The final day of the Giornate, for indeed this was the final day of the Giornate, was a lot like the Ryder Cup. Confused? Well bear with me as I unpack this extremely rare sporting analogy. It was a case of Europe vs the United States, with the home continent playing the first half of the day and Hollywood taking over just as the sun was about to set.
Continue reading Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 8Tag Archives: GCM42
Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 7
You don’t have to be superstitious to notice when the date is Friday the 13th, and conduct yourself cautiously as a result. And of course I am not superstitious – unless you count the fact that I am convinced I willed this evening’s gala into existence by the power of my mind. But that’s a story for later on…
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Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 6
Good vibes only at the Giornate on this sunny Thursday. All of us who made it to the extra-early morning serial knew that we had got out of bed on the right side as soon as we realised that this episode of Le P’tit Parigot might have been called La P’tite Parisienne. Yes, it was young Bouboule’s time to shine, as she raced to the rescue of Biscot in a very fetching Delaunay pinafore, and explained her actions in a nifty flashback while the two of them filed through his prison bars. The episode took a turn for the torrid towards the end, but otherwise oh what a joy.
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Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 5
Pordenone changes a person. I don’t just mean in the way that my bloodstream is now 80% espresso. It changes your aspirations. My dream now is to live in an apartment designed by Sonia Delaunay, watching Peter Elfelt’s dance films (they are playing before several of the screenings) all day. For loungewear, I would choose the louche shawl-collared robe sported by Jaque Catelain in Le Vertige, and if I ever left the flat, I would wear the stunning geometric coat and hat sported by Madame Gilberte in Le P’tit Parigot. I’d take the vintage Bugatti too, please.
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Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 4
We’re at the halfway mark, and let me be abundantly clear: I’m not ready to go home yet. But should you be homesick, there was more than a taste of London in the Verdi today, with Walter Forde’s chase comedy Would You Believe It? (1929) for starters, and even Harry Piel or rather Harry Peel transported us to the Big Smoke for his Rivalen (1923). More of which anon.
More authentically, Jacques Haïk’s Se London!, filmed in the summer of 1927, gave us the view from the streets, whisking us from Hyde Park to Whitechapel in dashing style. I was lucky enough to write about this one for the catalogue, so I was cockahoop to see it on the big screen, with London’s own John Sweeney bringing out the spirit and style of this characterful travelogue. Especially, in the really beautifully photographed Tower Bridge sequence – a real highlight of this film.
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Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 3
As Erich Von Stroheim never ever once said: I’ll keep this fairly brief. That’s partly because I was a little distracted today by matters literary, only some of which is relevant to this dispatch.
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Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 2
Pordenone eh? It’s like Christmas for silent film fans. Quite literally tonight at the breathtaking conclusion of tonight’s headline film. The title was Hell’s Heroes, and we were watching the silent version of William Wyler’s 1929 sound adaptation of the story better known as Three Godfathers.
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Le Giornate del Cinema Muto 2023: Pordenone Post No 1
Watch your step, Pordenauts. Leaving the Verdi after the first afternoon of screenings at this sun-soaked Giornate, I almost walked into the path of the Pordenone Pnthlon relay race. A timely reminder that this festival of silent cinema is a marathon not a sprint, so get set, but don’t tear off too fast, we have eight days ahead of us.
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Silent London 