Too Much Johnson

Too Much Johnson, 1938
Director: Orson Welles
USA |66’ |Black & White |DCP
Restoration: National Film Preservation Foundation, George Eastman House, Cineteca di Friuli, Cinemazero
The Istanbul audience gets to watch for the first time the silent movie “Too Much Johnson”, which was shot by legendary director Orson Welles when he was 23 and was rediscovered last year in a warehouse in Pordenone, Italy. The film received its premiere in 2013 at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. Much of the film was shot in the Meatpacking District in New York. Intended as a comedy, the film alternates the slapstick genre, based on exaggerated movements, and the screwball genre, in which the female character dominates. At the same time, it is an adaptation of William Gillette’s 1894 three-act marital comedy. Long presumed to be lost, the successfully restored film is presented for the first time in Istanbul at the Silent Film Days.

Laptop/synth: Carroll Catcher

*Introduced by Nezih Erdoğan