Highlights from Current Screenings

(To be updated)

First, thanks to many of you for E-mailing, faxing, writing or sending your programs/announcements to Live Cinema Calendar. Though it's been 5 months since the last update, and you may not have heard about some silent screenings in time to go, we have tried to list everything that has been shown from Sep 1997 through Jan 1998, and have gone ahead to list planned silent showings from Feb 1998 on out into the future. Special thanks to Lynne Wake for Photoplay Productions listings and Rob Ewen for London/NFT listings.

Although there are lots of silents with piano and organ accompaniment in the lists, we've tallied an amazing 60 performances with live orchestra (incl repeats) from June 1997 through Nov 1998 --and many more will be announced as the year goes on.

Look and you will find, among others, these silents with live orchestra: CITY LIGHTS, THE CIRCUS, OUR HOSPITALITY, NOSFERATU, THE CAMERAMAN, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, FAUST, THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, THE KID/THE IDLE CLASS, BIRTH OF A NATION, THE STRONG MAN, ORPHANS OF THE STORM, THE GENERAL, NAPOLEON, THE GOLD RUSH, LA BOHEME, BEN-HUR, FLESH AND THE DEVIL, LA PASSION DE JEANNE D'ARC, PETER PAN, SPEEDY, INTOLERANCE, and more.

Several of these, like BEN-HUR, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA and THE GENERAL, have more than one music score. Some are turning up in surprising locations: Billings MT, Pine Bluff AK, Las Vegas NV; others, at prestigious places: The Louvre Paris, Royal Festival Hall London, Francis Coppola's Inglenook Winery, Colorado Symphony Denver, San Francisco Symphony's Davies Hall, Indianapolis Symphony "Pops", and Konzerthaus Vienna, and many others.

The Charlie Chaplin Collection with new 35MM prints was launched by Interama Films, made its debut with the most complete Chaplin series ever, at N.Y.'s Film Forum 2 (see Dec 26 - Jan 15), and has moved on to Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and other cities.

The Sergei Eisenstein Centenary this year has led to series in Berkeley, London, New York, Washington DC, and Minneapolis.

Mary Pickford: Super-Star which Milestone kicked off at N.Y.'s Film Forum 2 last Jul 7 - Aug 25, has played many engagements all over the U.S. and still has more to go, even as some titles are headed for video release.

Rudolph Valentino: The Greatest Lover a series of 15 of his films presented by London's National Film Theatre in association with Photoplay Productions, was launched with the restored FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE Feb 1 as the Channel 4 Silents tribute to David Gill. Series runs thru Feb 25. (Also, see the Australia Page by Ron and Mandy West; these Australians are into their 11th year of running THE SON OF THE SHEIK weekly plus 5 other silents per week, all with pipe organ accompaniment at their 1921 Majestic Theatre in Pomona, Queensland.)

The National Film Registry is alive and well, now coordinated by Felisa Kazen (202 707-1671). They had a major stop in Boston at the Coolidge Corner Theater, showing 27 films (6 silents), and reached their half-way point at Stop no. 25 in San Francisco at the Castro (showing all 34 of the available films, incl 7 silents: see Jan 21-29). NFR will be selecting 25 more cities --one in each state-- to complete their present mission.