Our focus this week is on the third edition of the film identification workshop Mostly Lost, including a special, additional Saturday program at the State Theatre.
Thursday, July 17 (7:30 p.m.)
Linda (First Division, 1929)
Mrs. Wallace Reid (Dorothy Davenport) directed this silent drama starring Helen Foster as Linda Stillwater, a bright young girl from a poor mountain family. Linda’s brutal father forces her to marry Armstrong Decker, the elderly head of the local lumber mill, although she is in love with the town doctor. Noah Beery Sr., Warner Baxter, Kate Price and Bess Flowers also star in the film, which was photographed by eight-time Oscar nominee Ernest Laszlo. Ben Model will provide live musical accompaniment on the theater organ for this new 35mm print from the Library of Congress Film Preservation Lab.
Friday, July 18 (7:30 p.m.)
The Good Bad Man (Triangle, 1916)
Douglas Fairbanks stars as “Passin’ Through,” a cowboy Robin-Hood type who robs from the rich and gives to orphaned children. Along the way, he seeks revenge for past evils visited upon his family by The Wolf (Sam De Grasse) and finds a sweetheart (Bessie Love). Allan Dwan directed this lively western, which was produced and written by Fairbanks and photographed by Victor Fleming in picturesque Tucson. This new restoration was produced by a three-way partnership among the San Francisco Silent Film Festival, Cinémathèque Française, and the Film Preservation Society. Film historian Rob Byrne will introduce the film and Philip Carli will provide live musical accompaniment on the Walker theater organ.
Saturday, July 19 (7:30 p.m.)
A Brief History of Time (Triton, 1991)
In this film adaptation of physicist Stephen Hawking’s book about the origins of the universe, director Errol Morris has woven together graphics, interviews and archival material in a story about both Hawking’s life and science. David Ansen in Newsweek has called it, “an elegant, inspirational and mysterious movie. Morris turns abstract ideas into haunting images, and keeps them spinning in the air with the finesse, and playfulness, of a master juggler.” Philip Glass composed the original score for the documentary.
Saturday, July 19 (7:30 p.m.) at the State Theatre
“An Evening of Silent Comedy Shorts” (1917-1928)
The renowned Washington D.C.-based Snark Ensemble will perform its original and spirited scores for a program of silent comedy shorts at the historic State Theatre in downtown Culpeper. Included on the program are There It Is (1928), a surrealist live action, stop-motion animation “haunted house” spoof, starring Charley Bowers; The Hansom Cabman (1924), a hangover comedy with baby-faced Harry Langdon, Marceline Day and Andy Clyde; Married to Order (1920), directed by and starring Charley Chase with Oliver Hardy; and Charlie Chaplin’s Behind the Screen (1916). Admission is $6 and tickets are available at the door.