Musik and Film - Carl Davis

Carl Davis celebrates his 70th birthday in 2006 and Braunschweig International Film Festival will present a homage of the great composer‘s work.

World-famous for his new scores to silent film classics, Carl Davis also has an extensive back-catalogue of film scores. His versatility is remarkable - musicals, an oratorio and music for the ballet, amounting to over 200 works for theatre, film and TV. The silent film concert of Raoul Walsh’s "The Thief of Bagdad" is the festival highlight with Carl conducting the 70-piece State Orchestra. He will also conduct a concert of four Charlie Chaplin films including the world premiere of his music for "The Vagabond".

Six feature films, with scores written by Davis, complete the homage. In 2003 the he was awarded the BAFTA for his life’ s work and in 2005 received a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II.



The section is sponsored by the British Council.




Charlie Chaplin - The Mutuals

Th, November 9 8:00 pm Staatstheater, Kleines Haus

In 1916 when Charlie Chaplin signed a contract with the Mutual Film Corporation for 12 films he became the best-paid actor of his times. "I was 27 years old, my prospects were simply fabulous, and the world offered me friendship and fame".

In co-operation with the Staatstheater Braunschweig we will present four of Chaplin’s best short films from his Mutual period, with the music from Carl Davis. His score to "The Vagabond" is a world premiere.

The Vagabond
Director: Charlie Chaplin, USA 1916, 24 min, 35 mm, bw, silent
Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Music: Carl Davis



Charlie, a destitute violin player, saves a girl from a group of gypsies on his travels. Later, a rich woman recognises the girl as her daughter and takes her back. Charlie feels abandoned...


Easy Street
Director: Charlie Chaplin, USA 1917, 23 min, 35 mm, bw, silent
Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Music: Carl Davis



A tramp becomes a policeman to impress a girl. And sure enough the rundown Easy Street is soon governed by a true hero!


The Cure
Director: Charlie Chaplin, USA 1917, 23 min, 35 mm, bw, silent
Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Music: Carl Davis



Chaos in the clinic! Charlie checks himself into a clinic for alcohol addiction. Among the sanity of the others, drunken Charlie reeks havoc...


The Pawnshop
Director: Charlie Chaplin, USA 1916, 25 min, 35 mm, bw, silent
Actors: Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, Eric Campbell, Music: Carl Davis



Charlie competes with his colleague for the attention of the Pawnshop manager’s daughter. As they fight for the upper-hand, the shop is nearly ruined.





Der Dieb von Bagdad (The Thief for Bagdad)
Director: Raoul Walsh, USA 1924, 147 min, 35 mm, colour, silent
Actors: Douglas Fairbanks, Julanne Johnson, Anna May Wong, Music: Carl Davis
Fr, November 10 8:00 pm Staatstheater, Großes Haus


Fairbanks is the "Thief of Bagdad" and must fight for the hand and love of a Princess. He encounters the wonders of the Arabian world and survives a thousand adventures, before he can finally hold her in his arms. An early Hollywood fairytale and milestone of the silent film era, full of visual adventure, elaborate special effects and splendid spectacles.




Der Prozess (The Trial)
Director: David Hugh Jones, GB 1992, 120 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Actors: Kyle MacLachlan, Anthony Hopkins, Jason Robards, Music: Carl Davis
Fr, November 10 2:45 pm CinemaxX 4
So, November 12 5:30 pm CinemaxX 1


Based on the famous novel by Franz Kafka, with screenplay by Harold Pinter and Kyle McLachlan in the lead role - Josef K wakes one morning and finds two men of the courts waiting to inform him of his arrest. Everything he does from now on brings him closer to destruction...




Die Geliebte des französischen Leutnants (The French Lieutenant‘s Woman)
Director: Karel Reisz, GB 1981, 124 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Actors: Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, Leo McKern, Music: Carl Davis
Th, November 9 3:00 pm CinemaxX 1
Sa, November 11 3:15 pm CinemaxX 2


A romantic love story and a "film within a film". Mike and Anna are actors filming the novel "The French Lieutenant’s Woman". Mike plays the Victorian gentleman Charles who although engaged to be married falls in love with Sarah (played by Anna). Sarah, outcast from society, must work as a prostitute. In the parallel story Mike and Anna also fall in love.




Garbo
Director: Christopher Bird/Kevin Brownlow, GB/USA 2005, 85 min, BetaSP, colour, bw, OV
Narrator: Julie Christie, Music: Carl Davis
We, November 9 3:00 pm CinemaxX 2
Sa, November 11 1:15 pm CinemaxX 4


Garbo - a huge star, one of the world’s most beautiful women and a mystery. In 1941, aged 36, she turned her back on the film world and proceeded to live a reclusive life in New York. This brilliant documentary offers interviews with friends, admirers and biographers. Her incomparable beauty, unforgettable roles and intuitive acting continue to fascinate.




Mothers and Daughters
Director: Hannah Davis/David Conolly, GB 2003, 83 min, 35 mm, colour, OV
Actors: Alix Longman, Caroline Burns Cooke, Jean Boht, Music: Carl Davis
Sa, November 11 11:00 am CinemaxX 4 Guest: Carl Davis
Su, November 12 3:00 pm CinemaxX 1


Everyone needs an understanding shoulder to cry on – and that shoulder is Lorraine, the psychotherapist. She works on the formula that "mother is to blame". Lorraine herself must also battle with her own mother-problems: the strictly Catholic Mary is ill with Alzheimer’s and needs permanent care.




Scandal
Director: Michael Caton-Jones, GB 1988, 114 min, 35 mm, colour, GV
Actors: John Hurt, Ian McKellen, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Music: Carl Davis
We, November 8 10:15 pm CinemaxX 4
Fr, November 10 12:30 am CinemaxX 4


It's the swinging sixties. Showgirl Christine Keeler is introduced into society and soon has the British war secretary and the soviet military attaché in her bed. The "Profumo Affair" – one of the biggest British political sex scandals costed John Profumo his office and his party election victory.




Topsy Turvy
Director: Mike Leigh, GB 1999, 154 min, 35 mm, colour, OV
Actors: Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Lesley Manville, Music: Carl Davis
Th, November 9 10:00 pm CinemaxX 3
Su, November 12 11:30 am CinemaxX 1


Behind the scenes at the music theatre its all topsy-turvy. Sullivan is desperate to write serious opera not wish-wash like "Princess Ida". Gilbert is in shock. The kings of the comic opera. 20 years a successful team. Is this the end? Then some Japanese come to town and everything changes. A new idea! Japanese-inspired burlesque! Sullivan gets back to work...




Music Master Class

We, November 8 5:00 pm CinemaxX 2

"Who works in the film business, should not have an ego. Your life, that is: your music lies in the hands of producers and directors. They pull down the controls, and your are gone. You are part of the team, belonging to the props", said Carl Davis on the role of a film composer.

Film journalist Marc Hairapetian will interview Carl Davis on ego, controls and props and invites the composer give a few examples on the piano - a mixture of interview and concert, garnished with film samples.




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