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

For the first programme in our autumn season we will be presenting The Iron Horse in a 35mm print from Photoplay Productions. The film will be introduced by Kevin Brownlow.

Directed by John Ford and starring George O’Brien and Madge Bellamy, The Iron Horse was a major milestone both in Ford’s career and in his lifelong connection to the western film genre. Telling the story of the construction of America’s first transcontinental railroad, the film depicts the Irish, Italian and Chinese immigrants, also African Americans, who did the backbreaking work that made this feat possible. The production crew, including hundreds of extras, took more than twenty railroad cars plus enough equipment and materials to build a mile of track for real, in the often freezing Nevada desert. Primary villain of the tale is an unscrupulous businessman masquerading as a renegade Cheyenne. Subtitled `A Romance of the East and West’, the story culminates in the famous scene of driving the golden spike – when the final east-west connection in the line was made – at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869.

Live piano accompaniment from Cyrus Gabrysch.

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.