In the beginning, there was light and nothing else. The history of cinema took shape and burned itself into the consciousness of early viewers through moving pictures — with no sound. Silent cinema was cinema, before the talkies came, and long before the present-day bombardment of audible enhancement and sound effects that we can’t live without.
“The era of silent pictures was when the craft of visuals reached its peak,” says Chalida Uabumrungjit, acting deputy director of Film Archive (Public Organisation). In other words, cinema achieved almost everything it was aimed to achieve since those days of soundless black-and-white pictures a century ago.
Film Archive (Public Organisation), together with British Council Thailand, is hosting a rarity of rarities: “The 1st Silent Film Festival in Thailand” is taking place at Lido and Scala from Aug 7-13. Seven pictures — from Alfred Hitchcock’s first film to Louise Brook’s final silent sultriness — will be shown with 35mm projection (running at a vintage speed of 20 frames per second), with most screenings accompanied by live piano music performed by flown-in specialists. These are movies screened as movies were supposed to be screened.
The highlight is a set of three newly restored early Hitchcock films: The Pleasure Garden (1926), The Lodger (1926), and The Ring (1927). This trio is part of “The Hitchcock 9”, a film restoration project of the director’s nine surviving silent films undertaken by British Film Institute National Archive. “Hitchcock’s silent films are essential to an understanding of his later work and these restorations now enable them to be seen afresh,” says a statement from the institute. All of these films have been reissued with newly commissioned music scores.
Besides the three Hitchcock films that will be shown in Bangkok, the Silent Film Festival will also screen The Water Magician, a 1993 film by Japanese master Kenji Mizokuchi; Nerven, a proto-German Expressionism work by Robert Reinert from 1919; Little Toys, a Chinese melodrama from 1933; and Prix De Beaute, a 1930 French film starring Louise Brook.
“The European silent films have a rich variety; there are action films, dramatic films, suspense and of course films of the Expressionism school,” says Chalida of the Film Archive.
“The Japanese silent films took much from European films but seasoned them with the influence of theatre.
“Meanwhile the Chinese silent films rely much on the star power. The Chinese title that we’re showing, Little Toys, stars Ruan Lingyu, who’s one of the most famous actresses in the 1930s.”
To complete the experience of the silent film era, the festival invites two world-class musicians who specialise in piano accompaniment. Maud Nelissen from the Netherlands and Mie Yanashita from Japan have performed live music at silent film screenings at many festivals around the world; they will be in Bangkok next week to take turns playing at the screening. On the final day, Aug 13, Thailand’s famed composer and pianist Trisdee Na Patalung will give live accompaniment to the screening of The Lodger at Scala. This will be the first time for Trisdee — who’s composed operas and conducted orchestras at some of the most musical halls in the West — to try his improvisatory hand at a silent film.
“The role of Film Archive is to encourage Thai audiences to have a variety of film experiences,” says acting director Sakdina Chatkul Na Ayudhya. “Silent films are something that we’ve never had a chance to see on the big screen.”
The films
The Pleasure Garden (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
UK/1926/90 mins Aug 7 at 8pm and Aug 19 at noon
The Pleasure Garden is Hitchcock’s first feature film that tells the story of two chorus girls who work in The Pleasure Garden theatre and their search for passion and independence. It is a discourse on voyeurism, sexual politics and the gap between romantic dreams and reality, and exposes many
of Hitchcock’s obsessions such as deception, black comedy and murder.
The Ring (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
UK/1927/108 mins Aug 8 at 8pm and Aug 10 at 4pm
The Ring is Hitchcock’s one and only original screenplay, featuring a love triangle melodrama set in the world of boxing. When Jack “One Round” Sander is discovered by promoter James Ware, his career takes off. But rival Bob Corby, heavyweight champion, takes an interest in his girlfriend.
The Lodger (Directed by Alfred Hitchcock)
UK/1926/87 mins Aug 13 at 8pm
The fog-covered city of London is terrorised by a serial killer. A landlady hires a new lodger and starts to suspect that he might be the serial killer terrorising the city. The Lodger was described by Hitchcock himself as “the first true Hitchcock movie”.
Nerven (Nerves) (Directed by Robert Reinert)
Germany/1919/109 mins Aug 9 at 8pm and Aug 10 at 4pm
Writer-director and producer Robert Reinert tried to capture the “nervous epidemic” caused by war and the misery that drives people mad. This portrait of life in Germany in 1919, filmed on location in Munich, describes the cases of different people from all levels of society: Roloff, a factory-owner who loses his mind in the face of catastrophes and social disturbances; John, a teacher who is the hero of the masses; and Marija, who becomes a radical revolutionary. Piecing together the different fragments, the Filmmuseum in Munich was able to reconstruct this forgotten German classic — a historic document that anticipates elements of the Expressionist cinema of the 1920s.
Prix De Beauté (Miss Europe) (Directed by Augusto Genina)
France/1930/93 mins Aug 9 at 4pm and Aug 11 at 8pm
Prix De Beauté was released in both silent and the sound version (the latter was the one most people have seen). The festival shows the silent version. The film is the famous actress Louise Brooks’ last starring role in a feature. She plays Lucienne, a typist and bathing beauty who decides to enter the Miss Europe pageant sponsored by a French newspaper. She finds her jealous lover Andre violently disapproves of such events. But it’s too late. She is named Miss France and later Miss Europe and she has to choose between her love or great success in entertainment career.
Little Toys (Directed by Sun Yu)
China/1933/104 mins Aug 9 at 6pm and Aug 10 at 8pm
Little Toys was named one of the 100 best Chinese films by the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2005. Ye lives in a rural village, where everyone makes traditional toys. She is considered the creative mind behind inventing new toys, and all the villagers look up to her. Tragedy strikes, however, when Ye’s husband dies of an unknown illness, her son is kidnapped and sold to a wealthy lady in the city of Shanghai. Shortly after, the village is destroyed during an attack between rival warlords, forcing the villagers move to the city, where they continue to make toys. Though in the new city, Ye still faces the tremendous tragedy.
The Water Magician (Directed by Kenji Mizoguchi)
Japan/1933/100 mins Aug 9 at noon and Aug 12 at 8pm
The Water Magician is a one of the most popular titles from the legendary filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi based on the tragic novel written by Kyoka Izumi during the 19th century. It tells the story of Takino Hiraito, a famous female water magician in a circus. Dreaming of marrying and having a happy family, she meets Kinya Murakoshi, a younger carriage driver, who has endured much tragedy in his life. She falls in love with him and pledges to put him through law school in Tokyo. He promises her that when he has become a great man, he will return to make her dream come true.
The ‘1st Silent Film Festival in Thailand’ will take place from Aug 7-13. All screenings will take place at Lido in Siam Square (tickets 100 baht), except the final film on the 13th, which will take place at Scala (tickets 500 baht). Every film will be shown with live piano accompaniment. Tickets are available now at the cinemas. Visit http://www.facebook.com/silentfilmthailand.
On Sat Aug 9, 2pm, musicians Mie Yanashita and Maud Nelissen will have a Q&A session with the audience at Lido.
On Sun Aug 10, 3pm, silent film expert Prof Charles Barr will give a public lecture “The Silent Hitchcock”, after the screening of The Pleasure Garden at Lido.
