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Film Festival Diary, Virginia Film Festival, 2007, Peter Pan

Peter Pan, A silent surprise

While I personally enjoy silent films, despite their often overly melodramatic acting, I really was not sure I'd enjoy a silent version of "Peter Pan" at the 2007 Virginia Film Festival.

Yet both the introduction by screenwriter Stewart Stern (who also showed and discussed his best known work, "Rebel Without A Cause," at the festival) turned out to be one of the real treats at the event. Stern, a nephew of Adolph Zukor, actually met Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie as a child--while in a tree dressed as Peter Pan--and his charming autobiographical introduction alone made attending the event worthwhile.

Above: Stewart Stern, screenwriter of "Rebel Without A Cause," commenting on the silent "Peter Pan."

But this 1924 silent, with the organ of Donald Sosin, brought the tale back to life for us vividly. While ballet-trained Betty Bronson is fine as Pan, George Ali, the only member of the stage version in the cast, proved marvelous as Nana, nurse to the Darling children.

A gauge of the film's effectiveness might be that a theatre chock full of children of all ages, many very young, watched attentively throughout with nary a cry or a whimper.

But boy, did they clap to save Tinkerbell. Misted my eyes, it did.

The Virginia Fest also ran Charly Chaplin's "The Kid," with live accompaniment. I'd be happy to see this become a widespread trend, showing silents on a big screen with live music, the way they were originally shown, even if we are not watching those incendiary silver nitrate films with their unearthly glow when a projector shoots a hot white light through the film.

Some silents, and this version of "Peter Pan" is one, do not suffer from the exaggerated acting so common to the period.

Still from "Peter Pan," the silent version directed by Herbert Brenon and photographed by the legendary James Wong Howe. It starred Betty Bronson, oked by author J.M. Barrie himself. Stewart Stern, the scriptwriter who introduced the film, met Barrie as a child. He also knew several of the stars, who sent him thimble kisses. His introduction alone made the show worthwhile, but the film captivated an audience of children of all ages, literally. Below, Betty Bronson as Peter Pan.

Betty Bronson as Peter Pan in the 1924 silent many believe best of all the filmed versions.

Bronson had to be approved by author J.M. Barrie himself. She's ideal in the role, even if she does have better legs than any boy we've ever seen.