The saying goes that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover (or a film by its poster, for that matter). When it comes to film festivals, a first impression is absolutely vital in growing your audience and reputation. If your first impression of the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival was at the matinee screening of Buster Keaton's classic Steamboat Bill, Jr. then you'll agree that it was one hell of a first impression.
The festival's penultimate day kicked off with festival director Alison Strauss introducing the film to the packed out Hippodrome cinema. Firstly, however, was an audience-wide game of “heids or bahookies.” A yearly tradition of the festival, the game plays out as a quiz in which audience members signify their answers by placing their hands on their heads or their bums. It's a game that's as silly as it sounds and warmed the audience up nicely for an hour of full-on belly laughs from one of the greatest comedians to ever grace our screens. It's a simple addition to kick off a weekend of movie watching but this game of heids or bahookies not only sets you up for the remainder of the festival, but it captures the communal spirit which is more alive at Hippfest than many other festivals around the world.
Taking place in Bo'ness, Scotland, the beautiful coastal town is the perfect home for such a festival. A few walks between screenings allow you to take in some gorgeous views and appreciate the serenity that the location offers. The high street is littered with independently run, family-owned restaurants and shops such as the quaint little bookstore Inkspot & Silverleaf or the excellent Fish & Chip shop Corvi's, and the only recognisable chain stores in the town come in the form of a few charity shops and a supermarket or two. This – alongside some bad cell phone reception – gives the town an old-school feeling to it, a little lost in time, though not in a bad way. Instead, it reminds us of a time in the past in which small towns like these could be entirely self-sufficient; the same wages handed out to workers being paid right back into the companies that paid them in the first place. The sort of time and place where everybody knows everybody and they all convene down at their local picture house.
The cinema in question was built one hundred and twelve years ago and is Scotland's oldest purpose-built cinema. It has not lost its charm over the years, with a gorgeous decor that pays tribute to its heritage and rightfully earns the title of a picture palace. Furthermore, the community spirit remains all these years later and is constantly nourished by those involved with the festival. Before and after screenings festival director Alison Strauss can be seen talking to those in attendance and if you're looking for someone to chat about movies with then they are merely an arm's length away. It's not just locals though. Throughout every screening of the weekend – all of which were near sold out – there were fresh faces from all over, all there for the love of cinema.
Between screenings every shop, café, restaurant, and ice cream parlour of the small town was rammed, all with people discussing the films they had just seen and what they had thought of it. Even in the quietest areas of Bo'ness, the passion for cinema was alive and well, with banners for the festival all over, the Inkspot & Silverleaf Booksellers storefront decorated with books on film, and of course, the wonderful pen-to-picture exhibition which was taking place at the local library.
As for the films which ignite this very passion, this year's festival programme was filled with classics of silent cinema and overlooked gems alike. A particularly noteworthy picture came in the form of the long lost Howard Hughes produced gangster flick, The Racket. Nominated for Best Picture at the very first Academy Awards ceremony (back when only three films were nominated), it is very clear to see why the film was bestowed with such an honour. Whereas many point to pictures like The Public Enemy or Little Caesar as the first defining noir films, The Racket deserves much of that praise too, introducing many of the tropes that we associate with the genre today. Though noir flicks were really brought to life with the invention of talkies thanks to the rattling sound of tommy guns or quick-witted dialogue or the wise guy accents of actors like James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson, The Racket more than makes up for it. Although we can't hear the intertitles, the actors on screen bring them to life with their performances. Tough guy actor Louis Wolheim is especially great as the Al Capone inspired mob boss Nick Scarsi. Wolheim's body language on screen is enough to intimidate even those of us sitting in the auditorium underneath the flickering light, terrified of a character that is not real and an actor who is no longer alive. The tension one can feel between Wolheim and his good guy counterpart, Captain James McQuigg (Thomas Meighan) is truly something to behold and the grand battles that are staged between the two are stunningly executed. Funeral stare downs, speakeasy standoffs and gunfights on the streets of Chicago make The Racket one of the most thrilling pictures of the silent era.
Maybe the most intriguing film of this year's festival was the 1923 Swedish drama/comedy The Norrtull Gang. Taking issues such as women's friendships, office politics, the glass ceiling, the Me Too movement and shows that these are not contemporary issues, but have instead existed as far back as a hundred years ago. The way the film handles these issues and the characters that make up the titular gang is incredibly ahead of its time, for the most part. Scenes in which the lead character is sexually harassed at her workplace by her own boss are cringe inducing not just in how we know that this is a problem that has persisted for hundreds of years but also because of how effectively the scenes are delivered. Much of the performances in the feature are surprisingly subdued for a silent movie too, closing the one hundred year gap between the film's release and our current reality. Unfortunately, due to the societal and cultural norms of the time even the most progressive filmmakers were reigned in somewhat and The Norrtull Gang treats us with an unfortunate ending which sees our lead character marry her sleazy boss, the very same man who cornered her in his office and forcibly kissed her earlier in the film…
Despite this slight bump in the road, the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival closed out its 14th edition with a bang thanks to Victor Sjöström's The Wind. Considered one of the greatest silent films ever made, it was released just as talkies had paved the way for the next hundred years of moviemaking and suffered because of it. Audiences had tasted sound and now it was all they wanted. Now, almost a century later, an auditorium of hundreds relished and appreciated The Wind for exactly what it is – a masterpiece. Taking the legend of prairie madness and turning it into a motion picture, The Wind sees Lilian Gish as Letty Mason who travels to Texas to live with her cousin Beverly. However, Beverly's jealous wife wants nothing to do with Letty and forces her out of their home, leading Letty to take the hand of a local cowboy out of necessity rather than love. Alone in a new environment with a man she does not love and with the wind battering her home from every direction, Letty begins to go mad. Each character is given a considerable amount of depth, particularly Letty's husband Lige Hightower (Lars Hanson) who continues to be a good man and caring husband in the face of their marriage being a lie. This level of care shown to each character makes every gunshot, every fist thrown and every tear dropped hit that much harder. Alongside some astounding visuals and with a terrific live accompaniment from musicians Stephen Horne and Frank Bockius, The Wind lingers in your mind long after the credits roll.
Carefully placed at just the right time of year, the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival sits perfectly between the changing of Winter to Spring. It is this changing of seasons that truly represents the film festival and all that it stands for, with silent cinema once dominating its landscape just as the heavy snowfall of winter dominates its own. Yet, at this time of year, once the snow has melted away and the trees have regrown their leaves, winter is soon forgotten. The origins of cinema, work that can be found in the very fabric of moviemaking today, feels more and more forgotten about with each passing year. Festivals like this one are keeping silent film alive and if you love cinema then it is imperative that you visit the Hippodrome Silent Film Festival.
