Buster Keaton, Douglas Fairbanks and Dr Caligari are among the highlights at the 2nd Silent Film Festival in Thailand. They will be joined by Alfred Hitchcock, Anna May Wong and an early Russian masterpiece at the movie event that runs from Wednesday to June 17 at Lido and Scala.
Last year, the first Silent Film Festival was a surprise hit among Bangkok cinephiles, with many screenings full or almost full, and with the closing event at Scala — in which Hitchcock's The Lodger was screened to live piano accompaniment by Trisdee Na Phattalung and Somtow Sucharitkul — became one of the most memorable nights in recent cinema-going experience. Organised by Film Archive (Public Organisation), the festival proved that the antiquated mode of dialogue-less cinema remains a treasure that contemporary viewers still appreciate.
This year, the festival returns with another solid line-up, and again with professional piano accompanists — Stephen Horne, Mauro Colombis and Dr Anothai Nitibhon — who'll take turns to perform live at every screening. The programme includes German Expressionist classic The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari; Hitchcock's Blackmail; a newly discovered version of Sherlock Holmes; two films starring silent star Douglas Fairbanks; a Danish classic; and an early experimental Russian opus Man With A Movie Camera, which is ranked No.8 of the all-time greatest films ever made in the latest poll by the British Film Institute.
Tickets, which are 120 baht at Lido and 200 baht at Scala, are on sale now. A combo pack of 800 baht for eight movies are also available. Visit www.facebook.com/silentfilmthailand for more.
The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (Germany, 1920)
June 10, 8pm, and June 15, 6pm
- The jagged, twisted and starkly bizarre world of German Expressionism is in full force here in the story of a hypnotist, a somnambulist, an insane asylum and a murder case foretold by a prophecy. Made after World War I, the film is influenced by the Surrealists of the 1920s and the raw energy of underground art that predated the rise of Nazism. It was directed by Robert Wiene and written by Hans Janowitz and Carl Mayer.
Blackmail.
Man With A Movie Camera (Russia, 1929)
June 13, 12.30pm, and June 16, 6pm
- Hailed as one of the greatest films ever made, Dziga Vertov's avant-garde Man With A Movie Camera is cinema at its most daring and socially reflective at the time of its release. Structurally sophisticated, the film — shot over three years in Moscow, Odessa and Kiev — uses quick-cutting montage to lay out the topography of faces, streets, machines, vehicles, construction, cities, and at the same time pulls back, meta-style, to show a man with a movie camera who's documenting all of this for the viewers.
Steamboat Bill Jr (US, 1928)
June 14, 3pm, and June 15, 8pm
- Buster Keaton on a big screen in Bangkok — that's what we've been waiting for. In Steamboat Bill Jr, Keaton plays the title character, the owner of a paddle steamer who's awaiting the return of his son, Willie, from college. Naturally, Bill expects Willie to have grown into a muscular young man, but the figure that shows up at his door is a puny, clumsy offspring with a pencil moustache. Things get more chaotic when Willie falls in love with the daughter of Bill's competitor.
Sherlock Holmes (US, 1916)
June 11, 6pm, and June 14, 8pm
- This American version of Sherlock Holmes, directed by Arthur Berthelet, was initially thought to be lost. Last year, a print of the film was discovered at Cinematheque Francaise, and Bangkok is one of the earliest venues the restored film will be screened. The film stars William Gillette, a theatre actor famous for playing the pipe-smoking detective on stage, and the story involves Holmes' attempt to retrieve a letter from a woman who's blackmailing a man connected with the British royal family.
Blackmail (UK, 1929)
June 12, 8pm, and June 14, 5.30pm
- An early Hitchcock film, Blackmail was released in both sound and silent versions in 1929, with the latter becoming more popular. The story involves Alice, a grocer's daughter who kills a man who tried to sexually assault her. Alice's policeman boyfriend covers up for her, but someone knows the secret and is out to blackmail her. The version showing at the festival has been recently restored.
The Half Breed (US, 1916) and The Good Bad Man (US, 1916)
June 11, 8pm, and June 14, 12.30pm
- Two films starring Douglas Fairbanks are presented in the same programme (each film is about 50 minutes long). Directed by Allan Dwan, the two films showcase Fairbanks in swashbuckling roles — in The Good Bad Man he plays a kind-hearted outlaw, and in The Half Breed he's a half-Native American who tussles with a sheriff.
Once Upon A Time (Denmark 1922)
June 12, 6pm, and June 13, 8pm
- From the renowned director Carl Theodor Dreyer (who would go on to make the classic The Passion Of Joan Of Arc), this Danish film is based on a fairy tale about a princess who's banished by her father to live a harsh life with a pauper. But of course, the pauper is not a pauper but a prince in disguise.
Piccadilly (UK, 1929)
June 13, 5.30pm, and June 16, 8pm
- Anna May Wong was the first Chinese-American movie star and the first Asian-American actress to gain international recognition. She became a fashion icon in 1924 after starring in The Thief Of Bagdad, but Wong could play only stereotypical roles due to Hollywood's racial prejudices, so she moved to Europe and became a sensation in many films. Piccadilly was Wong's first British film, and her final silent film. She plays Shosho, the waitress who becomes a famous dancer at Piccadilly Circus.
The Epic Of Everest (UK, 1924)
June 17, 8pm
- The festival's closing film is a record of George Mallory and Andrew Irvine's expedition to the summit of Mount Everest. All revenue from ticket sales will go charitable causes to help victims of Nepal's earthquake.
Steamboat Bill Jr.
