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The women who populated the silent screen had a very different quality than any movie stars since. Our Silent Sirens series celebrates the way they exemplified, without saying a word, that particular mixture of wit, grace and classic radiance. It’s tempting to credit their allure to some abstract mystique, but even a single frame of film from a Garbo or Normand vehicle speaks for itself. Sure, these ladies were unspeakably gorgeous and infused every amazing thing they wore with glamor, but their charm was no mystery--they knew what to do in front of a camera, how to grow into each character, and how to win the hearts of their audiences with the subtlest gesture or expression. We are proud to bring back for a second year in a row this popular festival, one which made last summer more scorching than Gloria Swanson on a hot tin roof.

7/1 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
It (starring Clara Bow)
In 1927, "it" was code for sex appeal--and Clara Bow had so much that she starred in the picture that created Hollywood's very first "It Girl." Adolph Zukor, head of Paramount at the time, explained: "She danced even when her feet weren't moving. Some part of her was always in motion, if only her great, rolling eyes. It was an elemental magnetism, an animal vitality, that made her the center of attraction in any company." As Betty Lou, a shopgirl hell-bent on capturing the heart (among other things) of jillionaire Cyrus Waltham, the breathtaking Clara makes use of every feminine wile in the known universe, and appears to invent some of her own. The sheer pleasure of witnessing Bow's vivacity on the big screen can't be overstated--if you know what's good for you, come see for yourself.

Watch a clip of Clara Bow from "It"!


Tickets - $10

7/8 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
Love (starring Greta Garbo)
Greta Garbo is celebrated for her reign as the Swedish Sphinx of 1930s romances, including 1935's Anna Karenina, in which she breathed passionate life into Tolstoy's timeless tale of star-crossed betrayal. Seven years earlier, Garbo's smoldering presence graced the silent version of Anna Karenina, simply titled Love. Garbo was immortalized for her unceasing elegance, so when her large, beautiful eyes reveal tinges of vulnerability, Tolstoy's classic scenes are rendered truly wrenching. The studio insisted that both happy and unhappy endings be filmed, and in an unusual move, both versions were released to audiences. Come find out which version made its way to the Cinefamily's silver screen, as we watch Greta Garbo and John Gilbert fall--in Love.
Tickets - $10

7/15 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
Sappho (starring Pola Negri)
While some of our Silent Sirens seduce with an angelic, delicate charm, tonight's star slays her suitors with unforgettably dark features and tantalizing villainry. It's no wonder that Pola Negri was the reigning silent queen of femme fatales--her affairs with Chaplin and Valentino ensured that both on-screen and off, her tumultuous love life commanded the sort of attention only a brilliantly scandalous vamp could elicit. In Sappho, a gorgeously designed film from 1922, Negri plays the titular woman whose substantial wiles drive men to certifiable insanity and other forms of romantic disaster. Negri's performance in this film and others is said to have hurried the 1930 induction of the Hays Code, which censored "scenes of passion" and "excessive and lustful kissing"--one of many elements that make this film, and its star, undeniably memorable.
(35mm print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive)
Tickets - $10

7/22 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
Show People (starring Marion Davies)
As newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst’s real-life mistress, the luminous Marion Davies garnered a lifelong reputation for controversy, and an unjustified caricature in the form of Citizen Kane’s ditzy charmer, Susan Alexander. The limelight was often unflattering to Davies, and her ill-advised turns, at Hearst’s insistence, in overwrought dramas often overshadowed her wonderful run as a skilled comedienne in some of the Roaring Twenties’ most playful films. Davies takes center stage in the scathing satire Show People, in a role she was born to play: a Hollywood hopeful (partly modeled after fellow siren Gloria Swanson!) who longs to be recognized as a dramatic diva--but due to her charming ineptitude, ends up successful as a ditzy screen comedienne instead. In addition to Davies' radiant allure, silent fans will also get a kick out of watching legendary director King Vidor having his fun on two counts, with both an in-depth look at the silent film production machine, and a send-up of the in-jokey foibles of fellow directors like John Ford and Jack Conway.

Watch a clip of Marion Davies from "Show People"!


Tickets - $10

Ella Cinders

8/5 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
The Extra Girl (starring Mabel Normand)
Though she had the doe eyes, thousand-watt smile, and cascading curls of a classic Silent ingenue, Mabel Normand set herself apart from a generation of starlets with a whole tabloid's worth of Gothic Hollywood scandals. By 1924, Normand had starred in over 200 films, written and directed dozens more, and was publicly linked with the shootings of two men. At the height of her career, Normand starred in The Extra Girl, a film which steeled her reputation as a comedienne as brilliant as she was beautiful. The film follows a small-town sweetheart who ambles into Hollywood, much as Normand did as a teenager. Her performance is just one in a career that included countless collaborations with Mack Sennett, Fatty Arbuckle, and Charlie Chaplin, and fortunately for us, she sparkles like a gem.

Watch a clip of Mabel Normand from "The Extra Girl"!


Tickets - $10

8/12 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
Our Dancing Daughters (starring Joan Crawford)
Ever wonder how a jitterbug-crazy Texan girl could petrify into the coat-hanger-wielding monster of Mommie Dearest? Step one: reach explosive box-office stardom as a stunning Silent Siren! Joan Crawford is remembered in large part for the infamous actions that bought her a permanent place in pop culture, but in 1928's Our Dancing Daughters, the film which catapulted her to fame and eventual fortune, Crawford was simply a gorgeous gal with a penchant for partying. Our Dancing Daughters is a smart, flashy film, rife with eye candy. Before Busby Berkely's gold-digging classics, Crawford ruffled feathers and titillated swarms of movie-goers with this tempestuous, sexy pre-code treat.

Watch a clip of Joan Crawford from "Our Dancing Daughters"!


Tickets - $10

8/19 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
The Toll of the Sea (starring Anna May Wong)
With this sensitive adaptation of "Madame Butterfly", Anna May Wong became known to the world as an actress of subtle skill and loveliness. The film belongs completely to Wong, who shattered convention and prejudice in a heartbreaking turn as opera's classic jilted lover. Up until this film, Asian roles were typically played by Caucasian actors--but with Toll of the Sea, Wong became the first American-born Asian performer to star in a major Hollywood movie. The film is also visually groundbreaking, as it's the first feature film shot entirely in two-strip Technicolor. Wong would spend much of her career crudely cast in "Dragon Lady" roles, but the film that made her a star remains a testament to her breathtaking range and iconic beauty. The evening's presentation comes from a gorgeous new restored 35mm print, courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive!

Watch a clip of Ann May Wong from "The Toll of the Sea"!


Tickets - $10

8/26 @ 8pm / SERIES: Silent sirens
Male and Female (starring Gloria Swanson)
Gloria Swanson's iconic performance as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard is exponentially more affecting in light of its echoing of her own life. Swanson's formidable career as a Silent superstar waned with the advent of Talkies, but those who've seen her in one of many silent turns for Cecille B. DeMille will marvel at a romantic lead and fashion icon whose otherworldly command of the screen elicited countless movie-house sighs. DeMille's Male And Female is a special treat, as it's an adaptation of a play by Peter Pan scribe J.M. Barrie. Swanson's onscreen transition from aristocratic haughtiness to humbled maturity ensured the film's position as Paramount's biggest hit of 1919. If you can tear your eyes away from Swanson, look out for a scene which features an actual chloroformed leopard!
Tickets - $10

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