Recapping The San Francisco Silent Film Festival 2024! (Plus A Giveaway)

If I seemed absent for the past week or so, it’s because I had the joy of finally returning to the San Francisco Silent Film Festival for the first time since 2019! (Gee, I wonder what happened in the last few years…?) It was another lovely event of taking in over twenty film programs, all with fabulous live accompaniment, and reuniting with friends to talk film, film, film! I was back in my element at last.

This year we also had a new location since the usual venue, the 1920s-era Castro Theatre, is being renovated/restored (the restoration is good news, but their complete revamping of the orchestra-level seating has been controversial to put it mildly). Our home for those five days was the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre, located on what used to be the grounds of the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition (of Mabel and Fatty Viewing the World’s Fair at San Francisco fame *wink*). I was able to walk around the reconstructed Palace between showings, and oh me oh my, what a gorgeous structure!

It really needs to be experienced in person!

While I missed the grandeur and nostalgia of the Castro, I thought the new (temporary?) venue was very nice, with tons of lobby space and comfortable seats. The rows were staggered so you never had to worry about someone’s head in your way. And, most importantly, it had bigger bathrooms!

So here’s my recap of all the showings–I saw almost every single one, as usual! Starting with:

Opening Night, Wednesday, April 10

The Black Pirate (1926).

Showing #1: The Black Pirate (1926) starring Douglas Fairbanks. USA, 97 minutes. Accompanied by the Donald Sosin Ensemble — After surviving the destruction of a ship by pirates and witnessing the death of his father, a quick-witted nobleman decides to disguise himself as a dangerous buccaneer and seek revenge.
My Verdict: This is one of Doug’s great classics, and I’d never seen a more beautiful print! Its recent restoration fully brought out its two-strip Technicolor glory, which had been designed to evoke the colors and lighting of Old Masters paintings. It was magnificent on the huge screen–as was Doug’s famous physique, I might add!–and had jaunty accompaniment by an ensemble headed by Donald Sosin.

The Muse Of Steel And Electricity: Brigitte Helm

There is the glittering scythe and behind it the swing of the scythe. That is Helm, acting.

–Robert Herring, 1930

Her screen presence hovered somewhere between “virginal” and “vamp,” although she was usually typecast as the latter. Her smooth face, with its delicate features and fine eyebrows, looked almost feline, simultaneously beautiful and strange. We’ve all heard fanciful stories of hopeful young actresses plucked from obscurity and rocketed to fame. For her, the tale was true. “What hundreds of thousands of girls dream of, what every little actress longs for, came true for her overnight,” proclaimed the Kinematograph magazine. “It almost sounds like a fairy tale, the story of the little actress Brigitte Helm, who is now one of our [biggest] actresses.”

Perhaps “fairytale” is a bit rosy, for Helm was the first to state that her story mostly involved long hours in the heat and dust of the UFA studios. But what a prolific career it was, with German directors vying to give her leads in film after film. And in time, with fame and fortune securely under her belt, she chose to leave it all behind without a shred of regret.

Exploring The Pressbook For “The General” (1927)

I know I’ve been on a bit of a “ballyhoo” kick since the blogathon, but this is the last post for now–it’s too good not to share!

As I’ve explained in my last couple posts, exhibitors had plenty of tricks up their sleeves to entice audiences, from colorful lobby displays to elaborate advertising stunts. Seeing this, shrewd film distributors began sending pressbooks to theaters in advance of their upcoming features. These books included exploitation ideas, press releases for the local papers, pre-written reviews, forms for ordering posters and lobby cards, and more–a one-stop exploitation shop in one handy pamphlet.

And I was happy to see that one such pressbook that still survives today is for Buster Keaton’s great classic The General! Let’s take a tour, shall we?

Ballyhoo!–The Colorful Era Of Early Movie Theater “Exploitation”

After writing about exploitation for Buster’s films I got the urge to dig up this older article of mine, a version of which originally appeared in a 2017 issue of Silent Film Quarterly. Hope you enjoy!

Moviegoing today is a pretty straightforward experience. A preview piques your curiosity. At the theater, you buy your ticket at the counter–or maybe you skip the counter and swipe your credit card at a computer. As you walk through the lobby you pass a couple cardboard displays for the latest blockbusters, filling a bit of space. Simple and expected, just like you’ve always known.

But what if I told you that your great-grandparents might’ve heard about the latest film by seeing a Model T drive by covered in ads? Or by watching a parade march down the street in the film’s honor? Or by seeing a whole theater facade decked out in cowboy decorations for the latest Western picture, or sporting palm tree and camel cutouts for the newest “sheik” romance?

Exhibitor’s Herald, Sept. 8 1923.

Today’s theater displays are arguably small, modest remnants of the grand displays of the 1910s and 1920s. And previews? They were but one of a thousand ways that overly-creative theater owners attracted their customers. Welcome to the age of crazy publicity stunts–or, as exhibitors called them back then, “ballyhoo” and “exploitation”! 

~A Big Thank You To All!~

And just like that, our 10th Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon is a wrap! Buster himself would like to pop in and say:

Is that not a fabulous, rare picture?! Its source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis, Missouri, Sunday Nov. 15, 1953, page 143. In case you wanted to know!

Yes, a hearty THANK YOU to all the bloggers for contributing your time, skills and hard work to this milestone blogathon! And an equally hearty THANK YOU to the many readers who stopped by (and are still stopping by!) to make this event a success.

As promised, here are the results of the drawing for participating bloggers, the prize being a Criterion Collection Blu-ray of The Cameraman! My 1920s-style cloche hat makes her annual appearance for this prestigious drawing–she never lets us down:

*Drumroll* And the winner is:

Congratulations Edendale Cyclorama (great blog name by the way), I’ll be in touch! NOTE: If you already have The Cameraman, let me know if I should draw another name–I know we fans tend to have a sizable Keaton library.

Thanks again, everyone…until next year!

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“Keaton Takes The Honors!”–Tie-Ups And Ballyhoo In The Age Of Exhibiting Buster

This is my own post for the 10th Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon–I hope you enjoy it!

What was the moviegoing experience like when Buster Keaton films were first released back in 1920-1928? If you’re imagining seeing a few Buster posters displayed at the front of a theater, buying a paper ticket from a gal in a little glass booth and then heading inside to enjoy a couple short films and Sherlock Jr. all accompanied by a rinky-tink piano…okay, you’re on the right track.

Maybe the theater looked just like this!

But! There was much more to the picture (so to speak). If there’s anything you should know about the Jazz Age theater-going experience, it’s that theater owners didn’t just think of themselves as business managers–no, my friends, they were showmen. And they had innumerable tricks up their sleeves to entice audiences to their latest films. Let’s see how Buster’s films were marketed back in the age of “ballyhoo”!

~The 10th Annual Buster Keaton Blogathon~

It has begun! We’ve done it, my friends: We’ve reached the 10-year milestone of this online event. There’s not a lot of blogathons that have this distinction–just amazing!

Fitting for this decade-long celebration of all things Buster, our turnout this year is excellent! There’s a wide variety of posts in store, definitely a little something for everyone. I’m happy to see that not only a lot of our previous blogathon “veterans” have returned, but we have some new joiners, too! Welcome everyone!!

Less Than A Week Until Busterthon 10!

Only a few days to go, my friends, until we reunite for our 10th straight year of celebrating our favorite comedian!

It’s exciting to see how many of you signed up–I know it’s going to be another memorable event! I’ve been gearing up for the event with Comique shorts viewings, myself (they are the gifts that don’t stop giving).

The Traditional Update: As I do every year, I’ll be holding a “Thank You” drawing for all blogathon participants. This year the prize will be a Blu-ray copy of The Cameraman (1928)–the Criterion Collection version, mind you. This is one of the finest, most charming comedies of the 1920s if you ask me! The drawing will be held on March 6, conducted with assistance from my trusty cloche hat.

The Roster:

Silent-ology | “‘Keaton Takes The Honors!’–Tie-Ups And Ballyhoo In The Age Of Exhibiting Buster” article, and…

A roundup of Buster posts I’ve written in the past

The Thoughts of One Truly Loved | Music video “The Joy of Buster Keaton”

nitrateglow | Spite Marriage (1929)

Cinematica | Special essay on Buster

Wolffian Classic Movies Digest | Review of Buster shorts and a review roundup

Edendale Cyclorama | Buster and the influence of Mack Sennett and William Selig

Gary McGath | Steamboat Bill Jr (1927)

Big V Riot Squad | Three Ages (1923)

Taking Up Room | Steamboat Bill Jr (1927)

Welcome to my Magick Theatre | Sherlock Jr (1924)

Silver Screenings | Cops (1922)

18 Cinema Lane | “Once Upon a Time” episode of The Twilight Zone

Crítica Retrô | The Great Buster (2018)

In the Good Old Days of Classic Hollywood | The General (1927)

The Everyday Cinephile | The Saphead (1920)

Whimsically Classic | Our Hospitality (1923)

Silent Locations | “Buster Keaton’s San Francisco Footsteps.”

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See you in a few days!!

Thoughts On DeMille’s “The Affairs of Anatol” (1921)

Most of us have a weakness for a “so bad it’s good” film, something so cringey or badly written that you have no choice but to love it. Or, at least, snicker in wonder that those lines were left in, and that ludicrous plot twist was considered a good idea, and my gosh, why wasn’t that horrible special effect scrubbed entirely?

Could I pick a few silent films that fit the “so bad it’s good” bill? Other than a no-brainer like The Sheik (1921), it’s not an easy question–in my opinion, anyways. Silents tend to come in five flavors: Masterpieces of Cinematic Art, Really Good, Pretty Good, Dull, or Just Plain Awful. The Just Plain Awful also has multiple subcategories (one is “Italian Stage Divas Who Don’t Translate Well to Film”).

Sorry, Pina.

But as far as “so bad it’s good”? Here’s the deal: if a silent film’s bad, it’s usually just plain ol’ bad, if you get what I mean. It’s boring, or the story’s been done a zillion times, or the plot is preposterous and it’s a good half hour too long, etc. Instead, what tends to come to my mind is a film that’s quite good and well-made, but has preposterous things in it. And thus I come to a film like The Affairs of Anatol (1921).

Yes, there’s some hypnosis involved.

Repost: Clara Bow–The Eternal “It” Girl

Clara Bow–The Eternal “It” Girl

It’s come to my attention that a certain Wildly Popular Female Popstar has a song called “Clara Bow” on her upcoming album, bringing a sudden flurry of interest in this legendary “It” girl actress–seems like the perfect time to reblog this post! I wrote this piece on Clara’s life and career a few years ago, and it remains one of the profiles I’m most proud of. Whether you’re a regular reader or brand new to my site, I hope you enjoy it!

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