Join us at the 2024 Newhallywood Silent Film Festival which celebrates the early days of silent film and the role the Santa Clarita Valley played in this history.  This year’s festival honors two titans of early American film, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Thomas Ince.

ALL EVENTS ARE FREE, EXCEPT BUSTOUR KEATON

Friday, February 16

8 PM     Douglas Fairbanks: The Mark of Zorro

The first film version of the classic swashbuckler about a masked hero righting injustice in the early 19^th century Spanish California.  This was the first film released through United Artists, a company formed by Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and Fairbanks.

1920 – 90 min. – Director Fred Niblo

Guest Stars 

John Bengtson –  Author, Historian, Preservationist     Silent Locations Website

Marc Wanamaker – Author, Historian, Preservationist     Poverty Row Studios – The History of Hollywood

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts

11 PM     Silent Screams: 100^th Anniversary Waxworks

A horror anthology including tales about Ivan the Terrible, the Caliph of Bagdad, and Jack the Ripper.  Influential on many later films in both its format and its visual style.

1924 – 107 min. – Directors Leo Birinsky and Paul Leni

The MAIN

Saturday, February 17

10 AM – 3 PM     “BusTour” Keaton

This tour of famous Hollywood sites will include studio locations from the silent era with a focus on sites where Fairbanks and Ince made their films.  The event includes lunch and requires some walking, so please wear comfortable shoes.

Newhall Community Center

4 PM     Douglas Fairbanks: Robin Hood

Fairbanks stars as the famous English outlaw who robs from the rich to gives to the poor.  The film cost an estimated one million dollars, making it one of the highest budgeted films of the 1920s.  It was the first movie to receive a Hollywood premiere held on October 18, 2022, at Grauman’s Egyptian Theater.

1922 – 127 min. – Director Allan Dwan

Guest Star

Tracy Goessel – Author Historian, Preservationist     Film Preservation Society

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts

8 PM     Douglas Fairbanks Induction and 100^th Anniversary Thief of Bagdad

Fairbanks’ favorite film tells the swashbuckling tale of a thief who falls in love with the daughter of the Caliph of Bagdad and is based on One Thousand and One Nights.  In 1996 the film was selected by the Library of Congress to be included on the National Film Registry.

140 min. – Director Raoul Walsh

Guest Star

Tracy Goessel – Author, Historian, Preservationist     Film Preservation Society

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts

11 PM     Silent Screams: 100^th Anniversary The Hands of Orlac

The frightening and influential story of a concert pianist who loses his hands in a rail accident and has new hands transplanted from a recently executed murdered.  The lead performance by Conrad Veidt is praised for bringing a psychological realism that evolved horror film acting.

1924 – 92 min. – Director Robert Wiene

The MAIN

Sunday, February 18

1 PM     Thomas Ince: The Cat’s Meow

Inspired by the 1924 death of Ince on William Randolph Hearst’s yacht Oneida, the film stars Edward Herrmann as Hearst, Kirsten Dunst as his companion Marion Davies, Jennifer Tilly as journalist Louella Parsons, Eddie Izzard as Charlie Chaplin and Cary Elwes as Ince.

2001 – 114 min. – Director Peter Bogdanovich

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts

4 PM     Thomas Ince: The Ruse and Hell’s Hinges

A two-reel short and a feature starring and directed by local cowboy star William S. Hart and produced by Ince.  The Ruse stars Hart as “Bat” Peters a reformed gunslinger and in Hell’s Hinges, Hart plays dangerous gunman Blaze Tracy.  Hell’s Hinges was selected by the Library of Congress to be included in the National Film Registry in 1994.

1915 – 28 min. – Directors William S. Hart and William H. Clifford and Producer Thomas Ince / 1916 – 64 min. – Directors William S. Hart, Charles Swickard and Clifford Smith and Producer Thomas Ince

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts

8 PM     Thomas Ince Induction & “Civilization”

The anti-war story of a submarine commander who refuses to fire at a civilian ocean liner that is believed to be carrying ammunition for the enemy.  This spectacle film includes large scale naval and aerial battle scenes and early depictions of trench warfare, before America entered World War I.  The film was selected for the National Film Registry in 1999.

1916 – 88 min. – Directors Thomas Ince, Reginald Barker and Raymond West

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts

Venues

Newhall Family Theatre for the Performing Arts – 24607 Walnut Street, Santa Clarita, CA  91321

The MAIN – 24266 Main Street, Santa Clarita, CA  91321

Newhall Community Center – 22421 Market Street, Santa Clarita, CA  91321