Silent Movie Mondays return to the Paramount
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| Image from Prince Achmed |
The popular Silent Movie Monday series returns to the Paramount Theater for three Mondays in November, starting November 2 with 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, released in 1916 and directed by Stuart Paton.
Like the other two films in the series, (German director Lotte Reiniger’s 1926 release, The Adventures of Prince Achmed on November 9, and classic American sci-fi adventure The Lost World, directed by Harry O’Hoyt and released in 1925, screening November 13), 20,000 Leagues is a marvel of its time, a science fiction film created long before even the most primitive of digital F/X were anywhere near development. These filmmakers used cardboard cut outs, clay, cedars and anything they could get their hands on to create their fantastic landscapes, creatures and other imaginative details. To the modern eye much of this looks a bit primitive but all these years later, they’re still entertaining and impressive for the creativity their creators imbued into them.
Based on the classic Jules Verne novel, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is notable for its groundbreaking underwater photography; since there weren’t underwater cameras available at the time, camera operators George M. Williamson and J. Ernest Williamson created a system of watertight tubes and mirrors rigged to allow the camera to shoot the reflections of scenes set underwater. (November 2)
The Adventures of Prince Achmed is the oldest surviving animated feature film. The film features a silhouette animation technique invented by director Lotte Reiniger using cardboard cutouts and thin sheets of lead. (November 9)
Arthur Conan Doyle’s 1912 novel The Lost World was adapted into a film in 1925. Willis O’Brien created pioneering stop motion effects to tell the story of a group of adventurers head to Venezuela where they encounter a group of prehistoric beasts surviving into the modern world.
Jim Riggs will be playing the Wurlitzer Organ to accompany all three films. Doors open on all three nights at 6pm; films start at 7 promptly.
Dennis James, the final appointed House Organist for Seattle’s Paramount Theatre (from 1998 to 2008) who created and developed the theatre’s hitherto popular Silent Movie Mondays series, frequently selling out the 2800 seat theatre during his 11 year tenure, continues his professional silent film and other musical presentations throughout the Northwest Area during the upcoming 2010 tour season:
January 21, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
4th annual silent film series: Greta Garbo and John Gilbert in FLESH AND THE DEVIL
February 11, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
4th annual silent film series: Rudolph Valentino in SON OF THE SHEIK
February 14, Lynwood Theatre, Bainbridge Island, Washington
Silent film series- two screenings: Harold Lloyd in GIRL SHY
February 15, Admiral Theatre, West Seattle, Washington
Original Silent Movie Mondays site debut: William Boyd in THE YANKEE CLIPPER
March 7, City Museum, Wenatchee, Washington
Silent film program: comedy films
March 8, Town Hall, Seattle, Washington
OdeonQuartet (string quartet) with Dennis James, Glass Armonica chamber music performance
March 11, Washington Center, Olympia, Washington
4th annual silent film series: Janet Gaynor and George O’Brien in SUNRISE
July 5, Lynwood Theatre, Bainbridge Island, Washington
Annual Anniversary silent film screenings:
July 6, Location tba, Seattle, Washington
American Theatre Organ Society National Convention – feature silent film event by invitation conveyed by convention chairman Tom Blackwell: title tba
November 13&14 Blue Mouse Theatre, Tacoma, Washington
87th Anniversary screenings
For more information, visit: http://www.cas.sc.edu/film/james.htm