3rd Silent Film Festival
3rd Silent Film Festival
The Emancipation of Woman
From the 12th to the 25th of July 2012, at 21:00
The MCF thinks of Michael Cacoyannis as well as his love for both Silent Cinema and Greta Garbo, and the 3rd Silent Film Festival of the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation comes true, with admission free of charge. Having as subject the “Emancipation of Woman”, it is going to take place from July 12th to 25th 2012, at 21:00, following the two extraordinarily successful tributes to the American and the European silent cinema, the films of which had Michael Cacoyannis, himself, chosen. During the 3rd Silent Film Festival there
will be screened 15 films, while the tribute will end with the film The single standard with the most favorite actress of Michael Cacoyannis, Greta Garbo.
The film selection has been done by Stathis Sklavounakos (writer of the book Vamps) and the screenwriter, director, film critic Marios Papageorgiou, who are going to preface the screenings with a short comment.
As every year, the 3rd Silent Film Festival is organized in cooperation with the STUDIO-Parallel Circuit, and his President, Christos Papadimitriou as well as the Film Scoring workshop with responsible instructor, Alexandros Mouzas.
Carmen (1918) by Ernst Lubitsch
accompanied by live music
Music Composition: Niki Charlafti
Vivi Gypari – classic guitar
Kostas Katsantonis – sound editing
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 80 minutes
Genre: Drama
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Writing credits: Grete Diercks, Norbert Falk, Hanns Kräly, Prosper Mérimée novel “Carmen”
Produced by Paul Davidson
Cinematography by Alfred Hansen
Art Direction by Karl Machus, Kurt Richter
Costume Design by Alexander Hubert
Country: Germany
Language: English inertitles
Release Date: 20 December 1918 (Germany)
Also Known As: Gypsy Blood (US title)
Starring: Pola Negri, Harry Liedtke, Leopold von Ledebur, Grete Diercks, Wilhelm Diegelmann, Heinrich Peer, Margarete Kupfer, Sophie Pagay, Paul Conradi, Max Kronert, Magnus Stifter Paul Biensfeldt, Victor Janson, Albert Venohr
The tragic story of Don Jose, a Spanish cavalryman, who falls under the spell of a gypsy girl, Carmen, who treats him with both love and contempt and leads him into temptation and thus damnation.
Lilac time – (1928) by George Fitzmaurice
Runtime: 110 minutes
Subtitles in Greek
The film will be screened with the original music composed by Keith Taylor in 2006
Genre: Romance – War
Directed by George Fitzmaurice
Writing credits (in alphabetical order) Jane Cowl (play), Guy Fowler (book), Willis Goldbeck (adaptation), George Marion Jr. (titles), Jane Murfin (play), Adela Rogers St. Johns (adaptation), Carey Wilson (writer)
Produced by George Fitzmaurice, John McCormick
Original Music by Cecil Copping, Nathaniel Shilkret
Cinematography by Sidney Hickox
Film Editing by Alexander Hall
Art Direction by Horace Jackson
Assistant Director: Cullen Tate,
Camera & Electrical Dept: Alvin Knechtel, Cliff Shirpser
Country: USA
Release Date: 18 October 1928 (USA)
Also Known As: Love Never Dies
Cast (in credits order): Colleen Moore, Gary Cooper, Burr McIntosh, George Cooper, Cleve Moore, Kathryn McGuire, Eugenie Besserer, Emile Chautard, Jack Stoney, Edward Dillon, Dick Grace, Stuart Knox, Harlan Hilton, Richard Jarvis, Jack Ponder, Dan Dowling
All of those handsome young men in their flying machines are billeted in a field next to the Widow Berthelot’s farmhouse in France. Her daughter Jeannine is curious about the young men fighting for England in World War I and their airplanes. Then one of the aviators is killed. His replacement is Captain Philip Blythe who can’t help but notice Jeannine. When he lands the first time, she is standing in the middle of his “runway.” She makes a more favourable impression when he sees her later by the lilacs. When all of the young men depart on a mission, Blythe promises to return.
Underworld by Josef von Sternberg
accompanied by live music
Music Composition – Accompanied by live music: Gogo Kalodiki
Laptop: Gogo Kalodiki
Flute: Suzana Demiri
Violin: Marios Dapergolas
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 80 minutes
1929 Won 2 Oscars
Best Writing
Original Story, Ben Hecht
Genre: Crime – Drama – Romance
Directed by Josef von Sternberg, Arthur Rosson
Writing credits (in alphabetical order): Charles Furthman (adaptation), Howard Hawks (scenario) Ben Hecht (story) Robert N. Lee (adaptation), George Marion Jr. (titles), Josef von Sternberg
Produced by B.P. Schulberg, Hector Turnbull
Cinematography by Bert Glennon
Film Editing by E. Lloyd Sheldon
Costume Design by Travis Banton
Assistant Director Henry Hathaway
Art Department Hans Dreier
Camera & Electrical Dept William H. Clothier
Country: USA
Language: English (Intertitles)
Release Date: 20 August 1927 (USA)
Cast (in credits order): George Bancroft, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook, Fred Kohler, Helen Lynch, Larry Semon, Jerry Mandy, Alfred Allen, Shep Houghton, Andy MacLennan, Karl Morse, Julian Rivero
The story concerns Bull Weed, a blowhard hood (he is referred to as ‘Attila the Hun at the gates of Rome’) with a hidden heart of gold, played with a Gibson Gowland bluster by George Bancroft. Bull takes a down and out drunk (Clive Brook channeling Thomas Meighan) under his wing, dubbing him Rolls Royce after Rolls proves to Bull that he is not a squealer. Bull is soft on red-hot moll, Feathers (Evelyn Brent), and gets red and hot when rival mobster Buck Mulligan (Fred Kohler) makes a play for her. But what he doesn’t see until too late is that Feather and Rolls are red hot for each other.
Dancing mothers (1926) by Herbert Brenon
accompanied by live music
Music: Vangelis Kapantais – Vasilis Christakeas – Antonis Dedousis
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 66 minutes
Genre: Drama
Directed by Herbert Brenon
Writing credits: Edmund Goulding, Forrest Halsey, Edgar Selwyn
Produced by Harry Brenon, William LeBaron
Cinematography by J. Roy Hunt
Art Direction by Julian Boone Fleming
Costume Design by Lucile
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 1 March 1926 (USA)
Cast: Alice Joyce, Norman Trevor, Clara Bow, Conway Tearle, Eleanor Lawson, Dorothy Cumming, Donald Keith, Leila Hyams, Spencer Charters
Dancing Mothers is a tale of a pretty mother, who was almost cheated out of life by a heartless husband and a thoughtless daughter.
Ethel Westcourt sits home night after night while her daughter, Kittens, is out with her friends and her husband is out with his girlfriend. At the urging of a friend, Ethel decides it’s time that she goes out and enjoys life, too. While out with her friend, she encounters Jerry Naughton, who has a reputation as a womanizer and who has been the object of Kittens’ affections. Ethel affects a French accent and gives another name when Jerry shows an interest in her. Ethel’s intention in continuing to see Jerry is to protect her daughter from this scoundrel, however, he ends up falling in love with her and she with him. The situation is complicated when Kittens finds her mother at Jerry’s apartment. To further complicate matters, Mr. Westcourt arrives on the scene, as well. After Kittens tells her father that she caught Jerry kissing her mother, Westcourt tells Ethel she is now free. Neither the husband nor Kittens knows that nothing had ever happened between the two before, and Ethel had already told Jerry they must never see each other again. When Ethel returns home to get her things before sailing to Europe…
Sadie Thompson (1928) by Raoul Walsh
accompanied by live music
Music Composition – Improvisation: Dimitris Charlaftis
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 91 minutes
1929 Nominated 2 Oscars
Best Actress in a Leading Role -Gloria Swanson
Best Cinematography -George Barnes
Genre: Drama
Directed by Raoul Walsh
Writing credits: W. Somerset Maugham (story “Miss Thompson”), John Colton, Clemence Randolph, Raoul Walsh (adaptation), C. Gardner Sullivan (titles)
Produced by Raoul Walsh, Gloria Swanson
Cinematography by George Barnes, Robert Kurrle, Oliver T. Marsh
Film Editing by C. Gardner Sullivan
Art Direction by William Cameron Menzies
Production Management Pierre Bedard
Assistant Director William Tummel
Country: USA
Release Date: 7 January 1928 (USA)
Also Known As: La frágil voluntad
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Blanche Friderici, Charles Lane, Florence Midgley, James A. Marcus, Sophia Artega, Will Stanton, Raoul Walsh, Gloria Swanson, Charles Sullivan
Sadie Thompson arrives in Pago-Pago to start a new life, but when extremist missionary Davidson lashes out against her lifestyle and tries to force her back to San Francisco, she may lose her second chance.
Nana (1926) by Jean Renoir
accompanied by live music
Music Editing: Eleni Mitsiaki
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 129 minutes
Genre: Drama – Romance
Directed by Jean Renoir
Writing credits: Pierre Lestringuez (scenario), inspired by the novel by Émile Zola, Denise Leblond (intertitles)
Produced by Jean Renoir
Cinematography by Jean Bachelet, Edmund Corwin
Film Editing by Jean Renoir
Art Direction by Claude Autant-Lara
Costume Design by Claude Autant-Lara
Assistant Director André Cerf
Visual Effects by W. Percy Day
Country: France
Language: French intertitles
Release Date: 25 June 1926 (France)
Cast: Catherine Hessling, Pierre Lestringuez, Jacqueline Forzane, Werner Krauss, Jean Angelo, Raymond Guérin-Catelain, Claude Autant-Lara, Pierre Champagne, Karl Harbacher, Valeska Gert, Jacqueline Ford, Dennis Price, Gresham, Luc Dartagnan, Nita Romani, Roberto Pla, Gorieux
A proud but talentless young actress, Nana, dreams of a better life for herself, away from the tawdry slums of Paris. She gets her chance when a government official, Count Muffat, falls under her spell having watched her performance at the theatre. Through Muffat’s influence, Nana gets the starring role in her next play, but the play is a commercial disaster. Humiliated, Nana accepts Muffat’s offer of a new life as his mistress, living in the sumptuous apartment he provides for her. One day, Nana receives a visit from her hairdresser’s uncle, the Count de Vandeuvres, who proves to be an easy victim for her charms. Vandeuvres risks everything to win Nana for himself, but fails. Even Nana’s hairdresser, Hugon, is not immune to Nana’s charms. Jealous of Muffat, he kills himself, and the shock of his death drives Nana back to the life of drunken debauchery she thought she had escaped from…
Tagebuch einer verlorenen (Diary of a lost girl) – (1929) by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
accompanied by live music
Music Composition – Accompanied by live music: Argyro Koliogiorgi
Runtime: 107 minutes
Subtitles in Greek
Genre: Drama
Directed by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Writing credits: Margarete Böhme (novel), Rudolf Leonhardt
Produced by Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Original Music by Otto Stenzeel
Cinematography by Sepp Allgeier, Fritz Arno Wagner
Art Direction by Emil Hasler, Ernö Metzner
Production Management Heinz Landsmann, Victor Skutezky
Assistant Director Paul Falkenberg, Marc Sorkin
Country: Germany
Language: German intertitles (Subtitles in Greek)
Cast: Louise Brooks, André Roanne, Josef Rovenský, Fritz Rasp, Vera Pawlowa, Franziska Kinz, Arnold Korff, Andrews Engelmann, Valeska Gert, Edith Meinhard, Sybille Schmitz, Sig Arno, Kurt Gerron, Hedwig Schlichter, Hans Casparius, Jaro Fürth, Emmy Wyda
Thymiane is a beautiful young girl who is not having a storybook life. Her governess, Elizabeth, is thrown out of her home when she is pregnant, only to be later found drown. That same day, her father already has a new governess named Meta. Meinert, downstairs druggist, takes advance of her and gets Thymiane pregnant. When she refuses to marry, her baby is taken from her and she is put into a strict girls reform school. When Count Osdorff is unable to get the family to take her back, he waits for her to escape. She escapes with a friend and the friend goes with the Count while she goes to see her baby. Thymiane finds that her baby is dead, and the Count has put both girls up at a brothel. When her father dies, Thymiane marries the Count and becomes a Countess, but her past and her hatred of Meta will come back to her.
Stella Dallas (1925) by Henry King
accompanied by live music
Music Composition: Natali Mavraki
Performing:
Piano (Katerina Deligiannidou)
Violin (Andreas Chaniotis)
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 107 minutes
Genre: Drama
Directed by Henry King
Writing credits: Frances Marion (adaptation) Olive Higgins Prouty (novel)
Produced by Samuel Goldwyn
Original Music by Herman Rosen
Cinematography by Arthur Edeson
Film Editing by Stuart Heisler
Assistant Director Roger Heman Sr.
Costume & Wardrobe Dept Sophie Wachner
Country: USA
Language: English intertitles
Release Date: 16 November 1925 (USA)
Cast: Ronald Colman, Belle Bennett, Alice Joyce, Jean Hersholt, Beatrix Pryor, Lois Moran, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Vera Lewis, Maurice Murphy, Jack Murphy, Newton Hall, Charles Hatton, Robert W. Gillette, Winston Miller
Small-town Stella marries out of her class. When her husband leaves their hopeless marriage and returns to New York, she lavishes love on their daughter Laurel (Lois Moran), but later sacrifices the girl to a better life with her father and marriage to Douglas Fairbanks Jr. Down-at-heel Stella, watching the wedding through a window with tears streaming down her face, gave the cinema of weepy melodrama one of its most famous and enduring images.
The merry widow (1925) by Erich von Stroheim
accompanied by live music
Music Editing: Eleni Mitsiaki
laptop
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 137 minutes
Genre: Drama – Romance
Directed by Erich von Stroheim
Writing credits: Erich von Stroheim, Benjamin Glazer, Viktor Léon, Leo Stein, Marian Ainslee
Produced by Erich von Stroheim, Irving Thalberg
Cinematography by Oliver T. Marsh, William H. Daniels, Ray Rennahan, Ben F. Reynolds
Film Editing by Frank E. Hull, Margaret Booth
Costume Design by Richard Day, Erich von Stroheim
Country: USA
Cast: Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Roy D’Arcy, Josephine Crowell, George Fawcett, Tully Marshall, Edward Connelly
Prince Danilo falls in love with dancer Sally O’Hara. His uncle, King Nikita I of Monteblanco forbids the marriage because she is a commoner. Thinking she has been jilted by her prince, Sally marries old, lecherous Baron Sadoja, whose wealth has kept the kingdom afloat. When he dies suddenly, Sally must be wooed all over again by Danilo.
City girl (1930) by F.W. Murnau
Runtime: 90 minutes
Subtitles in Greek
The film will be screened with the original soundtrack composed for the film by Christopher Caliendo in 2010
Genre: Drama – Romance
Directed by F.W. Murnau
Writing credits: H.H. Caldwell, Katherine Hilliker, Elliott Lester, Marion Orth, Berthold Viertel
Cinematography by Ernest Palmer
Film Editing by H.H. Caldwell, Katherine Hilliker
Production Design by Edgar G. Ulmer
Art Direction by Harry Oliver
Costume Design by Sophie Wachner
Assistant Director Frank Powolny, William Tummel
Sound Department Harold Hobson
Country: USA
Language: English
Cast: Charles Farrell, Mary Duncan, David Torrence, Edith Yorke, Anne Shirley, Tom McGuire, Richard Alexander, Patrick Rooney, Ed Brady, Roscoe Ates
Lem goes to Chicago to sell the wheat his family has grown on their farm in Minnesota. There he meets the waitress Kate. They fall in love and get married before going back to the farm. Kate is accepted by Lem’s mother and kid sister but is rejected by his father, who believes she married for the money. (And the fact that Lem didn’t get a fair price for the wheat is her fault too). The reapers arrive and quickly they make things even more complicated by making their move on Kate. Lem misunderstands the situation and believes Kate is actually interested. In despair Kate leaves the farm and Lem goes looking for her.
The scarlet letter (1926) by Victor Sjöström
accompanied by live music
Music: Vasilis Milesis
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 98 minutes
Genre: Drama
Directed by Victor Sjöström
Writing credits: Nathaniel Hawthorne (novel), Frances Marion (adaptation, scenario, titles)
Produced by Victor Sjöström
Cinematography by Hendrik Sartov
Film Editing by Hugh Wynn
Set Decoration by Cedric Gibbons, Sidney Ullman
Costume Design by Max Rée
Country: USA
Language: English
Release Date: 8 January 1927 (USA)
Cast: Lillian Gish, Lars Hanson, Henry B. Walthall, Karl Dane, William H. Tooker, Marcelle Corday, Fred Herzog, Jules Cowles, Mary Hawes, Joyce Coad, James A. Marcus
In Puritan Boston, seamstress Hester Prynne is punished for playing on the Sabbath day; but kindly minister Arthur Dimmesdale takes pity on her. The two fall in love, but their relationship cannot be: Hester is already married to Roger Prynne, a physician who has been missing seven years. Dimmesdale has to go away to England; when he returns, he finds Hester pregnant with their child, and the focus of the town’s censure. In a humiliating public ceremony, she is forced to don the scarlet letter A – for adultery – and wear it the rest of her life. Dimmesdale is encouraged by the church fathers to demand of Hester the person with whom she sinned.
Ich möchte kein mann sein (I Wouldn’t Like to Be a Man) – (1920) by Ernst Lubitsch
Genre: Comedy – Romance
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch
Writing credits: Hanns Kräly, Ernst Lubitsch
Produced by Paul Davidson
Cinematography by Theodor Sparkuhl
Production Design by Kurt Richter
Country: Germany
Language: English intertitles
Cast: Ossi Oswalda, Curt Goetz, Ferry Sikla, Margarete Kupfer, Victor Janson
One of the first collaborations between Lubitsch and the exuberant Ossi Oswalda, Ich möchte kein Mann sein [I Wouldn’t Like to Be a Man] is a concise sketch of society life in three acts. When Ossi’s uncle goes away on a business trip, a new guardian steps in to tame the distractable niece. But Ossi finds a way out of the house and into a grand ball, by way of a brazen cross-dressing scheme , and triggers what is perhaps Lubitsch’s most twisted finale.
Young Ossi rebels against her authoritarian aunt and uncle by smoking, drinking and playing cards. If only she were a man she would be free to do all the things she enjoys! She gets her opportunity when her uncle goes away on a business trip. She dresses herself up as a man and goes off to a ball for an evening of unfettered masculine debauchery. Ossi soon discovers that there is a downside to being a man. Women shamelessly throw themselves at her feet, believing that she really is of the male sex. Then she runs into Dr Kersten, the man who is supposedly charged with watching over her in her uncles absence. Kersten invites Ossi to get drunk with him and, mistaking her for a pretty young man, starts to flirt with her. At this point, Ossi begins to realise how lucky she is not to be a man…
Afgrunden (The abyss) – (1910) by Urban Gad
(Runtime: 37΄)
Genre: Drama
Directed by Urban Gad
Produced by Hjalmar Davidsen
Written by Urban Gad
Cinematography by Alfred Lind
Release date(s): September 12, 1910 (Denmark), April 18, 1912 (U.S.)
Country: Denmark
Language: Danish intertitles
Also Known As: The Abyss and as Woman Always Pays
Starring: Asta Nielsen, Robert Dinesen, Poul Reumert, Hans Neergaard, Hulda Didrichsen, Emilie Sannom Oscar Stribolt, Arne Weel, Johannes Fønss,Torben Meyer
The lead performance and natural acting by Asta Nielsen led to her international stardom. Because of the overt eroticism of Nielsen’s performance, the film was censored in the United States.
Magda meets her fiancé and he invites her to visit him and his parents. While visiting them, a circus comes to town and Magda asks her fiancé to take her to the show. Afterwards one of the artists shows interest in Magda and her fiancé becomes jealous and brings her home. The artist follows and enters her room through the window. She runs off with the artist leaving a goodbye note. The fiancé later locates Magda, but she rejects him. We see Magda perform a gaucho dance on stage around the artist who she has tied up with a lasso but afterward the artist shows interest in another woman. Magda becomes jealous and starts a fight which gets her and the artist fired. She finds work as a piano player by which time her former fiancé sees her again. He sends her a note asking her to meet him. The artist follows Magda, interrupts their meeting and throws the fiancé out of the room. Magda starts a fight during which the artist drops dead on the floor. The police arrives and arrests Magda leaving the fiancé alone on the scene.
Asphalt (1929) by Joe May
accompanied by live music
Music Composition – Accompanied by live music: Spyros Loukos
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 90 minutes
Genre: Drama
Directed by Joe May
Writing credits: Joe May, Hans Székely (writer), Rolf E. Vanloo (screenplay) Rolf E. Vanloo (story)
Produced by Erich Pommer, Max Pfeiffer
Cinematography by Günther Rittau
Art Direction by Erich Kettelhut, Robert Herlth, Walter Röhrig
Costume Design by René Hubert
Camera & Electrical Dept: Hans Schneeberger
Country: Germany
Language: German (intertitles)
Release Date: 3 May 1930 (USA)
Also Known As: Der Polizeiwachtmeister und die Diamantenelse
Cast: Albert Steinrück, Else Heller, Gustav Fröhlich, Betty Amann, Hans Adalbert Schlettow, Hans Albers, Arthur Duarte, Paul Hörbiger, Trude Lieske, Karl Platen, Rosa Valetti, Hermann Vallentin, Kurt Vespermann
Asphalt (1929) is a German silent film. The film was one of the last silent films released in Germany as the world was entering the era of sound film.
One of the last great German Expressionist films of the silent era, Joe Mays Asphalt is a love story set in the traffic-strewn Berlin of the late 1920s. Starring the delectable Betty Amann in her most famous leading role, Asphalt is a luxuriously produced Ufa classic where tragic liaisons and fatal encounters are shaped alongside the constant roar of traffic.
The single standard (1929) by John S. Robertson
accompanied by live music
Accompanied by live music: Orestis Moraitis (piano & sound design) – George Maragkos (saxophone)
Subtitles in Greek
Runtime: 73 minutes
Genre: Drama – Romance
Directed by John S. Robertson
Writing credits: Adela Rogers St. Johns (novel), Josephine Lovett (adaptation and scenario),
Marian Ainslee (titles)
Produced by John S. Robertson
Original Music by William Axt
Cinematography by Oliver T. Marsh
Film Editing by Blanche Sewell
Art Direction by Cedric Gibbons
Costume Design by Adrian (gowns)
Camera & Electrical Dept: James Manatt, Nicholas Muray
Country: USA
Language: English intertitles
Release Date: 29 July 1929 (USA)
Cast: Greta Garbo, Nils Asther, Johnny Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, Lane Chandler, Mahlon Hamilton, Kathlyn Williams, Wally Albright, Wade Boteler, Drew Demorest, Jimmie Dundee, Bess Flowers, Anita Garvin, Joel McCrea, Robert Montgomery, Elliott Nugent, William H. O’Brien, Fred Solm
The wealthy Arden Stuart is bored in a party; after refusing the wedding proposal of Tommy Hewlett, she drives her car with her driver to a lonely place. She has one night stand with him and returns to the party; then she witnesses the driver being fired by a relative and committing suicide. In a rainy day, Arden goes to an exposition and meets the painter and aspirant boxer Packy Cannon. They sail to the South Seas together in his sailboat and Arden falls in love for him. However, a couple of months later, Packy dumps her and brings her back to her city, travelling to China alone. The heartbroken Arden is proposed again by Tommy and gets married with him. Three years later, Arden meets Packy by chance and becomes divided between her unconditional love for Packy and the love for her son.
