8:30 pm - Rediscoveries and Restorations
DUCK SOUP (US 1927; 20’)
by Leo McCarey, with Laurel and Hardy
Musical Accompaniment: John Sweeney and Frank Bockius

Long lost, then rediscovered in a cropped, foreign-titled sound re-release and in 9.5mm, “the first Laurel and Hardy film" has now been restored by Lobster Films close to its original form, following the rediscovery of a beautiful full-aperture tinted nitrate print at the BFI of what appears to be a British re-release, which is the main source for this new digitization-restoration.

to follow - Rediscoveries and Restorations
BEVERLY OF GRAUSTARK (US 1926; 70’)
by Sidney Franklin, with Marion Davies
Musical Accompaniment: John Sweeney and Frank Bockius

Based on the best-seller of the same name by George Barrb McCurt who, thanks to this success, became one of the wealthiest writers in America, the film stars the great Marion Davis, and it is certainly no coincidence that Pordenone Silent’s poster is dedicated to her this year.
In the small kingdom of Graustark, the Duke Regent is preparing to welcome the rightful heir to the throne. Prince Oscar is, in fact, travelling from the United States, accompanied by his cousin Beverly Calhoun (Marion Davies). But at court many are the treacherous plots against Oscar, who runs the risk of being murdered. To protect him, the Duke makes Beverly pass off as the Prince, disguising her as a boy. “The best-looking boy you ever saw!” proclaimed the New York Herald Tribune at the time. And Italian Vita Cinematografica added: “The man-woman role is charmingly played by Marion Davies, who sustains the part with a delicate and naive impertinence and vivacity.”

10:30 pm - Rediscoveries and Restorations
THE MOMENT BEFORE (US 1916; 50’)
by Robert Vignola, with Pauline Frederick
Pianoforte: Gabriel Thibaudeau

Vignola’s third film starring Frederick is based on the play The Moment of Death; or, The Never, Never Land by Israel Zangwill, and was shot between Florida (Australia in the film) and New York. The story begins with the elegant and elderly Duke and Duchess of Maldon who are engaged in charitable acts in a Dickensian village. The next day, the Duke falls off his horse and is mortally wounded. Mourning the loss of her beloved, the duchess collapses and, “in the moment before her death”, her life flashed before her eyes: “it was in youth when she broke almost all of Bibles commandments”, reads the intertitle. In youth, in fact, Madge the Duchess was an enticing gipsy, engaged to the fiery Gitano John, but fascinated by the aristocratic Harold, the no-good and drunken son of the Maldons…