Breakout your pancake makeup* and let the Mighty Wurlitzer roar! From Friday through Sunday, the San Francisco Silent Film Festival is going on at the Castro Theatre. I’d go into what’s playing, but they aren’t big-name films. That's not to say they aren't good, just less well known. No Griffith or Lang, Arbuckle or Keaton. There will be some slapstick and melodrama (if Guy Maddin is doing live narration, you know melodrama is involved. To him, the overwrought is like a religion). They will also be showing The Man Who Laughs. Fans of the Joker, or readers of James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia should be familiar with that one. For those not willing to drive up to the City, there is a closer silent film fixture in the Bay Area (and it has better parking). Over in the Fremont/Niles area, the Essanay Film Company set up one of the earliest West Coast film studios. It was here that Charlie Chaplin filmed some of his more famous films. Now every Saturday night at the Silent Film Museum you can watch many of these home grown silent films. The experience is old-timey to the point of an occasional sing along during the intermission and immensely uncomfortable "vintage" chairs. You've been warned.
*Okay, in case there are some sticklers out there, Max Factor didn’t create Pan-Cake Makeup until 1937 which is solidly in the age of the “talkie.” Before that point it was more like the greasepaint which was used for theater. But commonly people will use the term “pancake makeup” in relation to silent films… now where were we?
posted by -jw-
