Second Saturday Silent Cinema Presents: Sally of the Sawdust

Directed by D.W. Griffith in a fascinating departure from the austere moral dramas in which he specialized.

A tribute to silent film that only the Music Box can offer! Named by Chicago Magazine as the Best New Film Series of 2011. Now presented on the second Saturday of every month at noon!

As part of the Music Box’s commitment to screening classic films, we are delighted to announce what we hope to be an annual series of silent films. Thanks to a number of improvements during the past year, we believe there’s no better place in Chicago to see silent film! We want to share that experience with you throughout 2013 with a special monthly silent film series. Our excellent house organist Dennis Scott will be accompanying all films.

Pricing

Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for students.

Sally of the Sawdust

directed by D.W. Griffith starring Carol Dempster, W.C. Fields, Alfred Lunt Silent

Fresh from the Ziegfeld Follies, W.C. Fields made his second screen appearance as Professor Eustace McGargle, a lovably disreputable confidence man who becomes the unlikely guardian of an orphaned circus waif (Carol Dempster). Intending to return Sally to her grandparents, McGargle learns that her wealthy and esteemed grandfather is a stern judge who harbors a deep contempt for shysters and show people. And wouldn’t you know it, McGargle soon finds himself wanted by the police and chased by bootleggers, all the while trying to protect his cherished Sally!

Sally is minor Griffith, but it demonstrates that, whatever the ostensible genre, he remained (and, pace Steven Spielberg, remains) the master manipulator of human emotion. —J. Hoberman, Village Voice

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