The Rattlesnake 1913 Lubin two-reel short, involves a snake fetish and amputation as critical plot elements!
A Duel for Love, or The Sisters (1914) an unusually touching drama from Christie Cabanne, starring Dorothy and Lillian Gish for Majestic pictures. Lillian has some powerful scenes when her baby is born dead and everyone is afraid to tell her. But it is Dorothy who really shines as the younger sister who must always settle for second best (Lillian marries the man Dorothy is in love with) and reluctantly agrees to substitute her own baby until her sister regains her health.
The Cub (1915) tinted 35mm print, Maurice Tourneur, starring Johnny Hines. A sometimes surprisingly heavy drama with some comedy relief. Hines as a young reporter who gets mixed up in a mountain family feud. Shown at the correct speed of 16 frames per second it was much easier to follow and more dramatic than when shown at another convention a few years ago at 24 fps.
The Devil's Needle (1916) story of heroin addiction, with Tully Marshall and Norma Talmadge
When I Was Dead (1916) recently discovered! directed by and starring Ernst Lubitsch.
The Golem (1920) German horror film based on Jewish legends, a precursor to Frankenstein
The Unholy Three (1925) Lon Chaney crime melodrama, a beautiful 35mm print.
The Blue Eagle (1925) John Ford directing, starring Janet Gaynor, George O'Brien and William Russell. New "best of" restoration from the Library of Congress
Stark Love (1927) Karl Brown's powerful story of mountain folk filmed on location with non-actors who give amazing performances
Sioux Blood (1929) Tim McCoy's last MGM silent. Just prior to the screening the city of Saginaw held a dedication ceremony for a Tim McCoy memorial plaque in the park adjoining the Temple Theatre. McCoy was born in Saginaw and the local media duly turned out to cover the event, which included a Native American dance demonstration and a restored circus wagon calliope performance.
The Locked Door (1929) early talkie Barbara Stanwyck, William "Stage" Boyd, Betty Bronson, ZaSu Pitts, and Rod LaRocque.
Union Depot (1932) showcased Joan Blondell in a rare co-starring role with Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. A pre-code Warner Brothers drama
Congorilla (1932) 35mm. This Martin and Osa Johnson documentary recorded the couple's trip into the depths of Africa, meeting with various native tribes, befriending and living among the pygmies, and capturing a wild baby gorilla. Despite its sometimes patronizing attitude it does its best to be accurate and is a pioneer of the nature films now commonplace on cable television.
Carnival (1935) is an entertaining Lee Tracy drama featuring Sally Eilers and Jimmy Durante, and written by Robert Riskin. Lucille Ball had a very small but amusing bit part as an amorous nurse who mistakes Durante in the dark for her doctor lover.
The Blue Bird (1940) Shirley Temple, a lovely 35mm IB Technicolor print
Lights of Old Santa Fe (1944) Western features were represented by an uncut print of Roy Rogers' rodeo musical melodrama
The only features presented in 16mm prints were:
Barbara Frietchie (1924) Lambert Hillyer's Civil War drama
The Swan (1925), Dimitri Buchowetski's royal romance both prints so sharp they might pass for 35mm. Both were well-mounted productions with good performances, if little more than standard theatre product for their studios.
Shorts were shown preceding each feature presentation. Most memorable was a nitrate reel of actress closeups, two to five seconds each, snipped from their films and assembled by a projectionist from the mid 1930's through the late 1940's. The rare Three Stooges title, Woman Haters (1934) had dialogue entirely in verse and was filmed before the Stooges had fully developed their screen characters. Also memorable was an IB Technicolor Cinemascope travelogue from the mid-1950s.
Appropriate live musical accompaniment was provided by Bob Vaughn, Phil Carli, and Mark Kotishion on the theatre's Barton pipe organ or the piano in its orchestra pit.
All who attended were well-satisfied with the weekend's offerings, provided mainly by the Library of Congress, the George Eastman House, the National Archives of Canada, and private collectors. An outstanding lineup of hard-to-see features and shorts was balanced by a few more common titles but which shown in high-quality 35mm prints, some original nitrate.