Please join us on October 30 & 31 for two silent films! Our own Robert Nicholls will improvise the soundtrack on our incredible pipe organ. The presentation will begin at 7:00 p.m. each evening (doors open at 6:30). This annual fundraiser helps to fund the Department of Music for scholarships and programming. Free admission, with a suggested donation of $20.
October 30 – Faust (1926)
Directed by F. W. Murnau, this German film stars Gösta Ekman, Emil Jannings, Camilla Horn, Wilhelm Dieterle, Frida Richard, and Yvette Guilbert. It’s the story of a man who makes a pact with the devil to help his village that is suffering from a serious plague.
From Wikipedia: “The demon Mephisto has a bet with an Archangel that he can corrupt a righteous man’s soul and destroy in him what is divine. If he succeeds, the Devil will win dominion over earth.
“The Devil delivers a plague to the village where Faust, an elderly alchemist, lives. Though he prays to stop the death and starvation, nothing happens. Disheartened, Faust throws his alchemy books in the fire, and then the Bible too. One book opens, showing how to have power and glory by making a pact with the Devil. He goes to a crossroads as described in the book’s procedure and conjures up the forces of evil. When Mephisto appears at the roadside, he induces Faust to make a trial, 24-hour bargain with the Devil. Faust will have Mephisto’s service till the sand runs out in an hourglass, at which time the Devil will rescind the pact. At first, Faust uses his new power to help the people of the village, but they shun him when they find out that he cannot face a cross. They stone him and he takes shelter in his home.
“Faust then makes a further deal with Mephisto, who gives Faust back his youth and offers him earthly pleasures and a kingdom, in return for his immortal soul. Mephisto tempts Faust with the vision of a beautiful woman. He then takes him to a wedding feast in Parma, to meet the subject of his vision, an Italian Duchess. Faust departs with her, leaving the Devil to kill her groom. Just as Faust is making love to her the sands run out. He is obliged to seal the deal permanently in order to continue his love-making; he is Mephisto’s forever.
“Faust soon grows weary of debauchery and yearns for ‘home.’ Here Faust falls in love with an innocent irl, Gretchen, who is charmed into loving Faust by a golden chain left by the Devil.
“Faust comes to Gretchen’s room. The devil rouses the mother who sees them and drops dead from shock. The devil then incites her soldier brother, Valentin, to run home to catch her lover. Valentin and Faust fight a duel. The Devil intervenes and stabs Valentin in the back. He then goes around town shouting “murder”. Faust and Mephisto flee on the back of a hellish steed.
“Valentin condemns Faust for his murder and his sister as a harlot in his dying breath. She is put in the stocks and subjected to jeering. The girl has a child (by Faust) and ends up in the streets. In a blizzard she sees a vision of a warm cradle and lays her child down on the snow, where the child dies of exposure. Soldiers find her and she is sent to the stake as a murderess. Faust sees what is happening and demands Mephisto take him there. Faust arrives just as the fire has been started to burn his lover. Faust wishes he had never asked to have his youth back. Mephisto smashes the mirror with Faust’s reflection and he loses his youth. He runs through the assembled mob towards Gretchen; and it is as an old man that Faust throws himself onto the fire to be with his beloved.
“Gretchen recognizes Faust and sees him in her heart as a young man again as the fire consumes them together. Their spirits rise to the heavens. The angel reveals to Mephisto that he has lost the bet because Love has triumphed over all.”
October 31 – Phantom of the Opera (1925)
This classic American horror film was directed by Rupert Julian and is based on the 1910 novel by Gaston Leroux. Starring Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry, Arthur Edmund Carewe, Gibson Gowland, John St. Polis and Snitz Edwards.
From Wikipedia: “In the 1890s, at the Paris Opera House, Comte Philippe de Chagny and his brother, the Vicomte Raoul de Chagny attend a production of Faust, where the latter’s sweetheart, Christine Daaé, may sing. Raoul wishes for Christine to resign and marry him, but she prioritizes her career over their relationship.
“Meanwhile, the former management has sold the Opera House. While leaving, they tell the new managers about the Opera Ghost, a phantom who is ‘the occupant of box No. 5.’
“Mme. Carlotta, the prima donna, receives a letter from ‘The Phantom,’ demanding that Christine replace her the following night, threatening dire consequences if this does not happen. In Christine’s dressing room, a voice tells her she must take Carlotta’s place and think only of her career and her master.
“The following day, Christine reveals to Raoul that she has been tutored by a mysterious voice, the ‘Spirit of Music,’ and it is now impossible to stop her career. Raoul says someone is probably playing a joke on her, and she storms off in anger.
“That evening, Christine substitutes for Carlotta. During the performance, the managers are startled to see, seated in Box 5, a figure who later disappears. Simon Buquet then finds the body of his brother, stagehand Joseph Buquet, hanging by a noose and vows vengeance. Once again, a note from the Phantom demands Carlotta say she is ill and let Christine replace her. The managers get a similar note, reiterating that if Christine does not sing, they will present Faust in a cursed house.
“The following evening, a defiant Carlotta sings. During the performance, the Phantom drops the chandelier hanging from the ceiling onto the audience, killing people. Christine enters a secret door behind the mirror in her dressing room, descending into the lower depths of the Opera. She meets the Phantom, who introduces himself as Erik and declares his love. Christine faints and he carries her to an underground suite fabricated for her comfort. The next day, she finds a note from Erik telling her that she must never look behind his mask. As he is preoccupied playing his organ, Christine playfully tears off his mask, revealing his deformed face. Enraged, the Phantom declares she is now his prisoner. She begs him to let her sing, and he relents, allowing her to visit the surface one last time if she promises not to see Raoul again.
“Released, Christine meets with Raoul at the annual masked ball, where the Phantom appears disguised as the ‘Red-Death.’ On the roof of the Opera House, Christine tells Raoul about her experiences. Unbeknownst to them, the Phantom is listening nearby. Raoul swears to whisk Christine away to London following her next performance. As they leave the roof, a man with a fez approaches them. Aware that the Phantom awaits downstairs, he leads Christine and Raoul to another exit.
“The next night, during her performance, Christine is kidnapped. Raoul rushes to her dressing room and meets the man in the fez again. He is actually Inspector Ledoux, a secret policeman who has been tracking Erik since he escaped as a prisoner from Devil’s Island. After finding the secret door in Christine’s room, the two men enter the Phantom’s lair. They end up in a torture chamber of his design. Philippe also finds his way into the catacombs, looking for his brother, but is eventually drowned by Erik.
“The Phantom subjects Raoul and Ledoux to intense heat. He then locks them in with barrels of gunpowder and causes the room to flood. Christine begs Erik to save Raoul, promising him anything in return, even becoming his wife. This causes the Phantom to save Raoul and Ledoux.
“A mob led by Simon Buquet infiltrates Erik’s lair. As they approach, the Phantom attempts to flee with Christine. Raoul saves Christine while Erik, in one last act of twisted showmanship, frightens the crowd by pretending to hold some kind of lethal weapon in his clenched fist, only to reveal an empty palm before he is swarmed and killed by the mob and thrown into the Seine. Raoul and Christine later go on their honeymoon in Viroflay.”