I. BFI Southbank
BFI Southbank presents some of the most visually compelling films made in America and Europe during the entire silent film period, highlighting the marvellous and the fantastic with such rarely screened gems as Albert Capellani’s The Red Lantern (1919), Jean Durand’s L’île d’amour (1927), Alexandre Volkoff’s Secrets of the East (1928), the recent restoration of Joë Francis’s La Revue des Revues (1927) including colour sequences and Cecil B. DeMille’s Male and Female (1919). All silent films in the programme will be accompanied by live music.
Male and Female
Friday 3 & 10 December, 18:20 / 20:40 | BFI SouthbankDeMille typically inserted into his modern-day narratives exotic episodes, so-called ‘visions’, that provided seductive fantasy escape and featured climactic costuming. In this film’s notorious dream sequence Gloria Swanson dramatically enters into a lions’ den kitted out in a lavish all-white robe and headdress made of pearls, beads and peacock feathers.
With live piano accompaniment by John Sweeney.
The Affairs of Anatol
Friday 3 & Saturday 11 December, 20:40 / 16:00 | BFI SouthbankLoosely based on Arthur Schnitzler’s ironic play about the affairs of a love-obsessed bachelor in fin-de-siècle Vienna, DeMille’s film is more of a spectacular sex comedy that reflects on Jazz Age morality. Introduced by Inga Fraser, Associate Curator of Fashion in Film.
With live piano accompaniment from Cyrus Gabrysch on Friday 3 and Andrew Youdell on Saturday 11.
La Revue des Revues
Sunday 5 & 12 December, 20:20 / 15:30 | BFI SouthbankBeautifully restored in 2005 by Lobster Films with the Danish Film Institute, La Revue des Revues is a formidably audacious and colourful parade of sets, costumes and dances. Its frothy plot involving a seamstress’s rise to stage glory is a thinly veiled excuse to feature authentic stage choreographies from legendary establishments Folies-Bergère, Palace and Moulin Rouge. Introduced by Jane Pritchard, Curator of Dance at the Victoria and Albert Museum.
With live piano accompaniment from Cyrus Gabrysch on Sunday 5 and Stephen Horne on Sunday 12.
L'Île D'Amour (The Island of Love)
Wednesday 8 & Saturday 11 December, 18:00 / 20:40 | BFI SouthbankDirected by Gaumont Film Company veteran Jean Durand and his wife-collaborator Berthe Dagmar. The latter makes an appearance in one of the film’s highlights, descending a staircase in a sensational multi-train costume held by a chorus of girls, evoking that of Paulette Duval in the 1923 Ziegfeld Follies.
With live piano accompaniment from from Neil Brand on Wednesday 8 and John Sweeney on Saturday 11.
Geheimnisse des Orients (Secrets of the East)
Thursday 9 & Sunday 12 December, 20:40 / 18:20 | BFI SouthbankA big-budget Franco-German co-production, Volkoff’s “Luxusfilm” of the year is an exquisite fantasy of an escape into the ‘Orient’, a theme which was still going strong in both European and Hollywood cinema in the late-1920s. Introduced by by Sarah Cheang, Senior Lecturer in Cultural Studies at London College of Fashion.
With live piano accompaniment from John Sweeney on Thursday 9 and Stephen Horne on Sunday 12.
Salomé
Saturday 4 & 11 December, 20:30 / 18:30 | BFI SouthbankThe cult status that Salomé enjoys today owes much to the outlandish, highly stylised sets and costumes à la Aubrey Beardsley. Despite being a box office failure the film remains a landmark in the history of cinema, bridging the mainstream and the avant-garde.
With live piano accompaniment from Costas Fotopoulos on Saturday 4 and Andrew Youdell on Saturday 11.
Moulin Rouge
Tuesday 7 December, 20:20 | BFI SouthbankAmidst the illuminations of the cafés, theatres and streets of Paris – shot on location and on lavishly constructed sets at Elstree studios – German director E.A. Dupont tells the story of Parysia: shimmering star of the Moulin Rouge. Key for Dupont is the juxtaposition between the glamour of the stage and the stark, often vulgar, reality of the world outside.
With live piano accompaniment by Stephen Horne.
The Gossamer Wings of Early Cinema
Thursday 9 December, 18:20 | BFI SouthbankThe wings of costumed fantasy in early cinema are unfolding to new interpretations as today’s fashion film shorts take flight online. Showcasing an array of turn-of-the-century butterfly and serpentine dances, magical tricks and costume transformations – many from the BFI National Archive – Fashion in Film Director Marketa Uhlirova welcomes some of the most influential scholars of early film to explore these enduring works.
The Red Lantern
Thursday 2 & Wednesday 8 December, 18:10 / 20:30 | BFI SouthbankAt once an epic story and an atmospheric Chinoiserie fantasy, The Red Lantern was an ambitious vehicle for its producer, the American actress Alla Nazimova, who by 1919 was already a celebrated stage and screen star.
With live piano accompaniment from Stephen Horne on Thursday 2 and Andrew Youdell on Wednesday 8.
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