 12:00 pm

Penfold wrote:
Gagman 66 wrote: I've asked this question several times and never gotten an answer. Has anyone seen the Photoplay restoration of WATERLOO (1928)? It premiered on Film 4 and Arte Network last year I believe.
I don't know about Film Four; I may have missed it; it was screened in London a couple of months back, I couldn't make it; but a friend who did and whose judgement I respect thought it was pretty poor....barely competent filmmaking, and more like 1920 than '28. It certainly isn't Abel Gance's Napoleon.

It wasn't on Arte, either.

Chuck W · Post by **Chuck W** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:41 pm

Arndt wrote:
Penfold wrote:
Gagman 66 wrote: I've asked this question several times and never gotten an answer. Has anyone seen the Photoplay restoration of WATERLOO (1928)? It premiered on Film 4 and Arte Network last year I believe.
I don't know about Film Four; I may have missed it; it was screened in London a couple of months back, I couldn't make it; but a friend who did and whose judgement I respect thought it was pretty poor....barely competent filmmaking, and more like 1920 than '28. It certainly isn't Abel Gance's Napoleon.
It wasn't on Arte, either.

The copy I've seen was recorded from a foreign television broadcast, but I cannot say whether it was from Arte or not. The intertitles were in French and German, and there was no musical accompaniment. I didn't watch the entire thing (because of the language barrier), so I can't vouch for the quality.

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