TO VIEW THE PREVIEW TRAILER FOR A THROW OF DICE CLICK HERE

The black-and-white films on offer at the three-day festival are (all start at 7.45pm):

October 13: South Sea drama Tabu, directed by FW Murnau, the creator of Nosferatu

October 14: Tempest – not a version of the Shakespeare play but a 1928 film directed by Sam Taylor and set in the final days of czarist Russia, starring John Barrymore

October 17: Indian classic A Throw of Dice, also called Prapancha Pash, made in 1929.

The festival is being organised by Tony Davison, secretary of Scarborough Film Society, and Roger Osborne.

Mr Davison said the festival was the first one to be set up in the UK.
"Roger Osborne and I organised it because we wanted to do something different," he told the Evening News.

"Previously I'd shown silent films like Metropolis in Peasholm Park and they were very popular so I knew there was an audience there for silent films.

"The films are remarkable – in the cold light of day there's not been many innovations in cinema since the silent era, even cinemascope was first done by Abel Gance in Napoleon.

"Gance was a tremendous innovator – Jean Cocteau said of him that he had the same impact on film as Picasso had on painting."

The films will be shown accompanied by music that was originally written for them.

"The music will be on disk, of course, it just isn't practical to have live musicians playing at the screenings."

Mr Davison says he hopes he's providing some variety for Scarborough film buffs.

"A lot of the films the society shows are ones that just wouldn't come to Scarborough otherwise.

"Last year we showed the German film The Lives of Others, which I think is just one of the greatest films ever made. It would have never played at one of the commercial cinemas in town, which is a real shame."

For more information about the festival contact (01723) 361661.

TO VIEW THE PREVIEW TRAILER FOR A THROW OF DICE CLICK HERE