Silent Sundays - Sept. 2014

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• Featured Films for September 2014

 

   Within Our Gates (1920)

 

   A Lady of Chance (1928)

 

   Torrent (1926)

 

   The Merry Widow (1925)

 

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airs Sun., 9-7

 

12:00 am ET

78 min

drama

Within Our Gates (1920)

In this silent film, a black schoolteacher finds the battle against racism is everywhere when she goes North to raise money for better schools.

Dir: Oscar Micheaux Cast:  Evelyn Preer , Flo Clements , James D. Ruffin .

LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW:

D: Oscar Micheaux. Evelyn Preer, Flo Clements, James D. Ruffin, Jack Chenault, William Smith, Charles D. Lucas.

"Controversial, no-holds-barred racial drama, which, along with Micheaux's THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED, counterpoints Griffith's THE BIRTH OF A NATION. Story focuses on light-skinned Preer's various entanglements and efforts to raise money for an all-black school. Despite the melodramatic and sometimes confusing narrative, Micheaux pointedly lambastes not only white racism but blacks who forsake their roots. The lynching scenes are undeniably powerful. Restored from a print found in Spain, with one sequence missing."

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airs Sun., 9-14

 

12:00 am ET

78 min

silent

Lady Of Chance, A (1928)

In this silent film, a female con artist lures men to her apartment so she can blackmail them.

Dir: Robert Z. Leonard Cast:  Norma Shearer , Lowell Sherman , Gwen Lee .

 

(click title to see TCM overview & click article)

 

 

 

 

 

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airs Sun., 9-21

 

12:00 am ET

88 min

silent

Torrent (1926)

In this silent film, a Spanish country girl moves to Paris to become an opera star.

Dir: Monta Bell Cast:  Ricardo Cortez , Greta Garbo , Gertrude Olmsted .

LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW:

D: Monta Bell. Ricardo Cortez, Greta Garbo, Gertrude Olmstead, Edward Connelly, Lucien Littlefield, Tully Marshall, Mack Swain.

"Garbo stars in her first American film as a Spanish peasant girl who becomes a famous prima donna after being deserted by nobleman Cortez, whose life is ruled by his mother. A still entertaining tale of lost love, based on a Blasco-Ibanez novel."

 

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airs Sun., 9-28

 

12:00 am ET

137 min

silent

Merry Widow, The (1925)

In this silent film, a European nobleman courts the wealthy American widow he once loved to save his bankrupt homeland,

Dir: Erich von Stroheim Cast:  Mae Murray , John Gilbert , Roy D'Arcy .

LEONARD MALTIN REVIEW:

D: Erich von Stroheim. Mae Murray, John Gilbert, Roy D'Arcy, Tully Marshall, Josephine Crowell.

"A playboy prince (Gilbert) falls in love with an American showgirl (Murray). Lavish, well-produced silent version of the Franz Lehar operetta is probably von Stroheim's most "normal'' film, though he still manages to inject his usual bizarre touches (including a character with a foot fetish). See if you can spot young Clark Gable as an extra. Remade twice."