When the Earth Trembled

Barry O'Neill / US, 1913

World Premiere of the new restoration of When the Earth Trembled, a realistically filmed drama based on the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The new restored version of this silent film combines the best available material from three major collections: MoMA, BFI and EYE. The title is part of the collection of film pioneer Jean Desmet, currently the focus of an exhibition in EYE. With live music.

Disaster comes in many forms in When the Earth Trembled. There”s the wedding between Paul Girard and lawyer”s daughter Dora Sims, which brings the two families to the brink of war. Paul Girard”s father decides to acquire a majority shareholding interest in the company of Paul and Dora”s father only to be able to ruin them. The newly-weds face more hardship: Paul is shipwrecked and father Sims dies in the great San Francisco earthquake.Actress Ethel Clayton herself nearly lost her life in an accident while the earthquake scene was being shot because director Barry O”Neil insisted on filming the disaster as realistically as possible.The new restoration was created using the best available material from the collections of MoMA, the British Film Institute (BFI) and EYE.The film will be introduced by EYE curator Elif Rongen-Kaynakçi and Rob Byrne, director of the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. Live music by Stephen Horne. The introduction is in English.