Coming Up in Toronto: A Silent Cinema Dilemma

 

This weekend in Toronto is either a silent film fan’s greatest fantasy or her worst nightmare. Why? There’s not one, but two silent film screenings – on the same day!

The next installment of The Revue’s Silent Sundays is F.W. Murnau’s The Last Laugh. Some (me) would argue that The Last Laugh is not only the greatest example of silent cinema, but is the greatest movie ever made. I mean Emil Jannings is a revelation, the movie famously has just one intertitle, and I LOVE IT. The Last Laugh screens at 4 pm on Sunday, April 29, at The Revue Cinema, 400 Roncesvalles Avenue.

Meanwhile, not quite all the way across town, on Sunday April 29, the Toronto Jewish Film Society will be presenting E. Mason Hopper’s Hungry Hearts, a look at the European Jewish immigrants living in poverty in New York City as told from the female perspective. There are two screenings, one at 4 pm and one at 7:30 pm at the Al Green Theatre (750 Spadina Ave.).

Now, I’ve seen The Last Laugh more than a few times and I’ve never seen Hungry Hearts. But, it’s The Last Laugh, for Pete’s sake, and I’ve never seen it in a theatre. You can see a gal’s dilemma right?

So my feverish little silent film fan brain kicks into junior high mode. Can I get from gym class to science lab in just 5 minutes? Do I have time to stop at my locker? Fortunately, it’s pretty easy to get from one to another:

Al Green TheatreF.W. MurnauHungry HeartsThe Last LaughThe Revue CinemaTorontoToronto Jewish Film Society