Cornell Cinema series showcases classic silent films with live music

Cornell Cinema presents seven restored (or new) 35 mm prints of classic silent films between Oct. 10 and Nov. 2, all but one accompanied by live music. Screenings will take place in Willard Straight Theatre, except where noted. For more information call 255-3522 or visit http://cinema.cornell.edu.

A restored print of Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" will be screened at Cornell Cinema Oct. 18, 19 and 20, and is part of the Frankenstein Fridays series. Admission is $4.

The series begins tonight, Oct. 10, at 7:15, when cellist Hank Roberts and David Borden, director of Cornell's Digital Music Program, team up for an evening of improvisational accompaniment with a new print of the classic German expressionist film, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari"(1920). An extraordinary combination of visual style and psychological horror story, "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" is one of the most striking and influential of all silent films. Dr. Caligari is a deranged hypnotist who spreads death from his traveling carnival. His star attraction is Cesare, a spidery sleepwalker who obeys Caligari's every command. The film is screened as part of the Frankenstein Fridays series (despite being shown on Thursday). Admission will be just $4.

Next up is Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" (1927), which was one of the most lavish productions of the silent era. The new 35 mm print was restored by the Munich Film Archive and is as close to the original release print as possible. It has been digitally remastered from all surviving material with the original 60-piece orchestral score by Gottfried Huppertz. It will be screened Friday, Oct. 18, and Saturday, Oct. 19, at 7 p.m. in Uris Auditorium, and Sunday, Oct. 20, at 5 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. Also part of the Frankenstein Fridays series, admission to all three shows will be $4.

Philip Carli will accompany two of the films in the series. A regular at Cornell Cinema, Carli started accompanying silent films at the age of 13. He now accompanies films at the George Eastman House in Rochester, as well as at numerous festivals throughout North America and Europe. He will accompany a new print of G.W. Pabst's "Diary of a Lost Girl" (1929), starring Louise Brooks, who plays a wide-eyed 16-year-old who is seduced by her father's young assistant and winds up in a home for delinquent girls. The screening will be Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 7:15 p.m. Ticket prices will be $6 general, $5 students and seniors, and $4 for Cornell graduate students.

Then, on Friday, Nov. 1, at 7 p.m., Carli will perform with a restored print of Paul Wegener's "The Golem" (1920), as part of the Frankenstein Fridays series. Based on the legend of the Golem, a creature made from clay by Rabbi Loew in 16th-century Prague to defend the Jews in the ghetto against pogroms, this particular version was made with the resources of Germany's Ufa studio. The spectacular sets were inspired by the medieval architecture of Prague, and the hulking figure of the Golem was a key influence on the portrayal of the monster in "Frankenstein." Admission will be $4.

Details on the remaining three silent film/live music events will be forthcoming, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for two screenings taking place as part of "Landscapes of the Soul: The Cinema of Alexander Dovzhenko," a special touring series of new 35 mm prints by Dovzhenko, a contemporary of Sergei Eisenstein. On Sunday, Oct. 27, at 7:30 p.m., local musician Peter Dodge will accompany "Arsenal" (1929), and on Saturday, Nov. 2, at 8 p.m., the Alloy Orchestra will accompany "Earth," a lyrical evocation of Dovzhenko's native Ukraine. Earlier that same day at 5 p.m., the Alloy Orchestra will perform with a restored print of the swashbuckling "The Black Pirate," starring Douglas Fairbanks. Advance tickets for both Alloy shows can be purchased from the Cornell Cinema office, 104 Willard Straight Hall, Monday through Friday, noon to 5 p.m., starting Monday, Oct. 28.