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'Nosferatu' brings spooky thrills to Arcada film series

Kick off the Halloween season with the screening of the 1922 F.W. Murnau horror film "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror," starring Max Schreck, Greta Schroder and Gustav Von Wangenheim.

The Arcada Theatre, 105 E. Main St. in St. Charles, is continuing its "Silent Film Night" series with the silent film classic by the German Expressionist director.

Tickets are $10 or $8 for members of the Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts or the Silent Film Society of Chicago. Visit www.arcadalive.com.

Enjoy fresh popcorn while watching a silent film in a 1920s vaudeville theater. In addition to popcorn, there are food and drink specials, including hot dogs, Bavarian pretzels, pizza grinders, and regular or jumbo Guinness beer brats.

The movie will be accompanied live by Jay Warren, Chicago's foremost pipe organ expert, on the classically restored 3/16 Marr Colton/Geneva Arcada organ.

On Nov. 7, the Douglas Fairbanks 1920 adventure film "The Mark of Zorro" will be shown. It will be followed on Dec. 5 by Charlie Chaplin's early 1914 comedy "Tillie's Punctured Romance," with Mabel Normand and Marie Dressler.

Start the new year Jan. 9, 2018, with the 1916 film based on Jules Verne's "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," the first movie filmed underwater. It will be followed by Rudolph Valentino's 1921 romantic drama "The Sheik" on Feb. 6, Lon Chaney's 1920 crime drama "The Penalty" on March 6, and the 1928 German melodrama "Pandora's Box," featuring Louise Brooks, April 3. The film series is held select Tuesdays at 7:30 p.m.

As a regular photoplay organist for the Silent Film Society of Chicago, Warren has accompanied most of the great silent films throughout his 40-year career. He has been featured annually for the society's highly regarded Silent Summer Film Festival since its beginning in 2000.

For a dozen years, he played the huge E.M. Skinner pipe organ for silent films at the University of Chicago's famed Rockefeller Memorial Chapel. He also performs film accompaniment on the Letourneau pipe organ in the Crimi Auditorium of Aurora University.

He also has made several silent film photoplay appearances on the five-manual Wurlitzer at the Sanfilippo Foundation's Place de la Musique in Barrington.

The Arcada Theatre opened in 1926 as a silent film and vaudeville theater. In later years, the theater owners had the Geneva Organ Co. put in a larger console and add more pipes.

The Chicago Chapter of the American Theatre Organ Society helps maintain the organ, which has about 1,000 pipes, plus real drums, cymbals and the usual noisemakers used in the days of the silent movies to make the background sound.

To learn more about the Chicago Area Theatre Organ Enthusiasts and other upcoming events, visit www.facebook.com/CATOE61/.

For more on the Silent Film Society of Chicago, visit www.facebook.com/SilentFilmChicago/

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