The Silent Film
Society of Chicago
4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60641
(773) 205-SFSC
The Silent Summer Film Festival Comes to the Portage Theatre
The Silent Film Society of Chicago is proud to present the silent summer film festival for six consecutive Fridays beginning
Friday, July 20, 2007. Buster Keaton, Clara Bow, Harold Lloyd, Louise Brooks and
Mary Pickford are among the featured performers in the festival. All films begin at 8 p.m. at the Portage
Theater, 4050 N. Milwaukee Avenue in Chicago.
Map of Portage
Theater.
Ticket Info
Festival passes (all six films): Seniors
and students $49 advance sale; Adults advance sale $55.
Individual tickets: Seniors and students $9 each advance sale; Adults $10 each
advance sale except for "Battleship Potemkin."
"Battleship Potemkin": $16 for students and seniors; $17 for adults
Day-of-show tickets: $12 each except for "Battleship Potemkin on Aug. 3, which
are $19;
SFSC Member Ticket Prices
Member Festival Passes (all six films): $42 each
Individual Tickets: $7.50 each except for Aug. 3; $14 for "Battleship Potemkin"
on Aug. 3
Day of Show: $10.50 each except for Aug. 3; $17 for Aug. 3.
Advance tickets are available at the Portage
Theatre, 4050 N. Milwaukee Ave., Chicago during regular box office hours (Ph:
773-736-4050), and at The Society for Arts (1112 Gallery), 1112 N. Milwaukee,
Thursday through Sunday Noon to 6 p.m. (Ph: 773-486-9612). For your convenience,
use our Festival order form to order
tickets by mail.
Opening Night!
Friday, July 20, 2007 at 8 p.m.
Seven
Chances
(1925) with Buster Keaton
Directed by Buster Keaton
Plus Keaton in 35 mm short The Haunted House
Live theatre organ accompaniment by Dennis Scott
Pre-show music with the West End Jazz Band
The great Buster Keaton plays Jimmie Shannon, a financial broker on the verge of
bankruptcy through the ineptness of his partner, Billy Meekin (T. Roy Barnes).
Shannon learns that he will inherit $7 million from his grandfather with one
catch -- he must be married before 7:00 p.m. on his 27th birthday. The search is
on for his bride, and Shannon finds himself being chased through the streets of
Los Angeles by hundreds of would-be brides -- some wanting to marry him, others
wanting to tear him apart!
Friday, July 27, 2007 at 8 p.m.
Wings
(1927) with Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen and Gary Cooper
Directed by William Wellman
Live theater organ accompaniment by Jay Warren with special guest, jazz vocalist
Spider Saloff
Wings, the first ever Academy Award Winner for Best
Picture, stars Clara Bow as Mary Preston, a tomboy who has set her sights on
Jack Powell (Charles "Buddy" Rogers) who is dedicated to getting his old jalopy
running. He hardly notices Preston but instead prefers Sylvia Lewis (Jobyna
Ralston) who in turn is committed to David (Richard Arlen). The love triangle
becomes even more complicated when World War I begins, and Jack and David sign
up for the Air Corps, eventually teaming up on the Dawn Patrol fighting the
enemy over France. Acting legend Gary Cooper makes a cameo appearance in the
film as Cadet White, and director William Wellman used 3,500 troops and 60
airplanes for the battle scenes. The most tender and emotional scenes involve
the residuals from the horrors of war and the personal experiences of Jack and
David.
Friday, August 3, 2007 at 8 p.m.
Battleship
Potemkin (1925) with A. Antonov, Vladimir
Barski, Grigori Alexandrov
Directed by Sergei Eisenstein
Live orchestra and organ with the Lincolnwood Chamber Orchestra with Phillip
Simmons, Music Director
Mark Noller, Organ
Introduction by author Arnie Bernstein
Battleship Potemkin is director Sergei Eisenstein's depiction of an incident during a 1905 uprising against the Russian monarchy. The crew of the battleship Prince Potemkin mutinied against the cruelty and indifference of its officers when they are forced to eat rotting food. The support of the townspeople and the action taken by Tsarist troops are brilliantly captured by Eisenstein in this film, which is considered one of the 10 greatest films ever made. The film and its revolutionary message was banned at various times both in the United States and in the Soviet Union. The sequence filmed at the Odessa steps lasts for more than four minutes and contains 155 separate shots, characteristic of the film's intricate and complex montage flow.
Friday, August 10, 2007 at 8 p.m.
Welcome
Danger (1929) with Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent
and Charles "Ming" Middleton
Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Malcolm St. Clair
Live theatre organ accompaniment by Jay Warren with vocalist QiaJenae
In one of Harold
Lloyd's most unusual comedies, the comedic actor plays Harold Bledsoe, a
botonist summoned to travel to San Francisco to replace his late father who was
Chief of Police. A city-wide crime wave is underway and official hope that
Bledsoe is a chip off the old block and can thwart the crooks. When Bledsoe
misses a train into the city, he meets Billie (Barbara Kent) who is taking her
crippled brother to see the one person who can cure him -- the respected Dr. Gow.
One of the city's leading citizens, John Thorne (Charles Middleton) blames the
police for the crime and drug activities of "The Dragon"? Who is the "Dragon"?
Can Bledsoe stop the crime wave?
This film was Harold Lloyd's final silent. It is rarely seen on the big screen
and is often overshadowed by his more famous works.
Friday, August 17, 2007 at 8 p.m.
Beggars
of LIfe (1928) with Louise Brooks, Wallace Beery and
Richard Arlen
Directed by William Wellman
Live theatre organ accompaniment by Mark Noller
Beggars of Life is considered Louise Brooks'
best American film. Brooks plays Nancy who lives in constant fear of her lusting
father. When he attacks her, she kills him in a moment of panic. Jim
(played by Richard Arlen) is a young hobo who discovers the murder and helps
Nancy escape. Dressed in men's clothes to disguise herself, she and Jim hop
aboard a freight train only to be thrown off by the brakeman. They eventually
end up in a hobo camp where the leadership is intensely contested between
Arkansas Snake and Oklahoma Red. Director William Wellman used actual hobos and
homeless men. Brooks did many of her own stunts. Shortly after this film was
completed, Brooks broke her contract with Paramount to work with director G. W.
Pabst in Europe. She was subsequently blacklisted and relegated to B film
productions.
Friday, August 24, 2007 at 8 p.m.
Suds
(1920) with Mary Pickford, Albert Austin and
Lavendor, the Horse
Directed by Jack Dillon
Live theatre organ accompaniment Dennis Scott
Closing Night ceremonies Pre-show music with West End Jazz Band
America's Sweetheart, Mary Pickford, stars in this rarely -seen comedy that can hold its own with some of her better-known films. In Suds, she plays Amanda Afflick, a daydreaming Cockney laundress, a hopeless romantic who makes up a fictitious boyfriend from a guy who forgot his shirt eight months ago. Among Amanda's friends friends is Lavendor the Horse, a broken-down old delivery horse who is scheduled to be sent to the glue factory by the laundry's nasty owner. Lavendor's driver, Horace Greensmith (Albert Austin) likes Amanda too, but she has her eyes set on a rich suitor, Benjamin Pillsbury Jones (Harold Goodwin). Charming and funny, Suds is a memorable film that is a must-see for all audiences.
This project is
partially supported by a City arts I grant from the city of chicago, dept. of
cultural affairs and the Illinois arts council, a state agency.
