ONE A.M. (1916) with Charlie Chaplin — This is one of Charlie Chaplin's most unusual films. Except for cabman Albert Austin (who is on screen for the first shot), Chaplin does this film entirely solo as an inebriated man who is simply trying to go to bed. It's a gem from start to finish.
— Music by Rodney Sauer on solo piano
WHAT PRICE GOOFY? (1925) with Charlie Chase — This is another gem. Chase is always a favorite at the Festival and this short comedy promises to be a major howler. Charlie plays a rich guy with an incredibly jealous wife. When a visiting professor turns out to be a woman and she's sharing the bathroom with Charlie, things get funny real quick! A master of comic timing, Chase appeared in over 250 shorts during his career.
— Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
--Brief Break
Special introduction by Harry Langdon, the comic star's nephew who lives in Kansas City—
THE STRONG MAN (1926) with Harry Langdon. Here baby-faced Langdon is directed by the legendary Frank Capra. Many critics consider Langdon to be a true clown prince, almost on the same level with Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd. This film certainly proves he was worthy of that title. Harry plays a dim-witted Belgian who survives World War I and comes to America as the valet for a circus strong man, but Harry's real purpose is to find the dedicated pen pal (Mary Brown) whose letters lifted his spirits during the war.
— Music by Marvin Faulwell, organ, and Bob Keckeisen, percussion
TIT FOR TAT (1905) — A brief (4 mnute) and unusual color short produced in France by the Pathé Brothers.
— Music by Marvin Faulwell
CYRANO DE BERGERAC (1925) — Our special guest from last year, David Shepard helped restore this beautiful early Italian/French film version of the famous Edmond Rostand play about the famous balladeer with the enormous nose, the flashing sword and the tender heart. Because it includes the poetic language of the play, there are more than the usual number of inter-titles, but what glorious words! The costumes and settings are richly authentic. Most striking of all is the use of the delicate Pathe Stencil Color process in almost every shot of the film. This painstaking process involved tracing the colors onto a device called a Pantograph which then transferred them to each frame of the finished film. The result is like a painting in motion. Three years were devoted to coloring CYRANO and this 1922 film wasn't officially released until 1925. Due to the limited number of color prints, the film did not received the wide circulation of other films and was not the well-deserved success it should have been. Mr. Shepard has graciously agreed to let us show CYRANO DE BERGERAC in a DVD version he has recently produced.
— Music by Marvin Faulwell
--Brief Break
THE GODDESS OF SAGEBRUSH GULCH (1912) — This 17-minute film adapted from a Bret Harte novel promises to be another of D. W. Griffith's mini-epics featuring performances by Blanche Sweet and Charles West.
-- Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
TOL'ABLE DAVID (1921) with Richard Barthelmess — Directed by Henry King., this is a variation on the David and Goliath story with young David (Barthelmess) growing up in the ideal world of Greenstream, an early American village. He lives his youth in a carefree fashion until he is forced to fight for his life against a motley crew of country 'cousins', led by the toweringly evil Ernest Torrence in a chilling performance. This film has been much requested by our KSFF audience and we're proud to finally show it with an organ music score.
-- Music byGreg Foreman
Return to Top of Page
--Dinner Break
THE PALEFACE (1922) with Buster Keaton — This light-hearted romp features Buster as a butterfly collector who stumbles onto a band of not-so-wild Indians, who are being cheated out of their land by a group of greedy oil men. Chief Joe Roberts orders the tribe to kill the first white man who enters the camp and of course, it's Buster. Ths movie is filled with jaw dropping stunts.
— Music by Marvin Faulwell
BIG BUSINESS (1929), with Laurel and Hardy — The boys are trying to sell Christmas trees in California in July and disgruntled non-customer Jimmy Finlayson isn't buying. This results in a game of tit for tat as the boys destroy Fin's house while Jimmy demolishes their car. It's the perfect distillation of a theme used at the end of Laurel and Hardy's earlier short, TWO TARS (1927) in which they destroyed a fleet of old automobiles.
— Music by Greg Foreman
--Brief Break
CHICAGO (1927) with Phyllis Haver — Accompanied by a powerful jazz-era score from the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra, this version of CHICAGO is sure to amaze the entire audience. In the lead as Roxie Hart is a native Kansan, Phyllis Haver. Miss Haver hailed from Douglass, Kansas and appeared in films with Buster Keaton, Ben Turpin and many others.
Based on a true crime story, CHICAGO began life as a Broadway stage show in the mid-1920's and was followed by this 1927 film version (which is the earliest known film version of the story). Next came a 1942 talkie (ROXIE HART) with Ginger Rogers, then it was turned into a hit Broadway musical play by Bob Fosse and finally an Academy Award winning feature film in 2002.
This is an engrossing drama about gold-digging Roxie Hart (Haver), who shoots and kills her boyfriend and then tries everything to get out of paying for her crime including involving her now suspicious husband.
The 2007 Kansas Silent Film Festival will mark it's eleventh year with the showing of this rare film – rare because there are only three known prints in the United States – one at the UCLA archive in California, one at the George Eastman House in New York and the one we're showing at the KSFF, courtesy of film collector Rusty Casselton, who will be in attendance for the screening.
— Music by the Mont Alto Motion Picture Orchestra
Return to Top of Page
About Denise Morrison:
Denise
Morrison is a film historian from Kansas City, Missouri, with
a special focus on silent film. She works as an archivist with Union
Station in Kansas City, Missouri, and has been involved with the Kansas
Silent Film Festival since the beginning. She was quite active with
the Granada Theatre in Kansas City, Kansas, when they were showing a
full schedule of silent movies. Denise will give an overview of the
silent film era and also provide introductions to each film.
Return to Top of Page
About Marvin Faulwell:
Dr.
Marvin Faulwell is a dentist from Kansas City
who is a very accomplished theatre organist. He has played
for all of the previous five Silent Film Festivals and our "sister
project," Silents
in the Cathedral, held every Halloween at Grace Cathedral
in Topeka. He has a large theatre organ in his home and also restores
the instruments. He has appeared in concert and accompanied silent
film programs in Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Minnesota and also accompanied
many silent films shown at the Granada Theatre in Kansas City, Kansas.—read
2004 newspaper feature, with link to audio discussion
Return to Top of Page
About the Mont
Alto Motion Picture Orchestra:
The
Mont
Alto Motion Picture Orchestra comes from Boulder, Colorado
and have appeared at this festival since the third events, held in 1999.
The orchestra consists of a piano, violin, cello, clarinet, and trumpet.
They are quite active in their hometown have appeared several times
in California, at the Buster Keaton Celebration in
Iola, Kansas (since 1998) and at the Telluride Film Festival in Colorado.
They have made three CDs of salon music and silent film music. They
have provided the music scores for numerous silent films on video and
DVD including Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (1920), Blood and
Sand (1922), and The Thief of Bagdad (1924) for
Kino Video.
Return to Top of Page
About Greg Foreman:
Greg Foreman is the lead elementary music teacher for the Lee's Summit, Missouri School District. He holds a Certificate of Piano Performance, a Bachelor of Music Education, and a Master of Arts in Teaching. He has been named one of the “Outstanding Young Men of America” and “Who's Who in America.” As a student of renowned artist teachers, Joanne Baker and Ozan Marsh, he was featured piano soloist on the premiere, National Public Radio broadcast of “Live from White Recital Hall” (UMKC) and has performed piano concerti with the Kansas City Symphony and the UMKC Conservatory Orchestras.
Return to Top of Page
About Bob Keckeisen:
Bob Keckeisen has been principal percussionist for the Topeka Symphony Orchestra since 1989. Bob has been delighting audiences recently at the Kansas Silent Film Festival by adding remarkable percussive music and sound effects to several films. Bob grew up in Wichita and studied percussion under J.C. Combs at Wichita State University. He obtained both his undergraduate and graduate degrees in history from WSU and moved to Topeka in 1982.
Bob is the director of the Kansas Museum of History in Topeka and frequently volunteers for KTWU Channel 11.
Return to Top of Page
Kansas Silent Film Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization. This event is funded by generous donations, and welcomes your support. Your tax deductible gift will be gratefully acknowledged.
Kansas Silent Film Festival, Inc.
P.O. Box 2032
Topeka, Kansas 66601-2032
E-mail contact - bill.shaffer@washburn.edu Or bshaffer2@cox.net
All donations are appreciated.
