After a rousing screening of the 1927 silent film Metropolis held last month, New Hampshire based musician Jeff Rapsis returns to the Jane Pickens Theater (JPT) in Newport this Sunday the 15th for a screening of 7th Heaven, performing a live, entirely improvised score, to give audiences a window into what it was like experiencing the film just as it was almost 100 years ago.
Set on the precipice of World War I, 7th Heaven follows Chico, played by Charles Farrell, as he tries to rise above his station as a street cleaner. He soon meets a woman who has experienced abuse and sexual exploitation, portrayed by Janet Gaynor in the performance that won her Best Actress at the first-ever Academy Awards.
For Rapsis, his meet-cute with the film was early in his film-scoring career. “I saw it at a festival and immediately wanted to try my hand at it,” says Rapsis, “At the time, there wasn't any really good version available, so I had this... This sort of out-of-focus, worn-out version of it that was circulating around that I used.” That won’t be a problem for viewers Sunday night, who will enjoy a high quality digital print, much closer to the beauty of when the film prints were struck in 1927 than anything available on YouTube, and on the big screen to boot.
While audiences today might think of silent films as antiquated curios, seeing them in the theater with the live score is often a lively experience. Last month’s screening of Metropolis at the JPT elicited laughs, gasps, and applause from the audience, and in addition to his keyboard, Rapsis unveiled a whistle to match an on screen sound effect to the audience’s delight.
Yet while Metropolis and 7th Heaven were both released the same year, they’re entirely different films, and Rapsis anticipated a different type of emotional response. “It's a three-hanky movie. You're going to sob,” he jokes. But if he does his job right (which he always does), his music serves as a bridge between the audience and the images, using the musical conventions of film scores modern audiences are familiar with to help them feel the emotions of a picture they may hold a mental barrier against.
“A lot of people dismiss this as grandma's old-fashioned entertainment or something that has nothing of relevance to today. And the point I try to make is that these films were great entertainment in their day, but it turns out that they also offer some timeless qualities that we’re only just now discovering,” explains Rapsis, whose insightful introductions delivered before each film help contextualize the film’s artistry and relevance, “You can see echoes of that in today's entertainment if you know what to look for and you don't do that unless you attend a silent film once in a while.”
The JPT: 49 Touro Street, Newport. JanePickens.com
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