A taste of silent film
Our Taste of Silents programme is a chance for everyone new to silent film to give it a try, and for those who are already fans to enjoy the rich and captivating world of silent films with live music, presented in Scotland’s oldest cinema.
Autumn 2026
Our Autumn 2026 Taste of Silents programme will be screened at the Hippodrome with live musical accompaniment and an introduction before every film, so you can get a taste of everything from Harold Lloyd's last silent comedy to Murnau's devil's bargain. Multi-screening deal: book 2 screenings for £20/£16, 3 screenings for £30/£24, and all 4 screenings for £40/£32 (with no booking fee).
A shuttle bus runs from Linlithgow Station to the Hippodrome and back for every screening in the season for £4.50 return (booking links are with each film below). Under 26s go free with code UNDER26FREE (valid proof of age required).
Image credit: Milestone Film & Video / Kino Lorber
Queen Kelly (1929) + Q&A
Saturday 26 September 2026, 7.30pm
A lavish late silent masterpiece by Erich von Stroheim with a production almost as dramatic as its plot.
With an in-person introduction and post-screening Q&A with critic, film historian and author of The Curse of Queen Kelly, Pamela Hutchinson, joined by Neil Brand.
Performing live: Neil Brand (piano)
Image credit: Courtesy of Park Circus/Janus Films
Speedy (1928)
Saturday 17 October 2026, 2.30pm
Silent comedy's 'third genius' Harold Lloyd is at his charming best in this rollicking comedy set on the vibrant streets of Roaring Twenties New York.
Performing live: Mike Nolan (piano)
Image credit: Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung in Wiesbaden
Faust (1926)
Saturday 24 October 2026, 7.30pm
What deal is worth your soul?
The ageing scholar Faust strikes a bargain with the cunning devil Mephisto: his soul in exchange for his city's salvation and the gift of eternal youth. The Hippodrome Bar will open at 6.30pm with themed cocktails and an audience "confession box"!
Performing live: Jane Gardner (piano) and Hazel Morrison (percussion)
Image credit: Flicker Alley and Film Preservation Associates
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
Saturday 7 November 2026, 7.30pm
A groundbreaking celebration of cinematic possibility, transforming images of everyday life into a dazzling city symphony.
Performing live: S!nk (Daniel Dumnov, Matt Wright, Tim Vincent-Smith)
Previous programmes
Taste of Silents 2025
The 2025 Taste of Silents season was put together by our wonderful Young Programmers: HippFest’s educational programme to support future cinema programmers and film exhibitors. The season celebrated the power of silent cinema with a bold and dynamic selection of films, live music accompaniment, fun wrap-around activities and on-demand digital content, bringing silent cinema to vivid life for new and returning audiences.
2025 Taste of Silents screenings: Flesh and the Devil (1926), Battleship Potemkin (1925), Go West (1925), The Phantom of the Opera (1925), HippFest at Home (again!) | Neil Brand: Key Notes.
Taste of Silents 2024
Our Taste of Silents season returned to the Hippodrome in Autumn 2024 with a wonderful programme of silent delights. Audiences had another chance to see the winner of the HippFest 2024 Audience Award The Flying Scotsman (1929), with live musical accompaniment from Jane Gardner. We celebrated the Golden Age of silent comedy with three shorts from comedy greats, presented by HippFest favourite Neil Brand: Charlie Chaplin’s classic The Rink, Buster Keaton’s The High Sign and Harold Lloyd’s Never Weaken. Finally, we marked spooky season with F. W. Murnau’s surreal 1922 cine-fable Nosferatu (1922), complete with original intertitles and live accompaniment by Hugo Max on viola and piano.
Taste of Silents 2023
Our 2023 Taste of Silents season included a screening of The Manxman (1929) with live accompaniment by Stephen Horne; The Cabinet of Dr Caligari (1920) with live accompaniment by Mike Nolan; and Salomé (1922) with live accompaniment by Jane Gardner and Hazel Morrison, which was introduced by Invisible Women - an archive activist film collective which champions the work of woman and filmmakers with marginalised identities from the history of cinema.
Taste of Silents Season 2022
Our 2022 Taste of Silents season was inspired by the BFI's In Dreams Are Monsters season, and returned with a chilling twist. Our 2022 Taste of Silents Season included The Hound of the Baskervilles (1929) with Mike Nolan; The Last Warning (1928) with Jane Gardner and Hazel Morrison; The Ghost Train (1927) with John Sweeney; and Behind the Door (1919) with Stephen Horne.
Taste of Silents Season 2021
Easy Street (1917) and Wrong Again (1929) accompanied by Neil Brand; GRASS: A Nation’s Battle for Life (1925) accompanied by Mike Nolan; The Epic of Everest (1924) accompanied by Stephen Horne; Chicago (1927) accompanied by John Sweeney; Häxan (1922) accompanied by Jane Gardner and Hazel Morrison.
Taste of Silents Season 2019
Seven Footprints to Satan (1929) with a semi-improvised score by Jane Gardner for piano and violin (Roddy Long); Der Golem (1920)) with music performed by Stephen Horne, composer of the new restoration theatrical release; Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) with live piano accompaniment by Mike Nolan plus soprano Claudia Hausmann; Nanook of the North (1922) with live music by Sink ensemble.
Taste of Silents Season 2018
Pandora's Box (1929) with music by Jane Gardner and Roddy Long; The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) accompanied by Chris Davies commissioned for Bradford Animation Festival plus free drop-in art workshop and Q&A, in partnership with Film Hub Wales / Anim18; The Lodger (1927) accompanied by Stephen Horne; The General (1926) accompanied by Neil Brand
Taste of Silents Season 2017
Metropolis (1927) accompanied by DJ Vangelis; Safety Last! (1923) accompanied by Mike Nolan; Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans (1927) accompanied by Graeme Stephen; Blackmail (1929) accompanied by Stephen Horne
