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Movies Forum Index » Silent Movies Forum » Los Angeles, CA: TUMBLEWEEDS (1925)
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| Author |
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| Bruce Calvert |
 Posted: Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:37 am |
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Guest
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http://www.cinefamily.org/calendar/wednesday.html#silent
BOB MITCHELL'S FAVORITE WESTERNS / Silent Wednesdays in May at 8pm
Bob Mitchell is an institution here at the Silent Movie Theatre. At 95, he's
probably been playing organ accompaniment to silent films longer than anyone
else on the planet, and he plays them like a master. He showed such musical
aptitude for the organ that he was hired at the age of 12 to play at the
Pasadena Playhouse for original runs of classic silent films like Metropolis
and The Iron Horse. Bob's been asking us to play some more Westerns here,
because as a child - which for him means when these movies originally came
out - those were his favorites. As an amateur historian, and a romantic,
Bob holds a special place for these films and their actors in his heart.
So, we asked him to pick a few, and give us not just his fine musicianship,
but fascinating personal perspective on what these films meant to someone
who was there.
5/7 @ 8pm / SERIES: BOB MITCHELL'S FAVORITE WESTERNS
Tumbleweeds
Tumbleweeds was the swan song of cowboy movie legend William S. Hart, who
also secretly co-directed the film. It was both his last silent western,
and one of his best. Bob Mitchell: "Hart was a Presbyterian minister's son,
and then I think he went into Shakespearean acting. He was middle-aged by
the time he was famous, and became a kind of symbol - his face was so well
known, and always associated with 'cleaning up' the West. Always the same
routine, always a man who closes down the gambling and saloon of a lawless
town - but he never gets the girl. He just goes off into sunset.
Tumbleweeds was made in '25, so I never got to play it in its original run.
The song was so popular.[singing] oh, the weeeeeeeds keep a-tumblin' down',
and I think the association of the song makes it particularly appealing to
me. That, and the image of those weeds tumbling across the prairie make it
a wonderful piece of art."
Dirs. King Baggot & William S. Hart, 1925, 16mm, 78 min.
Tickets - $10
--
Bruce Calvert
--
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