Silent Cinema

UK premiere of 4K restoration: 3 Bad Men

+ intro by Bryony Dixon, Rosie Taylor and Makeda Doyal

This magnificent early John Ford western screens at the BFI for the first time.

  • Director

    John Ford

  • With

    George O’Brien, Olive Borden, Tom Santschi, J. Farrell MacDonald, Frank Campeau

  • USA 1926. 92min

  • Digital 4K (restoration)

  • With live accompaniment by Ashley Valentine

Three eccentric outlaws give up grifting to protect a young homesteader and her fiancé from violence surrounding a land rush prompted by the discovery of gold in the Dakotas. Making the most of the film’s trademark Fordian landscapes and classic western tropes, MoMA’s restoration (funded by Twentieth Century Fox) represents a major upgrade that has dramatically improved image quality and original colour tinting.

Restored by The Museum of Modern Art with support from the Lillian Gish Fund for Film Preservation.

+ Across the Border (fragment)

USA 1914. Director Otis Thayer. 15min. Digital

This ‘lost’ film tells the story of a Texas ranger foiling a smuggling operation.