CU Cinema presents 'Erotikon' with Prague Symphonic Film Orchestra's Quintet

The silent masterpiece "Erotikon (or One Woman's Perfume)" created a scandal when it was released in 1929. The film is on a five-stop tour of the United States and will be shown at Cornell Cinema Nov. 15.

Cornell Cinema hosts the Prague Symphonic Film Orchestra's Quintet, under the direction of Stepan Konicek, at a screening of the sensual silent masterpiece "Erotikon (or One Woman's Perfume)" Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 7:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. Cornell is among the five U.S. venues hosting this special touring event; other stops are in New York City, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Santa Fe, N.M.

Tickets are $10 general admission/$7 students and senior citizens (comps and discount cards not accepted), and they will be available at the Willard Straight Hall ticket desk starting Nov. 6.

Now available in a restored print, including previously censored footage, "Erotikon" provoked a scandal upon its release in 1929 with its candid tale of an erotic triangle. Ita Rina gives a performance reminiscent of Greta Garbo and Joan Crawford in her role as the restless heroine caught between lover and husband. Director Gustav Machaty is best known for his 1933 film "Ecstasy," which made Hedy Lamarr (then known as Hedy Kiesler) an international star. Machaty apprenticed in Hollywood with D.W. Griffith and Erich von Stroheim and is considered a master of Czech silent cinema. Vaclav Vich's cinematography became a benchmark in the development of erotic photography.

This new print will be accompanied live by the Prague Symphonic Film Orchestra's Quintet, which will perform a newly composed score by Jan Klusak. Konicek, who will direct the quintet, has composed 250 film scores and conducted scores for films by Milos Forman, David Lynch and Roman Polanski.

This program is presented in cooperation with the Czech Center New York, the National Film Archive Prague, the French Institute Prague, and Musee Louvre. The U.S. tour is sponsored by Czech Airlines and George Gund III. The event is co-sponsored at Cornell with the Cornell Council for the Arts and the Department of Theatre, Film and Dance.