Pordenone Diary

October 07, 2020

Pordenone Diary - Day 4

Poster for the 2012 Le Giornate del Cinema Muto

Pordenone Diary - Day 4

Today I listened to the Pordenone Masterclass moderated by John Sweeney and talking to his fellow musicians Philip Carli, Mauro Colombis, José María Serralde Ruiz, and Daan van den Hurk. It was both enlightening to listen to these esteemed musicians talk about scoring silent films and the differences of pre-recording for films this year and it was also entertaining. I'd love to be in attendance for one of these in person, hopefully next year.

Jay Weissberg at the Duomo

I only caught part of the Filmfair Book Presentation with scholars Daisuke Miyao, JAPONISME AND THE BIRTH OF CINEMA (Duke U. Press, 2020) and Allyson Nadia Field, Marsha Gordon, eds., Martin Johnson, Tanya L Goldman, SCREENING RACE IN AMERICAN NONTHEATRICAL FILM (Duke U. Press, November 2019). I liked what I heard and will catch the entire talk tomorrow morning.

The short film and feature came from the Fondazione Cineteca Italiana di Milan. As with each main screening we see a featurette from the archive providing the films. This program was no exception. The interactive museum looks fabulous. The horror of the evening was archive footage showing hundreds of thousands of feet of film being treated to remove the silver content, then the celluloid being carted out and dried, then chopped like so much cabbage. Equally terrifying was seeing none of the workers having a bit of protective gear dealing with any of this.

Absolutely tragic!

The short film was a fast paced romp Ceské Hrady a Zámky (1916) which started as a gentle trip up hills and steps to view a castle (and sneak in a few clandestine smooches). The actor Karel Hasler, just before sitting down to liquid refreshment checks his watch and discovers he is going to be very late for his entrance on stage and simply must drop everything (including his girl) and race to the theater. In this fast paced farce he takes or steals every conceivable form of transport, bikes, cars, trams you name it. It was, as a matter of fact, a perfect introduction to the main feature from Italy.

Fantastic matte shot early on

The feature was La Tempesta in un Cranio/Kill or Cure (1921) written, directed and starring Carlo Campogalliani (take that Orson Welles). I must state right off the bat, I loved this wacky movie. I was charmed by the star Carlo and his co-star Letizia Quaranta (IRL Mrs. Campogalliani). It was surreal, it was whip fast, it was funny and Carlo just LOVED breaking that 4th wall!

See what I mean? What 4th wall?

The film was and Carlo's character was very Douglas Fairbanksian in a pre-swashbuckler Fairbanks manner. Essentially, Renato has a family history of insanity/craziness and he's terrified he's going to be just like his ancestors. His friend, a novelist, his girlfriend and doctor come up with an elaborate scare cure for him. Now, I do not want to give away everything, but, let's just say he runs the gamut from jail to a bevy of bad guys escaping a castle, a new invention and a happy ending. I was enthralled and charmed by the entire film. I will just add here some screen grabs from the film because it was just SO much FUN. My great regret is I did not have the time today to give it a second watch as it deserved. If this ever comes out on a DVD to screen at home, I am SO buying it!

Guenter Buchwald and Frank Bockius supplied the amazing soundtrack to the film, rollicking and note perfect.