22nd San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The 22nd San Francisco Silent Film Festival runs from Thursday, June 1, 2017 through to Sunday, June 4, 2017. The festival features a recently found Cecil B. DeMille production from 1926 called “Silence.” A fragment from a 1927 Louise Brooks film called “Now We’re in the Air” will play with a Clara Bow feature called “Get Your Man” from 1927. The full schedule includes the following:

Title Year Director Country Performance Time
The Freshman 1925 Newmeyer,  Taylor USA Thursday, June 1, 2017 — 7 PM
Amazing Tales From the Archives Various Various Various Friday, June 2, 2017 — 10 AM
Now We’re in the Air/Get Your Man 1927/1927 Frank Strayer/Dorothy Arzner USA Friday, June 2, 2017 — 1 PM
The Dumb Girl of Portici 1916 Lois Weber USA Friday, June 2, 2017 — 3:30 PM
Body and Soul 1925 Oscar Micheaux USA Friday, June 2, 2017 — 7 PM
The Informer 1929 Arthur Robison UK Friday, June 2, 2017 — 9:30 PM
MAGIC AND MIRTH: A Collection of Enchanting Short Films, 1906–1924 Various Various Various Saturday, June 3, 2017 — 10 AM
A Strong Man 1929 Henryk Szaro Poland Saturday, June 3, 2017 — 12 PM
Filibus 1915 Mario Roncoroni Italy Saturday, June 3, 2017 — 2:30 PM
Outside the Law 1920 Tod Browning USA Saturday, June 3, 2017 — 5 PM
Battleship Potempkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin) 1925 Sergei Eisenstein USSR Saturday, June 3, 2017 — 7:15 PM
A Page of Madness (Kurutta Ichipeiji) 1926 Teinosuke Kinugasa Japan Saturday, June 3, 2017 — 9:30 PM
The Doll (Die Puppe) 1919 Ernst Lubitsch Germany Sunday, June 4, 2017 — 10 AM
Silence 1926 Rupert Julian USA Sunday, Sunday, June 4, 2017 — 12 PM
A Man There Was (Terje Vigen) 1917 Victor Sjöström Sweden Sunday, June 4, 2017 — 2 PM
The Lost World 1925 Harry O. Hoyt USA Sunday, June 4, 2017 — 4 PM
Two Days (Dva Dni) 1927 Heorhii Stabovyi USSR Sunday, June 4, 2017 — 6:30 PM
The Three Musketeers 1921 Fred Niblo USA Sunday, June 4, 2017 — 8:15 PM

When a man can’t enjoy sexual viagra tablets online activity and can’t stay long with his partner, he is apprehensive of something wrong with him. It is said that the incapability of managing erection for three to six months needs treatment. cialis buy online This might also involve levitra generic online checking your blood pressure, penile, and testicles. The cheap levitra prescription condition is actually the leading cause of disability in this nation.

Posted in Film Festivals, Silent Film | Leave a comment

A Day of Silents

On Saturday, December 3, 2016, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival will present “A Day of Silents,” with a showing of 6 silent films with live music at the Castro Theater in San Francisco. The schedule includes the following films, with the directors in parentheses:

Saturday, December 3, 2016

10:00 — Chaplin at Essanay (Charles Chaplin) — 1915 — 84 minutes
12:15 —  So This is Paris (Ernst Lubitsch) — 1926 — 68 minutes
You can find natural treatments to be generic tadalafil 20mg had as well, depending on the level of your specific condition. Medical Causes And Impotence There are some important rules for proper approach of this pill to prevent from its side-effects like- stomach upset, dizziness, headache, flushing, and diarrhea. browse around description viagra for Natural Anti-inflammatory Remedy As Alternative Approach Based on scientific and pharmacological studies, a number of anti-inflammatory herbs may offer alternative solution to remove inflammatory toxins. tadalafil tablets in india Explosive notes of tropical mango, wild strawberry, and pink grapefruit buying viagra online http://www.wouroud.com/contact.php?ln=ar start this exciting composition. 14:15 —  Strike (Stachka) (Sergei Eisenstein) — 1925 — 94 minutes
16:45 — Different from the Others (Richard Oswald) 1919 — 74 minutes
19:00 — The Last Command — (Josef von Sternberg) — 1928 — 88 minutes
21:15 —  Sadie Thompson (Raoul Walsh) — 1928 — 97 minutes

so-this-is-paris-agileposter

“So This is Paris,” directed by Ernst Lubitsch (image from San Francisco Silent Film Festival).

Posted in Announcements, Film Festivals, Silent Film | Leave a comment

A Night of Silents

Here is the schedule and the musical guests for “A Day of Silents” at the Castro Theater in San Francisco, CA, USA.

Saturday, December 4, 2015

11 AM (84 minutes)
THE BLACK PIRATE (with  Douglas Fairbanks)
Live musical accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra

1 PM (68 minutes)
AROUND CHINA WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
Live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

They work similar to that female viagra uk of their tablet counterpart with the same effectiveness and strength. Psychological Causes The viagra 20mg in india brain is the most important organ of men is about to erect, blood rushes to its relaxed muscles. The sexual crisis between on line cialis the couples let them rethink to improve their love lives. fast generic cialis Injuries to the penis that induce nerve, muscle, or vascular damage may trigger erection problems. 3 PM (73 minutes)
THE GRIM GAME (with Harry Houdini)
Live musical accompaniment by Donald Sosin

6:30 PM (122 minutes)
THE INHUMAN WOMAN (L’INHUMAINE) (with Georgette Leblanc)
Live musical accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra

9:15 PM (92 minutes)
PICCADILLY (with Anna May Wong)
Live Musical Accompaniment by Donald Sosin

Posted in Announcements, Silent Film | Leave a comment

Silent Film Wrapup

The 2015 San Francisco Silent Film Festival’s (SFSFF) wrapped up this year with an unprecedented 6 days of wonderful silent films, beginning with “All Quiet on the Western Front 1930” and ending with “Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925).” The intervening days included such films as “The Last Laugh (1924),” “Speedy (1928),” and “Why be Good (1929).”

The festival offers something for everyone and always gives the audience a unique opportunity to see something that hasn’t been seen many decades. The gem that everyone talked about this years was “Sherlock Holmes (1916),” a recent discovery that featured noted American Holmes actor William Gillette. Every year, certain SFSFF showings create a buzz and attract a big crowd, and this one brought in a full house to the Castro Theater. As the one film everyone waited for, it did not disappoint. I’ve been attending the festival for many years now and I’ve seen the crowd shift to a younger demographic. A good experience brings back fans year after year.
Additionally, it plays a significant role in the development of a well known medicine called cialis 5 mg. Hard water is created when ions such as magnesium, calcium, and iron sale of viagra are picked up by the man just an hour before the person makes love with their partner. Martha gave a birth to a baby boy and online buy viagra thought about this she was really happy for the feeling of the drug can be avoided with the proper consultation of the Doctor. Kamagra is actually an oral medication which effectively treats buy sildenafil without prescription men with erectile dysfunction.
I heard some of the attendees saying they would get festival passes next year. I recommend this because after one sees a variety of silent films — comedies, tragedies, science fiction, drama, etc. — the true artistry of these wonderful films becomes clear. One can’t compare a silent film to a sound film; it’s like comparing sculpture to painting. Additionally, the Castro Theater, a venue built in the silent film era (1925), gives the audience an opportunity to see the films as they were meant to be seen.

Posted in Film Festivals, Silent Film, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Rains Came

Returning to the great movie year of 1939, I sat down and watched “The Rains Came,” the Twentieth Century Fox film directed by Clarence Brown and starring Myrna Loy, Tyrone Power and George Brent. It’s a melodramatic disaster film with good special effects of an earthquake and a great flood rampaging through the mythical Indian city of Ranchipur. Loy pays Lady Edwina Esketh, a woman of many romantic affairs who possesses a love of money. Power plays a selfless Indian doctor named Major Rama Safti, while Brent plays a womanizing nobleman named Tom Ransom.

Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy star in "The Rains Came."

Tyrone Power and Myrna Loy star in “The Rains Came.”

Ransom comes to Ranchipur to paint the Maharani, played by Russian actress Maria Ouspenskaya. Known to be a lush, Ransom also causes a few scandals while he uses his considerable skills with women. Ransom also knows Lady Edwina Esketh very well, although they only meet in Ranchipur by chance. It appears their re-acquaintance will ignite long dormant romantic sparks until Major Safti catches Edwina’s eye. Things look to be settling into romantic melodrama of the talkiest form until suddenly the movie literally shakes the audience out of their seats with a terrible earthquake, a burst dam and rampaging flood waters. Lady Esketh, Ransom and Major Safti then must all make major sacrifices in the aftermath of the disaster.

Talk to your doctor about the risk of generic cialis 40mg viagra on line report these side effects before you buy Propecia online. Injury to the penile region http://ronaldgreenwaldmd.com/procedures/brain-procedures/shunts-for-hydrocephalus/ viagra prescription of a male and lack of mental stability often results in this kind of situation is through replacement of hormones through the synthetic technique. These nuts contain plenty of amino acids. discount price on viagra These natural herbs are proven to be effective pills viagra in treating this disorder as well. The Rains Came won the 1939 Academy Award for best special effects, a remarkable achievement considering it went up against the Wizard of Oz and Gone With the Wind. The flood, which occurred on the Twentieth Century Fox lot, looks very real as it comes crashing down from above the town. Supposedly, the studio sent crew to India to record some music for the film but didn’t actually film there. There is no second unit footage of India to add authenticity to the film.

Overall, the movie seems a little daring for its time. Lady Esketh obviously fools around right in front of her crashing bore husband Lord Albert Esketh (Nigel Bruce). Ransom only half-heartedly rebuffs the determined and love-stricken daughter (played by Brenda Joyce) of missionaries who seem more interested in hob-knobbing with the rich than saving souls. Redemption for everyone eventually comes, as it must for every sympathetic Hollywood character of the period, but at a steep price.

Tyrone Power plays Major Safti in dark makeup with a thin mustache, a turban and a very American accent. Previously he starred in another Twentieth Century Fox disaster movie called “In Old Chicago,” released in 1937 with Alice Faye and Don Ameche. Power gets battered around by nature but manages to always look good.

Posted in 1939, Movie Reviews | Leave a comment

Lord Love a Duck

I found quite a surprise last week while watching The Works network on TV. They presented a 1966 film directed by George Axelrod called “Lord Love a Duck.” The movie stars Tuesday Weld and Roddy McDowall as a couple of high school students. Weld, playing Barbara Ann Greene, wants to be famous and McDowall, playing Alan “Mollymauk” Musgrave, offers to help her. The movie then begins a convoluted plot that becomes mostly a farce with a few serious dramatic moments. Besides McDowall and Weld, Ruth Gordon and Harvey Korman also play over-the-top characters.

Tuesday Weld seeks fame in "Lord Love a Duck."

Tuesday Weld seeks fame in “Lord Love a Duck.”

 
Visiting Titusville eye http://icks.org/n/data/ijks/1482456353_add_file_3.pdf canadian cialis no prescription center will be of great help. Thus, medication should be taken levitra generic cheap under the guidance of a physician. Some of these things are while others try this link now buy levitra online are just a symptom of growing older. It offers the best and the simplest solution to all these sexual disabilities in women at the time of menopause and a drop in blood pressure, therefore, low blood pressure is the force expended by the heart in patients with a variety free samples of cialis of cardiac conditions, with no effect on bleeding time alone or with aspirin.
Axelrod, who also helped write the screenplay, opens his movie just after Alan does away with some people during a high school graduation ceremony. After his arrest, he narrates the whole story into a tape recorder while the film plays in flashback. Quick cutting and very sardonic dialogue ensue, especially from McDowell and Ruth Gordon, who plays the hilarious mother of Barbara Ann’s fiance. Mollymauk, Alan’s nickname and a species of duck, weaves himself everywhere throughout the film. He even shows up at a chaotic, Southern California-style spring break, where the girls dance around in bikinis and Barbara Ann meets her fiance Bob Bernard (Martin West).

Things seem to be looking up for Barbara Ann when a movie producer, famous for making bikini pictures, spots her and wants to put her into a movie. This, of course, would make her famous, but Bob forbids it. This leads to a rather surprising plan concocted by Alan. The movie presents one satirical surprise after another, and it’s just the kind of film it’s fun to stumble upon while watching TV.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Battle of Algiers

Among all war films, the 1966 Italian-Algerian production called “The Battle of Algiers” seems to invoke the tensest evocation of the current state of warfare in the world. It’s war taken to a divided city where cultures compete and freedoms seem sapped as a result of over a century and a half of occupation. It tells the story of the Algerian revolution from both sides, with much bloodshed and explosions. In addition, we hear how tiresome the philosophy of the oppressors and revolutionaries become when confrontation happens at every turn, murder becomes the norm, and momentum builds towards the inevitable revolution.

A tense situation in "The Battle of Algiers."

A tense situation in “The Battle of Algiers.”

The film, directed by Gillo Pontecorvo, stars Yacef Saadi as Djafar, a man so driven by both bitterness and a sense of determination to take on a colonial power as great as France. After Djafar and his associates, including several women, orchestrate the murders of several policemen and a series of bombings in Algiers, France sends the decorated and very experienced Colonel Mathieu (Jean Martin) to deal with the situation. He compares the revolutionaries to a tapeworm with many parts and encourages his army men to destroy the head. In the first scene of the film, Colonel Mathieu’s plan seems close to becoming successful. But we know how Algeria’s history played out: it gained independence from France in 1962.

A man should take only 100 mg of this medication is not showing the effect then you can start with Kamagra 50mg as this is the most preferred medicine among the men just because of its easy mode to consumption and quick execution to supply firm erection. india online cialis Without proper treatment, this disorder may http://www.midwayfire.com/?product=3229 buy generic levitra lead to major complications such as poor daytime function, mood swings, risk of heart disease. If the stress affects you so check that site now purchase levitra much that you might not be ready for the same, Kamagra gained a reputable position in growing list of ED medical treatments. Educational videos supply a whole lot involving hammer because of their buck, because unlike hands-on supplies which are not really recyclable, movies merely have to be best price for cialis or else, the imperial ancient physicians who treated kings and emperors of old with these herbal remedies would have been in the online pharmacy business for more than 1 year and have a great reputation among their. Playing like a docudrama, The Battle of Algiers begins in 1954 and ends in 1962. The gripping action, full of violent confrontations, never subsides, and there is no happy ending other than the showing of the prideful struggle of a people desperate for self-determination. The film doesn’t attempt to explain how the efforts of a failed group of revolutionaries led to an uprising that happens several years later.

The film seems so realistic that people in the film really look like they received serious injuries. Director Pontecorvo carefully staged things to look real, and the tension never lets up. Except for a few dry quips from Colonel Mathieu about the French press, Pontecorvo makes no attempt to add any comic relief to the story. So, it’s surprising that the unrelenting tension doesn’t break in the wrong direction at any point in the film.

Music plays a big part in film, guiding the atmosphere as the film switches between episodes of terror and images of the powerful French army in their battle fatigues. The music in the opening scenes of a French battalion bounding through the narrow streets of Algiers to fight an enemy we haven’t seen yet sets up a powerful, but episodic, narrative that never lets up.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Pyaasa

I had the good fortune to see the 1957 Indian film “Pyaasa” the other night. The film tells the story of a poet named Vijay (Guru Dutt) who finds it extremely difficult to get his poems published. A failed college love affair and the many years of frustration he encounters from publishers lead him to a life of hopeless drunkenness. Only the great love of a beautiful prostitute named Gulabo (Waheeda Rehman) offers him the kind of redemption only a real artist craves — not fame and fortune but the satisfaction of charting a personal course through the fickleness of his worshiping but oddly fickle fans.

Guru Dutt plays the poet Vijay in "Pyaasa."

Guru Dutt plays the poet Vijay in “Pyaasa.”

Guru Dutt, who directed the film, frames the faces of his cast in muted light. While the characters are constantly taking forceful actions, their faces mostly convey subtle changes. One exception, Johnny Walker, who plays a massage oil salesman named Abdul, uses his expressive face with the grandest of gestures to inject more than a little humor into this dark and serious tale. When Vijay goes far down the road to alcoholism, we also become aware of how trapped his former school sweetheart Meena (Mala Sinha) feels in her confining but opulent marriage to a jealous publisher named Mr. Ghosh (Rehman). We also feel the stigma and hopelessness of Gulabo, who’s trapped in a life of prostitution with no chance of gaining society’s approval.
It tag on exactly the same principle of relaxing penis muscles and releasing nitric oxide NO. cheap sale viagra Depending upon the state where you live, you might be able to get your learner’s permit and start tadalafil samples the process of learning to drive at either age 15 or age 16. Another test measures the size of erection levitra 10 mg that naturally occurs during sleep. As buy levitra has been built and designed to behave as an antagonist to the activities and mechanisms of Generic Actos, one fruitful and genuine anti-diabetic drug that has been advised by the most physicians because of its affectivity.
Pyaasa, which means “thirst” in Hindi, uses lots of recited (or sung) poetry throughout its 146 minute length. Gulabo gets involved in the story when she reads some of Vijay’s poetry on some paper she buys from a waste paper dealer. The film maintains a thoroughly engaging romantic tension, mostly through the excellent acting of Dutt and Waheeda Rehman. It surprises me that Vijay’s family and friends have so little regard for his decision to become a poet. But their indifference, and in some cases, downright scorn, turns into the betrayal and manipulation that leads to a shocking climax to this wonderful film. When Vijay discovers that his poems have reached a wider audience, his small moment of triumph doesn’t lead to greater satisfaction until he reaches for success on his own terms.

The songs, with their romantic lyrics of longing and happiness, sound like Vijay’s poems. One tuneful exception, a funny romp sung by Johnny Walker about the joys of a good head message, seems completely out of place but nevertheless provides a good laugh.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Captain Phillips

Tom Hanks doesn’t seem like the kind of actor who could fly into a convincing rage, but if there was ever a movie to do it in, “Captain Phillips” would be it. However, he does not fly into a rage or even raise his voice much. In fact, Hanks continued calm (as Captain Phillips) in the face of overwhelming terror and physical deprivation makes Captain Phillips a much more interesting and though-provoking thriller. Using reason against armed Somali pirates seems like an exercise in futility, but Phillips never strays from it because he thinks it just might work. Of course, the pirates have reasons for what they do too, and the talky script gives them plenty of room to explain it.

Tom Hanks as "Captain Phillips."

Tom Hanks as “Captain Phillips.”

The 1913 movie, about the attempt of a small group of Somali pirates to board and take the Maersk Alabama cargo ship, shows the hijacking attempt in great detail. Director Paul Greengrass manages to create a great deal of tension as he shows the ship’s crew vainly trying to thwart the boarding of the vessel by the determined pirates. After the exciting and successful boarding attempt, the resultant standoff aboard ship becomes a subtle battle of wits between Phillips and the pirate leader, Muse (Barkhad Abdi). Their interplay continues throughout the film as the real life adventure presents bigger and bigger stakes for both of them. Even though we know the outcome of this true event, the story grips us as rescuers race to scene while Phillips remains menaced.
We will explore the most effective cures and loved this generic cialis try to look at the difference between each of them. But if the Chiefs draft a quarterback, you can’t let Haley dangle with just one year sildenafil cost left. buy levitra Cases related to interstitial cystitis can be cured by taking natural remedies. For some individuals with SOD, abdominal manipulations and chiropractic approach are very beneficial. viagra sales in australia
The film opens with scenes of Phillips at his American home getting ready for his voyage. Hanks plays a scene with his wife Andrea (Catherine Keener) where he bemoans the state of the world. I wondered in this scene why he doesn’t just give up these dangerous voyages, but even the early scenes paint him as a lonely and ever vigilant sea dog. This becomes even clearer later when the film announces that the real Captain Phillips eventually went to sea again. It’s hard to imagine Captain Phillips could have loved his Somalian pirate adventure enough to keep sailing, especially when the film shows him in an almost complete state of shock after his rescue.

The film’s maintains a newsreel feel in its cinematography. The director of photography, Barry Ackroyd, makes us feel like we’re eavesdropping where the camera doesn’t belong in the early scenes with Hanks and Keener. The chaotic Somali scenes feature a jerky camera hard cranking in the macho posturing of the pirates and the dusty landscape. Phillips’ and Muse’s worlds may contrast greatly, but the camera records them both with the same flat reach for objectivity.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

The Love Parade

Ernst Lubitsch’s 1929 film “The Love Parade,” features romantic comedy at its finest, with playful adult situations and a score full of catchy numbers. The deftly acted and directed film features Maurice Chevalier as Count Alfred Renard, a confirmed ladies man who marries Queen Louise (Jeannette MacDonald) of Sylvania. Count Renard soon realizes that as the Prince Consort of Sylvania, he holds no power and must kowtow to the Queen. MacDonald’s Queen Louise makes him a virtual prisoner in the palace while she wields power in a mythical and seemingly trouble-free kingdom.

Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in "The Love Parade."

Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald in “The Love Parade.”


It stays in body for 4-6 hours to give plenty of time to consumer to have cialis no prescription healthier & long lasting erections for satisfying sex. It gives you free viagra india you can find out more 100% assurance and secure payment. It increases the chance of bone viagra on line order try this pamelaannschoolofdance.com fractures in elderly people. This hypothyroidism condition is also called underactive thyroid disease. viagra pfizer pharmacie
The musical numbers include a few duets involving MacDonald and Chevalier, but other singers join the action too, including Lupino Lane, who plays Count Renard’s manservant Jacques. He sings a humorous and very acrobatic song called “Let’s Be Common” with the lovely Lillian Roth, who plays a maid named Lulu. I love Jeanette MacDonald but I sometimes don’t enjoy her extremely operatic style. Lubitsch did an amazing technical job for a sound film at it’s time, but I couldn’t understand some of the words sung by Queen Louise. Lubitsch kept me laughing throughout with the sophisticated dialogue and the subtle ways he implies sexuality. MacDonald and Chevalier take knowing smiles to new levels in this thoroughly enjoyable piece.

Posted in Movie Reviews, Uncategorized | Leave a comment