We mark 100 years since silent cinema reached its extraordinary peak as an international art form – distinct and different from the sound cinema that dominated screens from the 1930s, and, in some respects, superior.
This season, entitled MASTERWORKS OF SILENT CINEMA, 1924–1926: Classics & Rediscoveries celebrates both acknowledged masterpieces and bold rediscoveries from across the world, offering a rich cross-section of styles, from realism and psychological drama to avant-garde experimentation.
LANDMARKS OF FRENCH AVANT-GARDE FILM
Ballet mécanique (dir. Fernand Léger, 1924). 16 mins.
La Coquille et le Clergyman [The Seashell and the Clergyman] (dir. Germain Dulac, 1923). 40 mins.
Paris qui dort [The Crazy Ray] (dir. René Clair, 1924). 59 mins.
Realism and logical narrative were never the only directions cinema could take. In 1920s France, images danced, feminists took revenge, and Paris succumbed to surreal comic chaos. This programme gathers three of the best, from a decade of great achievement for French avant garde and artist cinema.
Léger’s 1924 Ballet mécanique was inspired by Chaplin as much as by Cubism and other movements. La Coquille et le Clergyman, from a script by theatre radical Antonin Artaud, first shown in 1928, provoked controversy for its woman director, Germaine Dulac, a long-over-shadowed, key pioneer of the avant-garde. In the hilarious Paris qui dort, by the great René Clair, the city awakes to the madness provoked by a scientist’s “crazy ray”, which can "freeze" people, mid-motion, at will (usually, this being French, in compromising positions).
Introduction by Dr. Natasha & Dr. Joss.
📽️ Doors open 5.30, for drinks & nibbles. Films start 6.30 with a brief introduction from the curators.
📽️ Entry is free with a yearly ticket, although we suggest a small donation of £5 per head to help us keep the lights on! Yearly tickets giving full access to the museum can be purchased on the door (£7.50 adult / £6.00 concessions).
📽️ If you buy tickets and are subsequently unable to attend, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can give your seat(s) to someone else.