Starting Today: The Toronto Silent Film Festival

The fifth annual Toronto Silent Film Festival begins today! Our good friend Shirley Hughes has always put on a wonderful program every year of classics from the silent era, nicely mixing some familiar titles with some rarities, but this year she may have outdone herself.

The 2014 lineup features silent film stars Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish, and Emil Jannings, directed by such masters as Josef von Sternberg, F.W. Murnau and Victor Sjostrom. Refreshingly, the selected films are not the obvious choices to represent these talents. Therefore, the thrill of discovery is on high: to most, there will surely be something they haven't seen.

Another unique aspect of the TSFF is that it doesn't confine itself to one venue for its six-day run. Movies are shown downtown, at the Beaches, and at the west end, thus encouraging neighbouring residents to check something out whenever something plays in their area during the festival.

As always, the movies are presented with musical accompaniment, guest speakers and film notes.

Here is this year's schedule:

Tonight: Lillian Gish in Victor Sjostrom's masterpiece, The Wind (1928).

Friday Apr. 4: F.W. Murnau's City Girl (1930), whose plot is a reverse spin to his classic, Sunrise.

Sat. Apr. 5: 2014 marks the centenary of The Little Tramp's debut. Charlie Chaplin's iconic character is however being represented with The Circus (1928; pictured above), a feature every bit as good as his acknowledged silent classics, The Gold Rush or City Lights, equally adept at hilarity and pathos.

Sun. Apr. 6: 1000 Laffs: It Started With Charlie. The 1000 Laffs series is always certified fun. This collection of shorts features silent comedians Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, Arbuckle, Keaton, Langdon and Chase...

Mon. Apr. 7: A major influence on Chaplin, Keaton and all the rest was the French comedian Max Linder. His tour de force Seven Years Bad Luck (1921) is being featured at Casa Loma, accompanied by the house Wurlitzer organ.. .sure to be a show stopper!

Tues. Apr. 8: Emil Jannings is a general during the Russian Revolution in Sternberg's The Last Command (1928; pictured below), who becomes cast as an extra in a Hollywood movie on that very subject.

For information on show start times, locations and more, visit their website today!

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!

The Toronto Film Noir Syndicate

...and now that Word on the Street has past, it's time to continue to the next project I've been involved with for the past couple of months. Yours truly has joined Shirley Hughes and David Faris in The Toronto Film Noir Syndicate. This collective will be showing classic film noir several times throughout the year.

Tomorrow, Saturday Sept. 29 is our inaugural screening. This is the first of our fundraiser screening, in which we hope to raise funds and awareness for our plan to hold these events in the future at a theatrical venue.  Tomorrow's event will be held at the Dominion on Queen, 500 Queen St. #E.  The show begins at 8 PM-- admission is five dollars.

For further details, visit the syndicate's website by clicking here.

You can also like the Toronto Film Noir Syndicate on Facebook.