Wednesday, January 29 2025, 7 p.m
Opening
Jazz-Club, Kaiser-Passage
The Three Musketeers
USA , 1921, 136 min.
Director: Fred Niblo, with Douglas Fairbanks.
Accompaniment: Sai Lento, Reiko Emura (piano) und Shinichi Minami (percussion)
Gascon D’Artagnan, the son of a farmer, sets off for Paris with the goal of becoming a musketeer. At the heart of the monarchy, he meets three seasoned musketeers—Athos, Aramis, and Porthos—who take him under their wing. Though there is initial mistrust, they soon become inseparable. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Cardinal Richelieu is hatching plots against King Louis XIII in an attempt to seize power. Now, the three musketeers and D’Artagnan must protect the King—and, by extension, all of France.
The Three Musketeers
picture: ©
Thursday January 30 2025, 7 p.m.
Studio 3, Cinema Kinemathek, Kaiser-Passage
Special Screening: 50 Years of Kinemathek Karlsruhe
Pandora’s Box
Germany, 1929, 130 min.
Director: Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Accompaniment: Richard Siedhoff (piano) and Mykyta Sierov (Oboe)
“… Then there is the much-discussed Lulu, played by Louise Brooks—the most passive role in the film. Pabst centers his film around this woman; he lets tragedies unfold and people perish in her orbit. She stands there, smiling, with a childlike delight in sensory pleasure. At times, she becomes slightly petulant, like a schoolgirl whose plans have gone awry. Pabst does not portray Lulu as a ‘vamp’—a figure meant to be hated—but rather as a woman who cannot help the effect she has on men. In this regard, Brooks is a brilliant interpreter…”
Georg Herzberg, in *Filmkurier*, No. 37, February 11, 1929
Friday, January 31 2025, 4 p.m.
Cinema Kinemathek Karlsruhe, Kaiser-Passage
Tragic Error (OT: Erreur tragique)
France, 1913, 24 min.
Director: Louis Feuillade
Accompaniment: Sabine Zimmer (piano)
A married couple is spending their honeymoon at their château in the Cévennes. When the young Count has to travel to Paris, he visits a cinema one day between two appointments. In the footage of a newsreel, he spots his wife, Suzanne. His jealousy is instantly ignited…
Erreur tragique (Tragic Error), by Louis Feuillade
Picture: © Gaumont
The Mystery of the Kador Cliffs (OT: Le Mystère des Roches de Kador)
France 1912, 45 min.
Director: Léonce Perret
Accompaniment: Sabine Zimmer (piano)
Fernand de Keranic intends to eliminate his cousin—who is also his ward—in order to obtain her inheritance. His plan fails, but his intended victim loses her memory. A doctor conceives the idea of reconstructing the crime and filming it; he hopes that by showing the film to the victim, he might trigger a shock that restores her memory.
Le Mystère de Roches de Kador (The Mystery of the Kador Cliffs
Friday, January 31, 7 p.m.
Cinema Kinemathek Karlsruhe, Kaiser-Passage
Burlesque on Carmen
USA 1915, 32 min.
Director: Charles Chaplin
Accompaniment: Richard Siedhoff (piano)
We are all familiar with this very romantic tale: a young officer falls prey to the seductive charms of Carmen, a “femme fatale”. For the sake of this “amour fou”, he risks everything—his profession, his career, his very life. … Is it truly possible to parody such a story?
Burlesque on Carmen, by and with Charles Chaplin, Edna Purviance
The Three Must-Get-There (german distribution title: Die Drei Muskrepiere)
USA 1922, 45 min.
Director: Max Linder
Accompaniment: Richard Siedhoff (Klavier)
Shot a year after the original with Douglas Fairbanks, the film can be viewed as a classic parody. The plot remains very close to the original and includes numerous slapstick gags. The 35mm copy of the SDK is the original rental version from the 1920s – absolutely worth it!
The Three Must Get There, by Max Linder
Friday, January 31 2025, 9 p.m.
Cinema Kinemathek Karlsruhe, Kaiser-Passage
The Striped Domino
Germany 1915, 60 min.
Director: Adolf Gärtner
Accompaniment: Sabine Zimmer (Klavier)
In a whole series of films, the detective Stuart Webbs (Ernst Reicher) investigated and solved the most confusing cases possible. In this film he proves to be an “avenger of the disinherited”. He wears the striped domino at a party during which the plot climaxes.
The “Rose Pot Case”
Gernany, 1915, 19 min
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Accompaniment: Sabine Zimmer (piano)
The ambiguous title already indicates that this film is not just a simple comedy, but rather a parody of the detective film genre. As would be expected, Lubitsch’s efforts to clarify matters and his love affairs get violently mixed up. Unfortunately, only two acts have survived. In the German language, the word “Fall” has two meanings: it refers to 1. the physical falling of an object, and 2. a legal case.
I cannot refrain from making one comment: to my knowledge, the film has always been described as a comedy in previous screenings. However, categorizing the film within this genre significantly narrows the audience’s horizon of expectations. Consequently, viewers are less likely to consider comparing the character of the detective—played by Lubitsch himself—or the film as a whole, with other detective films of that era.
If, however, I interpret the film as a parody and note that it still works today—whereas detective films often provoke anything from boredom to drowsiness in contemporary audiences—then we are reminded once again why we admire Lubitsch so much. Josef Jünger
Saturday, Februar 1 2025, 3 p.m.
Studio 3, Cinema Kinemathek, Passagehof
How the Cinematography takes revenge
Germany, 1912, 18 min.
Director: Gustav Trautschold
Accompaniment: Anu Rautakoski (piano)
A particularly feared film censor is getting severely on the nerves of several filmmakers. They decide to set a trap for him: a young actress is tasked with charming him, while the strait-laced man is secretly filmed. The plan succeeds. Subsequently, they cunningly orchestrate an event where the moral guardian is to be exposed in front of an audience.
Ms. Blechnudel wants to become a cinema actress
Germany 1915, 19 mi
Director: Viggo Larsen
Accompaniment: Anu Rautakoski (Klavier)
Ms. Blechnudel reads a newspaper advertisement seeking film actresses and decides to apply. By the time she arrives for her audition, however, the film producer has already left; a misunderstanding ensues, and Frau Blechnudel (Anna Müller-Lincke) ends up in a variety theater, where she thoroughly shakes things up.
Picture: © Collection Josef Jünger
The Film Prima Donna
Germany 1913, 17 min. (Fragment)
Director: Urban Gad
Accompaniment: Anu Rautakoski (piano)
A screenwriter falls in love with his leading actress (Asta
Nielsen). However, she is in love with another man who
ruthlessly exploits her. The author writes a script about both
of their lives. Finally, the actress, who has a serious heart
condition while playing the last scene, dies in his arms.
There are many scenes in the film that show how films were
developed in the film printing factory back then, etc.
Asta Nielsen in “The Film Prima Donna” by Urban Gad
Saturday, February 1 2025, 6.30 p. m.
Studio 3, Cinema Kinemathek, Passagehof
Benefit event in support of the festival
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
USA 1920, 73 min.
Director: John S. Robertson
Accompaniment: Leo Perrigo (piano)
Not the first, but one of the early film adaptations of Robert L. Stevenson‘s well-known novella. It‘s about a split
personality: Dr. Jekyll, a respected doctor and scientist on the one hand, and the terrifying, completely ruthless Mr. Hyde on the other. A friend of Dr. Jekyll, the lawyer Utterson, tries to solve the mystery.
Saturday February 1 2025, 9.00 p.m., Closing Event
Jazz-Club, Kaiser-Passage
The Museo Nazionale del Cinema Turin presents:
Programme of short films
The Films: “Cenerentola”, “Una tragedia al cinematografo”, two films by Segundo de Chomon: “Le spectre rouge” and “En avant la musique” u.a.
Accompaniment for compositions by students by students of the Conservatorio G. Verdi (Torino): Leo Perrigo (piano)
des Conservatorio G. Verdi (Turin): Leo Perrigo (Klavier / Piano)
Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro)
Director: Luigi Maggi,
Italien 1913, 25 min.
Accompaniment: Sabine Zimmer (piano)
A very lively and fresh-feeling production of the well-known material, featuring a highly compelling Gigetta Morano as Susanna.
Maciste
Director: Luigi Romano Borgnetto and Vincenzo Dénizot
Italien 1915, 67 min.
Accompaniment: Ludovico Bellucci
A young woman flees from pursuers into a cinema where “Cabiria” is being shown. She is so impressed by
Maciste that she visits him at the film studio and asks for help against the persecutors. She is said to be deprived
of her inheritance by her uncle.
“text for picture ”
Sundsy February, 2. 2025, 3.00 p.m.
Jazz-Club, Kaiserpassage
Silent Cinema with and for children / Charles Chaplin
Total duration of the program: approx. 60 minutes
The Conquest of the Pole (OT: A la Conquête
du Pôle),
Director: Georges Meliès, France 1912, 33 min.
Great Fantasy-Film of Early Cinems!
Accompaniment: Anu Rautakoski (Klavier)
Short films by Gaston Velle, Georges Meliès and Segundo de Chomon
Accompaniment: Piano Students of Anu Rautakoski.
Behind the Screen
Director and Main Role: Charles Chaplin
USA 1916, 30 min.
Accompaniment: Reiko Emura
David (Chaplin) is a studio hand at a film studio. He is bullied by his foreman, Goliath, but David knows how to stand up for himself. A country girl wants to become a film actress, but she is turned away. She manages to get into the film studio by disguising herself.
Once there, everything gradually descends into chaos.
Charles Chaplin and Edna Purviance in “Behind the Screen”
Watch the Festival Trailer now!
