(Victor Schertzinger, US 1928, 80 min., 35mm)
A recent restoration from the Library of Congress, The Showdown finds George Bancroft playing against type as an honorable man. Cardan (Bancroft), a wildcat oil driller, looks after Sibyl Shelton (Evelyn Brent) when her husband leaves camp in the Mexican jungle to inspect some oil property. Also remaining behind are three men, all searching for oil and wealth: Kilgore (Leslie Fenton), Sibyl's brother-in-law, considered a weakling and a coward; Winter (Fred Kohler), a field scout for a big oil company; and Pickerell (Arnold Kent), a schemer. In Shelton's absence, Sibyl suffers a nervous breakdown caused by the heat, the jungle, the loneliness, and the men, of whose presence she is only too aware.
35mm print courtesy of Library of Congress.
Upcoming Events in this Series
Film Screenings | Hamlet (35mm)
Silent Tuesdays Many silent filmmakers turned to Shakespeare for source material, transforming the Bard’s verbal poetry and drama into visual equivalents, but none more unusually than this project spearheaded by the legendary Danish actress Asta Nielsen.
Film Screenings | Speedy (35mm)
Silent Tuesdays In a rollicking action comedy that rivals the masterful Safety Last, Harold Lloyd plays Harold “Speedy” Swift. A dreamer and schemer, Speedy gets himself involved in a number of outrageous slapstick stunts in his attempts to hold down a job.
Film Screenings | Butterfly (35mm)
Silent Tuesdays Starring Laura La Plante (a favorite from last year’s Silk Stockings screening) and Rochester-born Norman Kerry, this romantic drama from one of the leading romantic directors is rarely seen at all, let alone on the big screen.