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sunday

“Bong tong?” “Smooge a treat?” “Jist the glarsey?” These are but a few of the inscrutable Aussie expressions Sydney poet C.J. Dennis employed in his 1915 tome, The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke. When the book was adapted into one of Australia’s first silent films, Dennis’ verse was used for the intertitles. They got it in Australia, New Zealand, and even Britain—but The Sentimental Bloke mystified audiences in the United States, where the 1919 flick bombed. Even the title was an enigma, which is why someone at the Eastman House archive misfiled the movie as The Sentimental Blonde. Decades later, after nearly all of Oz’s silent-era films had been lost, an Australian researcher made the connection and unearthed the best surviving print. This is the local premiere of the now-restored film, with live musical accompaniment by Jen Anderson and—another bit of inexplicable slang—the Larrikins. The film shows at 5 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium, 4th St. & Constitution Ave. NW. Free. (202) 737-4215. (Mark Jenkins)