Big Top plays a live score to silent horror classic The Unknown at the Shadbolt Centre, November 1
Director Tod Browning’s 1927 film starring Lon Chaney is characterized by sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, and disfigurement
Big Top
Shadbolt Centre for the Arts presents The Unknown, a silent horror classic presented with an original live score by Big Top, on November 1 at 7:30 pm.
The Unknown is the most celebrated and exquisitely perverse of the many collaborations between director Tod Browning and his legendary leading man Lon Chaney. It features a wrenchingly physical performance from “the Man of a Thousand Faces” as the armless Spanish knife-thrower Alonzo, whose dastardly infatuation with his beautiful assistant drives him to unspeakable extremes. With sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, disfigurement, and a spectacular Grand Guignol climax, Browning wrings every last frisson from the 1927 film’s lurid premise.
Vancouver-based Big Top creates and performs an instrumental soundtrack to the film. The band’s music is a tip of the hat to Ennio Morricone’s soundscapes with a bit of circus style thrown in for good measure—cinematic, atmospheric guitar-based instrumentals.
Tickets to The Unknown are available through the Shadbolt Centre.
Post sponsored by Shadbolt Centre for the Arts.
Related Articles
Chandler Levack’s love letter to Montreal and her early 20s offers a new kind of female heroine; Kurtis David Harder unveils a super-energetic sequel; and Wədzįh Nəne’ (Caribou Country) takes viewers to B.C.’s snow-dusted northern reaches
Vancouver visionary behind innovative thrillers like Longlegs and The Monkey is also helping to revive the Park Theatre as a hub for a new generation of cinemagoers
Criss-crossing the map from the Lithuanian countryside to a painful Maltese dinner party, this year’s program provokes both chills and laughs
Titles include Denmark’s The Land of Short Sentences, Ukraine solidarity screening Porcelain War, and more
From Everest Dark’s story of a sherpa’s heroic journey to an all-female project to tackle Spain’s La Rubia, docs dive into adventure
Out of 106 features, more than 60 percent are Canadian; plus, Jay Kelly, a new Knives Out, and more
Event screens The Nest, the writer’s form-pushing NFB documentary re-animating her childhood home’s past, co-directed with Chase Joynt
Featuring more than 70 percent Canadian films, 25th annual fest will close December 7 with The Choral
Filmmakers including Chris Ferguson back plan to save Cambie Street’s Art Deco cinema that Cineplex had shut down Sunday
One of the weirdest Hollywood films ever made helped bring local bandleader Scott McLeod back to shadowy instrumental soundscapes
Visions Ouest and Alliance Française present moving documentary on singer-songwriter behind Kashtin
Lon Chaney’s scary makeup, a vintage pipe organ, and a score by Andrew Downing bring eerie atmosphere to the Orpheum show
Films on offer include Yurii Illienko’s The Eve of Ivan Kupalo and Borys Ivchenko’s The Lost Letter
Her National Geographic Live event From Roots to Canopy lands in the Lower Mainland care of Vancouver Civic Theatres
Director Tod Browning’s 1927 film starring Lon Chaney is characterized by sadomasochistic obsession, deception, murder, and disfigurement
The Cinematheque program proves that digital filmmaking has a future beyond artificial intelligence
Attending VIFF, NFB chair Suzanne Guèvremont has a new strategic plan that strives to reach out to the next generation
Tree canopy ecologist Nalini Nadkarni leads audiences up into the clouds to see the fascinating world of Costa Rican branches with From Roots to Canopy
Quick takes on Dracula, Idiotka, Akashi, and Ma—Cry of Silence, plus documentaries about one family’s scattered heritage and the true cost of global capitalism
The Painted Life of E.J. Hughes reveals quiet life of a master who avoided spotlight; The Art of Adventure tracks a young Robert Bateman’s journey with Bristol Foster across the world in a Land Rover
Centenary screening features live music by seven-piece orchestra and 80-person choir, with Michael Dirk on Wurlitzer organ
