Maine Silent Film Festival – Daily Bulldog

In July 2024, the Maine Silent Film Festival returns to the historic Alamo Theatre in Bucksport with another two-day program, mixing comedy and drama, shorts and features, with an emphasis on rare and unusual titles rarely screened in theaters today. All films screened are accompanied live by Doug Protsik.

Wednesday, July 24, 2024, from 7:00 p.m.
Made in Maine

There are many silent films shot in Maine, but relatively few of them were filmed here. This evening begins with two short comedies shot in Maine and ends with a feature-length drama not only shot here, but written by a Maine writer and produced by a Maine-based studio.

Shorts:-

Just the people of Maine (Lubin, 1912)
The squire hopes to marry his widowed neighbor. After a night of scary stories, he thinks he has found a way to scare his rival and win the widow’s heart.

With Ethel Clayton and Harry Myers · Directed by Barry O’Neil · 15 min.

The Man Haters Club (Vitagraph, 1910)
When a letter from another woman falls out of her boyfriend’s pocket, Florence and her friends form the Men Haters Club.

With Florence Turner, Edith Storey and Rose Tapley · Directed by Laurence Trimble · 11 min.

Functionality:-

Timothy’s Quest (Directed, 1922)
Timothy and Gay, orphans from the Boston slums, flee to Maine in search of a home and manage to warm Avilda’s bitter, grief-stricken heart.

With Joseph Depew and Helen Rowland · Directed by Sidney Olcott · 86 min.

Thursday July 25 from 7:00 p.m.
In war

Whether comic or dramatic, historical or contemporary, war is a recurring theme in silent cinema. This evening offers a chronological collection of dramatic shorts and concludes with a feature-length comedy that follows wars through time, from the ancient past of the Battle of Ephraim Wood to the contemporary Great War.

Shorts:-

Absalom (Pathé, 1912)
Absalom rebels and raises an army to depose his father, King David.

With Georges Dorival and Paul Franck · Directed by Henri Andréani · 13 min.

The Victoria Cross (Vitagraph, 1912)
During the Crimean War, a British lieutenant is put in danger during the disastrous Charge of the Light Brigade.

With Wallace Reid and Edith Storey · Directed by Hal Reid · 14 min.

Beyond the Mexican border (Solax, 1911)
An American soldier facing execution during the Mexican Revolution is saved by the woman sent to spy on him.

With Frances Gibson and Romaine Fielding · Directed by Alice Guy-Blaché · 12 min.

Functionality:-

Yankee Doodle in Berlin (Mack Sennett, 1919)
Captain Bob White disguises himself as a woman, sneaks his way into German high command, and seduces the Kaiser himself into revealing Germany’s war plans.

With Bothwell Browne and Ford Sterling · Directed by Richard Jones · 68 min.