Masks and Faces

Content warning:

Contains racist characterisation (blackface)

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Masks and Faces

1917
Silent
91m

A strong cast of British stage luminaries enriches this tale of heartache and betrayal in 18th century London society

Famous period stage actress Peg Woffington becomes involved with wicked counts and lovelorn husbands in this tale of heartache and betrayal in 18th century London society. A cast of British stage luminaries (Irene Vanbrugh, Johnston Forbes-Robertson, Gladys Cooper) gives this Georgian period caper - with its errant husband, scheming love rival and poor poet, all caught in the tempestuous orbit of the feted actress - a touch of much-needed class.

The film was produced at the invitation of the Academy of Dramatic Arts in aid of that institution's building fund. A prologue shows a meeting (staged for the camera) of the Academy's council, at which are present JM Barrie (who proposes the idea of making this film to benefit the fund), Arthur Wing Pinero and George Bernard Shaw.

Forgotten Features

A hand-picked assortment of hard-to-see British feature films, featuring mischievous mermaids, murderous minors and military mayhem.

Thanks to decades of DVD and online publishing, not to mention archive revivals and restorations, more of Britain’s screen heritage is available today than ever before. You might even be forgiven for imagining that the whole of British cinema is now just a click away.

But much of that history - from the silent era to the relatively recent past - remains out of reach. This selection from the vaults, hand-picked by the BFI's curators, goes some way to remedying that. These fresh rediscoveries offer something for all tastes: whether futuristic fantasy, battle-of-the-sexes comedy, subversive provocation or an Indian-British rarity.