Silent Movie Night at the Bennett’s

Late in 1997, we began showing silent era films in our home to an invited group of friends and family. We wanted to entertain guests more often and introduce them to some of the silent era’s best films.

Early on, each showing was on our 45" rear projection television from home video versions of the films available on DVD, laserdisc and VHS videotape. Today, the showings are presented on our 60" high-definition rear projection television from Blu-ray Disc and DVD. The lights are turned out, the music turned up and the movie snacks served around. Carl introduces each film with an impromptu history and biography, and answers a few questions after the showing.

Below is a listing of the films that have been shown, with the major stars and/or the director listed after. The 1999 showings were interrupted by our having moved into a new home and the subsequent remodeling. We have since learned that it is also better not to attempt to show films during the end-of-the-year holidays and in the early summer.

- - - NEXT SHOWING - - -
Information about the upcoming movie night.

Movie Night will resume in 2017!

October 14, 2000: The Thief of Bagdad (1924) with Douglas Fairbanks and Julanne Johnston.

Feb. 19, 2000: The Covered Wagon (1923) with J. Warren Kerrigan and Lois Wilson,
with The Battle at Elderbush Gulch (1914) dir. D.W. Griffith and
The Great Train Robbery (1903) dir. Edwin S. Porter.

Oct. 16, 1999: The Cat and the Canary (1927) with Laura La Plante and Crieghton Hale,
with Haunted Spooks (1922) with Harold Lloyd.

Sept. 18, 1999: The General (1926) with Buster Keaton,
with The Adventurer (1917) with Charles Chaplin.

Mar. 6, 1999: The Mark of Zorro (1920) with Douglas Fairbanks,
with The Frozen North (1922) with Buster Keaton.

Oct. 17, 1998: Nosferatu (1922) dir. F.W. Murnau,
with The Haunted House (1921) with Buster Keaton and L’Auberge du bon repos (1903) dir. Georges Méliès.

Sept. 19, 1998: The Unknown (1927) with Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford,
with West of Zanzibar (1928) with Lon Chaney.

Aug. 15, 1998: Little Annie Rooney (1925) with Mary Pickford,
with The New York Hat (1912) with Mary Pickford and The Mender of Nets (1912) with Mary Pickford.

July 25, 1998: The Docks of New York (1928) with George Bancroft,
with Running Wild (1927) with W.C. Fields.

May 16, 1998: City Lights (1931) with Charles Chaplin,
with The Sinking of the Lusitania (1918) dir. Winsor McCay.

Apr. 18, 1998: The Birth of a Nation (1915) with Henry B. Walthall and Lillian Gish.

Mar. 14, 1998: Sunrise (1927) with Janet Gaynor and George O’Brien,
with The Goat (1921) with Buster Keaton.

Feb. 21, 1998: Show People (1928) with Marion Davies,
with One A.M. (1916) with Charles Chaplin and Koko the Kid (1927) with Max Fleischer.

Jan. 17, 1998: Safety Last (1923) with Harold Lloyd,
with Personal (1904) Biograph comedy, and Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911) dir. Winsor McCay.

Dec. 13, 1997: Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925) with Ramon Navarro and Francis X. Bushman.

Nov. 15, 1997: Siegfried (1924) dir. Fritz Lang,
Le Voyage dans la lune (1902) dir. Georges Méliès.

Oct. 10, 1997: Our Hospitality (1923) with Buster Keaton,
with One Week (1920) with Buster Keaton.

Sept. 12, 1997: The Crowd (1928) dir. King Vidor,
with The Rink (1916) with Charles Chaplin.