NEWCASTLE SILENT FILM FESTIVAL

Newcastle Silent Film Festival, Tower Cinemas
Sunday 13 November

I love silent film and particularly love Chaplin, there was some Chaplin on the previous day with Keaton's The General (which I have seen on numerous occasions), but had plans, so Sunday had to do!

The first session of the day was dedicated to Harold Lloyd, I had seen clips over the years and read a little about this classic silent film star, but had never seen anything by him. There were 2 films on the session, the first being a short called Grandma's Boy. The premise was Lloyd wanting to woo the girl of his dreams, but is constantly thwarted by his nemesis. He is ready to give up when his Grandma gives him a magical charm that had belonged to his grandpa, and the charm gives Lloyd the courage to fight for and win his girl. Very simple and very sweet, but lovely to see.

The second film was longer and called Haunted Spooks, and was a comedy of errors about a group pretending to haunt a house that a young girl had inherited, with the hope of ousting the girl from the house. Some lovely slapstick moments, but lagged a little in parts. The production, direction and editing of both stand up after all this time, it was a genuine pleasure to view such brilliance.

The second session was the classic German film, Nosferatu, by FW Murnau. I have seen Nosferatu before, but never on the big screen. Nosfertu, whilst not the first vampire film, is the first based (albeit loosely) on Stoker's Dracula. It is a creepy, haunting film, that set the standard for all vampire films that came after, including the classic sleeping in the coffin scenes. There were moment of humour, possibly not intentional when originally filmed in 1922, but still made you smile. Max Schreck is particularly creepy in the lead role. This was indeed an honour to see. I read afterwards that Stoker's widow actually sued the production company that made this (their only film) and they went bankrupt because of it, and courts ordered every copy to be destroyed! Luckily, they had already been distributed overseas and copies were saved.

There was a film made in 2000 called Shadow of a Vampire that is worth checking out, John Malkovich stars as Murnau and Willem Dafoe as Schreck. The movie is about the making of Nosferatu, and the fictional (or is it true!?!) premise is that Schreck is either an actual vampire or takes method acting to new heights and becomes one during the filming! Murnau becomes aware of this and encourages him as it adds additional gravitas to the film. Equally as creepy, with additional black humour, this is a great film and an interesting companion piece.

Finally, I must add that both sessions were wonderfully accompanied by Greg Smith, who kept up brilliantly with pace and plot. An additional creepiness was added to Nosferatu, by looking over to his spot on the left hand side of the stage and seeing his shadow loom large on the left wall as he accompanied the film!