Futility… Le Giornate del Cinema Muto Day Five

 

In the rush to fall over each other’s opinions we forget that there can be no winners in a war of words or of bombs. In the battle to persuade, we hurl our arguments across the internet like ordnance from a 4.5 inch Howitzer and yet, whilst the enemy’s lines may be pockmarked with damage, their response only gains in ferocity with the momentum of the attack. It is quiet something to bring a silence to this discourse and to give us all pause for thought, to defuse the fatuous mechanics of action and reaction but that’s exactly what both the late-night films today did for me. They did so in different and equally powerful ways.

The most effective statements are often the ones that simply let you work out the message yourself… not in an abstract way like the Belgian avant-garde cinema of Tuesday – but in the force of images and or music that show a truth we might never have seen conveyed in a moving image before. If the original aim of the Ukrainian/Soviet propaganda we’ve seen this week, as well as tonight’s British propaganda, was to create a specific response in the audience, the musical context of both scores held us away from that original intent and gave us that pause and somewhere between thought and expression lies the truth. Not surprisingly some of us were a little short on words for a while...

Palestine - A Revised Narrative (LB, 2024)

Cynthia Zaven’s sparse electronica and piano accompaniment for her compilation of Imperial War Museum clips of Palestine during the Great War enabled a presentation of documents devoid of polemic. She turned British propaganda into a neutral statement that simply reminded us that one of the World’s most intractable problems was different before 1917. In the clips we see Gaza, Jaffa, lush farmlands and seafront towns, there’s Nazareth, Bethlehem and a Jerusalem in which Muslims, Jews and Christians intermingle, going about their daily lives – talking together and worshipping their God with his common roots. Clearly not everything is perfect – the Commonwealth forces have just pushed the Turkish forces out of the area, it’s a warzone.

What happened next is of course where the real debate starts and were further reading is essential. The Balfour Declaration and the decisions of a flawed British regime with a romanticised view of The Holy Land played their part but as a historian I must advise caution and cross-referencing: for myself and everyone else, we must investigate not reach for simple conclusions. As a starter, I would heartily recommend three episodes of the Empire podcast with William Dalrymple and Anita Anand which cover the Arab Revolt (Lawrence of Arabia) and the Sykes-Picot agreement to “carve up” the countries of the middle east. All of these were recorded in 2023 before the current war but main essential as History doesn’t change based on what is happening now does it? It helps us understand why what is happening … and silent film is both history as primary sources and secondary interpretations.

The German Retreat and Battle of Arras (GB 1917), Laura Rossi

Made when the Great War looked like it might be winnable and has a propagandist purpose beyond earlier films in showing the changed momentum of the conflict to those back home. It is also historically significant for the events it memorialises, the techniques it uses to do this and its intent.. Geoffrey H. Malins was director of photography as he had been for the two Somme films but even though the first was certainly ground-breaking and a phenomenon, Arras doesn’t carry the sense of excitement ad revelation possibly because the enemy was in retreat and more of a known quantity. It’s still a great technical achievement and awe-inspiring in the greater context but it didn’t feel triumphant, more grimly determined to help complete the job.

Laura Rossi has scored for the other films and was on hand to hear her new composition played in the Teatro Verdi by the Orchestra di Pordenone & Coro del Fruili as conducted by Andrej Goričar. Le Giornate is always the warmest of homes for international collaboration! Rossi’s music acted as with Zaven’s compilation and composition in allowing us to really see the film, devoid of any contextualisation that was connected to the original intent or and deliberate contemporary re-contextualisation. She allowed us a bit of both but underscoring the documentation on display to allow our own interpretation – a most historical musical agenda, incredible effective and created.

Elements of poetry and songs of the period, from all sides, were used as connective themes but also providing contrapuntal lines to neutralise more pointed segments. There was more ground to cover than in the Palestinian film given this was a complete creation of the time, but it enabled us that more conscious consumption of the film than might otherwise have been possible.

A sobering and to the day and brilliant work from all concerned.

Meanwhile, back in the Land of Fiction…

Following on from the top… There’s so much “debate” in the UK right now about “our” “national culture” and surely the fact that Betty Balfour was termed Britain’s Queen of Happiness highlights “our” ability to put fun before fear and jokes at our own expense ahead of others. Anyone who forgets this, is nowhere near as British as they believe themselves to be. Betty doesn’t need a flag, she needs silk clothes, fizzy wine and a good time, but she’s also kind and is an equal opportunities irritator!

Betty featured in Syd Chaplin’s A Little Bit of Fluff (1928) which was presented in gorgeous-looking 35mm and featured a host of GB good ‘uns, including arguably the third-best looking McLaglen, Clifford as Betty’s boxing boyfriend Henry “One Round” Hudson, Nancy Rigg as Syd’s wife and Edmund Breon as his mate John. It’s a hoot with near-Hollywood production values and a remarkably high gag rate. Syd’s very much his own Chaplin but he does have the speed of thought and instincts of his brother as well as that most comedically crucial quality: timing!

Syd loves his wife but less so her Aunt Agatha – the brilliant Annie Esmond - who even after two weeks of wedded “bliss” is pushing him around. As the girls go off to see Agatha’s sister, Syd gets persuaded to go out by John and the wheels start to come off for the entirety of the rest of the film.

It’s fast and furious but remember this even if you forget everything else: a small dog may be used to lick stamps if held at the correct angle and provided with the right incentives> I shall take this lesson forward.

   

Accompaniment was from dog-loving Donald Sosin and cool cat Frank Bockius on the sticks (just don’t throw them for the dogs…)

 

Quick-fire round...

 

Danza Serpentina (US? FR?, 1896-1905?) – who can resist this dance, especially colourised? The images are also being projected on the Teatro Verdi and in one of the squares.

L’Innamorata (IT 1920) with Stephen Horne

Time for some more Italia Almirante Manzini and this starts with a pure visual Diva power play as the man waiting to see her has to await her full preparation and we see her in close-up glimpses, lipstick being finished, hair checked, full-glam eye-shadow… before she is revealed in her full glory.

Sadly, this film doesn’t quite support her in the way that Zingari (1920) did and has a lumpy plot not helped by missing sections but with Stephen Horne to fill the experience with fulsome flourishes and expert under-scoring it was inevitably entertaining!

 

Die Dame mit der Maske (DE 1928) Günter Buchwald, Frank Bockius

When a young socialite has to undertake work as an exotic dancer to convince her father that his books are still being published, she has no option but to wear a mask as she shows far more flesh than she would prefer.

A good cast – including dynamo Dita Parlo – and some fine set pieces are let down by a slightly wayward narrative in which some characters are inactive when really they could save the day with more gumption. Apparently a number of different endings we filmed and you could see anyone of them working… a reflection of the lack of internal logic and depth behind the main characters and their motivation perhaps?

Günter Buchwald and Frank Bockius are on fire this week and their mix of classical, folk and jazz served this Weimar treat very well!

 

Louis, Musidora & Léontine with Meg Morley

Another clutch of excellent Louis Feuillade shorts including L’HOMME AIMANTÉ (Un Monsieur aimanté) (FR 1907), LYSISTRATA OU LA GRÈVE DES BAISERS (FR 1910) and LAGOURDETTE GENTLEMAN CAMBRIOLEUR (FR 1916).

This last was my favourite and featured a reunion of the three key cast members of Les Vampires… Musidora is reading a novelisation of the series and Marcel Lévesque tries to impress her by pretending to be a super thief. It’s daft fun and even Édouard Mathé pops up as a reveller at the club where his former colleague is “committing” his made-up crimes.

Meg Morley joined in the proto-jazzed mayhem. (that would make a good t-shirt slogan surely?)

 

À bientôt!

 

PJ

 

Musi et Mathé!

Faces… The Battle of the Somme (1916), Royal Festival Hall with Laura Rossi, BBC Concert Orchestra

It was 100 years to the day since the ending of the Battle of a Somme, one of the bloodiest seasons of the war to end all wars in which over one million men lost their lives in an almost inconceivable slaughter.

Laura Rossi’s Great Uncle Fred fought in the battle and lived to tell the tale as a photo with his young great niece showed. I believe my Great Uncle Alec was also involved and whilst he survived the shrapnel embedded in his skull claimed him well before his time. So many have connections still and it was Laura’s that helped inform her moving and delicately structured score.

The film originally came with a lists of suggested contemporary songs which Stephen Horne plays on the IWM DVD. Not all of these songs fit the mood and Laura’s score was intended to provide a stronger musical narrative and more emotionally-nuanced accompaniment for a film with a loose and highly varied structure in tone and form. It bridged the gap of a century and made me anxiously scan all those faces partly to pay respect but also to see them as more than just history: then and now, life and death; the delusion of safety simply blown away.

The Lancashire Fusiliers take a break

The Battle of the Somme covers everything from propagandist battle preparations, shell-polishing bravado, staged battle scenes to actual battlefield advance and devastation. It also looks death hard in the face in lingering shots initially of the German fallen and then in unbearably poignant moments of the allied troops passing whilst in the midst of life: sitting or grasping for safety – death whilst unaware or exhausted and death by surprise as gas passes over or machine gun fire rips your life away in shocked seconds.

Not once does Laura’s score over-play its hand and throughout she evokes pride, pity, hope and sadness with perfect and delicately wrought pitch.

The BBC Concert Orchestra is able to convey this musical meaning with a precision of their own: expert players conducted in style by John Gibbons who gracefully acknowledged his 80-piece ensemble section by section at the final bows. The room was filled with raucous respect.

So, Royal Festival Hall, after Gance’s epic reconstruction, tonight a real war or at least one portrayed in brave documentary form by the ground-breaking efforts of Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell.

IWM's Senior Curator Dr Toby Haggith introduced and reminded the audience of the British Army’s first day casualties of 57,470 men – enough to fill this Hall over eight times… The Times hailed the film as a documentary that in “years to come” would be preserved by historians to show what this conflict was really like.

So it was tonight and, having watched the DVD some yearsago, I have to say the combination of music, audience and screen was even more affecting. Laura’s aim was to let the images speak for themselves and there really is no need to emotionally enhance the faces of optimistic Tommies thrilled to be on camera and still to face the actuality of war and even later, captured Germans lark about and battle-drained troops cheer for the home front videos. They had spirit, all of them, they had hope.

Royal Field Artillery and mascot

The film felt more cohesive with the elevated experience of the live score pulling our attention into line.

Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell were no doubt kept under tight reign and military intelligence not only edited their 8,000 feet of film but wrote the title cards. This all gives the resultant film the look and language of military discipline and yet the people cannot be scripted in the same way.

Part one shows the preparation and the rather deliberate stacking of those very potent shells – a point needed to be made after earlier “quality issues” – the massing of cheery troops and potent hardware.

Friend and foe pose for the camera

Then comes the bombardments and shots of so many Howitzers of increasing size from 4.7 inches to 15 with the mammoth “Grandmother” - you really do wonder how anything could have survived – a similar mistake to the one made at the time…

The huge Hawthorne Ridge mine explosion is shown as filmed by Malin and there is also later footage showing the 40-foot deep crater left by the Lochnagar mine whose crater remains unfilled on the battlefield to this day.

The 40 foot crater

Then comes the attack and, the reconstructed scramble over the top aside, most of the footage is genuine including an actual charge, in which you can clearly see the men flooding forward – a moment when I always hold my breath and image just for a second what it could have been like.

These were our great and grand-parents all drawn from Lancashire, Dorset, Scotland, Sussex and Kent offering up their lives for the sake of a country they passionately believed in. With our modern everyday petty gripes, we should simply watch this film and note down every last similarity… it won’t take long.

The Royal Field Artillery and the dead at Mametz

Malin and McDowell didn’t just make a propaganda film for 1916 but one that can still stir today: the first war documentary and the first portrayal of the death that glory costs. They focused on the faces of soldiers from both sides and the hope was that many of the watching hoards at home – reputedly over 20 million watched the film: almost half the population – would spot a loved one. How many did we can only guess and, as to how many lived… we can only fear for the worst.

More than anything this is a film about the bravery, trust and loyalty of the common man: people haven’t changed in a century but the prospects for hope possibly have.

The Royal Fusiliers after the opening battle

The Battle of the Somme was being screened as part of Somme100 Film which involves 100 screenings of the film and score across the country and even into Europe: don’t miss it… we should indeed never forget because, as the world turns the same mistakes return and human misery will always be the end product.

The Imperial War Museum’s DVD featuring the restored print and Laura Rossi’s music is available from their shop. It includes Stephen Horne’s alternative score as well as a commentary and interview with Roger Smither, Keeper of the IWM’s Film and Photograph Archive, as well as missing scenes and a 36-page booklet. 

One for the Kaiser

An Ealing epic… Jane Shore (1915), BFI with Laura Rossi and Orchestra Celeste

Recently the BBC – the BBC – carried a news story noting the centenary of “the first feature film” The Birth of a Nation which is like saying that Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band was the first LP… a letter was almost written to the DG.

This multi-reeler is described as Britain’s "answer" to Birth (both were released in March 1915) and so naturally we were expecting large-scale invention, historical flim-flam and a healthy dollop of deluded white men on horseback wearing sheets. But what we saw was closer to the Italian classical dramas of the time, which is unsurprising considering the film’s origins in Nicholas Rowe's 1714 play The Tragedy of Jane Shore.

An eighteenth century portrait of Jane Shore, National Trust, Penrhyn Castle

Jane Shore was the mistress of King Edward IV, who reigned on and off from 1461 until his mysterious death in 1483 – “not my period” as we historians always say but I’ll give it a go.

Jane Shore – originally Elizabeth Lambert (the Jane was added by another Seventeenth Century playwright after her given name was temporarily mislaid) – lived a long and eventful life. Many years after Edward’s passing and the defeat of his recently re-buried brother, Richard III by Henry VII, Thomas More, declared that even in her old age an attentive observer might discern traces of her former beauty.

But Jane Shore is by no means a Mantell-esque forensic historical docu-drama: it’s a romp and pure entertainment from start to finish!

Blanche Forsythe walks through the thousand extras...

Richard – here merely Duke of Gloucester (Rolf Leslie) – is a Dastardly Dick who is seemingly older than his elder brother Edward IV (Roy Travers), whilst the conniving Margaret (Dora De Winton) seems to exist purely to add more spite to proceedings forever trying to come between/revenge herself on noble Matthew Shore (Robert Purdie) and his true love Jane Shore nee Winstead (Blanche Forsythe).

It opens in grand style as many hundreds of defeated Lancastrian soldiers retreat through massive steep valleys having been routed by the army of the White Rose led by Edward. It’s a stunning shot and crystal clear in the BFI’s new restoration marking the film’s centenary. The sequence is so fine that it’s repeated later as the Yorkists taste defeat and there is a wonderful shot showing the men almost rolling down the steep hill with cinematographer Will Barker’s camera angled almost above them – take that Mr Griffith!

On the Ealing backlot

Directed by Bert Haldane and F. Martin Thornton, Jane Shore was filmed in part at Ealing Studios and produced by Will Barker, who founded the original studio in God’s own commuter-county, Hertfordshire.

The story is a truncated version of “Jane’s” life focusing on the Edward years and beefing up her relationship with Shore who it is suggested she sacrificed herself to Edward’s lust in order to protect: Laura Rossi explained that in reality she divorced him on the grounds of impotency.
Shore’s brother William (Nelson Phillips) is a Lancastrian hero and his brother comes to his rescue after he is imprisoned in the Tower.  As elsewhere in the film, Haldane and Thornton frame their static shots dynamically, creating tight-angled tension from the walls and battlements. There’s a close-up blur of battle as the rebels overcome the drunken Yorkist guards and climb down the walls to freedom.

Matthew and Jane wed as Edward looks on in disguise...

The action shifts to the domestic as the overwrought Margaret tries to turn Matthew’s head but he’s set himself on young Jane and ignores her flailing arms and over-eager elbows. But two masked playboys from the royal court come to town and one of them takes a shine to Jane before revealing himself to be Edward! Malicious Madge squeals in delight as Matthew makes one of many grabs for his blade…

Jane calms his anger by agreeing to marry him but in steps Marge again to inform on him as a Lancastrian spy. Matthew fights of dozens of royal guards and escapes to his brother’s troop leaving Jane to accept her fate as a mistress of the court.

Rolf Leslie's vicious Richard

Enter Richard hobbling with intent, stage right… After trying it on with Jane himself and being shooed away by Lord Hastings (Thomas H. MacDonald) he tells the Queen (Maud Yates) of the King’s affair (in reality Edward was rather active in this respect although he retained respect for Jane right up to his untimely death).

From now on it’s Dick’s tricks that drive the narrative and with such a villain smiling at the heart of great misfortune, you have to hope for some kind of happy ending…

Jane greets the sunrise in this risque moment...

Laura Rossi’s score was expertly judged and one of the best ensemble accompaniments I’ve seen for some time. She played piano alongside an electronic backdrop and was accompanied by a top-notch trio: Sophie Langdon (Royal Philharmonic, BBC Symphony etc) on electric violin, Bozidar Vukotic (Tippett Quartet, English Chamber Orchestra and more) and Mike Outram on guitars who in addition to being a professor at The Royal Academy has also played with Steven Wilson and the great Robert Fripp.

Together they produced an engaging sonic narrative of some depth and invention. It was a Friday evening after a long working week and this was instantaneously engaging, welcoming music which greatly enhanced the cinematic experience. A true soundtrack that was melded to the century-old “text” and which helped the audience connect…

Laura Rossi and Orchestra Celeste

In her introduction Laura explained how her composition tracked Blanche Forsythe emotional shifts and the music was such a disciplined servant to the action throughout. In one scene after a confrontation between the King and Matthew the monarch stomps through a crowded room followed by the angry insurgent: the music builds with the rhythm of the extras’ movement as they hoard towards the centre of the screen crushing round Matthew to prevent his taking the matter further. Such diligence rewards with a seamlessly-sympathetic score.

There’s more about Laura’s extraordinary music on her site and don’t miss this show if you can: a precious example of early British cinematic sophistication. Not quite up there with Griffith or the most advanced Europeans but brilliantly British all the same!

The Jane Shore tour continues into May - details are on Laura's site here.

Anthem for Doomed Youth… The Battle of the Somme (1916)

"Crowded audiences...were interested and thrilled to have the realities of war brought so vividly before them…" The Times, August 22, 1916

This film was intended to form a bridge between the Western Front and the Home Front. The War Office had only lifted a ban on filming the war in late 1915 and what started off as disparate reporting of the battle ended up as an attempt to create a more coherent narrative.

Whilst some of this was “reconstructed” (the famous “over the top” sequence was in fact the only such fiction) and otherwise moulded to fit with scenes moved around chronologically, there is no doubt that the results are still haunting to this day. How could they fail to be?

British soldiers charge across No Mans' Land

At one point the filming picks up the chaos of the actual charge as soldiers run across no mans land, it’s difficult to make out the pattern initially but then you see the direction they are headed and you start to make out the falling bodies… These were amongst the first casualties on the most calamitous day in British military history: the 1st July 1916, when 19,240 men died and a further 38,230 were injured.

In an age when the filming of conflict at close quarters is almost taken for granted it is hard to imagine the impact of The Battle of the Somme on contemporary audiences. The Great War was two years into its bloody course and the main source of information would have been the written reports in newspapers. Here suddenly, were images of huge explosions, muddy trenches and the flesh and bone of men giving their all for the country. Here was what was actually happening to the husbands, sons and brothers of those left at home.

Geoffrey Malins (left on camera), John McDowell (right)

This was a calculated risk on behalf of the War Office, the film was intended to have huge propaganda value and so it proved with millions queuing to watch it on record runs as it became the most successful British film of the era with over 20 million tickets sold…almost half the country watched it.

Historians may argue over the authenticity of some of the shots and, of course, the film was “censored”… this was Great Britain at war in 1916. With the casualties mounting and no clear end in sight, the War Office needed a demonstration of the courage and superiority of the British army… the folks back home needed to know that the war was being won and they needed to see how their friends and relatives were fighting and dying…

Whatever the intent and the restrictions placed upon them, Geoffrey Malins and John McDowell’s film is an incredible slice of authentic history. The two men showed a lot of courage as well as technical ingenuity starting at opposite ends of the 16 mile long front and ended up in the south where the allied push had been most successful.

The film starts with the build up as soldiers and munitions are moved into position. The men are shown marching happily to the front, waving at the camera pleased to be given a possible connection to home. How heart-breaking it must have been to grieving audiences back home who watched in hope of seeing a loved one.

The action then shifts to show the intense artillery bombardment that presaged the battle over the last week of June. Bigger and bigger guns are shown culminating in a mighty 16 inch Howitzer. The workings of these infernal machines is shown in some detail, the ground shaking as round after round is despatched to the German lines.

The huge Hawthorne Ridge mine explosion was filmed by Malin and later footage showing the 40 foot deep crater left by the Lochnagar mine showed how destructive these weapons could be. The latter crater remains unfilled on the battlefield to this day.

Hawthorne Ridge mine

The preparation of the soldiers becomes more intense as we see the trenches at an area termed “White City” (the Brits neutralising fearsome foreign soil by using familiar terms), then follows Malin’s genuinely chilling footage as the soldiers engage. There was much debate at the time over the validity of showing the actual combat and loss of life but if seeing the reality doesn’t shake us from any complacent view of war then what will? This was not the intent of the time, but they wanted to show what the men were actually experiencing in the name of God and country.

The staged sequence in which a few dozen men clamber over a low trench and run across the barbed-wire field showed closer up what was actually happening all over the battle field.

The remainder of the film shows the aftermath of the initial push with the injured being patched up – one man with entry and exit wounds clearly visible on his arm  and again on his right shoulder: a lucky survivor. Captured German soldiers are also shown in their hundreds most just glad to be alive.

But the film makers also paused to show the bodies of the dead and there are some surprisingly lingering shots of solders, frozen where they fell. This was one element which the authorities might have miscalculated and future propaganda was more guarded.

At the end, the soldiers are shown to re-group and prepare to re-enter the fray - an upbeat conclusion (mostly using footage from before the battle) for what was only the first week or so of a battle that raged for months well into the autumn. The prisoners of war are shipped off in trains: they were the lucky ones.

There’s an extraordinary shot (McDowell?) showing the devastation around Mametz, as the camera pans almost 360 degrees to show buildings reduced to rubble. It looks like a vision of Hell, as does much of the film.

By the end of the battle in November, the allies had gained about six miles at a cost of 623,907 casualties against 465,000 for Germany…over 300,000 lives were lost from both sides. How many of the smiling soldiers seen in this film made it though?

The Royal Fusiliers after the first day

Hostilities resumed the following year once the weather and ground improved.

The Battle of the Somme could only give a flavour of the scale of this loss and it succeeded in showing the humanity, providing the template for future reporting. It was inscribed into the UNESCO “Memory of the World” register in 2005. A second film, The Battle of the Ancre and the Advance of the Tanks, was released in 1917 showing the latter stages of the Battle - a war within a war.

The sunken road... 20 minutes later a German shell landed on this spot

I watched the Imperial War Museum’s DVD which features a restored print and specially written orchestral score from Laura Rossi. This was used for the restoration premier on the Southbank and does a splendid job of connecting the film with modern sensibilities.

There’s also a fascinating alternative score from an ensemble led by Stephen Horne which features a medley of contemporary music as recommended at the time. As close as it’s possible to get to a restored “soundtrack” for a silent film, this gives a moving insight into the mood the film distributors wanted to create.

Both musicians are interviewed and the extras also include a commentary and interview with Roger Smither, Keeper of the IWM’s Film and Photograph Archive, as well as missing scenes and a 36 page booklet. It’s available from the Imperial War Museum direct or through all good online retailers.

Lochnagar crater and memorial