I will be unable to attend, but I hounded and hounded for this so I must absolutely tell the world of it.
On August 18th the Silent Movie Theatre in West Hollywood, CA will be running "The Woman with the Hungry Eyes" as well as "A Fool There Was". "A Fool There Was" is always screened...so that's nothing earth shattering...its the extra that is earth shattering.
"The Woman With the Hungry Eyes" is a Theda Bara documentary done by Timeline films, mainly Hugh Neely. It debuted in 2004 and has not screened at least since 2006. It is not on DVD, though if any rich companies are out there I'm sure Timeline would love to make a deal (Hugh has said his dream is to have a Theda Bara box set...and I demand this happen!)
It's a pretty intriguing documentary. We trace Theda from her young years to her fame, with a climax around the release and loss of Cleopatra (1918). Timeline actually paid a HUGE sum (reportedly $10,000) to get the rights to run the ONLY remaining clip of Cleopatra...less than 10 seconds long (she turns her head, she turns back.) The documentary really hits home the loss, and I know I'm not the only one who almost cried after watching it.
Hugh will speak and reportedly bring some goodies, though I do not know what they are. All I know is this is the first time in 4 years you can view this documentary, as well as the clip of Cleopatra, so that alone is worth the admission price ($10 general, I believe free for members which is totally worth it.)
I think...in the coming years...we will hear a lot about Theda Bara. I'm pretty sure by the time I'm 30 her and Rudolph Valentino's stories will have changed dramatically. And the world will be thrilled, but also sadden by the new information. But for now...just see the documentary. It will tide you over.
Click here to buy tickets (and don't worry, they just announced the documentary on facebook so it should be mentioned on the website soon)!
Update: Joan Craig, Theda Bara's 'almost daughter', will be in attendance. She spent much of her young life with Theda until Theda passed in the 1950s.
1 comments:
I know that cleopatra exists somewhere, and i pray i will be alive when they find it. Some of the most interesting films are lost films and its just a tradgedy (clara bows lost color film 'red hair' sounds extriemly interesting to find) but lost films also build up legacies, pola negri has almost no lost films and i can garentee you that at the time "sumurun" (1918) was more successful (world wide) "than a fool there was", and yet pola has a fraction of the fan base that theda enjoys. Lost films can be devestating, but the mystery that they spur can be even more helpful to a stars memory. Any who just an observation.
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