REVIEW: A HISTORY OF THE MOVIES, Rome, NY
newsr...@joannecapella.com
something different on January 29, 2005. A HISTORY OF THE MOVIES: THE
FIRST 25 YEARS (1894-1919), a program of early silent shorts, and
William S. Hart in the feature WAGON TRAILS (1919), were shown. The
program was originally developed for and presented to area school
students as an overview of early film history. Art Pierce, sensing the
program would also appeal to the general public, served as commentator
for the event. Films shown in part one, from David Shepard's THE
MOVIES BEGIN, included early Edison and Lumiere films and shorts that
featured Max Linder, Mabel Normand and Windsor McKay and his
animations. Comedian John Bunny appeared briefly in the McKay film.
Also shown were THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903) with tinted scenes, D.
W. Griffiths A CORNER IN WHEAT (1909), along with Meilies' A TRIP TO
THE MOON (1902), narrated by Bill Knowlton of WCNY-FM radio. THE
ACROBATIC FLY (1908), an early example of microphotography, featuring a
fly balancing such objects as a blade of grass, a crumb and a
micro-sized set of dumbbells, was one of my favorites. Avery Tunningley
did a fantastic job accompanying over two dozen shorts on piano. He
even supplied his own sound effects: whistles, cowbells, sleigh bells
and cymbals to name a few.
As I mentioned earlier, this show was designed for students as an
introduction to silent film. Reflecting on the program, I felt that it
would have been a great opportunity to have been exposed to this as a
high school student, but I really wished I had seen this show five
years ago, when I rekindled my interest in silent cinema. This program
would have saved me many hours reading books and trolling
alt.silent.movies to get the information provided in this two and a
half hour program.
But wait - there's more! After intermission, Mr. Tunningley gave a
detailed overview of the Capitol's Moller theatre organ, explaining
the instrument's intricate parts and how the organist employs them in
film scores. Then Tunningley put the organ into use by providing an
excellent score for the evening's final film, WAGON TRAILS (1919)
starring William S. Hart and Jane Novak. The plot involved Hart as a
Santa Fe Trail guide who seeks revenge for his brother's murder at
the hands of two notorious gamblers, played by Donald Washburn and
Lloyd Bacon. Miss Novak and the gamblers end up in Hart's wagon train
headed west. Novak, as Washburn's sister, is led to believe that she
is responsible for Hart's brother's death. Hart's attempt to
discover who is actually responsible for the murder leads to a dramatic
march with the two gamblers into the desert. The cinematography was
excellent, especially impressive scenes of a covered wagon rolling down
a steep mountainside, wagons circling into formation, and the harrowing
trek into the dessert.
The only other film of Hart's I have seen is HELL'S HINGES. While
that seemed a stronger film to me, I still foundWAGON TRAILS an
interesting picture. The combination of Hart's honest, stalwart
personality, an engaging plot, and beautiful scenes of the West in this
film compels me to seek out more of his work.
Thanks to everyone at the Capitol Theatre for organizing another
evening of both great silent film entertainment, and intriguing
information. It's always a plus when you can learn something and
enjoy yourself at the same time.
Fair Pickings
in article 1107192823.5...@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com,
newsr...@joannecapella.com at newsr...@joannecapella.com wrote on
1/31/05 12:33 PM:
I have to post a few remarks into Joanne's review:
> Moviegoers at the Capitol Theatre, Rome, New York, were treated to
> something different on January 29, 2005. A HISTORY OF THE MOVIES: THE
> FIRST 25 YEARS (1894-1919), a program of early silent shorts, and
> William S. Hart in the feature WAGON TRAILS (1919), were shown. The
> program was originally developed for and presented to area school
> students as an overview of early film history. Art Pierce, sensing the
> program would also appeal to the general public, served as commentator
> for the event. Films shown in part one, from David Shepard's THE
> MOVIES BEGIN, included early Edison and Lumiere films and shorts that
> featured Max Linder, Mabel Normand and Windsor McKay and his
> animations.
Though we didn't get as many schools to participate as we had hoped, the
movies went over very well with the kids that were there. They laughed
heartily at the early stuff (even THE SPRINKLER SPRINKLED, and THAT gag was
old hat in 1897!), especially the Max Linder short (TROUBLES OF A
GRASSWIDOWER), and sat spellbound for WAGON TRACKS.
>Comedian John Bunny appeared briefly in the McKay film.
> Also shown were THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1903) with tinted scenes, D.
> W. Griffiths A CORNER IN WHEAT (1909), along with Meilies' A TRIP TO
> THE MOON (1902), narrated by Bill Knowlton of WCNY-FM radio. THE
> ACROBATIC FLY (1908), an early example of microphotography, featuring a
> fly balancing such objects as a blade of grass, a crumb and a
> micro-sized set of dumbbells, was one of my favorites. Avery Tunningley
> did a fantastic job accompanying over two dozen shorts on piano. He
> even supplied his own sound effects: whistles, cowbells, sleigh bells
> and cymbals to name a few.
>
> As I mentioned earlier, this show was designed for students as an
> introduction to silent film. Reflecting on the program, I felt that it
> would have been a great opportunity to have been exposed to this as a
> high school student, but I really wished I had seen this show five
> years ago, when I rekindled my interest in silent cinema. This program
> would have saved me many hours reading books and trolling
> alt.silent.movies to get the information provided in this two and a
> half hour program.
>
Because we were doing a full-length (an hour) feature with the show, I had
intended to leave some stuff from Mr. Shepard's compilation out. We did
leave some things out of the school show on Friday, but I couldn't bring
myself to deprive our audience of stuff like BOARDING HOUSE GIRLS AT CONEY
ISLAND, so we had a L-O-N-G program on Saturday. I'll take Joanne's comment
that the show lasted 2 1/2 hours to mean it seemed shorter than it was, as
it REALLY ran well over three hours with the intermission.
> But wait - there's more! After intermission, Mr. Tunningley gave a
> detailed overview of the Capitol's Moller theatre organ, explaining
> the instrument's intricate parts and how the organist employs them in
> film scores. Then Tunningley put the organ into use by providing an
> excellent score for the evening's final film, WAGON TRAILS (1919)
> starring William S. Hart and Jane Novak. The plot involved Hart as a
> Santa Fe Trail guide who seeks revenge for his brother's murder at
> the hands of two notorious gamblers, played by Donald Washburn and
> Lloyd Bacon. Miss Novak and the gamblers end up in Hart's wagon train
> headed west. Novak, as Washburn's sister, is led to believe that she
> is responsible for Hart's brother's death. Hart's attempt to
> discover who is actually responsible for the murder leads to a dramatic
> march with the two gamblers into the desert. The cinematography was
> excellent, especially impressive scenes of a covered wagon rolling down
> a steep mountainside, wagons circling into formation, and the harrowing
> trek into the dessert.
>
> The only other film of Hart's I have seen is HELL'S HINGES. While
> that seemed a stronger film to me, I still foundWAGON TRAILS an
> interesting picture. The combination of Hart's honest, stalwart
> personality, an engaging plot, and beautiful scenes of the West in this
> film compels me to seek out more of his work.
>
I had not seen WAGON TRACKS before we ran it on Friday morning (one of the
reasons why we picked this one!), and at first viewing I was a little
disappointed with it because I was expecting a big action finalé that never
happened. On Saturday, though, knowing by then there wasn't going to be a
big action scene, I liked it very much. The reason we picked a later film
like this one (1919) over something like HELL'S HINGES (1915) is that I
figured most of the kids would be seeing silent movies for the first time,
and we wanted something fairly slickly-made. I didn't want them going away
with the mistaken impression that silent movies were all crudely-assembled
curiosities. And WAGON TRACKS is a very well made film. The photography is
especially impressive, and I think the kids (and the adults on Saturday)
appreciated that.
> Thanks to everyone at the Capitol Theatre for organizing another
> evening of both great silent film entertainment, and intriguing
> information. It's always a plus when you can learn something and
> enjoy yourself at the same time.
>
What the public DIDN'T know is that the organ was behaving very badly
because of the extreme cold weather. This is the first time in the few
years I've been seriously involved with the theatre that we did an organ
show in the winter. It is much to Avery Tunningley's credit that he was
able to play around the problems to such an extent that even organ people
didn't know there was anything wrong. We have no more shows with the organ
scheduled until April 2, by which time it'll be back to its old
semi-dependable self!
Art Pierce