This exquisite double bill of rarely screened silent comedies is introduced by stand-up comedian Shazia Mirza, with live music accompaniment from Daan Van Den Hurk and the world's only Silent movie harpist Elizabeth - Jane Baldry.

Shooting Stars

Anthony Asquith’s sharp-edged 1928 satire of the film industry, proves the lure of the behind-the-cameras drama is almost as old as cinema itself. Opening in a British movie studio in the 1920s, where a western and a slapstick comedy are being filmed back to back, Shooting Stars provides a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse of real film sets from the silent era and a searing comment on the shallowness of the star system.

In it, the husband and wife acting team of Mae Feather and Julian Gordon are torn apart when he discovers that she is having an affair with screen comedian Andy Wilks. So it is that Mae decides to hatch a plot to kill her husband by putting a real bullet in a prop gun which will be fired at him during the making of their new film.

With a dynamic cinematographic style and professional approach to design and lighting, Shooting Stars marked a step change in the quality of British filmmaking. A great film, witty at first, always gorgeous and with a killer ending to boot!

With Special Thanks to the BFI.

Screening with:

What's the World Coming To?

Dir: Richard Wallace, 1926, USA, 23mins

A fantastic, little-known Hal Roach comedy set 100 years in the future when genders have reversed. Starring Clyde Cook and Katherine Grant.

With thanks to San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

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