Film Classic "Loves of Pharaoh" To Screen at Historic Niles Theater

[Glenn Meyer]

Film Classic Loves of Pharaoh To Screen at Historic Niles Theater

Feb. 21 showing of restored silent costume epic to benefit Egyptology outreach

Fremont, Calif. — Film history meets ancient history Sunday, Feb. 21 as the American Research Center
in Egypt’s Northern California chapter hosts a rare screening of director Ernst Lubitsch’s silent
film classic, The Loves of Pharaoh (1922), at the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum in Fremont.

Lubitsch, a German émigré, left Berlin soon after making Loves of Pharaoh to become one of
Hollywood’s great comedic directors. The film was believed lost until a few years ago. Restoration
was completed in 2011 by German film expert Thomas Bakels from footage salvaged in several countries
and funding from several European entities. The film is rare: Only a handful of copies exist in U.S.
libraries.Gartenberg Media Enterprises, the exclusive U.S. distributor, is providing Loves of
Pharaoh, a vintage cinematic tribute to ancient Egypt, to benefit ARCE-NorCal’s work in promoting
Egyptological research today. The event location, the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, is itself
important in film history as the site of a theater and movie studio where Charlie Chaplin and other
silent stars worked in the 1910s. The projection booth remains much as it was in 1913, and is open
for free public tours.

Screening to fund free talks by world’s top Egyptologists

Proceeds from the Feb. 21 matinee will fund ARCE Northern California’s free speaker series at UC
Berkeley. Speakers in 2015 included Dr. Nicholas Reeves, who made world headlines last year by
asserting the presence of concealed chambers in King Tut’s tomb. Also funded will be ARCE-NorCal’s
free talks by Egyptologists in Bay Area elementary school classrooms.

Viewing a bygone Egypt to help further cutting-edge research

“Audiences are in for a treat,” said theater historian Gary Lee Parks, a longtime ARCE-NorCal member
and co-organizer of the Feb. 21 event. The restored Loves of Pharaoh includes the original
background tints – because colors were often added to silent epics to help set the mood – English
subtitles and a new recording of the original 1922 score. Lubitsch worked with his own day’s great
Egyptologists to ensure accuracy – with varying results – and Paramount Pictures funding. The film
boasts vast sets and crowd scenes, beautiful replicas, and gorgeous lighting that advanced the art
of cinematography, all enabled by a strong U.S. dollar in the tumultuous years after World War I.

“We’ll see Egypt as people saw it in 1922, and in so doing we’ll help promote the latest
understanding of ancient Egypt today,” Parks said.

Tickets are $22 advance/$25 at the door and are fully tax deductible. Advance tickets are available
at ARCE-NorCal’s PayPal link at http://www.arce-nc.org/Fundraiser.htm

Founded in 1948, the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) is a private, nonprofit organization
of educational and cultural institutions, professional scholars, and individuals. ARCE’s mission is
to support research on all aspects of Egyptian history and culture, foster a broader knowledge of
Egypt among the general public, and strengthen U.S.-Egyptian cultural ties.

Loves of Pharaoh

Sunday, February 21, 2016 1:30 pm

Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum
37417 Niles Boulevard, Fremont, CA 94536

$22 donation per person

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For more information:

Barbara Wilcox, ARCE Northern California
510-372-7755
babsp...@yahoo.com