Category Archives: Silent Cinema

Silent Cinema

TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS FEATURING FOTOPLAYER AT ACADEMY THEATER

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Lobby poster

FILM SCHOLARS LECTURE:

LEWIS MILESTONE: A HOLLYWOOD LIFE

FEATURING 1927 SILENT FEATURE TWO ARABIAN KNIGHTS WITH JOE RINAUDO AT THE FOTOPLAYER

Monday, March 9, 2020
7:30 PM

Linwood Dunn Theater
1313 Vine Street
Los Angeles, CA 90028

ADMISSION IS FREE
RESERVE TICKETS HERE

Director of such classic films as Two Arabian Knights (1927), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Front Page (1931), Of Mice and Men (1939), The Red Pony (1949) and Pork Chop Hill (1959), Lewis Milestone (1895 – 1980) rose from a humble Russian-Jewish background to become one of the leading directors of Hollywood’s Golden Age. In the first Academy Awards, he won an Oscar for Directing (Comedy Picture) for Two Arabian Knights. 

One of the earliest surviving Howard Hughes projects, Two Arabian Knights was the first and only film to earn its director an Oscar for Directing (Comedy Picture). Despite its win, the film had trouble finding an audience and vanished for decades before its reappearance in Hughes’s vaults after his death. Housed at the University of Nevada – Las Vegas for several years, the Howard Hughes collection arrived at the Academy Film Archive in 2014 when the 4k digital restoration of Two Arabian Knights was made.

Illustration of the Style 40 Fotoplayer. The Academy’s installation is the Style 41, built in 1917.

Fotoplayer
The restoration will be screened with live musical accompaniment by Joe Rinaudo on the Academy’s restored 1917 Fotoplayer. Mr. Rinaudo will change 45 Filmusic rolls throughout the film (similar to player piano rolls but specifically cut for the Fotoplayer to operate additional instruments). All but two are original score rolls for this film.

For more information about Lewis Milestone and this event, visit the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences website.

Silent Cinema

FAMOUS PLAYERS ORCHESTRA UPCOMING EVENTS

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August 29th, 2019

 

FPO returns to the 55th Annual Cinecon Classic Film Festival at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood to perform their score for the premiere of a new restoration from the Library of Congress:

“Bare Knees” (1928)

Starring Virginia Lee Corbin, Donald Keith, Jane Winton andMaude Fulton.

November 2nd, 2019

Join us for our spectacular fundraiser evening featuring:

“The Phantom of the Opera” (1925)

Starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry and 
Snitz Edwards.

With live accompaniment by Scott Lasky at the pipe organ!

On November 2nd, 2019 @ 7:00 p.m. Famous Players Orchestra will present the 1925 silent horror classic 
“The Phantom of the Opera” starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry and Snitz Edwards. This unique restored print of “Phantom” cannot be seen anywhere else, and is the only 35mm print in existence which tells the complete story as it was originally intended. All of the original color sequences have been restored as they were seen in 1925. Original narrative and spoken inter-titles (about 68) have been restored as well as the prologue titles that describe the beginnings of the Phantom and his connection to the Paris Opera House. Plus, see the original Technicolor ending as well! Since this print is drawn from the original 1925 and the 1929 (sound speed) versions, hand cranking will allow you to see, for the first time, the film presented at the proper speeds. “The Phantom of the Opera” will be presented with a live musical score accompanied by Scott Lasky on the pipe organ and screened in 35mm, projected by Joe Rinaudo on an original hand-cranked Power’s 1909 Cameragragh Model 6 Motion Picture Machine. Program will be introduced by film historian Stan Taffel. The venue is Christ Lutheran Church, 2400 West Burbank Blvd, Burbank, CA 91505.