Join us for a screening of Dr. Nicholson og den Blaa Diamant (Dr. Nicholson and the Blue Diamond; 1913), an exhilarating Danish heist film of the silent era set to live musical accompaniment, with an introduction and book talk from Professor Vito Adriaensens on the event of the publication of his new book, Velvet Curtains and Gilded Frames: The Art of Early European Cinema. In Velvet Curtains and Gilded Frames, Adriaensens looks at Europe’s first feature films through the lens of an art historian. He focuses on how internationally influential Danish, French and Swedish companies first created cinematic form by mirroring popular genre painting, social stage melodrama, and Pictorialist photography. These were the first “art films.”

Dr. Nicholson og den blaa Diamant (Dr. Nicholson and the Blue Diamond; 1913). 56 min.

When the Danish crime caper Dr. Nicholson and the Blue Diamond hit U.S. screens in 1913, Moving Picture News called it “chock-a-block [full of scenes] of the kind which send thrills cavorting up and down our spines.” Beautifully tinted and toned, Dr. Nicholson presents us with sensational thrills—cheap, yet extremely expensive to pull off on film at the time—wrapped in an art-film jacket that suited most European films of the period. A French Count seeks better luck in America but collides with an evil, hookah-smoking genius who calls himself Doctor. This is a story involving kidnapping, cocaine, explosions. a wild chase scene on the roof of a moving train, and a sprinkle of modern dance. The film will screen with live musical accompaniment.

With Holger Reenberg, Edith Buemann Psilander, Anton de Verdier, and Viggo Wiehe. Written by Mogens Falck. Director unknown. Produced by Kinografen.

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