Silent Film Classics Screened at This Year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival

The 28th annual San Francisco Silent Film Festival (SFSFF) took place at the Orinda Theatre from November 12th to 16th. The largest and most prestigious festival devoted to silent film in North America, SFSFF presented 22 programs of rare and classic silent films, accompanied by live musicians, including a number of recent film restorations. A number of titles by filmmakers that GME distributes to North American academic institutions screened at the festival this year.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN.

Charlie Chaplin’s THE GOLD RUSH (1925) — once acclaimed as “the funniest picture made since the movies began” by the San Francisco Examiner — screened on Wednesday, November 12th, at 7:30pm with live musical accompaniment by Timothy Brock conducting the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Orchestra. GME distributes a number of Chaplin’s early films in the collections CHAPLIN AT KEYSTONE, CHAPLIN’S ESSANAY COMEDIES, and CHAPLIN’S MUTUAL COMEDIES. These collections are published by Flicker Alley and cover work produced during Chaplin’s time under contract to the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, the Mutual Film Corporation, and his initial rise to fame and the establishment of his iconic “Tramp” character at Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios. Chaplin later borrowed heavily from the films he created at Essanay and Mutual to craft his best-known films, such as THE GOLD RUSH, as well as THE KID (1921), CITY LIGHTS (1931), and MODERN TIMES (1936).

On Thursday, November 13th, at 5:45pm, Elmer Clifton’s THE WRECK OF THE HESPERUS (1927) — based off the famous Longfellow poem about a woman who washes ashore tied to a mast during a ferocious gale off the coast of Massachusetts — screened with live musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald, Sascha Jacobsen, and Mas Koga. GME distributes the 10-minute “whaling sequence” from Clifton’s DOWN TO THE SEA IN SHIPS (1922) on the Flicker Alley DVD collection UNDER FULL SAIL: SILENT CINEMA ON THE HIGH SEAS, which collects five silent films that preserve the grandeur of windjammers sailing open waters.

On Friday, November 14th, at 6:30pm, Cecil B. DeMille’s THE AFFAIRS OF ANATOL screened with live musical accompaniment by the Monto Alto Motion Picture Orchestra. GME distributes DeMille’s 1927 film adaptation of the 1926 Broadway play CHICAGO (co-directed with Frank Urson) as a DVD published by Flicker Alley. DeMille also produced Rupert Julian’s THE YANKEE CLIPPER (1927), which is available on the aforementioned DVD collection UNDER FULL SAIL: SILENT CINEMA ON THE HIGH SEAS.

DVD COVER ART FOR BENJAMIN CHRISTENSEN: SEALED ORDERS / BLIND JUSTICE, PUBLISHED BY THE DANISH FILM INSTITUTE.

Later on the 14th, at 9:00pm, Benjamin Christensen’s 1926 Hollywood debut THE DEVIL’S CIRCUS — which follows an unrepentant crook whose hardened heart is softened by a naïve newcomer to the big city — screened with live musical accompaniment by the Sacha Jacobsen Ensemble. GME distributes two of Christensen’s films, 1914’s SEALED ORDERS (DET HEMMELIGHEDSFULDE X) and 1916’s BLIND JUSTICE (HÆVNENS NAT), in a DVD collection published by the Danish Film Institute.

On Saturday, November 15th, Carl Th. Dreyer’s MASTER OF THE HOUSE (1925) — notable for being the director’s first major commercial success — screened with live musical accompaniment by Guenter Buchwald at 2:15pm. GME distributes five out of the nine silent films that Dreyer directed: THE PRESIDENT (1919), LEAVES OUT OF THE BOOK OF SATAN (1920), and ONCE UPON A TIME (1922) on DVD, as well as LOVE ONE ANOTHER (1922) and THE BRIDE OF GLOMDAL (1926) as a combined release, available on both DVD and Blu-Ray.

Also on November 15th, at 9:00pm, Tod Browning’s THE UNKNOWN (1927) — a collaboration with Lon Chaney that stars a young Joan Crawford — screened with live musical accompaniment by Utsav Lal. Browning co-wrote the screenplay (with none other than D.W. Griffith) for Christy Cabanne and John Emerson’s 1916 film THE MYSTERY OF THE LEAPING FISH, which starred Douglas Fairbanks. GME distributes this film in the Flicker Alley DVD collection DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS: A MODERN MUSKETEER.

POSTER ART FOR LYNN REYNOLDS’ SKY HIGH (1922), ONE OF THE DIRECTOR’S MANY WESTERNS STARRING TOM MIX.

On Sunday, November 16th, at 11:00am, Lynn F. Reynolds’ TRAILIN’ (1921) — one of several Westerns the director made with star Tom Mix — screened with live musical accompaniment by Utsav Lal. GME distributes another Tom Mix Western directed by Reynolds, 1922’s SKY HIGH, as a Digital Site License (DSL) sourced from a 2K restoration spearheaded by Undercrank Productions.

Immediately following the screening of TRAILIN’, Ernst Lubitsch’s 1920 feature KOHLHIESEL’S DAUGHTERS showed at 12:45pm with live musical accompaniment by Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius. GME distributes Lubitsch’s THE LOVES OF PHARAOH (DAS WEIB DES PHARAO) as both a Blu-Ray and DVD published by Alpha-Omega.

To inquire about any of the aforementioned GME titles for institutional acquisition, please email sales@gartenbergmedia.com. For a full list of the silent films we offer as Digital Site Licenses (DSLs), click here. For a full list of all of the silent film titles we currently distribute on physical media formats (e.g., DVD and Blu-Ray), click here.

To learn more about the 2025 San Francisco Silent Film Festival, click here.