San Francisco Silent Film Festival
July 18-21, 2013
Castro Theatre
What drives an audience to the movies? Some viewers go to
see beloved stars, some for insightful directors, and some for a good laugh. Has
that changed since the advent of sound? Judging from this year’s lineup at the
San Francisco Silent Film Festival, running July 18-21 at the Castro Theatre,
not much has changed at all.
Film stars started to draw progressively larger salaries
during the silent period for a reason. Then, as now, a good actor provides the
entry point for viewers into a fictional landscape that takes them out of their
world and into adventure, and the 2013 festival offers one of the legends.
Douglas Fairbanks grew to be a major box office draw throughout the world
during the ‘20s with a series of swashbuckling period films, bringing to
cinematic life the adventures of iconic figures like Robin Hood and D'Artagnan.
The 2013 San Francisco Silent Film Festival affords attendees a chance to see one
of his early films, Allen Dwan’s The
Half-Breed (1916), recently restored through the efforts of the SFSFF and
the Cinémathèque française.
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| Douglas Fairbanks half naked in The Half-Breed |
Fairbanks plays Lo Dorman, the son of a Native American woman
and an unknown white father. He lives among the redwoods on the outskirts of a
small town, despised by the townfolks because of his ethnicity. He finds fellowship when he encounters Teresa
(Alma Rubens), a young woman hiding out from the law in the forest. The world
they share inevitably collides with the mores of the town. Günter Buchwald will accompany the screening
on the Mighty Wurlitzer. Buchwald has accompanied silent films for over 25
years, playing at silent film festivals around the world.
Certain
directors, like Dwan with Half-Breed, use an impressive landscape and
melodrama to depict human emotion. But some viewers choose their films based on
the sensitivities of an insightful director who reveals the human heart of
their characters through cinematic storytelling on a smaller scale. Yasujiro
Ozu was a master of depicting ordinary people struggling with big but familiar
circumstances, deftly blending comedy and drama for poignant results.
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| As with all of Ozu's films, family is paramount in Tokyo Chorus. |
In Ozu’s Tokyo
Chorus (1931), a young insurance man stands up for an older co-worker who
is neglected on bonus day, resulting in a humorously escalating tit-for-tat
with his boss, at the end of which he loses his job. The film depicts his
struggle to support his family during the economically tough times in
contemporary Japan. Ozu delicately portrays the emotional hardships involved, not
just the economic ones, as the family has to cope with the salesman’s loss of
status as well as income. Günter
Buchwald will again provide the musical accompaniment.
Sometimes what
an audience desires most from a film is escapism provided by laughter, to have
a talented comedian lead them into a madcap adventure from the security of
their theater seat. In Harold Lloyd’s Safety Last (1923), the small town
everyman struggles to better himself financially by moving to the big city. Lloyd’s
up-and-comer seizes opportunities as they arise with increasing risk of harm,
mainly of the bodily variety. He is Ozu’s everyman thrust into a Fairbanks
adventure.
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| Harold Lloyd running out of time in Safety Last |
Ultimately, the
desire to get ahead leads to one of the most famous and breathtaking stunts in
movie history: Lloyd’s climbing the façade of a 12-story building and hanging
precariously off a clock face, which starts slowly detaching itself from the
building. Lloyd climbed the building himself; no stunt man and no cinematic
tricks were involved. The Mont Alto Orchestra, a quintet dedicated to authentic silent picture accompaniment, will
accompany the film.
There are, of
course, differences between modern and silent era audiences. Contemporary
viewers can watch movies in their homes, but much is lost in doing so. Watching
films with an audience, laughing together, crying together, and being amazed
together heightens each viewer’s individual experience. To see a film on the
big screen of a movie palace immerses the viewer in a way that watching a film
on a TV screen, even a 65-inch high definition model, can’t. Of course, now
there are synchronized soundtracks to film, providing voices and a score. However,
the silent films weren’t watched in silence; live music accompanied the films,
adding enormously to the story unfolding onscreen. The SFSFF excels in bringing
the best silent film accompanists from around the world to play for the films.
The festival provides a chance to see silent films as intended: with an
audience, in a movie palace, and accompanied by live music.
Visit the SFSFFwebsite for the full schedule, program notes and ticket information.
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