The black-and-white silent movie flickered into life as the pianist started up with a dramatic flourish. Cue the latest exploits of daring master criminal "Three-Fingered Kate".
The head of a gang behind a string of audacious robberies, Kate - who is missing the last two digits of her right hand - always manages to outwit her rival, Sheerluck Finch, aka fictional detective Sherlock Holmes.
Nearly a century after the first "talkies" displaced silent movies for good, a society of London cinephiles still gather regularly to celebrate these largely forgotten works from the dawn of cinema.
The Kennington Bioscope searches out rare films from the era - many not seen for many decades - and screens them with live improvised accompaniment on the piano, just as they would have been a century ago.
In a curious twist, the cavernous venue where the Bioscope meets - now home to London's Cinema Museum - was formerly the chapel of the 19th-century south London workhouse to which a young Charlie Chaplin was sent.
"It's an amazing synchronicity," silent film devotee Alex Kirstukas, 32, said.
This story is from the November 22, 2024 edition of The Citizen.
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This story is from the November 22, 2024 edition of The Citizen.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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