After 90 years, thanks to the Reel Jersey Film Festival, the notorious "lost" silent serial, Wolves of Kultur, finally returns to New Jersey,
where many of its greatest "cliff-hanger" moments were shot in the summer of 1918. Until its current restoration by European distributor Lobster
Film (with an assist from the Fort Lee Film Commission), audiences have been unable to see the complete five and a half hour epic since its original
release.
And many couldn't see it even then.
Wolves of Kultur was designed as one of the most virulent anti-German propaganda films of the World War I era. While other films (with titles like To
Hell with the Kaiser) tackled the situation in Europe, Wolves of Kultur dealt with treason and sabotage-a legacy of the destruction of the munitions dump
at Black Tom Island, just off Jersey City, two years earlier.
The glamorous Leah Baird, usually typecast as a vamp, starred as Alice Grayson-rich, beautiful and patriotic-who vows revenge when German agents murder
her uncle and steal his remote-controlled torpedo. Can she stop them before they use it to wreak havoc in the harbor? And who is the mysterious Roger
Barclay (played by Sheldon Lewis), who seems to be after the torpedo for reasons of his own.
Working out of his own studio in the Bronx (where he made many of Pearl White's early films) director John Golden took full advantage of the
geography of the Hudson, the Fort Lee Palisades, and a range of scenic wonders from Newfoundland to Ausable Chasm. He packed the film with chases,
explosions and fabulous stunts, and released the first of fifteen weekly episodes on October 13, 1918. A month later, the war was over.
Audiences suddenly lost all interest in anti-German propaganda, and episodes with titles like "The Hun's Hell Trap" began to lose their
appeal. Even worse, the great influenza epidemic of 1918 forced thousands of theaters across the country to close their doors just as Wolves of Kultur was
beginning its run. Some were closed for as long as four to six weeks, completely disrupting the serial's distribution schedule. Wolves of Kultur
vanished, almost without a trace.
Bits and pieces resurfaced over the years, and until recently the film was known only through one of these battered, considerably shortened, reissues.
Then Lobster Film's stunning restoration, based on a tinted nitrate copy discovered in Europe, proved a highlight of the 2004 silent film festival in
Pordenone, Italy. Now Reel Jersey is proud to present the American premiere of Wolves of Kultur in all its glory- right here where the cliffhanger was
born!
FRIDAY, SATURDAY, SUNDAY: SEPTEMBER 26-28, 2008
FOLLOW THIS LINK: http://bergencountyfilmcommission.org/events.html
September 25, 2008 (Thursday)
8:00 PM: Red Carpet Opening Night, Rivoli Theatre of Williams Center
Featured guest: award-winning actress Ruby Dee, recipient of the 2008 Bergen County Film Commission / Fort Lee Film Commission
Barrymore Award for lifetime achievment in the American film industry.
• Oscar Micheaux's Symbol of the Unconquered (1920) (shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey by African-American pioneer film director Oscar
Micheaux).
Live Music with premiere of original score by West Village String Quartet
New Jersey East Coast premiere: In the Shadow of Hollywood: Race Movies and the Birth of Black Cinema - NYC based African-American film historian and Micheaux scholar Pearl Bowser to moderate panel discussion prior to documentary film screening. Panelists will include award winning actress Ruby Dee (Ms. Dee appears in this documentary); film historian, author and Fort Lee Film Commission member Rutgers University professor Richard Koszarski; and a member of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women, our program sponsor.
September 26, 2008 (Friday)
• Wolves of Kultur (1918) - Part 1 of 3
Cinema 1: 5:00 - 7:00 PM
North American premiere of restored serial produced in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Restoration funded in part by the Fort Lee Film Commission in association with
Lobster Films and Serge Bromberg of France. Live musical accompaniment by Bergen County's own Jeff Barker.
September 27, 2008 (Saturday)
• "Hollywood on the Hudson"
Cinema 1: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Book signing and Q&A with film historian Richard Koszarski who has authored the newly published book Hollywood on the Hudson. Richard
Koszarski will introduce our Hollywood on the Hudson program.
• "100 Years of Film in Fort Lee"
Cinema 1: 1:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Centennial screening of the D. W. Griffith directed The Curtain Pole. This film, shot on the streets of Fort Lee, New Jersey for Biograph, is
considered the first American slapstick comedy and features Mack
Sennett. This program is the first in a yearly centennial celebration of films produced/shot in the then center of American film production, Fort Lee.
• Wolves of Kultur (1918) - Part 2 of 3
Cinema 1: 1:30 PM- 3:00 PM
American premiere of restored serial produced in Fort Lee, NJ. Restoration funded in part by the Fort Lee Film Commission in association with Lobster Films
and Serge Bromberg of France. Live musical accompaniment by Bergen County's own Jeff Barker.
September 28, 2008 (Sunday)
• Wolves of Kultur (1918) - Part 3 of 3
Cinema 1- 1:00-3:00 PM
Final installment of restored movie serial. Live musical accompaniment by Bergen County's own Jeff Barker.
