Confirmation that Hollywood doesn’t make ’em like that anymore can be found next weekend in Bray’s stately Killruddery House, which hosts Ireland’s first-ever Silent Film Festival.
Not only have the organisers reeled in perhaps the world’s leading authority on the subject (film-maker, historian and author Kevin Brownlow) to hobnob and give a lively illustrated lecture, they have unearthed a treasure trove of both rare and classic silent features, many with live piano accompaniment.
The festival opens on Friday night with Down Wicklow Way, a selection of silents made in the county and preserved by the IFI. This is followed by the first film, The Cat and the Canary (1927), often remade but never topped in its bravura combination of gothic pastiche and shuddery laughs. Among the Saturday screenings is: the fantasy-laden Adventures of Prince Achmed from Germany, acknowledged as the first animated feature; Modern Musketeer, a swashbuckler starring the incomparable Douglas Fairbanks Sr; Flesh and the Devil, with Greta Garbo and John Gilbert (and who needs dialogue when these two start smouldering?); and FW Murnau’s remarkable Sunrise (1927), an Oscar winner in 1929 for “Best Unique and Artistic Production”.
High among the Sunday highlights are: two amazingly perverse thrillers by Tod (Dracula) Browning, The Unknown and The Unholy Three, both starring Lon Chaney; and the unusual western Redskin, partially filmed in colour and starring Richard Dix as a Navajo battling corruption and prejudice on the reservation.
Tickets for screenings range from €10-€25; seating is limited. See http://killrudderyarts.wordpress.com.
