Le Giornate del Cinema Muto - Pordenone Diary Day 2
Lesson number two for Pordanone, the films start on time. Get in line early so you get in on time. This morning I missed the introductory video, but sat down for the two Ellen Richter films. The first film was Leben um Leben (Life After Life) (1920). I enjoyed it and really need the catalog so I can pull the cast names and recap in a way that makes sense. So I won’t have that until Monday. But I have to say Ms. Richter who played the nefarious Countess Metschesky was absolutely fabulous, I’ll get back to this after tomorrow. I was still a hair bleary-eyed during the screening.
 |
| Ellen Richter |
The second film was Superstition (1919) which was a perfect illustration of why you should not be a gypsy. The story began showing circus performers including the protagonist (Ellen Richter) who is a gypsy lady and had the misfortune of being very attractive to a member of the audience who desired to meet her. The problem of course was that the clown in true Pagliacci fashion loved her and in a jealous rage murdered the poor man in the audience for paying attention to her. She then leaves town and ends up in a small village where she is rescued by a parson and his mother. The mother is untrusting of her and of course the parson has fallen in love with her. So much so that he has visions of her as he’s kneeling at the altar during church service. In a twist of fate a storm arrives and lightning strikes the church demolishing parts which crush the parson who dies. The gypsy girl is of course blamed for this and she escapes the village and and takes the train where she connects with a group of actors and joins the troop. Naturally as the way of all things in her life seem to be going; the head of the troop of actors, who is married with two children, falls in love with her. Now his wife sees what is happening and has a meeting with the gypsy girl who agrees to leave and do the honorable thing. The husband is having none of it, and he follows the gypsy on board ship. The ship them as an accident and sinks and the gypsy girl is rescued. The paramour, apparently does not survive. When the rescue boat takes her on shore, the local patriarch of the town a wealthy count, of course, is instantly smitten with the gypsy girl. She is equally smitten with him and it looks like her life is going to be happy at last. Meanwhile, it is revealed that the count is the patriarch of the village that she recently occupied where the parson died. His mother spies the gypsy girl and rallies the villagers to take up their forks and spikes and hunt her down. They arrive at the estate of the count spurred on by the suspicions of the mother that she is some vampire that preys on them, So they stone her to death. A shocking and unpleasant ending where you were hoping that she would finally have happiness and peace. It really is awful to be a misunderstood gypsy. The piano was played beautifully and forcefully by John Sweeney. He really uplifted both films just fantastic.
I am really looking forward to the next films of Ellen Richter, she is a new actress I am thrilled to discover. Mille Grazie Le Giornate del Cinema Muto.
I skipped the special children’s program which screened two Charlie Chaplin shorts from 1914 in favor of lunch with a couple of friends. Still no gelato thus far today, what’s wrong with me?
 |
| Laughing Gas (1907) |
The next program was the first in a series called Nasty Women. Each of the films presented were short films from all over the place. The first was The Finish of Mr. Fresh from 1899. Then came The Dairy Maid’s Revenge which I thoroughly enjoyed. Laughing Gas from 1907 directed by Edwin S Porter was delightful. It garnered much laughter from the audience and had an iconic and wonderful final shot of the protagonist still laughing from her dose of Laughing Gas. It was also remarkable because the protagonist was an African-American woman so a big plus for that. I hope her name is revealed in the Catalog, because she had a real presence. Next was another film from 1899 called A Bad (K)night. It was the short tale of a husband returning home drunk and his wife ambushing him from behind a suit of armor with what looked like a baseball bat. I suspect this was not the first time and he got what he deserved. My favorite of the films was Gisele a Manque le Train (1912) France. In this film the lively protagonist was going to visit her father with a lady I presumed was her aunt. They boarded the train and at the first stop Gisele gets off to buy some fruit and snacks and misses getting back on the train. So being an independent sort she decides to walk the rest of the way. As she does so she meets up with a gypsy caravan. (Today’s unintentional theme must be gypsies.) She finds that she likes the gypsies and they like her and have offered to drive her and her caravan to her father’s house. She dresses up gleefully in gypsy costume to surprise her father. They get to the gate and are initially refused entry. Again illustrating why you don’t want to be a gypsy. Sheesh! She reveals herself and tells of the kindness that the gypsies showed her and everyone is allowed in. The gypsies experienced their first afternoon tea served by Gisele and her father. It was a charming film, I’m not describing it very well but I loved it. The musical accompaniment was by Daan van den Hurk.
The next program was five short films in the series of Riscoprte/Rediscoveries. These short film were all from restorations by La Cineteca del Fruili. The first film was entitled soap bubbles presented in 35 mm and running at seven minutes. The story began with a big laugh although it was a cruel laugh of a young boy in a Buster Brown suit running up the boulevard and tripping an elderly lady with a cane. The audience laughed heartily. The boy was apprehended promptly by a policeman and brought home to his mother who grieved at his bad behavior. The boy then went out on the balcony not heeding his mothers pleas to change his ways and promptly bullied another boy and took his bubble pipe and jar of soap away most violently. As he joyfully leaned over the ledge of the balcony blowing soap bubbles he discovered that while looking into the bubbles he could see the future. He first saw a vision of his mother unhappy weeping in their apartment. He blew another bubble and the second vision showed his mother ill in bed and it gave him pause. The next vision was something that would be horrifying as it would be for anyone, seeing his mother dying. This caused him to quickly reexamine his behavior and he ran into the apartment where he found his mother still despairing and emplored her for forgiveness. It was quite touching and sensitively directed. Next was a fragment for at least a short film missing footage entitled Cenerentola (A Modern Cinderella). This from 1913 told the brief tale of a movie star who brought her young friend to the studio to see what it was like to make movies. Of course the young girl was admired by the director and producer and was given a screen test which she passed with flying colors and was cast in the costume film. The rest of the film showed the cast and extras getting dressed in their opulent costumes and then boarding vehicles to go off on location in the film quickly ended after that so we don’t know how it all ended. My two favorite films of the series were Bigorno Fume L’Opium (1914) from France. The film begins where a traveler of the family returns for a visit and he brings gifts for everyone including an opium pipe and a plug of opium for his nephew. The film really takes off when he shows him how to take a small piece of opium and light it and smoke it and go off to dreamland. Of course the young man does not take a small piece of opium he takes a big chunk and smokes it and has wild, wild dreams. The dreams are really fantastic including all of the furniture and items in the room start moving around above themselves until the chaos rearranges and redecorates the room with Asian themes, like an opium den. Next we see scantily clad servant girls fanning him with punkas. Next an exotic dancer first entices then terrifies him as his opium filled dreams become crazier and more frenetic. it was an incredibly creative film and quite funny. In the end the family rescues him and sobers him up and presumably he has learned his lesson. The last film was a little four-minute Italian fragment called The Spider and the Fly. A young lad cruelly pulls the wing off the fly he caught and the fly and spider do battle on thetabletop. Spoiler, the fly wins. This was a fantastic stop motion animation of a spider and the fly and I can’t really describe to you everything in it but to reiterate it was fabulous and so creative I loved it completely. All these films were accompanied by Maud Nelisson. She played fantastically well with jaunty scores and where required empathic sensitivity.
The evening completed the day with a double feature directed to two films that were written by the great screenwriter Anita Loos. The first being a 1916 film starring Douglas Fairbanks entitled American Aristocracy. This was a new film for me, delightfully Doug. This was a print from Eastman House. Costar Jewel Carmen was lovely as the bored Hat Pin Heiress. The story was one that ran the gamut with with Douglas as an entomologist and thrustt into both romance and spies and smuggling. Doug also flew a marine biplane. There was plenty of action for Doug and a charming, charming on screen partnership with Jewel Carmen. The film was accompanied with great style in a plum by Donald Sosin.
The next film written by Anita Loos was a delightful comedy of marital matters starring Constance Talmadge. I confess the rest of the cast were not familiar names with the exception of a small part by Ned Spark. This film really showed off how funny and appealing Constance Talmage was and you can completely understand her popularity in the 1920s. Loos wrote beautifully for her and understood her appeal and character completely. This film was accompanied by Gabriel Thibaudeau with a rollicking score that followed so well the twists and turns of the plot. There was a lot of applause at the end of both films. And so ended my second day in Pordenone.
Today the gelato count was zero, what the heck is wrong with me? I will certainly remedy that tomorrow by ordering double scoops!
Now off to bed, see you tomorrow.
Comments