Silent Film with Live Music by Alloy Orchestra

Sunday, May 14, 7:30 PM, Charles Theatre 1

Director: Clarence Brown

Cast: Rudolph Valentino, Vilma Bánky, Louise Dresser, Albert Conti, James A. Marcus, George Nichols

Country: USA
Year: 1925
Running Time: 82:00 minutes
Format: 35mm

Experiencing a classic silent film is rare, but experiencing a great silent film accompanied by great musicians performing a new score they’ve composed for the film, is a wondrous moviegoing experience.

The great Alloy Orchestra has picked a film that personifies the silent film- it stars the era’s greatest star, Rudolph Valentino, in one of his two his greatest roles; he’s directed by Garbo’s favorite director; he’s surrounded by the luminous Vilma Banky and a bunch of the great Keystone comedians. In addition, THE EAGLE features remarkable cinematography and incredible art deco design. Silent film historian William Charles Morrow calls this film: “..first-rate escapism, a real "movie-movie" that can hold its own with the best swashbuckling sagas of Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn…”

Alloy premiered this version of THE EAGLE at Lincoln Center in April. They performed it at the Castro during the recent San Francisco Film Festival, and Roger Ebert’s Overlooked Film Festival before coming to Baltimore.

--Jed Dietz

Presented By: Alloy Orchestra: Terry Donahue, Roger C. Miller, and Ken Winokur

The Alloy Orchestra has been writing scores for silent films and performing them around the world for 15 years, starting with the legendary Metropolis. They annually premier a new piece at the Telluride Film Festival, and their score for Eisenstein’s Strike is featured on the Criterion Collection’s dvd. They have composed for filmmaker Erroll Morris, and have contributed soundtracks for a variety of commercial videos for clients ranging from IBM and UPS to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.