ALLOY ORCHESTRA
Current Touring Repertoire
UNDERWORLD 1927 (US) - Directed by Joseph von Sternberg, 80 minutes.
UNDERWORLD was von Sternberg's first professional film, and the film that launched his very successful career. Ben Hecht, who wrote the screenplay for the film, won the first ever Academy Award for best writing (before they started calling it "screenplay"). A favorite of audiences and critics alike, Underworld is credited as the first gangster film, and the model for the popular genre.
Paramount Pictures has created a beautiful new print for Alloy's premiere at the NY Film Festival and the subsequent tour.
Available only in 35mm
THE EAGLE 1927 (US) - Directed by CLARENCE BROWN, 72 min. The Eagle, a story of a dashing cavalry officer in 19th Century Russia, is Rudolph Valentino at his best. Vilma Banky co-stars with the great lover - a pairing that was to be repeated a year later in Valentino's most famous film, Son of the Sheik.
This shimmering new print, restored by our own Box 5, was created with a "high silver content" process, which attempts to imitate the sharpness and warm tone of the silent era.
Alloy contributes a lush and romantic score (punctuated with a few of Alloy's signature chase scenes).
Available in 35mm, 16mm, DVD
Photo courtesy of BOX 5
LONESOME 1928 (US), Directed By Paul Fejos.
Back by popular demand! Alloy first premiered this masterpiece at the Telluride Film Festival in 1993. This story of love and loss in the Big City (New York) is masterfully told by Fejos, a hungarian director working in Hollywood for Universal Pictures.
Expect a surprise ending and a little singing by Alloy's own Terry Donahue top off this charming story.
Unavailable for almost 10 years, a new tinted print has just been struck by the George Eastman House and made available to Alloy.
Photo courtesy of MOMA
PHANTOM OF THE OPERA 1925/1929 (US) - Directed by Rupert Jillian, 88 minutes at 24 fps.
One of the scariest and most influential horror films of all time, Lon Chaney continues to amaze as the mysterious Phantom.
This gorgeous new print, recently restored by Alloy's sister company, Box 5, reproduces the extremely intricate color scheme of the original release with elaborate tinting, the experimental 2 strip Technicolor sequence at the masked ball, and luscious hand tinting. Combined with Alloy's new score, this astounding film is as creepy today as it was 75 years ago. Available in 35mm, 16mm and digital formats. (78 min, 1.33 aspect ration, 24 fps).
Photo courtesy of Ben Model
BLACKMAIL 1929 - Directed by Alfred Hitchcock (UK).
Blackmail is the director's last and (possibly) greatest silent film.
The simultaneous sound version, is considered the first English sound film.
This gripping tale traces the actions of a young British woman and her detective boyfriend. Quickly their actions spiral horribly out of control. Blackmail is Hitchcock at his best, and with the help of Alloy Orchestra, a powerful evening of entertainment.
The exquisite print of the rarely seen silent version is made available from the British Film Institute. (35mm - 83 min, 1.33 aspect ratio, 24 fps)
Photo courtesy of the British Film Institute
THE BLACK PIRATE
1926 (US ) - Directed by Albert Parker, 35mm , 84 min., 24 fps Written
by and starring Douglas Fairbanks. This fast paced pirate tale shows a
mature Fairbanks at his swashbuckling best.
One of the first films shot in color (two strip Technicolor) this film
combines a gripping plot with some of the most gorgeous footage of the
silent era. Faribanks is the Black Pirate who sets out to revenge the
death of his father. Two of Fairbanks' most memorable scenes are in this
film: sliding down the sail of a ship on the point of a knife, and the
totally surreal attack of the underwater army. And, of course, a beautiful
new print! (35mm - 84 min, 1.33 aspect ratio, 24fps). Also available on
DVD.
Photo courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library,
Academy of Motion Picture
Arts and Sciences
THE GENERAL 1926 (US)- Directed by Buster Keaton and Clyde Bruckman. Alloy's newest score (and we think perhaps our best) highlights the drama of this Civil War tale. How can anyone deny that this is one of the greatest films of the silent era. Alloy has commissioned a stunning new 35mm print, derived from the original camera negative in the Rohauer Collection. (35mm is 79 min, 1.33 aspect ratio, 24 fps) . Also available on 16mm and DVD
Photo courtesy of the Douris Corporation.
SPEEDY (1928, US) directed by Harold Lloyd.
Alloy premiered their newest score for Harold Lloyd's Speedy at the Telluride Film Festival this September, 2001. Speedy is Lloyd's last silent film and certainly one of his best. See why Lloyd was more popular than even Chaplain and Keaton at the end of the silent era. This fast paced dramatic comedy, shot in the streets of New York, explores the theme of modernization, pitting the last horse drawn trolley in the city, against the evil forces of the transit monopoly. 35mm. (85 min, Silent Aspect Ratio, 24 fps).
Photo courtesy of Harold Lloyd Estate
NOSFERATU - A Symphony of Horror. by F.W. Murneau (Germany), 1922 (85 minutes).
The Greatest Vampire movie of all time! This exquisite new print reveals the creepy genius of this masterpiece for the first time in decades! Shot in the Carpathian mountains of Transylvania and in Germany , master director F.W. Murneau, has bequeathed us the mother of all nightmares. (35mm is 85 min, silent aspect ratio, 18 fps is best but we can do it at 24 fps too). Also available on 16mm and DVD.
Photo courtesy of MOMA
DRAGONFLIES, THE BABY CRIES 2000 (US), Dir. by Jane Gillooly, (10 min.) 35mm only.
Deep in the forest, beyond the restraints of the adult world, a group
of children meet to play. The line between fantasy and reality begins
to blur. A nursery rhyme becomes an incantation, and surprising things
begin to happen. Dragonflies, The Baby Cries is a contemporary
short black and white film by award winning filmmaker Jane Gillooly (Leona's
Sister Gerri, Theme: Murder).
The film was produced by Ken Winokur of the Alloy Orchestra and has an
original score composed by the group . (35mm -1.33 aspect ratio, sound
on optical track, 24 fps. Also available on DVD.
to order this film for home use
Photo by Claire Folger
Masters of Slapstick
EASY STREET by
Charlie Chaplin (US),1916
ONE WEEK
by Buster Keaton (US) 1920
BIG BUSINESS by Laurel and Hardy (US) 1929
Perhaps the best known silent comedians, Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel and Hardy each started their careers with short films such as these. The short proved a perfect vehicle for the fast paced gags that catapulted their careers into the public eye. This selection of shorts, possibly the best known of the era, is a perfect way to compare the distinct styles of these three hilarious clowns. (35mm - 62 min, mixed formats - silent and 1.33, 24 fps). Also available in DVD. to order the soundtrack
Photo courtesy of MOMA
PREVIOUS ALLOY FILMS
NOT CURRENTLY AVAILABLE FOR PERFORMANCE
CHANG 1927 (US) - Directed by Marian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack 67 min. at 21 fps . Before they dreamed up the big ape, King Kong's creators Cooper and Schoedsack filmed this magical adventure of a Thai family struggling to survive against the forces of nature.
The wildlife photography is astounding!
Alloy performs an all acoustic score on flutes, one string banjo and all the sounds of the jungle.
B&W, available in 35mm, DVD, and High Def Video.
Photo courtesy of MILESTONE
STRIKE
1925, (USSR), directed by Sergei Eisenstein,
(92 min.) The story of an unsuccessful labor strike in Russia, which helped
bring about the Russian Revolution. "Strike" was renowned director Sergei
Eisenstein's first feature film - the film that launched his career. A
film of unmatched power, surprising humor and phenomenal cinematography,
"Strike" has rarely been seen in the US. The George Eastman House, in
cooperation with Film Technology Co. have provided an exquisite print,
made from the original nitrate camera negative. 35mm and DVD.
to
order this film for home use
Photo courtesy of MOMA
EARTH 1930 (USSR) - Directed by Alexander Dovzhenko, Earth is one of the undisputed masterpieces of Soviet Cinema. It is a poetic exploration of the cycles of life and death, the relationship of man to the land he manages, and the modernization and mechanization of daily life. Denounced by the Soviet government for it's focus on the negative, Earth now seems to gently avoid the excesses of Socialist propaganda. Alloy's score is largely improvisational. (The 35mm print is 62 min at 24 fps).
Photo courtesy of Seagull Films
FATTY ARBUCKLE / BUSTER KEATON
Three shorts - The Bell Boy (1918), Back Stage( 1919), The Garage (1920). The masterful Fatty Arbuckle directed and starred in these gems, accompanied by a youthful Buster Keaton in his first screen performances. In his heyday, Arbuckle was second only to Chaplin in popularity as a screen comedian. Although he was completely vindicated by the courts, Arbuckle's brilliant career was ruined in the early 1920's by the infamous Virginia Rappe murder trials. Used as a scapegoat for the scandal-ridden movie industry, he was blacklisted and died a broken man at the age of 46. Alloy premiered their live performance at the Film Society of Lincoln Center on Thanksgiving weekend, 2001. 35mm and DVD. (77 min. total, silent aspect ratio, 18 fps). click to order this film for home use
Photo courtesy of Kino International
LOST WORLD 1925 (USA) (93 min.)
Lincoln Center, Feb. 19, 2001 - Alloy premiered their newest score for the 1925 version of Lost World. Dinosaurs are not dead! This is an exquisite new restoration of this classic film by preservationist David Shepard. The DVD with Alloy's score has been released by Image Entertainment.
to order this film for home use
Photos courtesy of MOMA
SOUTH (England) 1919 (88 min.) - Earnest Shackleton and the Endurance Expedition By Frank Hurley. The amazing story of these English explorers attempting to cross the South polar ice cap. Incredible documentary footage of one of the most unbelievable stories of human courage. Living on the Antarctic ice, without shelter, for more than a year, these 27 men braved the harshest conditions on Earth, and survived. (35mm - 88 min at 21 fps, silent aspect ratio). Also available on DVD.
Photo courtesy of Milestone Video
STEAMBOAT BILL, JR. 1927 (US), produced by Buster Keaton, (67 min.) One of the funniest and most amazing films of the silent era, Steamboat Bill has amused audiences for generations. Buster Keaton plays the scrawny son of a bruising steamboat captain. Try as he might, Bill Jr. can do nothing right. The climax is the completely surreal storm sequence where a house falls around Busters shoulders, leaving him unscathed. A perfect vehicle for Alloy's humor and energy. Beautifully restored new prints let you see this film as it was originally intended. 35mm, 16mm and DVD available.
Photo courtesy of MOMA
