Lectures and film program
Lecture 1
Thrills, stunts and daredevils: express train action
Hemma M. Prainsack (film historian)
The main element of the action film is the chase, which keeps the audience on the edge of their seats with nerve-wracking staging. The depiction of breakneck speed and modern means of transport becomes a symbol of the mastery of technology – and of the body. When the first images from the Lumière Cinématographe rolled across the screen, ‘L’arrivée d’un train en gare de La Ciotat’ particularly stirred emotions. With the arrival of the train, the largest means of transport in the country is captured in motion, a scene that continues to captivate viewers today. The railway quickly became a powerful subject in film and a setting for acrobatics and action on the train. In ‘Abenteuer im Nachtexpress’ (D 1925), German action hero Harry Piel dared to take on the “giant of the primeval world” (Illustrierter Film-Kurier No. 361, 1925) with spectacular stunts.
Lecture 2
Submerged action: underwater filming technologies of the silent era, as represented in the collection of San Francisco Film Preserve
Kathy Rose O’Regan (San Francisco Film Preserve)
Underwater photography was surprisingly common in the early decades of cinema. The San Francisco Film Preserve collection alone contains two feature films—Maurice Tourneur’s *The White Heather* (USA 1919) and Irvin Willat’s *Below the Surface* (USA 1920)—that feature underwater scenes, including sunken wrecks and battles on the seabed. This talk will use these two films as examples to demonstrate the technical advances achieved in underwater photography during the silent era. It will also discuss the innovative marketing strategies studios used to educate the public about these groundbreaking technologies.
Film
›Escalada à Torre dos Clérigos‹
P 1917, Raul de Caldevilla, 9 min, silent
Introduction: Joana de Sousa (Cinemateca Portuguesa)
In 1917, the Clérigos Tower in Porto (at 75 meters, still the tallest church tower in Portugal) was the scene of an impressive feat: Two Spanish acrobats successfully scaled the tower in front of a huge, expectant crowd. This film documents the daring feat, which was part of an advertising campaign for a biscuit manufacturer. The acrobats were to enjoy tea and biscuits at the top of the tower, which was advertised as “Tea in the Clouds!” It was the most innovative Portuguese advertising film experiment for decades.
