THE SILENT CLOWNS FILM SERIES SHOWCASES DOUGLAS FAIRBANKS' ICONIC ZORRO ROLES

The Silent Clowns Film Series announced today their fall 2015 season entitled "Before Batman: Douglas Fairbanks' ZORRO (and son)", celebrating the iconic character brought to the screen by silent era swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks in two blockbuster action pictures. The screenings of THE MARK OF ZORRO and DON Q, SON OF ZORRO will have live musical accompaniment and will take place at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the Library for the Performing Arts.

By late 1920, with nearly thirty breezy modern action comedies to his credit over the prior five years, the ever-ebullient Douglas Fairbanks had unabashedly established himself as a reigning superstar of the cinema. An individual of "firsts" in a fledgling industry and art form, his bold decision to shift gears with costumed adventure pictures not only began a string of major artistic and (mostly) financial triumphs for him - but defined an entire genre and left a formidable legacy and indebtedness of everyone from Errol Flynn, Gene Kelly, Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas to Harrison Ford, Bruce Willis, Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp. The first of these THE MARK OF ZORRO (1920) and its sequel DON Q, SON OF ZORRO (1925), introduced - and then cemented, an archetype that has informed nearly a century of action-adventure cinema and pop culture.

Both Zorro films will be screened at the Silent Clowns Film Series, introduced by film historian Bruce Lawton, and accompanied live on piano by Ben Model. The November screening of DON Q will also feature guest speaker Tracey Goessel, author of The First King of Hollywood, a new book about Douglas Fairbanks (pub date Oct 1, 2015, Chicago Review Press).

All shows are held at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the NY Library for the Performing Arts, located at 111 Amsterdam Ave (betw W 64 and W 65) at the back of Lincoln Center. Admission is free. Programs feature live piano accompaniment by Ben Model, with spoken introductions by film historians Bruce Lawton and Steve Massa. Subway: 1 to 66th St; A, C to Columbus Circle.

For information www.silentclowns.com or 212-712-7237.

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