Hypocrites

press release: Overture Center continues its 2019/20 Duck Soup Cinema series, saluting the leading women of early 20^th century filmmaking, with Lois Weber’s controversial 1915 film Hypocrites, showing in Capitol Theater on Thursday, Nov. 14, at 7 pm.

This season, the four-part Duck Soup Cinema series pays a special tribute to the incredible female pioneers of entertainment who produced, directed and owned production companies in the early days of silent film. These women played a significant role in developing a new money-making art form; however, as the industry grew, they found themselves working for a system that stunted their creative flexibility and access to leadership and ownership opportunities.

Lois Weber was an American silent film actress, screenwriter, producer and director. She is identified in some historical references as the most important female director the American film industry has known and among the most important and prolific film directors in the era of silent films. In an estimated 200-400 films, Weber produced a body of work which brought her concerns for humanity and social justice to the screen. She has been credited with directing 135 films, writing 114 and acting in 100.

By 1920, Weber was considered the premier woman director of the screen and author and producer of the biggest money-making features in the history of the film business. In addition to Hypocrites, among Weber’s notable films are the 1916 film Where Are My Children?, which discussed abortion and birth control and was added to the National Film Registry in 1993, her adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes novel for the very first Tarzan of the Apes film in 1918 and what is often considered her masterpiece, The Blot, in 1921.

Hypocrites follows the parallel stories of an early Christian ascetic and a modern minister, with most actors in dual roles. Gabriel (Courteney Foote), a medieval monk, devotes himself to completing a statue of “Truth,” only to be murdered by a mob when his work turns out to be an image of a naked woman. The contemporary Gabriel is the pastor of a large wealthy urban congregation for whom religion is a matter of appearances, not beliefs. The hypocrisy of the congregation is exposed by a series of vignettes in which the Naked Truth, portrayed by a nude Margaret Edwards, reveals their appetites for money, sex and power.

Hypocrites was widely admired at the time for its extraordinary use of multiple exposures and intricate editing and propelled Weber to the front ranks of silent directors. The use in the film of traveling double exposure sequences of the woman was considered impressive for 1915.

The original release of this shocking film was held up for months by the difficulty of distributing a film with full nudity during the time. Weber’s sincerity and reputation allowed her to pursue something that in the hands of a male director would have been considered scandalous and immoral. The film was passed by the British Board of Film Censors; however, because of the full and recurring nudity through the film, it caused riots in New York City, was banned in Ohio and was subject to censorship in Boston when the mayor demanded that the film negatives be painted over to clothe the woman.

Jelani Eddington is the featured organist for this Duck Soup Cinema film.

Post show event: Guests are invited to stay after the show for a talkback with Tami Williams, associate professor of film studies and English at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, president of the Domitor—the International Society for the Study of Early Cinema, and area coordinator for the Women Film Pioneers Project (France). Williams is the author of “Germaine Dulac: A Cinema of Sensations,” the first in-depth historical study of a trailblazing filmmaker and feminist.

Tickets are available at overture.org, at Overture Center’s ticket office at 201 State St. or by calling 608.258.4141. Many shows offer discounted group tickets for orders of 10 or more tickets in the same show/performance. Group requests can be placed now by emailing groups@overture.org or calling 608.258.4159.