Journal of Film Preservation N° 60/61 - FIAF

hard to conceive of a more effective dramatic use of the Norwegian
landscape than that which was produced by George Schneevoigt’s
cinematography.
As is always the case when a regional focus is introduced, social
attitudes as well as prevailing film techniques came to the fore.
Infanticide was a disturbingly recurrent plot element and, according
to some of the same films, men are never capable of guessing in
advance that their wives are about to give birth.
Another highlight of the program was the “Jerusalem Cycle,” the four
films, based on Selma Lagerlof’s two-part novel, made between 1919
and 1926 by Victor Sjostrom and Gustav Molander. The third of
these, The Ingmar Inheritance, was presented in an exceptionally
impressive print and contained one of those moments for which one
falls in love with cinema in the first place: at the climax of a bluetinted
nocturnal storm scene, in which special effects forest spirits
are swirling about the screen, Conrad Veidt enters the picture and
manages to dwarf all the above with no more than the expression in
his eyes. The last film of the quartet, To the Orient, partially filmed on
location in Palestine, exists only in fragmentary form and the
screening of the remnant was suitably followed in the program by a
rediscovered reel of The Land of Israel Liberated (1919), preserved for
the Steven Spielberg Jewish Film Archive with the 1999 Haghefilm
Award.
Veidt’s mesmerizing visit to the Scandinavian cinema was
reciprocated by Jenny Hasselqvist’s appearance in Enno Patalas’
restoration of Lubitsch’s Sumurun, which was premiered at Sacile.
This very worthwhile effort to bring back a piece so pivotal to both
theatrical and cinema history was the culmination of decades of
work involving several archives.
There was no way Alfred Hitchcock’s centenary was going to be
ignored by the Giornate and the screening of all his surviving silent
work (including the films for which he was art director) was not
devoid of surprises. Our knowledge of Hitchcock’s mature style
raises tantalizing questions about his contributions to the films
directed by Graham Cutts, such as the dark drama The Blackguard.
On his early solo efforts, Hitchcock handled a variety of genres, from
the stagey comedy of The Farmer’s Wife to the well-paced romantic
intrigues of The Ring, with an assurance that belied his youth. Even a
trifle like Champagne (for which pianist Donald Sosin sang the title
song, as well as accompanying) showed this deftness of touch: we all
know that when someone is embraced by a flour-covered Betty
Balfour, there will be consequences, but Hitchcock delays the white
handprints on his back till the very end of the scene.
Due to the aforementioned conflicts of scheduling, I only caught one
of the items of the other centenary tribute, to Charles Laughton. Ivor
Montagu’s Daydreams, however, was quite delightful in its whimsical
59 Journal of Film Preservation / 60/61 / 2000
L’édition 1999 du Giornate del Cinema
Muto
fut la plus riche de toutes, en dépit du fait
que le festival ne s’est pas tenu comme
d’habitude à Pordenone. Le déplacement
vers Sacile a causé des problèmes de
transport et d’hôtel que les organisateurs
promettent de résoudre. Les deux salles
étant situées dans deux bâtiments différents,
il n’était pas possible de suivre tout le
programme. Le sujet de la programmation
principale était le cinéma nordique des
années 20. The Growth of the Soil (1921),
le film restauré de Gunnar Sommerfeldt est
exemplaire de la beauté de ces films qui
donnent aussi une idée du climat social de
l’époque et de l’endroit où ils furent réalisés.
La restauration de Sumurun de Ernst
Lubitsch est l’apogée de nombreuses années
d’un travail de collaboration entre plusieurs
archives. Le centenaire de la naissance
d’Alfred Hitchcock fut célébré par la
projection de tous ses films muets
sauvegardés. La projection de The Kid
Brother de Harold Lloyd fut l’événement de
la soirée de clôture. Des films de la première
avant-garde américaine ont été montrés
dans le programme “Rebels of the Twenties”.
Environ 90 films de la première décade du
cinéma, y compris 17 films perdus de
Georges Méliès furent présentés par Lobster
Films. Rick Schmidlin a présenté sa
reconstruction en vidéo de Greed, restituant
les intrigues secondaires. Erich von Stroheim
était aussi représenté par la version
restaurée de The Wedding March, avec
une introduction de Fay Wray. Les notes de
la première partie du Griffith Project ont été
publiées sous forme de livre. Une innovation
importante, le “Collegium Sacilense”,
s’adressant aux jeunes participants, a pour
but d’améliorer l’appréciation du matériel
projeté. Le Prix Jean Mitry a été donné au
cinéaste et critique suédois Gosta Werner et
à la télévision franco-allemande ARTE. Le
Prix Haghefilm 1999 a été décerné à
Giovanni Schiano Lomoriello qui a demandé
à l’audience de porter des lunettes 3-D pour
visionner sa restauration d’un des plus
anciens films réalisé dans ce procédé.