Midnight Dismemberment and Sissies

Few things confirm my film nerddom more than the annual Silent Film Festival, but I am always in good company with the packed houses. Last night was the latest film screening in the festival's history with the director's pick, The Unknown. The hour-long Tod Browning directed featured starred Lon Chaney and Joan Crawford and heavily featured dismemberment. You could tell what sort of crowd was there when the theater erupted in hysterical applause when during the pre-show slide show there was an image from Browning's Freaks. To top things off, there was an introduction and English reading of the French inter-titles by Guy Maddin, director of The Saddest Music in the World (which also features dismemberment and glass legs filled with beer), Center of the World and Sissy Boy Slap party. The last entry drew heavy, knowing applause too. What, you've never seen it? Here it is.