Dr. Wayne McMullen suggests the following:
Something Old... The Kimmel Center in Philadelphia, as part of a series of programs to inaugurate its new concert hall organ (I'm told it's a magnificent instrument), will show two classic silent films, with accompaniment on the new organ on Sunday, May 21. First will be Buster Keaton's wonderful 'The General,' at 3 p.m. Then, at 7 p.m., the Kimmel will show a Douglas Fairbanks Sr. flick, 'The Mark of Zorro.' If I had to pick just one to see, I'd vote for 'The General.' It's a gem. With either film, you will get a sense of what it was like to see a movie during the silent era, when the "soundtrack" was provided in-house by a musician who could match the music with the on-screen action.
Something New... On a more serious note, Deepa Mehta's last film in her Elements Trilogy, 'Water,' is now in theatrical release. (The first two films were 'Fire' and 'Earth.') 'Water' is a powerful and compelling film about a home for widows in 1938 India. The film has some structural weaknesses, but it captures vividly the plight of women who, because of social and religious strictures, are, in Mehta's words, "relegated to a life of deprivation and indignity." It took Mehta years to get this film made because she encountered so much resistance in India; eventually, she had to shoot the film in Sri Lanka. This film deserves to be seen.
Posted by at May 16, 2006 03:36 PM