This drama from Paramount Pictures, intended to be sordid and shocking, was precursor to film noir genre.
Released at the height of the Roaring ’20s, it was intended to scandalize audiences who’d seen it all before. It was ‘Forgotten Face’ (1928), a late silent-era drama from Paramount Pictures that paved the way for the film noir genre of moving-making.
The rarely screened film will be shown on Sunday, June 1 at 2 p.m. at the Somerville Theatre.
Live musical scoring will be provided by silent film accompanist Jeff Rapsis, a New Hampshire-based performer who specializes in music for silent film presentations. In the tradition of theatre organists of the 1920s, Rapsis improvises each film’s score on the spot, making up the music as the movie is screened. Rapsis uses a digital synthesizer to create the texture of a full orchestra.
The film, part of the Somerville’s ‘Silents, Please!’ series, will be shown via DCP derived from an original nitrate print preserved by the Library of Congress.
‘Forgotten Faces’ follows gentleman thief ‘Heliotrope’ Harry Harlow, played by Clive Brook, as he tries to save his daughter (Mary Brian) from his vengeful wife, played by Russian actor Olga Baclanova.
The film also features William Powell in an unusual role as Heliotrope’s partner in crime, before he developed his suave Thin Man persona.
Mary Brian, a popular actress of the silent era, played the role of Wendy in the original silent version of ‘Peter Pan’ (1924).
The film was based on “A Whiff of Heliotrope,” a story by author Richard Washburn Child.
Director Victor Schertzinger brought an unusual background to the movie business. As a child musical prodigy on the violin, he performed with band leader John Philip Sousa. Schertizinger later directed the first two ‘Road’ pictures starring Bob Hope and Bing Crosby before his premature death in 1941.
Rapsis said the Somerville Theatre screening, the latest in the venue’s ‘Silents, Please!’ series, is a rare chance to see ‘Forgotten Faces’ as it was meant to be experienced—on the big screen, with live music, and with an audience.
