Preview
SILENT MOVIE MONDAYS
Starting Monday, March 6
Uptown Screen
Every year the Uptown Screen undergoes a transformation for Silent Movie Mondays. Seats are removed from the auditorium and replaced with the gigantic Cantos Theatre Organ and with the arrival of world-renowned musician and historian Dennis James, the theatre becomes a time machine, taking audiences back to the days before talking films.
As the program enters its seventh year, it has become a highly anticipated event – partially for the novelty of seeing a silent film accompanied by live music, but perhaps even more so for the encyclopedic film knowledge that James brings to each show. While some might see him as simply the guy who plays piano while the movie is on, that is an unfortunate underestimation of his knowledge and skill.
If you hop online and search for screenings of silent films in North America, his name appears more times than not. A performer, composer and collector of rare glass instruments, his itinerary since his last visit to Calgary has been jam-packed. From Fort Wayne, Indiana to San Francisco, California to a month long tour of Australia, James criss-crossed the globe performing almost 100 dates in 2004 alone. In fact, Silent Movie Mondays, which usually kicks off in February, had to be postponed to accommodate James’s epic schedule.
And that only accounts for his performances. The act of re-creating the silent movie experience with live music requires more than a little bit of research. Between watching the films, learning original scores or, in cases where that material can’t be found, perfecting his own interpretation, James speculates that he is in preparation mode 70 per cent of the time, sometimes spending up to one year on a single title.
The good news for James is that one aspect of the process is becoming less labour intensive as time goes on. When it comes to finding decent quality film prints for exhibition, home video is actually making his job easier.
"To make a video DVD edition, a print has to be created, so more prints are now being struck from original negatives and restored than ever before," says James. "The difficult part is convincing print owners that these unique and pristine prints will be properly cared for and exhibited correctly."
In the past Calgary has been lucky enough to see such classics as Metropolis and Thief of Baghdad projected with James’s trademark flair. A stickler for detail, he not only turns in emotional, layered performances to enhance the films, but is loaded with obscure trivia and tales of classic Hollywood that will wow any film lover. James himself should be more than enough incentive to check out the films for those who think old movies don’t offer anything for a modern audience.
"Since film is the singular most dominant media presentation (and) performance form, witnessing them in their infancy and initial development forms a fundamental new and informed appreciation for what we have today," he says. "Plus it provides a vital esthetic experience expansion for all film-going experiences."
While this year’s program features some titles that are less well-known than Calgary has witnessed in the past (although James is quick to point out that the idea of what is well-known varies a lot by the experience of an audience), James assures that the films were carefully selected. Whether it is Buster Keaton’s athleticism in College, the fact that Grandma’s Boy was Harold Lloyd’s first feature length film, the window into social mores of the time provided by It or a look at the silent film era as it was giving way to sound pictures in Show People, each film is interesting for different reasons.
As for James, he is obviously thrilled to be doing what he has wanted to do ever since he was 14 years old. As his busy schedule continues he also gets a chance to take on projects that were originally outside his realm of possibility. Until recently, his wish list included accompanying Sunrise by director F. W. Murnau, but he fulfilled that dream three weeks ago in Seattle.
"It is considered by most film critics as the greatest silent film, and by some as the greatest motion picture of the 20th century," says James. "I turned down over 30 requests to play to it over the years for fear of ‘stepping on’ the film and ruining it with perhaps inappropriate or ill-conceived scoring. But I felt ready this year and the ecstatic reaction… shows I shall be playing to it often in the future."
The Silent Movie Monday screenings include Buster Keaton in College on March 7, Harold Lloyd in Grandma’s Boy on March 14, Clara Bow in It on March 21 and Marion Davies in Show People on March 28. |
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