Lew Kuleshov’s adaptation of Jack London’s adventure story “The Unexpected” is about five gold prospectors in Alaska. They are working together to make a small fortune. Then one of the prospectors loses his mind and, completely out of the blue, shoots two of his companions while they are eating in the log cabin. It is now up to Edith and Hans to decide how to deal with the offender, far from civilization: should they shoot him, or hold a reasonably fair trial, as Edith advocates?

Director Kuleshov transforms the story into a dense, dynamic chamber drama, staged within a very confined space. Through his editing, he creates a new cinematic space in which an extraordinary ensemble performs—highly present and always ready to push the boundaries. With expressive night and backlit shots, the camera creates a final shot that anticipates John Ford’s Westerns.

The music by Uwe Oberg, who scores the film together with drummer Rudi Fischerlehner, brings to life the high formal quality that distinguishes this film, which is all about light, texture, and montage. Oberg approaches the films he scores with a calm, precise eye. He deliberately avoids channeling the audience’s attention exclusively toward the story and, with his free musical language, opens up new perspectives on historical films and their innovations.

The anniversary series consists of eight silent film concerts, five new compositions, and three lectures, and began on September 6. The occasion marks the 100th anniversary of the Lichtspielhaus, which opened in December 1926 as the “Ufa-Palast.”

The Caligari FilmBühne is located in one of the few fully preserved movie theater buildings from the silent film era. For this reason, the anniversary series deliberately focuses on the relationship between music and silent film. In five silent film concerts, classics from the silent film era are paired with new musical interpretations and compositions by prominent contemporary musicians. A participatory project brings children and teenagers together with a film composer to collaboratively develop and perform a live musical accompaniment for an entertaining program of short films. The accompanying program explores the lines of rupture and continuity in the silent film legacy. 

“The music does not engage in nostalgic retrospection, but rather creates a space of resonance where historical references and modern performance techniques converge. All five film scores present different stylistic approaches to accompanying silent films from a contemporary perspective,” explains Nina Goslar, curator of the anniversary series.

Goslar has selected five films that exemplify the diversity of the 1926 cinema season. The curator, who worked for many years as a silent film editor at ZDF/arte and was awarded the German Silent Film Prize in 2020, was able to enlist accomplished musicians for the project. Together, they open up new perspectives on the historical films. Three of the five film scores are new compositions created specifically for the anniversary program. Diego Ramos Rodríguez serves as the project’s musical director. 

The complete anniversary program is available at www.wiesbaden.de/caligari (opens in a new tab). The series is an event organized by the Cultural Affairs Office of the State Capital of Wiesbaden in cooperation with the DFF – German Film Institute & Film Museum and the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau Foundation. It is sponsored by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, Hessen Film & Medien, and SV SparkassenVersicherung. 

Admission to the silent film concert costs 14 euros; reduced admission is 12 euros; and with a Wiesbaden Filmkunstkarte, admission is 10 euros. Tickets are available online at www.wiesbaden.de/caligari (opens in a new tab), at the Tourist Information Office, Marktplatz 1, and at the box office of the Caligari Filmbühne, Marktplatz 9.