Sat. March 14

 The Alloy Orchestra's mission in life is to take old silent movies - let's face it, many now forgotten - and pump them up with new life, through new music. And play along with it, live. It's not the novel concept it was back when they started doing this, but they've had tremendous success, both popular and critical, over the years. Robert Ebert's called them "the best in the world at accompanying silent film" and the Boston trio has played the Telluride Film Festival, The Louvre, Lincoln Center, The Academy of Motion Pictures, the National Gallery of Art and ... the Somerville Theatre. That's where they play along to Josef von Sternberg's 90-minute, 1928 movie, "The Last Command," Saturday March 14. Often cited as one of the greatest pictures of the silent era, it has been virtually impossible to see until Alloy and Paramount teamed up to create a spectacular new print.
The film is a dramatic psychological portrait of a disgraced general (Emil Jenings) in the Czar's army during the Russian Revolution. The general falls in love with the beautiful revolutionist (Evelyn Brent) and imprisons her partner (William Powell of 'Thin Man' fame). A decade later finds the General living in Los Angeles a broken man. He tries to get work as a film extra and is discovered by his old enemy, William Powell. It won Jennings the first-ever "Best Actor" Award bestowed by the newly created Academy.
Alloy's best-known member is probably keyboardist Roger Miller, probably because he plays guitar in the highly regarded art-punk band Mission of Burma. His cohorts in The Alloy Orchestra are Terry Donahue (junk, accordion, musical saw, vocals), Ken Winokur (director, junk percussion and clarinet). They do some amazing work, managing to underscore and highlight the film, while they play in the shadows. You're aware of them, and you'll want to sneak a glance their way, but, truly, they are there to serve the film. "The Last Command" screens at 8. Tickets: $22.

55 Davis Square, Somerville, 617-625-4088 www.somervilletheatreonline.com www.worldmusic.org/concerts or www.alloyorchestra.com