$37.50. That is the total amount of dollars and cents I gave Film Forum to allow me the pleasure of sitting in their perfectly air-conditioned theater and watching three Erich Von Stroheim's films on three Monday evenings this summer. I am not complaining. Actually, quite the opposite. If I had no money, which I now don't as an unpaid intern, I might steal some from someone who does and give it to Film Forum to see another Von Stroheim film. Thankfully, the Von Stroheim retrospective at Film Forum is over because that dalliance into thievery would probably loom on my conscience for a long time. But it would be worth it. Because there really is actually positively nothing that gives me more pleasure than watching a great silent film with great live accompaniment, and the Von Stroheim films I saw at Film Forum were all spectacularly spectacular, and the pianist who accompanied all three films was splendidly splendid. The first film I saw was Queen Kelly: http://media.screened.com/uploads/0/880/601974-queen_kellyposter.jpg Last fall I listened to Dennis Doros talk about restoring Queen Kelly on a podcast I found by typing "silent film" in the iTunes store search bar. I forgot about that podcast until earlier this summer when I met Dennis and his wife Amy and he mentioned working on the restoration. At that moment, right in front of my eyes, Dennis transformed into a rockstar. I had never met a REAL LIVE PRESERVATIONIST. At that time I had only seen the first twenty minutes of Queen Kelly on TCM sometime during high school. Obviously I was beyond thrilled(stoked) when I learned Film Forum was going to play the film as part of their Von Stroheim retrospective. So I saw it. And it was maravilloso and at moments transcendent. When the jealous Queen whipped Kelly I grinned, not because I am a sadist, but because for the first time, I recognized Von Stroheim's genius, something I had failed to detect while watching a VHS of Greed on my parents' TV two summers ago.
Maybe it was the big screen, maybe I've matured--impossible-- but something felt different about this experience. While watching this film I was constantly in awe of the shot compositions and camera movement. But most importantly, I was just completely entranced. While Greed left me cold, Queen Kelly was passionate and engaging. Maybe I would have liked Greed more if it featured an evil queen who sometimes wears nothing but her cat. (Yes, actually) It is heart-breaking that a large chunk of the film is lost, but that's just how it goes I guess. The film included title cards that explained the missing footage, but obviously it just wasn't the same. Maybe someday someone(ME?) will find the lost footage somewhere. Until then I am more than satisfied with what Dennis Doros provided me.
After walking around Sokolov, a small town in the CR for what felt like days, my two friends and I finally found the little film festival. I didn't know what to expect. That is probably the first sign that something wonderful was coming my way. So it came: Three French students presented their master's thesis to the tiny crowd in the large theatre. Musical accompaniment to a series of silent shorts. Renoir shorts. When the white aborigines did the Charleston in slow motion my jaw started to hurt from smiling too much. It made me the kind of happy where I knew that I was happy at the moment and I knew I would be happy thinking back on it, as I am right now.
