The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower Classic French Silent Film

The 2022 April in Paris Film Festival at Cinestudio, Trinity College will present a special screening of the classic 1928 French silent film, The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower, on Sunday, April 3, 2022 at 2 p.m. at Cinestudio, Trinity College, Hartford, CT. General admission is $10.00. Covid-19 restrictions apply: mask, vaccination documentation, photo ID.

The theme for the 2022 film festival is "Stories on Screen." The film will be screened with a new piano accompaniment prepared and performed by Patrick Miller, Associate Professor of Music Theory Emeritus, The Hartt School, University of Hartford. 

Made toward the end of the silent-film era, The Mystery of the Eiffel Tower is a zany comedy thriller. Brilliantly filmed with spectacular on-location photography in and around Paris, the film is meticulously directed by the renowned Julien Duvivier. This "wonderful adventure" movie centers on a simple, happy circus performer caught up in bizarre situations within a madcap world of double-crossing thieves. The film is influenced by the fantastic serial films of pioneering director Louis Feuillade and the dazzling art direction of innovative director Marcel L'Herbier. Duvivier began his film career under the tutelage of Feuillade and L'Herbier. This famous silent film was thought lost until a complete Dutch silver nitrate print was fortunately discovered, preserved, and restored. The beautiful restoration of this remarkable movie will be presented for this screening. The 133-minute film will be screened with French intertitles in English translation. 

Since 1982 Patrick Miller has performed his symphonic-style piano accompaniments for silent film screenings at colleges and university throughout New England. He has studied silent film music at the George Eastman Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, and the Library of Congress and has accompanied the masterworks of American and international silent cinema. Since 2001, he has accompanied silent film screenings for the April in Paris Film Festival at Cinestudio, Trinity College, Hartford, CT.