director: David Robinson

 
First part of a retrospective of silents made by the Fox Film Corporation, which will include not only masterpieces from the company's star directors - John Ford, Raoul Walsh, Frank Borzage, F.W. Murnau, Alan Dwan, Howard Hawks - but also reveal how forgotten journeymen like John G. Blystone and Irving Cummings were on occasion capable of producing outstanding work. Nor will we neglect Fox's stars: the company invented the Vamp in the person of Theda Bara; later luminaries included Mary Astor and Dolores Del Rio, the western idol Tom Mix and Buck Jones and the ideal romantic team of Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell.

A special feature of the Fox presentation will be screenings of the surviving silent films which were supplied with synchronised Movietone musical sound tracks in the first days of sound, 1927-29. Traditionally these have been ignored by historians and archivists, offended by the different musical tastes of the twenties, or dismissed as a "hasty" industry compromised with the new technology. In the past, festivals (Pordenone included) have even suppressed the authentic music to provide new accompaniments of their own. This year's Pordenone presentation will demonstrate that these accompaniments were in fact prepared and recorded with great care and cost, and represent the best evidence we have today of the musical provision in the silent cinema.

This concession to "mechanical" music does not mean we shall be dispensing with our well-loved team of regular musicians, who will provide piano accompaniments for the rest of the 100 hours of film which Pordenone offers during its eight days.

Provisional list of Fox films to be shown at the Verdi Theatre next October:

ALICE IN DREAMLAND (Fox Film Corp., 1924), one-reel "Easter Idyll for Children of Every Age", directed by Arthur D. Hotaling, starring Williard Lee Hall and Malcolm McGregor - LoC

BLUE EAGLE , THE (Fox Film Corp., 1926), directed by John Ford, starring George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor - LoC (incomplete, some footage lacking in reels 2-7)

CRADLE SNATCHERS, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1927), directed by Howard Hawks, starring Louise Fazenda and J. Farrell MacDonald - LoC (35mm acetate, incomplete - reel 4 lacking)

DANTE'S INFERNO (Fox Film Corp., 1924), directed by Henry Otto, starring Lawson Butt, Howard Gaye, Ralph Lewis, and Pauline Starke - MoMA

DRESSED TO KILL (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by Irving Cummings, starring Edmund Lowe and Mary Astor - MoMA

EAST LYNNE (Fox Film Corp., 1916), directed by Betram Bracken, starring Theda Bara and Stuart Holmes - MoMA

FAZIL (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by Howard Hawks, starring Charles Farrell and Greta Nissen - MoMA

FIG LEAVES (Fox Film Corp., 1926), directed by Howard Hawks, starring George O'Brien and Olive Borden - MoMA

FOLLY OF VANITY, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1924), directed by Henry Otto & Maurice Elvey, starring Billie Dove, Jack Mulhall, Betty Blythe - Narodni Filmovy Archiv

FOOL THERE WAS, A (William Fox Vaudeville Co., 1915), directed by Frank Powell, starring Theda Bara and Edward Jose - MoMA

FOX NEWS (NZ 73) (Fox Film Corp., 1920?) - LOC

FOX NEWS [CAN NO. 18] (Fox Film Corp., 1919-1927) - LoC

FOX NEWS. LINDBERGH'S RETURN TO NEW YORK, 1927 (Fox FilmCorp., 1927) - LoC

GIRL IN EVERY PORT, A (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by Howard Hawks, starring Victor McLaglen and Louise Brooks - GEH

GOING CROOKED (Fox Film Corp., 1926), directed by GeorgeMelford, starring Bessie Love and Oscar Shaw - MoMA

HANGMAN'S HOUSE (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by John Ford, starring June Collyer and Larry Kent - MoMA

IRON HORSE, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1924), directed by John Ford, starring George O'Brien and Madge Bellamy - Photoplay

JOHNSTOWN FLOOD, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1926), directed by Irving Cummings, starring George O'Brien, Florence Gilbert, and Janet Gaynor - GEH

MOTHER MACHREE (Fox, 1928) by John Ford starring Belle Bennett and Neil Hamilton - LoC

MONKEY TALKS , THE (Fox Film Corp., 1927), directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Olive Borden and Jacques Lerner - GEH

NEWS PARADE, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by David Butler, starring Earl Fox, Truman H. Talley, Brandon Hurst - Narodni Filmovy Archiv

RED DANCE, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Charles Farrell and Dolores Del Rio - MoMA

REGENERATION, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1915), directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Anna Q. Nilsson and Rockliffe Fellowes - MoMA

RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE (Fox Film Corp., 1925), directed by Lynn F. Reynolds, starring Tom Mix and Beatrice Burnham - MoMA

7TH HEAVEN (Fox Film Corp., 1927), directed by Frank Borzage, starring Janet Gaynor, Charles Farell, David Butler, Marie Mosquini, Gladys Brockwell, Emile Chautard - Cin»matÀque fran¡aise

RIVER PIRATE, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1928), directed by William K. Howard, starring Victor McLaglen and Lois Moran - GEH

SHAMROCK HANDICAP, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1926), directed by JohnFord, starring Janet Gaynor and Leslie Fenton - MoMA

SKY HIGH (Fox Film Corp., 1922), directed by Lynn F. Reynolds, starring Tom Mix and Eva Novak - LoC

SUNRISE - A SONG OF TWO HUMANS (Fox Film Corp., 1927), directed by F. W. Murnau, starring George O'Brien and Janet Gaynor - GEH

SUNRISE - A SONG OF TWO HUMANS [OUTTAKES] - LoC

WALLS OF JERICHO, THE (Fox Film Corp., 1914) by Lloyd B. Carleton - Fox Archive

WHAT PRICE GLORY (Fox Film Corp., 1926), directed by Raoul Walsh, starring Victor McLaglen and Dolores Del Rio - GEH