Budapest Classics Film Marathon | The Sound of Silence – Cineconcert

Program:
Fantastic Flowers (A selection of silent films 1906–1920, 60')
*****
Miss Harry’s Femme Serpent (d: Pathé Frères, 1911, 3')
A Vanished World (d: Alexander Korda, 1922, 66')

Featuring:
Kornél Fekete-Kovács – trumpet, electronics
László Gőz – bass trumpet, electronics
Márton Fenyvesi – guitar, electronics
András Dés – percussion

Two moods, two journeys wrapped in a single programme. Fantastic Flowers is a vibrantly colourful silent film etude put together from motion pictures produced between 1906 and 1920. The films covering several genres include documentary footage, costume performances and special effects – but one theme is common: flowers, everywhere and of all kinds. The film was made in a collaboration involving Eye Filmmuseum of Amsterdam, Brussel’s Cinematek and Austrian Film Archive. During restoration, technicians found it extremely challenging to convey the original vision created using stencilled colouring technique.

Sándor Korda’s picture A Vanished World (Ábránd és valóság, 1922) made in Austria is an adaptation of the novel Serpolette by Lajos Bíró. The true prototype of the book and the film is the dramatic story of the son of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Archduke Johann Salvator. Born into an aristocratic family, he turned his back on the royal court, purchased a ship and lost his life at sea in a storm together with his great love, an opera dancer. But what might have occurred prior to the hurricane? This elegant and spectacular film that has survived in fragments only (and was restored by the Austrian Film Archive) provides one possible version of the tale. It features Mihály Várkonyi (Victor Varconi), Pál Lukács (Paul Lukas) and the deliciously seductive Maria Corda, all of whom went on to become Hollywood stars.

The two programmes are linked by a curiosity: Miss Harry’s Femme Serpent…

The program is organized by the National Film Institute, as part of the 8. Budapest Classics Film Marathon.