Upcoming silent film shows


My silent film for October 2024 will be The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. As usual, I’ll provide live, (mostly) improvised accompaniment. I’ll livestream it on YouTube on Wednesday, October 9, at 8 PM. On Saturday 11, I’ll accompany it again at the Plaistow, NH Library at 1 PM.

When I accompany a silent film, I improvise the music based on a general plan that includes some motifs devised in advance. For this movie, I’ll include a bit of Beethoven for certain scenes, just because it works so well.

This movie is almost as famous for its sets as for its characters and story. Everything is askew; there’s hardly a right angle to be seen in the buildings. The scenery adds to the sense of a nightmare experience. The story concerns a carnival showman whose main exhibit is a sleepwalker who never wakes. Cesare, the sleepwalker, obeys Caligari’s orders, even when it means committing murder. But there is an even greater surprise in store.

I really enjoy adding music to silent films for a live audience, or at least a real-time streaming audience. Recently I got to see Ben Model, one of the most famous silent film accompanists in the USA, accompany The Mark of Zorro on a pipe organ. It was worth the two-hour drive to Vermont.