South West Silents wins prestigious poll and reveals Spring programme
“We were totally gobsmacked!” enthuses James Harrison. “We never thought we were going to get anywhere with it because a good contingent of the voters are London based. So all three of us were rather chuffed.”
He’s talking about South West Silents‘ unexpected victory in the Silent Film Hero of 2018 category of the Silent London poll, which was announced early in the New Year. “So many votes for worthy winners in this category, but the victors soon emerged,” the citation read. “After a powerhouse year of creative and tireless curation and presentation around the west country and beyond, the South West Silents team carry home your prize for silent film heroes of 2018!”
A film archivist at the BBC in Bristol, James has worked on everything from Antiques Roadshow to A History of Horror with Mark Gatiss. He runs South West Silents with fellow curator/archivist Rosie Taylor and academic Dr. Peter Walsh. The organisation grew out of Bristol Silents, which also spawned the hugely successful Slapstick Festival, whose big annual gala takes place at the Hippodrome this month.
South West Silents’ co-directors (left-right): James Harrison, Rosie Taylor, Peter Walsh
From its modest beginnings with free screenings in the Lansdown pub four years ago, SWS branched out to stage regular events at bigger venues. Supported by a longstanding contingent of local silent film enthusiasts, the organisation’s ethos was established at the outset: to show the finest quality prints at the correct speed with live musical accompaniment. And just to make life more difficult for themselves, they chose to avoid all the usual suspects.
“We don’t show Metropolis or Nosferatu. There’s nothing wrong with those films. They’re all great. But they get screened way too often. One of the reasons why we started South West Silents was that Nosferatu was being shown about 11 times in the Bristol area within three months. It was ridiculous. There are a lot more great silent films out there. Our aim is to bring some of those less well known films to the big screen in the best format available. I’ve been to events where you’re getting charged £13 for a DVD screening. With us, it’s either a digital print from Paris or LA or even 35mm from the BFI.”
Although Peter Jackson’s breathtaking, colourised They Shall Not Grow Old prompted a certain sniffiness among silent film enthusiasts, it succeeded brilliantly in offering a window into the past to the widest possible audience. Having kicked off 2019 with a new HD transfer of the Rudolph Valentino swooner The Sheik at the Cube, South West Silents continues take advantage of this renewed interest in early cinema with its most ambitious programme to date at venues including the City Museum and Bristol Cathedral.
“I’ve known the guys at the Cathedral for years and we now have two slots a year,” says James. “In April, we’ve got the UK premiere of the brand new restoration of Cecil B. DeMille’s King of Kings. It’s the Technicolor print, which is absolutely gorgeous.
“We did a screening at the Museum with the Commonwealth Film Archive last year. So this time we thought maybe we should do a silent film screening from one of those countries. A Throw of Dice is an absolute masterpiece. It’s a gorgeous British-Indian-German co-production that’s going to look amazing up on the big screen with Stephen Horne playing.”
He acknowledges that it can still be a challenge to bring in new audiences. “The great thing about the Slapstick festival is that everyone likes a good laugh. When it comes to something like King of Kings, it’s a bit of a harder sell. The worrying thing is that it’s a film about Christ, and films about religion don’t always go down well these days. So we’re trying to sell the uniqueness. In this instance it’s the name of Cecil B. DeMille. From my perspective he’s a very boring film director, very much like George Lucas – a terrible film director, but as a visionary he’s amazing. His vision on film is epic.”
One of the great attractions of early silent films promising a cast of thousands is that’s exactly what you get, rather than CGI thousands conjured up in a computer. “Absolutely. For A Throw of Dice, they actually brought all those people and all those elephants. So if you like your elephants, get down to the City Musuem.”
So what would he recommend to anyone who has had their appetite whetted by Slapstick and wants to explore the serious dramatic side of silent film? “Have a look at what we’ve got on and come along with an open mind. There were thousands of these silent films and nearly all of them have been lost – about 80%. What’s left is not always going to be great, but it’s always going to be fascinating to look at.”
Follow the links below for further information, venues and screening times.
