Lost Sherlock Holmes film found and to be shown in Normal

The Normal Theatre will be showing the recently rediscovered 1916 silent film class Sherlock Holmes. The showings are at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 17, and Wednesday, Nov. 18. William Gillette as Sherlock Holmes in 1916The film has been called the lost holy grail of silent films. The film was found in the film collection at the Cinémathèque Française and was restored. It has only been shown within the last year. 

Gillette, who stars as Sherlock Holmes, had played the famous British detective on stage for numerous performances. In fact, he rewrote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's script into a popular theatrical performance. It was Gillette who came up with the hat and the cape. He also changed Holmes' pipe to a rounded pipe so he could talk and smoke while on stage.

Blancanieves

At the EbertFest film festival last weekend in Champaign, one of the highlights was Blancanieves -- a fascinating rethinking of the Grimm Brothers' Snow White.  Before the screening, director Pablo Berger told the audience that films were like dreams to him, and nightmares, too.  Berger, who worked on the film for eight years, re-interpreted the famous tale to take place in Spain during the 1920s.  He focused on the parents of Snow White.  The father is a famous bullfighter and the mother is a singer and flamenco dancer.  Their daughter, Snow White, has a rather tragic childhood but emerges triumphant as a bullfighter herself traveling with 6 smaller people she encounters whie escaping her evil step-mother.

The film was shot in black and white and is silent as well, although the beautiful, moody, original score, by Alfonso de Vilallonga, contributes significantly to the story's success.  During the Q and A afterward, Berger and the panelists discussed how contemporary black-and-white films can capitalize on contemporary audiences' ability to quickly comprehend visual cues and quick editing techniques.  Consequently, Berger puts so much to be 'read' visually on screen that the absence of hearing dialogue does distract in Blancanieves.

I was so impressed with the film that I quickly wrote to ask Marvels & Tales if I could review it for the fairy tale journal and just learned that that's going to be possible.  So I'll post more on that later.