The Silent Pianist Speaks ...

What on earth ... silent, yet plays music presumably, and speaks .. but this is Neil Brand .. who started his career in Eastbourne playing his debut as a film accompanist with the Eastbourne Film Society in 1983 – the silent film was Buster Keaton’s “Steamboat Bill Jnr”.

The Film Society in 2004 brought the silent classic “The Passion of Joan of Arc “(1928) with piano accompaniment by Neil Brand, to Eastbourne when a new print became available in England (it had been banned by the authorities for its poor English propaganda!).

Neil by London & Cambridge photographer Tom Catchesides

The programme note says “some members of the Society may wonder why we should have set such great store on this screening, but those who find it strange are unlikely to be those who have attended previous silent cinema screenings by the Society at which films were accompanied by Neil Brand at the piano. Such screenings rarely bring out the largest audiences - it’s their loss”, and I absolutely agree.

I have never been to a film, a silent one at that, where I was completed sucked into the ‘narrative’ – the passion play. The actress’ eyes were riveting – it is an unorthodox piece in that it is shot largely in close-ups with sparse backgrounds – I was completely absorbed within this atmospheric presentation.

There is not one single establishing shot in all of “The Passion of Joan of Arc”, it is filmed entirely in close-ups or medium shots, creating a fearful intimacy between Joan and her tormentors. If you go to the Danish Film Museum in Copenhagen you can see Dreyer’s model for the extraordinary set he built for the film.

Dreyer, returned to the actual trial records, combining the 29 cross-examinations into one inquisition; the charges of heresy are set within a Church court, in which the judges, their faces twisted with their fear of her courage, loomed over her with shouts and accusations ...

In selecting Falconetti to play Joan .. there was something that struck Dreyer .. there was a soul behind that facade .. he did screen tests without makeup, and found what he sought, a woman who embodied simplicity, character and suffering.

I hope some of my passion, still at the forefront of my memory after six years comes across – I can still remember the metal baskets containing the steaming hay for the cows, the ghastly monks or churchmen, they loomed large, I can still smell the hay, the dung, the heavy smoke from the tallow candles, I itched with the hay, I can feel my senses assaulted from my involvement within this setting and the events unfolding in front of me.

Renee Falconetti - c/o Chicago Sun-Times - written by Roger Ebert

This is where I first saw this Silent Pianist, who speaks ... I went to the film thinking I’m not sure I’m going to enjoy this – but I so respect Mansel Stimpson’s selections and his knowledge of film, he is an active member of the National Film Theatre in London, that I went along expecting to sort of watch, but keep an eye on Neil to see how he played to or with the film .... well you now know how I came out – totally emotionally enthralled by it, and I hadn’t watched Neil at all!

Yesterday Neil came to a small Sussex village hall to put on two shows – one aimed at children .. but definitely with us adults in mind, and another telling us adults, who attended both, how his career started and giving us an exposition about silent movies.

Both shows were wonderful .. and I was able to visit my mother, wander over to Berwick (about 9 miles from Eastbourne), have a walk at one of the local nature reserves, see the show, revisit my mother and return for the evening performance .. on a glorious summer’s day – really the first of this year.

To top the day – I had a wonderful subject for my 250th post .. and collected another two along the way: Neil has kindly said he’d do a guest post for us sometime .. and the nature reserve (to the left) presented some interesting facts.

Now to Neil .. the Silent Pianist .. it is time for you to speak .... he returns to his roots – Eastbourne, via London, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Abu Dhabi to Berwick – from zero to half a million listeners, through his international reputation with a programme on BBC’s Radio 4, to a few dozen yesterday .. he suits my style – an eclectic mix. He’s so down to earth and it was an absolute pleasure to be there to learn more about this master of the silent art.

As I mentioned he played at the Film Society for Buster Keaton’s Steamboat Bill Jnr back in 1983, then in 1984 got his first audition at the National Film Theatre, (with a gentle prod from our cinema buff Mansel Stimpson to the NFT’s Kevin Brownlow, who was one of the panel of judges that day) – that was it ... The Silent Pianist was on the road ...

The really interesting thing is that Neil does not read music – cannot read it .. but he absorbed this love from the local cinema .. the world of bright colours, with the new reverberating magnetic sound of the 1960s ... here he saw “My Fair Lady” (1964) and learnt the 6th and 7th chords – now these are the chords he uses all the time ...

Flowers of the Sussex Downs

... he went on to study Drama at University .. but while growing up his parents realised that he had a natural talent for improvisation at the piano ... so when he got bored, they suggested ‘play a windmill’, ‘play a herd of buffalo’ .. and here we are today – with another NFT member, John Gillett, confirming “Neil is the best silent pianist he knows”.

Earlier I drew attention to the fact that Dreyer selected Falconetti to play Joan of Arc, because he could see the soul behind the actress as she played Joan; while Neil, when he was explaining his ability to play the piano is because he feels the music .. something within him comes to the fore, letting his fingers do the playing – there is no score, there is no repeat.

I find that quite extraordinary; Neil interspersed his performances with explanations and some background notes – all really interesting. What is silence? If you’re watching a silent film where the rain is pouring down, the umbrella looks like it’s about to disappear .. we expect to hear that pitter patter, or those heavy plops of the dropping deluge, or see the umbrella turn inside out, swept away down the street .. but we don’t – it is silent. Silence is weird .. unless we choose it .. Buster Keaton decided to sing in the film “Prisoner’s Song” .. but it’s silent ......

Le Silence (1842–1843), painted plaster sculpture by Antoine-Augustin Préault.

Silent films embraced world culture, many of which have not been available since those times – Neil showed us a 2 minute 1906 complete movie by the Pathe Brothers (Pathé Frères) – but fortunately innovation in restoration and recent film finds have re-opened the door so that classics can again be seen.

In the UK in 1929 there were 25,000 silent film pianists ... in 1930 – there were none! Yet the genre of silent movies is largely misunderstood ... comedy was not an established force, it was not written, it was created by the great actors, directors of the time .. the Chaplins, Keatons, Laurel, Oliver et al .. and how we laughed .. we laughed yesterday .. we certainly laughed as kids .. great belting stomach heaves .. and just wanting more .. the next ‘gag’, the next ‘disaster’ ..

Silent film in this day and age – needs us .. the screen portrays wonderful scenes, the pianist interprets the plot, we are totally involved by our reactions ... you cannot have one without the other for the full impact.

Pictures, Jul 23 1921, Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle (1887 – 1933) on the cover

We were tested at the evening performance to see our expectations of a film as it develops – this was the People on Sunday (German: Menschen am Sonntag), which is a 1930 German silent movie, from a screenplay by Billy Wilder – here Neil showed us the hooks Wilder used to draw us into the film – which side would we come down on .. were the couple happy, or was it a murderous plot .. ?

Then he told us a few anecdotes .. he quite often plays for films he’s not seen before .. and one time this happened – suddenly up pops a ‘title’, which said “now we will play the Latvian Anthem”!? He played on .. thank goodness there were no Latvians in the audience!

Another time he was accompanying a tinted print, this was when the printed film had been tinted up to give it some colour, the trouble was .. the copy had been put back together with all the night scenes together, all the fire scenes together, all the daylight scenes together – you get the picture .. don’t you? There was no chronological order ... the film made no sense, the star character died, then reappeared ... Neil played on (thinking to himself ... that was a radical narrative technique, not seen before!) .. and there was huge applause!

There was lots more .. but I’m sure the master himself will give us some additional flavours in his guest post (thank you in advance Neil) .... if I’ve stimulated any questions .. please ask .. Neil has been very generous with these performances .. giving back to Berwick Church where he was married – this is where the walls of the Church were decorated by members of the Bloomsbury Group: here are two previous posts on the area, which may be of interest.

Berwick Church

Pigs, Vineyards, Bloomsbury and murals ... Berwick Church

The area around this Sussex Church .. Safari here or Safari there ...

One last thing – one of our audience, an American lady – certainly with her twang – was really interested .. as her grandmother, who hailed from ‘horse heaven’ country in Washington State, told Margaret that her first job was playing sheet music in a music shop to encourage sales of this new music, and then went on to become a silent film pianist – small world?!

Neil Brand – The Silent Pianist Speaks ...

We saw clips with or from: Charlie Chaplin – the thief at the fair; Fatty Arbuckle and a young Buster Keaton in the 1921 film “A Garage”; Buster Keaton’s “One Week” 2 part; the whole of “Big Business” where Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy want to sell Christmas trees in California – November - this clip shows the film and location .. still there today; Pathé Frères; German (film) Expressionism; and many others .. YouTube has many clips ...

Dear Mr Postman – my mother and my uncle would have loved this post .. and I’m sure my uncle would have often been to the National Film Theatre – sadly it’s too late for me to ask him .. I took him to a few of the Film Society Films, and let him read each season’s notes .. and he was fascinated at the choices Mansell made for us – and was so pleased we’d seen Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday .. I had to get it for him on video, so he could re see it ... he loved the genre! Happy Days. Happy Birthday too .. to my sister-in-law for tomorrow.

PS: I credit Mansel Stimpson, who writes all our Eastbourne Film Society Programme notes as I have used some of his words and phrases; as well as Roger Ebert from the Chicago Sun-Times – again the paragraphs and sentences in italics use a great many of Roger Ebert’s words – for more go here.

The Curzon Cinema - Eastbourne: Roy Galloway is the owner-proprietor - this where the film society films are shown.

Hilary Melton-Butcher
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