Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Los Feliz Theatre, Los Angeles
### **ABOUT THE FILMS:** **“The Mender of Nets,” 1912, Dir. D. W. Griffith, 16 Mins, USA** Set on the beaches of Santa Monica a humble fisherwoman (Mary Pickford) finds her engagement threatened when her fiancé’s former lover (Mabel Normand) refuses to release him, sparking a jealous brother’s violent defense of his sister’s honor. FORMAT: DCP **THE ENEMY SEX, 1924, Dir. James Cruze, 80 Mins, Paramount Pictures, USA** Paramount’s THE ENEMY SEX (1924) pairs one of the silent era’s most versatile directors with one of its most captivating stars. James Cruze—whose career spanned everything from Fatty Arbuckle slapstick to lavish epics—here turns his satirical eye to cat-and-mouse games of wealth, power, and desire. In the role of chorus girl “Dodo” Baxter, Betty Compson—already a Paramount luminary and one of Hollywood’s highest-paid actresses—radiates wit, charm, and quiet strength. Faced with the advances of five worldly men at a millionaire’s party, Dodo outplays them all, spurning offers of fortune and fame to help a struggling alcoholic reclaim his life. Compson’s career had taken her from vaudeville’s “Vagabond Violinist” to international stardom, and this film, long unseen, captures her at the height of her career. Now, a century later, THE ENEMY SEX offers modern audiences a rare chance to rediscover both Compson’s artistry and Cruze’s sophisticated storytelling. FORMAT: DCP