Silence Is Golden (or, The Toronto Silent Film Festival Is Back!)

ABOVE: Buster Keaton in The General
BELOW: Falconetti in The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Toronto Silent Film Festival returns for its annual week-long celebration of movie classics from the silent era, commencing April 4. (Upon realizing that this will be its fourth year of existence, yours truly let out an Elwy Yost-styled, "Egad!" Time flies when you're having fun!)

The fest was originated by our friend and fellow Toronto Film Noir Syndicate programmer Shirley Hughes, who can take great pride in seeing this tradition grow into a viable institution among local cinephiles. Each movie is further enhanced with introductions by programmers and film scholars, some beautifully printed screening notes, and live musical accompaniment. This year is once again a solid lineup of classics and rarities. Even if you have seen some of these films already, you owe it to yourself to see them in their proper context: in a theatre, with an appreciative audience and… did I say live musical accompaniment?

Another novel characteristic of the festival is that it does not limit itself to happening in one fixed location, thus encouraging neighbouring residents to check something out whenever it plays nearby. The program alternates between Innis Town Hall, The Carlton, The Revue Cinema, The Fox Theatre, and especially Casa Loma (where the accompanying house Wurlitzer organ guarantees a showstopper). 

Although it's still three weeks away, it's probably a good idea to get your tickets ahead of time to avoid sellouts.

Here is this year's schedule:

Thurs. April 4: Carl Theodor Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)- simply one of the greatest films ever made.

Fri. April 5: Tokyo Chorus (1931), by the legendary director Yasujiro Ozu. (Note: Japan did not start making sound pictures until several years after The Jazz Singer premiered in 1927.)

Sat. April 6: King Vidor's masterpiece The Crowd (1928), as timely now as it was 85 years ago.

Sun. April 7: 1000 Laffs: Slapstick Smorgasbord. A certified afternoon of fun, this program of silent comedy shorts always brings the house down. Every year this screening has combined films by comedians who are household names, with works by others who are less-remembered but of no less importance. This year we'll see films with Laurel & Hardy, Harold Lloyd, Max Davidson, Roscoe Arbuckle and Charley Chase.

Mon. April 8: America's sweetheart Mary Pickford stars in My Best Girl (1927). Her films aren't easily seen today, so this is a must.

Tues. April 9: Buster Keaton appears in the timeless classic The General (1927), and the delightful silent short The Railrodder (1965), produced by the NFB!

For further information on times, locations and tickets, visit the TSFF website!

Issue #25 Debuts Sunday!

Wow. It's hard to believe that not only has ESR been in existence for eleven years, but our twenty-fifth issue debuts Sunday at Word on the Street. Perhaps that counts as a silver jubilee or something...

The blog has been largely dormant in the past few weeks, as we've devoted our time to preparing the new issue. Next week, after we've kicked off the launch of ESR #25, we will be back in the blogosphere and how!  Fall is now upon us. These next ten weeks of the year are what yours truly lives for. In addition just loving the season itself, I am enraptured by the many great cultural events during this time, and also delighted by the creative muse that revisits for this period of time. As the weeks progress, it is our intention to make our web presence come alive with more postings of reviews and events.

Oh yes. The new issue. Our silver issue continues to run the gamut of covering everything but current mainstream cinema, with articles on Laurel and Hardy's 1940s films, the gritty films noir of Andrew L. Stone, a detailed history and review of Grizzly 2, the independent works of Sara Driver, and lots of DVD reviews pertaining to recent releases of older, interesting pictures.  This is an action-packed 60-page issue, retailing for five dollars.

Our latest release also finds us in a transitional period. Because ESR publishes far less frequently than the old days, it is makes less sense to stay current in print. The blog has been used for, and will continue to be relevant with timely news pieces. As a result, the future of ESR's print edition exists with longer-format articles. This issue reflects our ongoing shift from a plethora of short works, to fewer articles of greater length. Within the next twelve months, the overall look and durability of our publication will be changing, and in addition I will be devoting some time to one or two print-on-demand book projects.

We're excited about our new release, and hope you can join in our celebration with the first stop on our fall tour. Word on the Street runs Sunday September 23 from 11 AM to 6 PM at Queen's Park Circle. We're at booth MM18. See you there!

For further details, visit the Word on the Street website.