UPCOMING SCREENINGS

JUNE 10, 2O23 AT THE WOMAN'S CLUB OF HOLLYWOOD/ 7:30 P.M.


​WHEN THE CLOUDS ROLL BY (1919)
WITH LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK

Don't miss this chance to see Douglas Fairbanks in When the Clouds Roll By (1919), directed by Victor Fleming (The Wizard of Oz, Gone With the Wind), at the Woman's Club of Hollywood.  With live, original music by Cliff Retallick.  EARLY BIRD TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE NOW! 

One of the best movies you've probably never seen, When the Clouds Roll By is little-known gem. In one of his last films in a modern setting, Douglas Fairbanks plays Daniel Boone Browne, whom the mad Dr. Metz (Herbert Grimwood) hilariously tries to drive to suicide through psychological manipulation.

Spoofing the "new" psychoanalysis craze, this film is loaded with bizarre ideas, including a wild dream sequence featuring Doug climbing the walls and walking across the ceiling, an effect borrowed thirty years later by Stanley Donen and Fred Astaire for their famous "dancing on the ceiling" number in Royal Wedding. This all leads to a great storm scene, which many believe was a direct inspiration for the cyclone sequence in Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill, Jr. 

JUNE 18, 2O23 AT THE road theatre of north hollywood/ 7:30 P.M.



​AN ALL-STAR COMEDY REVIEW FOR FATHER'S DAY!
WITH LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK
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Join us for a special Retroformat Silent Films/Road Theatre Company co-presentation of an All-Star Comedy Review for Father's Day, June 18th at 7:30 PM, featuring Chaplin's The Vagabond (1917), Buster Keaton's Cops (1923) and Laurel and Hardy's Liberty (1927) with original, live music by Cliff Retallick!

The Vagabond (1917) is one of Charlie Chaplin's most beloved short films, innovatively combining comedy and drama almost as powerfully as in any of his finest features. Bring your hankies!

In Cops (1923), Buster Keaton created one of his greatest works, ending with a brilliant chase scene involving an entire police force against one incredibly agile, lone man.

Liberty (1927) ranks as one of Laurel and Hardy's funniest - and most thrilling - movies, as the beloved pair becomes stuck at  the top of a skyscraper under construction.  Not for the faint at heart!

All Retroformat/Road Theatre presentations are projected from real 16mm film. 

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DID YOU KNOW?

All Retroformat screenings at the Woman’s Club of Hollywood are from 16mm film. Most of these 16mm prints are provided to us courtesy of the amazing University of Southern California HMH Moving Image Archive, which holds thousands of films donated by private collectors over the years. Many of these prints have not been projected in decades. ​

PAST SCREENINGS

MAY 20TH, 2023 AT THE WOMAN's CLUB OF HOLLYWOOD / 7:30 P.M.

​ARE PARENTS PEOPLE? (1925)
WITH LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK
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A FLAPPER-ERA PARAMOUNT STUDIOS COMEDY STARRING BETTY BRONSON (PETER PAN), FLORENCE VIDOR, ADOLPHE MENJOU, WITH LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK
Betty Bronson (star of 1924’s ‘Peter Pan’) is delightful as a resourceful teenager who schemes how to get her divorcing parents back together. Adolphe Menjou and Florence Vidor as her father and mother show why they were two of the most popular actors of the 1920’s, and the film is crisply directed by Malcolm St. Clair.

​Betty Bronson had been picked from the ranks of Paramount bit players by author J.M. Barrie himself to play Peter Pan in the 1924 Paramount film adaptation of his famous children’s book, beating out Mary Pickford, Gloria Swanson, and virtually every young actress in Hollywood. Her enormous success in that role was immediately followed by this delightful performance. Bronson’s acting career continued for decades.

With live music by Retroformat Musical Director Cliff Retallick.

All Retroformat Screenings at The Woman’s Club of Hollywood are projected from 16mm film. Print provided through the kindness of the University of Southern California HMH Moving Image Archive.

APRIL 16th, 2023 AT THE ROAD THEATRE

STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. (1928)
with LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK

Whether you’re an opinionated cinephile or just checking out a silent film for the first time, Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928) has it all. The Road Theatre on Magnolia and Retroformat Silent Films will present Buster Keaton’s 95-year-old film masterwork with live, original music by Retroformat Musical Director Cliff Retallick.

While justly famous for its breathtaking action scenes, the story of Steamboat Bill, Jr. is built on a growing relationship between Keaton and his crusty, steamboat-captain father (Ernest Torrence). Some of the pair's classic scenes include their mutually bemused first meeting, breaking out of jail, and many more. The film’s amazing cyclone sequence features Keaton seemingly thrown around by the wind like a rag doll, leading to one of the most iconic but notoriously dangerous stunts ever filmed, the collapsing house front.

This one-time-only screening will take place in North Hollywood’s Road Theatre, 10747 North Magnolia Boulevard, North Hollywood, CA 91601. Seating is very limited! Reserve your tickets now, and help Retroformat Silent Films and the iconic Road Theatre keep the visual and performing arts alive and vibrant.

APRIL 8TH, 2023 AT THE WOMEN'S CLUB OF HOLLYWOOD


​THE GOOSE WOMAN (1925)
WITH LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK

​Legendary filmmaker and Retroformat Founding Board member Allison Anders will introduce Clarence Brown's The Goose Woman (1925) in person. With live music and 1920s cabaret by Retroformat Musical Director Cliff Retallick. At the historic Woman's Club of Hollywood, Saturday, April 8, beginning at 7:30 p.m.

In The Goose Woman (1925), Louise Dresser stars as Mary Holmes, a once-famous singer. When a murder is committed near her home, she invents a story to put her name back in front of the public, but it results in her son (Jack Pickford) being arrested for the murder. 

Based on a then-ongoing, real life murder mystery, The Goose Woman features Broadway and vaudeville star Louise Dresser in a breakthrough film role as Mary Holmes, a washed-up former opera star, now living in filth and squalor. Charismatic Jack Pickford co-stars as her son Gerald, proving himself an actor of unexpected talent and range, and Constance Bennett is also excellent as Hazel, his love interest. 

Director Clarence Brown is unstinting in his depiction of Mary’s sordid life, and her complex relationship with her son. One of the great directors of Hollywood’s Golden Era, Brown’s many later films include The Eagle (1925), also featuring Louise Dresser; Flesh and the Devil(1926); Anna Christie (1930); Idiot’s Delight (1939); National Velvet (1944) and The Yearling (1946).
Louise Dresser's outstanding lead performance, like the film itself, deserves to be rediscovered and celebrated.

- Philip Concannn, Phil On Film

"When I projected that picture (The Goose Woman), I suddenly realized the incredible range of American silent films, and I felt, 'My God, I wouldn't mind spending the rest of my life discovering them.'" 

     - Kevin Brownlow, author of  The Parades Gone By, at the British Film Institute, 2004 

JANUARY 14th, 2023 AT THE WOMEN'S CLUB OF HOLLYWOOD

Anita Loos

THE SOCIAL SECRETARY (1916)
WITH LIVE MUSIC BY CLIFF RETALLICK


#Metoo from the Silent Era! See silent film icon Norma Talmadge in The Social Secretary (1916), screenplay by the legendary Anita Loos (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes) at the Woman’s Club of Hollywood, January 14, 2023 at 7:30 p.m.  BOOK SIGNING AT 6:30 P.M. (see below).

With its focus on workplace sexual harrasment, The Social Secretary predates today's focus on women's rights in bold and surprising ways. The film also features a very memorable (and creepy) early appearance by Erich von Stroheim.
In The Social Secretary, Mayme (Norma Talmadge) quits her job in disgust over the almost-constant sexual advances of her boss and others. For her new job as a social secretary, she attempts to disguise herself as frumpy and unnattractive. Of course, this leads to its own unintended consequences. 
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Anita Loos' credits include one of the most important novels of the 1920s, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1927). She is often credited as the screen's first staff writer. Hired by D.W. Griffith in 1915 for the Triangle Film Corporation, it is certain that she knew a thing or two about sexual exploitation in the workplace.

BOOK SIGNING ADDED - STARTS AT 6:30 P.M. We are pleased to announce that Rosanne Welch, editor of When Women Wrote Hollywood: Essays on Female Screenwriters in the Early Film Industry, will be on hand with copies of her book, a collection of 23 new essays focusing on the lives of female screenwriters of Golden Age of Hollywood. Ms. Welch will be joined by three of the essayists who contributed chapters. The essays trace the careers of Anita Loos, Adela Rogers St. Johns, Lillian Hellman, Gene Gauntier, Eve Unsell and Ida May Park, and explore the themes of their writing in classics like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Ben Hur, and It's a Wonderful Life.  The book signing will start at 6:30 p.m. The film will start at 7:30 p.m.

Don't miss this chance to see The Social Secretary(1916) starring Norma Talmadge, with Gladdin Jamesand Erich von Stroheim, with live music by Los Angeles' finest live film accompanist, Cliff Retallick. Book signing at 6:30 p.m.  Movie starts at 7:30 p.m.
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