The Kennington Bioscope is a regular cinema event featuring live accompaniment to silent films that takes place at the Cinema Museum.

For our festive event, rounding out the year, we will be screening The Sideshow (1928), directed by Erle C. Kenton and starring Marie Prevost, Ralph Graves, Alan Roscoe and ‘Little Billy’ Rhodes. An entertaining ‘programmer’ drama with a cast of colourful characters produced by “Poverty Row” Columbia Pictures, in which a circus is threatened by acts of sabotage organized by a rival company. We are proud to announce that this screening will be projected from a 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

Director Erle C. Kenton had been a Keystone man, and made seven films, this being their final one, with star Marie Prevost, another alumna of Mack Sennett’s company. In the 1920’s, Canadian Prevost was Queen of the B’s, working for Universal and Warner Bros., acting in three films for Lubitsch, who thought extremely highly of her skills as an actress. Talented in both comedic and dramatic terms, this is a rare chance to see one of her films, unavailable on any other format than 35mm film!

In his 2005 essay for the SFSFF, Richard Hildreth commented, “Despite its humble origins, The Sideshow is a remarkable film, noteworthy for its largely forgotten cast and crew and its rare presentation of a little person in a sympathetic and adult role. In a career that spanned 40 years, Rhodes appeared in some 50 films and television shows, including The Wizard of Oz (1939) and two Three Stooges films. His size, however, condemned him to comic or fantasy roles. Only in The Sideshow did he get to play a hero — albeit a tragic one.”

Part one of our last evening of 2024 will consist of:

• Patouillard représentant en mâts de Cocagne/Bill and the Greasy Pole (1911). Directed by Romeo Bosetti, made by Lux, and starring Paul Bertho, this deals with the hazards of transporting a pole across Paris. Restored from an original nitrate tinted print.
• A beautiful Pathe short about historical rope making on the Brittany coast from around 1911, restored from an original nitrate tinted print.

To compliment the festive season and part one, the Bioscope will be screening a brand new restoration of A Christmas Carol directed in 1910 by J. Searle Dawley. Made the same year as his ground breaking version of Frankenstein, A Christmas Carol employs impressive camera effects. Charles Ogle, a regular player in Dawley’s retinue (who played the monster in Frankenstein) gets to play Bob Cratchit, while Marc McDermott takes on the role of Ebenezer Scrooge.

The event will be presented by Michelle Facey.

Live piano accompaniment. Cyrus Gabrysch will be playing for The Sideshow, and John Sweeney be playing for the first half.

Silent film with intertitles which may be suitable for the deaf and hard of hearing.

Tickets & Pricing

£7. Seats are limited, so please arrive early or request an invitation using the email kenbioscope@gmail.com.