‘That kinship in the dark’: Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival to look back on great movies of 1926
It was the heyday of the taciturn occupant of the White House who was known as “Silent Cal.”
The movies were still silent in 1926, too, but were just a year away from “talking,” thanks to Al Jolson and “The Jazz Singer.” The rest of the world was getting noisier, too – record sales were booming and radio stations were beginning to dot the landscape. Cities were getting bigger and their streets were getting clogged with more and more cars.
Some of those drivers might have been venturing to one of the 15,000 moviehouses that were in bustling urban areas and in the tiniest of hamlets. It’s estimated that half of all Americans would go to the movies in 1926, and much of what they saw has now been forgotten, or the films themselves have been lost because of neglect or misfortune. But the year yielded a batch of classic films that still endure a century later.
Those movies will be taking center stage starting Sunday when the Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival gets underway. Lasting a week, it will have 11 movies being shown at various locations throughout the Pittsburgh region.
“I’m really pleased with the lineup,” said Chad Hunter, a Mt. Lebanon resident who put the festival together and leads the Pittsburgh Silent Film Society.
Each year, the festival happens around Silent Movie Day, which Hunter launched along with two other film preservation advocates. The day, which has happened every Sept. 29 since 2021, is meant to honor the artistry and importance of silent film. Turner Classic Movies will be showing silent movies that day, as will an assortment of theaters and museums across the country.
Some sites that have been part of the Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival since its inception, such as the Harris Theatre in downtown Pittsburgh and the Lindsay Theater in Sewickley, will be participating this year, and a few new locations , including Old St. Luke’s Church in Carnegie and Third Presbyterian Church in Shadyside, are being added.
Now in its fourth year, the festival has tended to look back on movies from 100 years before, though there have been some exceptions, and the one this year is a screening of Charlie Chaplin’s hourlong “The Kid” at the Kamin Science Center at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The 1921 comedy will be screened in the Rangos Giant Cinema, along with a discussion led by Dan Kamin, another Mt. Lebanon resident and an expert on Chaplin.
The 10 other movies on this year’s schedule are:
– “The Black Pirate,” a Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckler, will be shown at the Lindsay Theater in Sewickley at 2 p.m. Sunday. A restored print in two-color Technicolor assembled by the Museum of Modern Art is being used for the screening. The movie will be accompanied by the Pittsburgh-based Thoth Trio.
– “Sparrows,” which stars Fairbanks’ wife Mary Pickford, will have a live organ accompaniment by the Pittsburgh Film Orchestra at Shayside’s Third Presbyterian Church Sunday at 7 p.m.
– Moviegoers will be able to watch “The Student of Prague” while eating a dinner created by Chef Mustapha at the Parkway Theater in McKees Rocks Monday. Dinner starts at 5:30 p.m., and the movie will be shown at 7 p.m. It will be accompanied by Tyler Stoner, a Pittsburgh pianist.
– The Pittsburgh Film Orchestra will be accompanying the French drama “Faces of Children” Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at Old St. Luke’s Church in Carnegie.
– “Tramp, Tramp, Tramp,” featuring comic actor Harry Langdon and a script co-written by Frank Capra, who would go on to direct “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” will be screened at the Pump House at the Waterfront in Munhall Oct. 1 at 7 p.m. Accompaniment will be provided by Pittsburgh pianist Tom Roberts.
– “The Adventures of Prince Achmed,” with accompaniment by the band Anticipation Porn, will be shown at the Glitterbox Theater in Homestead Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
– Pittsburgh musician Andrew Lasswell will be accompanying “Flesh and the Devil,” starring Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, at Mt. Lebanon Library Oct. 3 at 2 p.m.
– “Faust,” directed by F.W. Murnau, the German auteur behind the original “Nosferatu,” will be accompanied by electronic musician Stephen Haluska at the Rowhouse Hollywood Theater in Dormont, Oct. 3 at 8:30 p.m.
– Pianist Tom Roberts will accompany the comedy “So This is Paris” at the Frick Pittsburgh at 2 p.m. Oct. 4.
– A new 4K restoration of “Beau Geste” will close out the festival at the Harris Theatre Oct. 4 at 7 p.m., with accompaniment by the Pittsburgh Film Orchestra.
Hunter said that silent movies “speak to people in a different way than film does now.” The fact that the films in the festival will be accompanied by area musicians “heightens that feeling that people get. It really speaks to that kinship in the dark.”
For more information on the Pittsburgh Silent Film Festival, go online to pittsburghsilentfilmsociety.org.