The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson, an Administrative Assistant at the Packard Campus.
Thursday, June 11 (7:30 p.m.)
**This screening is part of the “Mostly Lost” Film Identification Workshop. It is open to the public, but seating may be limited.
Norma Talmadge Double Feature
The Moth (Select Pictures, 1917)
Norma Talmadge stars as a confused young woman married too young, and, realizing her empty life, slowly (and somewhat fitfully) takes charge of herself and gets her life in order. Directed by Edward Jose, the drama also stars Eugene O’Brien and Adolphe Menjou. The film survives only in an incomplete form as the last reels have been lost due to nitrate deterioration. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Ben Model.
The Only Woman (First National, 1924)
In this rarely seen film, a father on the edge of dishonor forces his dutiful daughter (Norma Talmadge) into a marriage with the deadbeat falling-down drunk son of a wealthy banker. According to Talmadge historian Greta de Grote, “Norma plays a more assertive role than usual, standing up to her father-in-law, taking her husband in hand, and even accomplishing the rare movie feat of conking the villain on the head with a bottle while he fights with the hero–though she doesn’t have sense enough to finish the job (that apparently being man’s work). A shipwreck sequence is very exciting and well-staged and production values are overall high.” Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Andrew Simpson.
Friday, June 12 (7:30 p.m.)
Behind the Scenes: Restoring Chaplin’s Essanay Comedies
Serge Bromberg, film preservationist and founder of Paris-based Lobster Films, will present a program detailing the efforts to return Charlie Chaplin’s second year of film work–when he left Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios to produce comedies for the Essanay Film Company–back to original form. Comedy shorts on the program include “The Bank” and “A Night in the Show,” both from 1915, with live musical accompaniment by Bromberg. The event is part of the Mostly Lost film identification workshop and is open to the public. It will be held at the State Theatre, 305 S. Main St. in Culpeper and there is a $10 admission charge at the door.
Saturday, June 13 (7:30 p.m.)
Sherlock Holmes (Essanay, 1916)
William Gillette, who created and established himself as the world’s foremost interpreter of Sherlock Holmes on stage, stars in one of the earliest American film adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous detective. Following its initial release, the film faded from view and in modern times had been counted among the “lost” films of the silent era. All this changed last year when a complete duplicate negative of the French edition of the film was identified in the vaults of the Cinematheque Française. Since that monumental discovery, the Cinematheque and the San Francisco Silent Film Festival have collaborated on a complete restoration of the historic film.
For this east coast premiere of a long lost treasure, San Francisco Silent Film Festival board president Robert Byrne will introduce and describe the meticulous process of reconstructing and restoring the film. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Philip Carli. The event is part of the Mostly Lost film identification workshop and is open to the public. It will be held at the State Theatre, 305 S. Main St. in Culpeper and there is a $10 admission charge at the door.
For more information on our programs, please visit the web site at www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.