#cinecon2015

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CINECON 51 - Special Programs

STEVE STANCHFIELD ANIMATION PROGRAM - This showcase of current restoration projects being overseen by Steve Stanchfield was a mixed but interesting bag. For me, the most memorable were the well-animated but completely bizarre Columbia short A Boy And His Dog, which has a naughty little bub having a bizarre dream about his pet pup; and the 1932 animated Wizard of Oz. Commissioned by Technicolor in order to convince Walt Disney of the value of their product and then suppressed for years, it looks tip-top in this restoration and shows us exactly where MGM derived the idea of contrasting a black and white Kansas with a Technicolor Oz.

THE CHAMPION (2015) - This documentary originally sought to promote the preservation of Fort Lee's Champion Studios, believed to be the oldest film studio building in America. Instead, it became its requiem, the historic building being unceremoniously demolished in December 2013. The documentary details Fort Lee's status as America's earliest film mecca, home to such studios as World Pictures, the Victor Film Company, and Alice Guy Blache's Solax studio, and location for many early films. 

The Fort Lee Film Commission are to be congratulated on their efforts, which were very highly regarded by the audience. Keep your eyes peeled for this documentary at other festivals and its imminent release on DVD by Milestone Films. It's well worth your time.

JOHN BENGTSON PROGRAM - Presentations by silent film location guru John Bengtson are always a revelation, and this year’s was no exception, with a focus on a number of films seen during the festival including Fairbanks' Wild and Woolly and Arbuckle's The Garage, part of which proves to have been shot at Culver City, just across the road from the 'Laurel and Hardy block' of Main Street. There was also further information on John's discoveries regarding the two different versions of Keaton's The Blacksmith, including the fact that the standing set from Robin Hood (1922), being shot at the nearby Pickford-Fairbanks Studios, can be glimpsed in the background of some shots.

Another terrific find was the location of the legendary tree-climbing scene from Lloyd's The Kid Brother, closely followed by the discovery of an on-camera glimpse of the Edison Theatre in Niles, California - home of the Niles Essanay Film Museum. As John pointed out, how amazing to think that we can watch a century-old film and catch sight of the same century-old theatre in which we're sitting!

Thank you to everyone who made Cinecon great again this year!

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CINECON 51 - The Talkie Shorts

THE GREAT SHOWMAN (1953) - Cinecon opened appropriately with this 1950 tribute to veteran showman Sid Grauman, with testimonials from the likes of Joe Schenck, Jack Warner, Mack Sennett, Daryl F. Zanuck, Jack Benny, and a nearly unrecognisable Ginger Rogers. And wouldn't Sid be proud to think of us watching this in his own Egyptian Theatre, 93 years after it showed its first film?

IT’S YOUR MOVE (1945) - A down-on-their-luck family gets into the secondhand furniture business to save themselves from eviction. The fun starts when Edgar Kennedy and his son lug an unwieldy washing machine up and down a huge set of stairs as they deal with a daffy lady who needs to post a letter. If this scenario rings a bell, it's because it's a partial remake of the legendary lost Laurel and Hardy short Hats Off (1927), and the first of a so-called 'Silverlake Stairs Trilogy' shown at this year's Cinecon. Aside from the familiar theme and an amusing fourth-wall breaking moment with the garrulous Florence Rice (also seen in Two Fisted), this is a pretty routine short.

THE MUSIC BOX (1932) - Very few in the audience would have been seeing this film for the first time, but what a delight to watch it with an audience, and in a sterling restoration from the original camera negative as part of UCLA's ongoing Laurel and Hardy restoration project. For those who have not seen it, the plot is simple - the boys convey a new piano up a steep set of stairs, with hilarious results. You'll never see this all-time classic short looking better, and it's just as funny as ever - a masterpiece of what might be termed 'frustration comedy'.

AN ACHE IN EVERY STAKE (1941) - The third and last entry in the 'Silverlake Stairs' trilogy finds the Stooges unsuccessfully attempting to carry a large block of ice up the stairs, before making a comically awful meal for the householder's birthday. As always, the Stooges are the Stooges, and take from that what you will.

SO THIS IS HARRIS! (1933) - This short, in which baffled Walter Catlett puzzles over the world going nuts for crooner Phil Harris, is interesting mainly for its shots of the Cocoanut Grove, its early use of novelty transitions, and some very Pre-Code moments. Yes, apparently a transparent skirt is exactly the thing to wear on the golf course.

IMITATION OF WIFE (2015) - Biffle and Shooster are back, and this time they've got a girl - and by the end they gain another (of sorts) when Biffle's forced to go in drag to make dinner for his pal's boss. This splendidly named spoof of classic-era comedy shorts owes a certain debt to An Ache in Every Stake, but the fact that the old guys in front of me who arrived late spent some time debating who the stars were and whether it was a Columbia product suggests that director Michael Schlesinger has hit his target fair and square. 

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CINECON 51 - The Silent Shorts

RED SAUNDERS’  SACRIFICE (1912) - This Lubin short, set in exactly the West that Wild and Woolly gently satirises, deals with an outlaw who sacrifices his own freedom in order to find a doctor for his sweetheart's ailing mother. The mother turns out to be the local sheriff's first love, and the outlaw is set on the path to redemption. There's a lot of arm acting from leading lady Clara Williams; Edgar Jones is more subtle as the title character.

DAREDEVIL JACK (1920) - This highlight reel from a now-lost serial starring Jack Dempsey demonstrates that the champion boxer, while no great shakes as an actor, might have made a personable action star. The plot appears to have been a typically absurd affair about a woman whose bracelet contains a map to buried treasure. An exploding football which barely elicits a shrug from our hero is amongst the many methods a criminal gang uses to locate the loot. Lon Chaney appeared in the original serial but is unfortunately not seen in the surviving footage.

THE DARLING OF THE CSA (1912) - Presumably part of the flood of 50th anniversary Civil War films of 1911-1912, this short includes some visually interesting battle scenes and an early appearance by Anna Q. Nilsson as a cross-dressing Southern spy.

THE SON'S RETURN (1909) - The plot is no more sophisticated than any other Biograph of this period, with a young man who has made good in the city attempting to trick his parents by returning home in disguise, but the attraction of this showing was its source - an exceptionally rare surviving camera negative. You will simply never see a film this old looking so crystal clear. It's difficult to believe that a day has passed since it was filmed, much less 106 years. Mary Pickford doesn't get much to do, but looks very pretty doing it.

THE BELLBOY (1918) and THE GARAGE (1920) were shown in support of Arbuckle’s feature THE ROUND UP (1920). Multiple sources, including newly discovered footage, were painstakingly compiled into a more complete form than has been seen since their original release. Congratulations to Paul Gierucki on a great job.

THE ADVENTURES OF TARZAN - The Hidden Arrows (1921)  - Another episode of the same series shown last year with Ed Hulse’s talk on silent-era serials, this one was the first half of The Hidden Arrow. The true star here was Elmo Lincoln's impressive pectorals.

HER FIRST KISS (1919) - This zany comedy is a rare surviving product of the Fox Sunshine Comedy unit. Production values are high and there's some complicated and expensive looking stunts; leading lady Ethel Teare, resembling a cross between Louise Fazenda and Lucille Ball, makes an agreeably madcap heroine, but the belly laughs are few and far between.