A Light in The Darkness

Regional selections of Silent Era film this Fall and Winter begin with the long overdue return of Fritz Lang’s greatest work from film’s greatest year, and conclude with a weekend of surprises in Port Townsend.

Metropolis (1927)
November 16 - 18, SIFF Cinema (Nesholm Family Lecture Hall)

Precious few works of the Silent Era have remained within our cultural consciousness, before their restoration and revival. In her epic study of cinematic expressionism The Haunted Screen, Lotte Eisner refers to "…the noisy visual orchestration of Metropolis" as, "… a silent film – we can almost hear." Fritz Lang’s indelible image of dehumanized industrialization in a modern world, and the allegorical triumph of socialism, was realized with such terror and beauty that it has never been entirely forgotten.

Metropolis existed for decades in fragments, the analytical text of film scholars and in photographic stills. A modern re-release was first presented in 1962, followed by an horrific attempt to "re-interpret" the film for a modern audience in 1984, accompanied by a contemporary pop-rock musical score and garishly overdone tinting. It remains the most persuasive argument against "nightclub style" silent era film presentation, and the disrespectful mutilation of cinematic masterworks.

A breathtaking digital restoration of Metropolis produced by the F.W. Murnau Foundation was included in the retrospective program of the 2001 Berlin International Film Festival, accompanied by a live performance of Gottfried Huppertz’ original symphonic score. The new restoration, with a sparkling recorded version of the original 1927 score and English intertitles, will finally appear in Seattle this weekend. In conjunction with its "30 Years of Kino" program. SIFF Cinema will screen this stunning new print Friday, Saturday & Sunday, November 16, 17 & 18.

City Lights (1931)
November 22 – 26, SIFF Cinema (Nesholm Family Lecture Hall)

In simplest terms, this is my desert island movie. The dream of the perfect film experience exists with City Lights. Charles Chaplin agonized over three years of creative frustration, casting woes and the encroachment of sound, to produce his ultimate, "comedy romance in pantomime." It is the only film I never tire of watching, City Lights captures the viewer with its humanist message, while presenting Chaplin’s canon of humor, sadness, hope and sacrifice. It is the truest realization of cinema as poetry. With the addition of Chaplin’s brilliant and original musical score, City Lights is the culmination of a twenty-year rehearsal on film.

Video technology provides an opportunity for the detailed study of film. I recently found myself repeatedly watching the boxing sequence from City Lights on dvd, while reconsidering Chaplin’s hypnotic use of sound effects and the score to augment the movement of the actors. How did he do it? No amount of study however, can equal the experience of seeing this film in a theater, with an audience, on a big screen.

Doubles …

Seattle was the first city to screen City Lights after Los Angeles and New York Premieres. Chaplin’s film opened on the morning of Friday, February 20, 1931, with simultaneous 10 a.m. shows at both of John Hammrick’s 5th Avenue theaters, The Blue Mouse and The Music Box. Advertisements in The Seattle Daily Times heralded City Lights as "Too big for any one theatre." With identical programs except for the newsreels, "popular" ticket prices at both houses were fifty cents for adults and twenty-five cents for children.

SIFF Cinema presents City Lights as part of its "30 years of Kino" program, Thursday – Monday, November 22 – 26.

Next ….

Buster Keaton, The SFSFF Winter Program and
The Second Annual Port Townsend Silent Film Festival