Tag Archives: Silent Film

Enabling live twitter feed for the San Francisco Silent Film Festival tonight

As the San Francisco Silent Film Festival begins tonight, I am enabling a live twitter feed to Backlots so that you may follow all the action as it happens right here on the site. It promises to be a wonderful evening, as the opening night film is Wings, starring Clara Bow, and there is an opening night party after the film. Until the festivities start, you will see previous posts on Backlots’ twitter account, which you can “follow” if you haven’t already.

Stay tuned!

What’s New in Classic Film?

As a way to bring the very latest in classic film happenings to my readers, I have compiled a list of some of the classic film events for the month of July. I hope that some of you will be able to see some of these! If you are, please let me know how they went–I very much want to attend TCM’s nationwide screening of Singin’ in the Rain, but alas, it conflicts with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival for which I have press accreditation, so I have to prioritize those screenings. Tough life, right? Anyway, here are what I consider to be the major events for the month of July:

Here is the screening that I so badly want to go to. For the 60th anniversary of Singin’ in the Rain, TCM is presenting a big screen showing of the movie in theaters across the country on July 12. It promises to be quite the event. And if you haven’t seen Singin’ in the Rain on the big screen before, you’re in for a treat–it is one of my all-time favorite movies to watch on the big screen. The colors come so alive, and the musical numbers are simply nothing like you remember them on your 25″ TV set. Keep a special eye out for the Broadway Rhythm number and how beautiful it looks on the big screen. It was clearly meant for the theater.

For tickets, click on the poster and follow the instructions on the website.

The 17th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival kicks off July 12 and continues through July 15 in San Francisco, CA. The festival is highly renowned and very highly regarded, Leonard Maltin has called it “in a class by itself” and is a frequent guest speaker. The centerpiece film for this year’s festival is Pandora’s Box (1925), and other films being shown include Mantrap, Stella Dallas, Wings, and The Spanish Dancer. All showings will be at the Castro Theatre, and I have been honored to receive full press accreditation for the festival, so if you can’t make it, you can follow along right here! Last year’s festival was stellar–you can read my reviews of Die Frau, nach der Man sich sehnt and He Who Gets Slapped by clicking on the links.

For tickets, please visit the official website at http://www.silentfilm.org or click here. If you’re traveling from outside the area, I would advise you to book your hotel NOW. Even though I live just across the bay, there is one night that I will have to spend in San Francisco, and I had a terrible time trying to find a room. All the hotels are filling up fast due to a parade happening that weekend. Something to plan for!

As of June 26, The Artist has been released on DVD! It is now available in all the usual places–movie stores, online, Redbox, and to be ordered on Amazon.com. If you haven’t seen it yet, you are missing out on an incredible piece of cinema. However, like Singin’ in the Rain, it was simply meant to be seen on the big screen, so I’m interested to see how it holds up on DVD. I do believe that it is still playing at a few select theaters around, but I think you’d be hard-pressed to find one, so it looks like if you haven’t seen it, you’ll have to settle for the DVD version. Maybe they’ll re-issue it in theaters someday!

HIGHLIGHTS ON TCM THIS MONTH: 

ALL SHOWTIMES IN EASTERN STANDARD TIME

July 10, 11:15 PM: Of Human Bondage (1934)

July 13, 8:00 AM: The Lion in Winter

July 15, 9:00 AM: The Virgin Queen

July 18, 8:00 PM: A Face in the Crowd

July 20, 12:15 AM: The Adventures of Robin Hood

2:15 AM: Citizen Kane

4:30 AM: The Magnificent Ambersons

July 22, 8:30 AM: Pinky

6:00 PM: Wuthering Heights

July 29, 5:15 PM: West Side Story

A Sneak Peek at the San Francisco Silent Film Festival

Well readers, I am back, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed from my cello master class, and ready to tackle Backlots’ next big event, which is my coverage of the renowned San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Leonard Maltin referred to the festival as “in a class all by itself,” and I feel honored and privileged to have been granted press credentials to such an event. Here is a peek at what I will be covering.

Thursday,
July 12
7:00 pm Opening Night Film
WINGS (1927)
9:30 pm Opening Night Party at
McRoskey Mattress Company
Friday,
July 13
10:30 am Amazing Tales from
the Archives
1:00 pm LITTLE TOYS (1933)
4:00 pm THE LOVES OF PHARAOH (1922)
7:00 pm MANTRAP (1926)
9:15 pm THE WONDERFUL LIE OF NINA PETROVNA (1929)
Saturday,
July 14
10:00 am FELIX THE CAT SILENT CARTOONS (1925-1929)
12:00 noon THE SPANISH DANCER (1923)
2:30 pm THE CANADIAN (1926)
5:00 pm SOUTH (1919)
7:00 pm Centerpiece Film
PANDORA’S BOX (1929)
10:00 pm THE OVERCOAT (1926)
Sunday,
July 15
10:00 am THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920)
12:00 noon THE DOCKS OF NEW YORK (1928)
2:00 pm EROTIKON (1920)
4:30 pm STELLA DALLAS (1925)
7:30 pm THE CAMERAMAN (1928)

Please check back throughout the weekend of July 12 for continuing festival updates!