Movies

“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” at Boskone

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At Boskone 63 in Boston, I stepped in twice as a movie accompanist. The first was a ten-minute film (and I mean film, the 16 millimeter kind) of scenes from the Seattle Worldcon. Then I noticed that on Sunday morning, the 1923 Hunchback of Notre Dame was scheduled, apparently with just whatever music came with the video. I made last-minute arrangements to accompany it. Zero practice, and I hadn’t brought my best keyboard, but I know the movie well.

We’re talking about my accompanying a properly scheduled silent feature film next year.

Upcoming silent film: Peter Pan in Newmarket

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A new venue! On Wednesday, February 11, I’ll be accompanying the 1924 silent film Peter Pan at the Newmarket, NH Library! It went over well when I did it in Plaistow, and the audience participated where they were supposed to.

If Newmarket is more convenient for you than Plaistow, or if you’d just like to see it again, drop in! There’s no charge and no requirement to sign up, and there will be refreshments.

Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood

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That’s the exact title of the 1922 movie — Douglas Fairbanks in Robin Hood — that I’ll be accompanying at the Plaistow (NH) Library on January 13. They called it that because anyone could make a movie called “Robin Hood” to draw off confused moviegoers, but no one else could legally claim superstar Fairbanks was in it.

Many movies have been made about Robin Hood, and there’s no canonical story. Some emphasize his “stealing from the rich and giving to the poor.” Others show him as a partisan of King Richard, fighting against the encroachments of Richard’s brother John. This movie is in the latter category. Robin Hood is the Earl of Huntingdon, fighting the tyranny John exercises while Richard is away for a Crusade. The first part of the movie shows John plotting for power and achieving it, and Huntingdon becomes Robin Hood only after reluctantly deserting his king. His chief enemies are Prince John and Guy of Gisbourne. The Sheriff of Nottingham is basically a walk-on part.
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New on YouTube: A Christmas Carol (1910) 2

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It’s that time of year, so I went looking for Christmas-themed silent movies. Dickens’ A Christmas Carol was adapted multiple times. The earliest known version was directed by Walter R. Booth and released in 1901. It survives only in a five-minute fragment. A 1908 treatment is considered lost. That leaves Edison’s 1910 film as the earliest treatment that survives in a reasonably complete form. Marc McDermott is an enjoyable Scrooge, and Charles Ogle, better known as the first actor to portray Frankenstein’s monster on the screen, is Bob Cratchit. This is the film I’ve combined with my accompaniment on YouTube.
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