LA UPCOMING STUFF - JULY 2006

a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.

mon. jun. 26

creature from the black lagoon, it came from outer space @ new beverly
languis FREE @ the echo


tue. jun. 27

thrones, bipolar bear @ the smell
creature from the black lagoon, it came from outer space @ new beverly


wed. jun. 28

the blow @ the smell
strangers with candy @ egyptian theatre
cat power @ ford amphitheatre


thu. jun. 29

don't knock the rock festival @ redcat


fr. jun. 30

don't knock the rock festival @ redcat
fear and loathing in las vegas MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ nuart theatre
negadon: the monster from mars, the great yokai war, gamera the brave @ egyptian theatre


sat. july 1

don't knock the rock festival @ redcat
la noir: the city as character 2 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
pitfall 4:30 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
all tomorrow's parties 7 PM @ la film fest @ ucla film archive
godzilla king of the monsters 6 PM @ egyptian theatre
godzilla 2000 8:30 PM, godzilla mothra & king ghidorah: giant monsters all-out attack @ egyptian theatre
father brown detective @ starlight studios


july 2

don't knock the rock festival @ redcat
ultraman max 6:30 PM, mirror man, mirror man: reflex @ egyptian theatre


july 3

don't knock the rock festival @ redcat


july 6

the disappearance @ ESL projects


fri. july 7

battleship, qui @ the smell
flash gordon MIDNIGHT MOVIE @ nuart theatre


sat. july 8

mr. quintron & ms. pussycat @ spaceland


sun. july 9

mr. quintron & ms. pussycat @ the echo


mon. july 10

the lilys @ the echo


wed. july 12

the lilys @ spaceland
equinox 8 PM @ egyptian theatre


thu. july 13

upsilon acrux @ the smell
bedazzled, the bed sitting room @ egyptian theatre


fri. july 14

performance @ aero theatre


sat. july 15

the man on the flying trapeeze @ starlight studios


sun. july 16

a man could get killed, kiss the girls and make them die @ egyptian theatre


thu. july 20

of mice & men @ ucla film archive


fri. july 21

baby doll, god's little acre @ ucla film archive
the knack and how to get it, work is a four letter word @ egyptian theatre


sat. july 22

the red kimona, my lady's lips @ ucla film archive
duffy, the jokers @ egyptian theatre


sun. july 23

cloak and dagger, sherlock holmes and the secret weapon @ ucla film archive
my cousin rachel, hush hush sweet charlotte @ lacma


thu. july 27

having a wild weekend, wonderwall @ egyptian theatre


fri. july 28

brightblack morning light @ the troubadour


sat. july 29

wild in the streets, three in the attic @ egyptian theatre
rock'n'roll high school @ aero theatre
behold my wife @ starlight studios


mon. july 31

lady vengeance, oldboy @ new beverly theatre



WHAT IT IS:



ALL TOMORROW'S PARTIES
(MINGRI TIANYA)
(2003, China/France) Directed by Liu Lik-wai
Sometime deep into our new century, a cult with a taste for totalitarian power and post-Buddhist mysticism has taken over large swathes of China. People are herded into remote, dusty and decayed gulags with names like "Camp Prosperity," as the threat of a SARS-like disease outbreak hovers in the air. This is where brothers Xiaomian and Xiaozhuai find themselves, and where tentative romances (Xiaomian with sickly Lanlan, Xiaozhuai with Korean-born Xuelan) struggle to burst forth like weeds through concrete. When the ruling Gui Dao cult collapses and the camp suddenly opens up its gates, the challenges posed by freedom rush in, triggering a climate of emotional uncertainty.
With his first feature, LOVE WILL TEAR US APART (1999), and as the inventive and all-seeing cinematographer of the great Chinese filmmaker, Jia Zhangke, Hong Konger Yu Lik-wai has long displayed one of the most perceptive eyes for the actual world of the post-Mao generation. His second work is a major accomplishment, as Dystopian fiction, as a masterful display of contemporary plan-sequence, and as a cunning and slyly elliptical examination of the fears roiling the new China, from the old authoritarian days rearing its head and sickness running rampant, to the very meaning of what it is to be free and in love in a shifting society.
Producer: Hengameh Panahi, Li Kit-ming. Screenwriter: Liu Lik-wai. Cinematographer: Lai Yu-fai. Editor: Chow Keung. Cast: Jo Yeong-weon, Diao Yinan, Zhao Weiwei, Na Ren. Presented in Mandarin and Korean dialogue with English subtitles. 96 min.


A MAN COULD GET KILLED, 1966, Universal, 97 min. Director Ronald Neame’s very engaging action comedy is filled with a wealth of sixties style and remains one of the most likeable (and most unseen) pure entertainments from that swinging decade. James Garner is a bewildered American businessman arriving at the Lisbon airport who is mistaken for a top British agent searching for missing diamonds. No sooner has he been introduced to the British Embassy’s Robert Coote, than his car is blown up. A gangster’s amorous widow (delicious Melina Mercouri), as well as Portuguese conman Tony Franciosa and innocent, young Sandra Dee enter the picture, and the stage is set for infectious, expertly-timed fun and intrigue. NOT ON DVD!


BABY DOLL
(1956) Directed by Elia Kazan
BABY DOLL centers on Archie Lee Meighan (Karl Malden), the middle-aged owner of a dilapidated cotton gin, and his young bride, Baby Doll (Carroll Baker). Archie Lee promised the girl's dying father that he would not deflower her until she reached the age of twenty. But on the eve of her twentieth birthday, his hopes of consummating the marriage are dashed by a series of comic events, setting off a tense game of manipulation and revenge with his competitor, the smooth talking Silva Vacarro (Eli Wallach). Featuring superb performances and a crackling script by Tennessee Williams, BABY DOLL is a bitingly funny and playfully perverse Southern Gothic farce.
Warner Bros.. Based on the play 27 Wagons Full of Cotton by Tennessee Williams. Screenwriter: Tennessee Williams. Cinematographer: Boris Kaufman. Editor: Gene Milford. Cast: Karl Malden, Carroll Baker, Eli Wallach, Mildred Dunnock. 35mm, 114 min.


BEDAZZLED, 1967, 20th Century Fox, 107 min. Dir. Stanley Donen. The definitive Mod Comedy, filled with leaping lesbian nuns, bottles of Froony Green Eyewash and Raquel Welch as Lillian Lust (the Babe with the Bust). Peter Cook wrote the screenplay and stars as the deliciously hip Devil, merrily ripping the last page out of Agatha Christie novels. Dudley Moore co-stars as the hapless hamburger chef who trades his soul for seven chances to bed the luscious Eleanor Bron. Brand New 35mm Print!


THE BED SITTING ROOM, 1969, Sony Repertory, 91 min. Dir. Richard Lester. An ultra-rare lost classic, this surreal dark satire anticipated and influenced Monty Python and blended DR. STRANGELOVE-style apocalyptic barbs with Salvador Dali-meets-FELLINI’S SATYRICON visual brilliance. Lester and British comedic guru/Goon Spike Milligan (who co-authored) concoct a post-nuclear-holocaust Britain as a device to savage every last sacred cow - utilizing absurd characters drawn from a who’s who of British comedy (Milligan, fellow Goon Harry Secombe, Marty Feldman, Roy Kinnear, Arthur Lowe, Peter Cook & Dudley Moore) and leading thespians (Ralph Richardson, Rita Tushingham, Michael Hordern, Mona Washbourne). The film defies capsule descriptions but is universally hailed as the Holy Grail of black comedy by those lucky enough to have seen it. Check out the raves on IMDB. File under "un-miss-able!" NOT ON DVD!


CLOAK AND DAGGER
Directed by Fritz Lang
German émigré Fritz Lang directed this terse WWII spy thriller about the inner workings of the top-secret US Office of Strategic Services. Gary Cooper stars as a laconic American college professor recruited by the O.S.S. for undercover action in western Europe during the waning days of the war. A nuclear physicist by training, the professor travels to Switzerland and Italy on a mission to infiltrate Nazi scientific circles and foil the enemy's efforts at developing an A-bomb. CLOAK AND DAGGER deftly combines adventure, suspense and romance with a topical cautionary message regarding the dangers of atomic power.
Warner Bros.. Based on the book by Corey Ford and Alastair MacBain. Producer: Milton Sperling. Screenwriter: Albert Maltz, Ring Lardner, Jr.. Cinematographer: Sol Polito. Editor: Christian Nyby. Cast: Gary Cooper, Robert Alda, Lilli Palmer, Vladimir Sokoloff.


CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
(from IMDB)
A scientific expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River discover a prehistoric Gill-Man in the legendary Black Lagoon. The explorers capture the mysterious creature, but it breaks free. The Gill-Man returns to kidnap the lovely Kay, fiancée of one of the expedition, with whom it has fallen in love.


DUFFY, 1968, Sony Repertory, 101 min. Director Robert Parrish helmed this film of a screenplay by Donald Cammell (PERFORMANCE) about two spoiled, swinging brothers (James Fox, John Alderton) who enlist expatriate American bad boy, James Coburn, to help them relieve their super-rich father (James Mason) of his fortune. Spanish and Mediterranean locations highlight this hip, underrated and captivating caper comedy. NOT ON DVD


EQUINOX, 1970, Tonylyn Productions/Worldwide Entertainment Corp., 82 min. Dirs. Dennis Muren & Mark McGee and Jack Woods. Teenagers in a duel with the devil! When four college kids discover an ancient, Necronomicon-like book, they unwittingly summon a legion of satanic creatures. Made for $6,500, this first feature by future Oscar-winning visual effects wizard Dennis Muren (STAR WARS, JURASSIC PARK) and 17-year old screenwriter/co-director Mark McGee was picked up for distribution by maverick producer Jack H. Harris (THE BLOB), who hired John Cassavetes’ film editor Jack Woods to shoot new scenes. The result is an eerie monster mash featuring stop-motion demons and atmospheric set pieces by Muren, animator David Allen, and matte painter Jim Danforth. Beware the bat-winged hell-god and giant blue ape! Frank Bonner ("WKRP In Cincinatti") and fantasy author Fritz Leiber co-star. Come celebrate the film’s first time release on DVD from The Criterion Collection! Please Note: Due to the unavailability of acceptable film prints, EQUINOX will be screened from the restored DVD transfer. Discussion with Dennis Muren, Mark McGee, Jack H. Harris, Jack Woods and original cast members, as well as a DVD signing, will follow the screening.


GAMERA THE BRAVE, 2006, Kadokawa, 97 min. Thirty years after Gamera disappeared during a battle with the flying monsters called Gyaos, a young boy named Toru Aizawa discovers a turtle egg while playing on a beach. The egg hatches in his hand, and Toru keeps the tiny newborn as a pet. The little turtle grows quickly and soon displays some very odd behavior like flying and breathing fire. Toru soon realizes he has found a baby Gamera. When the sea monster Zedus comes ashore and attacks the town of Isheshima, the new Gamera comes to the rescue of Toru and his friends. But the little monster is no match for his larger and much stronger opponent. Will this new Gamera be able to recover and find a way to beat the villainous Zedus? A new creative team led by director Ryuta Tazaki (KAMEN RIDER AGITO, SHIBUYA 15) and special effects director Isao Kaneko (GODZILLA VS. BIOLANTE, TETSUJIN 28) launches a fresh cycle of films unconnected to the 1990’s Gamera trilogy. GAMERA THE BRAVE mixes the traditional "friend of all children" Gamera from the classic films of the 1960’s with modern special FX techniques. The film opened in Japan on April 29, and makes its US debut at this festival. In Japanese with English Subtitles. Please Note: Due to current unavailability of a 35mm print, GAMERA THE BRAVE will be screened off of a Digi-Beta source.


GOD'S LITTLE ACRE
(1958) Directed by Anthony Mann
Erskine Caldwell's earthy, overheated novel, God's Little Acre, about life and love among poor Southern sharecroppers, sparked a firestorm of controversy in 1933 that was still burning in 1957 when Georgia refused to allow director Anthony Mann to film in the state. Robert Ryan stars as Ty Ty, the eccentric patriarch of the Walden clan who has spent the last 15 years obsessively digging for gold on his hardscrabble patch of farmland. Tina Louise, making her film debut, keeps tensions and temperatures running high as Ty Ty's buxom daughter-in-law who still holds a flame for her ex-beau (Aldo Ray). When his camera isn't focussed on Louise's cleavage, Mann deftly captures the oppressive poverty of rural America while never losing sight of its pleasures and charms.
Based on the novel by Erskine Caldwell. Producer: Sidney Harmon, Anthony Mann. Screenwriter: Philip Yordan. Cinematographer: Ernest Haller. Editor: Richard C. Meyer. Cast: Robert Ryan, Aldo Ray, Tina Louise, Buddy Hackett, Jack Lord. 35mm, 120 min.


GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS, 1956, Rialto, 80 min. Dir. Ishiro Honda and Terry Morse. In 1954 Toho released the blockbuster hit GODZILLA, the first of 28 movies starring the giant monster. Late the following year, US rights to the film were acquired by a group of independent distributors who combined to form Trans World Releasing Corp. In order to increase the appeal of a Japanese production, barely a decade after World War II, Trans World decided to recut GODZILLA to give it an American perspective. Director Terry Morse was hired to supervise the process and helm new scenes with actor Raymond Burr (REAR WINDOW, "Perry Mason") as an American reporter who witnesses Godzilla’s rampage during a layover in Japan. This new version, entitled GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS, was a huge success upon its release in 1956, and launched Godzilla as an international icon. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of Godzilla’s American debut, and in anticipation of the upcoming DVD release of both the US and Japanese versions of this film, the American Cinematheque and Classic Media present a rare theatrical screening of GODZILLA KING OF THE MONSTERS. English Dubbed Version. Discussion following film with Terry Morse Jr., editor of GKOTM and son of Terry Morse, who directed the American footage with Raymond Burr. Sponsored by Classic Media’s Godzilla DVD collection.


GODZILLA, MOTHRA & KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK, 2001, Sony Repertory, 105 min. Acclaimed by fans as one of the most exciting Godzilla films since the heyday of the 1960’s, "GMK" features a terrific, redesigned Big G (hint: he’s leaner, meaner and packs a nasty bite), bent on destroying Japan as vengeance for the restless souls of WWII victims. Standing in his way are the "Guardian Deities" – i.e. Mothra, King Ghidorah and Baragon. Director Shusuke Kaneko helmed the astounding trio of GAMERA films for Daiei in the mid-1990’s – here, he’s practically reinvented the Godzilla series for the 21st century. In Japanese with English subtitles. Discussion in between films with GODZILLA 2000 American producer Michael Schlesinger and the cast and crew responsible for the American version.


GODZILLA 2000, 1999, Sony Repertory, 99 min. Dir. Takao Okawara. Following TriStar Pictures’ poorly received American GODZILLA, Toho brought back the original Japanese Godzilla for his first film in four years. A government team salvages a spaceship that had crashed into the ocean millions of years ago. Unfortunately the craft still houses the consciousness of the long-dead alien crew, who begin looking for the material needed to recreate new bodies. They soon discover that Godzilla’s unique genetic structure would allow them to conquer the world. But the King of the Monsters has other ideas and takes on the spaceship and the alien beast Orga for a duel to the death in the heart of Tokyo. GODZILLA 2000 launched the third wave of Godzilla films that recently ended with GODZILLA: FINAL WARS. It was quickly picked up by Sony Pictures and became the first Toho-produced Godzilla movie to receive a wide stateside release in 15 years. English Dubbed Version.


THE GREAT YOKAI WAR, 2005, Media Blasters & Kadokawa, 124 min. Dir. Takashi Miike. While attending a festival at an ancient shrine, a timid young boy named Tadashi is chosen to be the next Kirin Rider, a warrior of peace who must defend the world in times of darkness. To prove his worth, Tadashi tries to claim the legendary Goblin Sword from the yokai… strange mystical beings that come in a variety of bizarre forms— some hideous, some cute— all who have incredible supernatural powers. As Tadashi sets out on his quest, the evil Lord Yasunori Kato and his henchwoman Agi the Bird-Stabbing Witch (Chiaki Kuriyma of BATTLE ROYALE and KILL BILL) have been capturing yokai and merging them with discarded items to make an army of mechanical monsters called Kikai. Tadashi must unite the good yokai to oppose Lord Kato, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. Acclaimed director Takashi Miike’s big budget update of the classic Daiei films is great entertainment; a wonderful blend of adventure, horror, and comedy featuring hundreds of bizarre creatures. Co-starring Bunta Sugawara. In Japanese with English Subtitles. Los Angeles Premiere!


HAVING A WILD WEEKEND (aka CATCH US IF YOU CAN), 1965, Warner Bros., 91 min. Hoping to cash in on the success of A HARD DAY’S NIGHT, producer David Deutsch hired first-timer John Boorman (who later directed POINT BLANK and DELIVERANCE) to bang out a quick pop confection starring Britain’s hugely-successful Dave Clark Five. Instead, Boorman delivered this provocative Anti-Pop Film about the pressures of Mod stardom – in which drummer Clark and model Barbara Ferris try to disappear for a few days, and find themselves pursued by a rabid caravan of press agents, managers, reporters and the rest. NOT ON DVD!


Hush . . . Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964/b&w/133 min.) Scr: Henry Farrell, Lukas Heller; dir: Robert Aldrich; w/Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead.
Print courtesy the Twentieth Century Fox Archive
At the suggestion of old friend and Warners costar Bette Davis, de Havilland agreed play the part of Miriam—the cousin whom Charlotte summons to help her fight eviction from her decrepit Southern mansion—as long as the role was rewritten to provide for greater ambiguity. As a recluse teetering on insanity since the decades-old, unsolved axe-murder of her fiancé, Davis’s haggard and wild-eyed Charlotte understandably dominates the Guignol action, but de Havilland’s soft-spoken, elegant Miriam is the perfect foil. Playing her cards close to the chest, de Havilland skillfully manipulates our expectations, and Aldrich exploits the different acting styles to divide and confuse the audience’s sympathy.


IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE
(from IMDB)
John Putnam and Ellen watch a great fireball going down near a mine. Both are the only ones, who believe the "thing" not to be a meteor but an alien starship. In the following days, people disappear and return, obviously being manipulated in a strange way. After a while, the sheriff becomes distrustful. He and his men enter the mine. But Putnam hopes to reach a peaceful solution and enters the starship ...


THE JOKERS, 1967, Universal, 94 min. Director Michael Winner’s dazzling (but rarely-screened) satire of Young London, features Michael Crawford (pre-Phantom of the Opera) and Oliver Reed as a pair of rich, freewheeling brothers making the rounds of posh parties. Their anarchic spirit gets the better of them -- and a string of increasingly elaborate pranks results in their making off with the Crown Jewels. Scripted by Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais (THE COMMITMENTS & STILL CRAZY). NOT ON DVD.


KISS THE GIRLS AND MAKE THEM DIE, 1966, Sony Repertory, 106 min. Dir. Henry Levin, Arduino Maiuri (uncredited). Producer Dino DeLaurentis made several similar tongue-in-cheek action movies in the mid-sixties (i.e. Mario Bava’s DANGER: DIABOLIK), and this is one of the most diverting. Secret agent Mike Connors (TV’s "Mannix") careens around gorgeous Rio locations tracking the henchmen of evil Mr. Ardonian (Raf Vallone), a tycoon hoping to introduce the world’s female population to an extreme form of birth control with his own sterility-inducing satellite! Helping and hindering Connors is affluent spy Dorothy Provine, chauffeured around by her assistant, Terry Thomas. Loads of eye-popping action as well as a stunning bevy of European and American starlets (Margaret Lee, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Marilu Tolo, Beverly Adams) in supporting roles. NOT ON DVD!


THE KNACK AND HOW TO GET IT, 1965, Sony Repertory, 84 min. A How-to Manual in the art of Swinging Seduction -- from the enormously-talented director of A HARD DAY’S NIGHT and HELP!, Richard Lester. Michael Crawford and Ray Brooks star as teacher and student, learning the fine points of pursuing girls -- including TASTE OF HONEY star Rita Tushingham, Jacqueline Bisset and a young Charlotte Rampling. With music by John Barry.


LA NOIR: THE CITY AS CHARACTER
Alain Silver and James Ursini have written extensively on film noir, including the Film Noir Reader series, Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, and The Noir Style. Today the authors will present a show-and-tell of Hollywood's noir imagining of Los Angeles, its geography and architecture, derived from their most recent book, L.A. Noir: The City As Character. Interspersing clips from influential films noir with photographs of key Los Angeles locations past and present, Silver and Ursini's presentation promises to be an insightful and entertaining portrait of a city as revealed through its most darkly alluring images. This one-of-a-kind lecture will be illustrated with DVD excerpts of canonical noir from the 1940s and '50s, such as DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) and T-MEN (1947), all the way to THE LONG GOODBYE (1973) and other neo-noirs of the '70s through '90s. An audience Q&A with Silver and Ursini will commence after the lecture, followed by a book signing of L.A. Noir: The City As Character in the theater lobby. Patrons will receive a flyer and podcast (downloadable from the Festival's website) for a self-guided tour of noirish Los Angeles.
Approx 90 min. plus book signing. In Person: Alain Silver and James Ursini


MIRROR MAN, 1971, Tsubaraya Prod., 25 min. Episode 1: "Mirror Man is Born" In the 1980’s, the Earth comes under attack by the mysterious forces of the Invaders, nefarious beings from an unknown world bent on conquest and destruction. Professor Mitarai forms the Science Guard Members (SGM), a high-tech fighting force whose task it is to protect our world. Meanwhile, newspaper photographer Kyotaro Kagami discovers that he is actually a member of a race of super powered beings from the Second Dimension. When the Invaders send a gigantic beast to devastate the city, Kyotaro uses his newfound power and transforms into Mirror Man, a towering superhero. But is even Mirror Man strong enough to defeat this terrible foe?


MIRROR MAN: REFLEX, 2006, Tsuburaya Prod., 90 min. Dir. Kazuya Konaka. Brothers Chiaki (ARMITAGE III) and Kazuya Konaka (ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT) update the 1971 superhero show for the new millennium. The story revolves around a troubled young man, a strange girl who possesses incredible powers, a beautiful scientist with an unforgettable trauma in her past, giant city-smashing monsters, and a mysterious being from a parallel universe that exists beyond the looking glass. Featuring stunning special effects, moody velvet-dark photography, and the classic MIRROR MAN monsters Aian, Darklon, and Golden Satan, MIRROR MAN: REFLEX will shred your expectations of Japanese science fiction. In Japanese with English Subtitles. Please note all materials tonight are from a digital video source. U.S. Premiere!


My Cousin Rachel
(1952/b&w/98 min.) Scr: Nunnally Johnson; dir: Henry Koster; w/Olivia de Havilland, Richard Burton.
New print courtesy the Twentieth Century Fox Archive
In her first screen appearance after The Heiress, de Havilland adds femme fatale to her repertory as Rachel, a reserved but seductive woman who may or may not have poisoned her wealthy new husband. This rarely screened adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier novel is an exercise in Gothic filmmaking, notable for several reasons: superb Oscar nominated black-and-white cinematography by the great Joseph LaShelle (The Apartment); a moody score by Franz Waxman (Rebecca); and a striking screen debut by Richard Burton (Oscar nominated for Best Supporting Actor) as a man torn between his attraction for and suspicion about the ambiguous Rachel.


MY LADY'S LIPS
(1925) Directed by Roy William Neill
Perhaps best known as the dapper, urbane, martini-swilling leading man of the 1930s THIN MAN films, William Powell's first film role in Hollywood came by way of this fast-paced crime drama produced by B.P. Schulberg for his own independent production company. Powell, who welcomed the chance to play a sympathetic character after being typecast in villainous roles, plays star newspaper reporter Scott Seddon. Seddon is hired by the paper's editor to infiltrate a gambling ring that is trying to blackmail his daughter, Lola (Clara Bow). While Lola falls for Seddon, he in turn falls for Rita (Alyce Mills), a gang member toughened by the hard knocks of her early childhood.
Universal. Producer: B.P. Schulberg. Scenario: John Goodrich. Cinematographer: Allen Siegler. Cast: Alyce Mills, William Powell, Clara Bow, Frank Keenan. 35mm, silent, 68 min.


NEGADON: THE MONSTER FROM MARS, 2005, Central Park Media, 26 min. The world’s first 100% computer generated kaiju film is a loving homage to the classic Japanese monster movies of the 1950’s and 60’s. In the year 2025, extreme overpopulation has led to the "Mars Terraforming Project", a plan to make the red planet a habitable world. The MTP’s efforts awaken the space monster Negadon, who crashes in Tokyo and destroys all in its path. Earth’s only hope is Miroku, a prototype robot piloted by its inventor. The award-winning NEGADON: THE MONSTER FROM MARS marks the directorial debut of graphics & special effects wizard, Jun Awazu, whose previous credits include KAMEN RIDER 555 and the Godzilla film GMK. In Japanese with English Subtitles. Los Angeles Premiere!


OF MICE AND MEN
(1940) Directed by Lewis Milestone
Director Lewis Milestone's OF MICE AND MEN was the first screen adaptation of a John Steinbeck novel, and it remains definitive. Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr. are indelible as George and Lennie while around them an array of hard-bitten faces—Betty Field as Mae, Charles Bickford as Slim—fleshes out the desperate, crushing world of itinerant farm work in Salinas Valley. Milestone achieves a near seamless interplay between intimate studio craftwork and dazzling location photography. From the sweep of harvesters rolling across wide-open fields to the fateful riverbank where the film reaches its shattering finale, OF MICE AND MEN captures moments of pure naturalist poetry that could have inspired Terrence Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN.
Based on the novel and play by John Steinbeck. Producer: Hal Roach. Screenwriter: Eugene Solow. Cinematographer: Norbert Brodine. Editor: Bert Jordan. Cast: Burgess Meredith, Lon Chaney, Jr., Betty Field, Charles Bickford. 35mm, 104 min.


PERFORMANCE, 1970, Warner Bros., 105 min. Dirs. Nicolas Roeg & Donald Cammell. Perhaps the wildest, most deeply layered psychedelic movie ever made -- gangster James Fox goes on the lam, hiding out in reclusive pop-star Mick Jagger’s decaying townhouse in the hippie London ghetto. Jagger and polysexual girlfriend Anita Pallenberg put Fox through his paces with mind games and large doses of psylocibin mushrooms -- all climaxing in the mind-blowing "Memo For Turner" production number. Brutal beatings, sexual identity crises and prodigious drug-taking is punctuated by one of Jack Nitzsche’s best scores (highlighted by Ry Cooder’s incredible bottleneck guitar work). NOT ON DVD!


PITFALL
(1948, United States) Directed by André de Toth
Postwar male malaise suffuses this pungent crime melodrama from émigré genre specialist André de Toth. Dick Powell stars as the dissatisfied family man sucked into an underworld quagmire after a fling with conflicted femme fatale (and Wilshire Boulevard May Co. model) Lizabeth Scott spirals out of control. Bulky newcomer Raymond Burr got his breakout part playing the sleazy private eye stalking Scott, while a pre-FATHER KNOWS BEST Jane Wyatt more than holds her own as Powell's sensible, betrayed wife.
At a time when filmmakers typically trekked to New York to capture urban grit, de Toth insisted the independent production be shot in Los Angeles. "It was a must to make this on location," he later explained. "It was a sine qua non for me to make it real." Boasting exteriors that span the area's metropolitan sprawl, from the Santa Monica docks to the suburbanized Hollywood Hills and office towers downtown, PITFALL is an exemplary LA noir, a hard-boiled tribute to what de Toth called "grey, drab Los Angeles, where the cogwheels of life grind people into yesterday's dust." A box-office hit widely admired by critics, the film was also hailed outright for de Toth's decision to shoot locally, with the Los Angeles Times heralding its release under the headline: "De Toth Makes News, Shoots Film in L.A.!"
Producer: Samuel Bischoff. Screenwriter: Karl Kamb. Cinematographer: Harry Wild. Editor: Walter Thompson. Cast: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr. 35mm, 85 min. Restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive


THE RED KIMONA
(1925) Directed by Walter Lang
This remarkable film opens with producer (and uncredited director) Dorothy Davenport Reid introducing the audience to Gabrielle Darley. Desperate to flee her miserable family life, Gabrielle (played by Priscilla Bonner) runs off with a con man who promptly abandons her in a New Orleans brothel. Trailing the man to Los Angeles, she espies him buying a wedding ring for another woman and, on impulse, shoots him dead. From there, Gabrielle suffers the vicissitudes of the lot of a fallen woman. The film, however, never judges her but instead portrays her fate as the result of a society that turns its back on women like her.
Producer: Mrs. Wallace Reid. Scenario: Dorothy Arzner, Adela Rogers St. Johns. Cinematographer: James Diamond. Cast: Priscilla Bonner, Theodore von Eltz, Frederick Tyrone Power, Mary Carr. 35mm, silent, 77 min.


SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON
(1942) Directed by Roy William Neill
There have been countless films about Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson over the years, but none so popular as the famous Universal series starring Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce. The studio jettisoned Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's late 19th century London milieu, and brought in director Roy William Neill, who went on to become the driving force of the series. The updated story involves the kidnapping of an inventor, Nazi spies and the villainous Professor Moriarty. The film shows Holmes perfectly able to handle himself in a modern world of war and intrigue.
Universal. Based on the story "The Dancing Men" by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Producer: Howard Benedict. Screenwriter: Edward T. Lowe, W. Scott Darling, Edmund L. Hartmann. Cinematographer: Lester White. Editor: Otto Ludwig. Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Karen Verne, Lionel Atwill. 35mm, 68 min.


STRANGERS WITH CANDY, 2005, ThinkFilms, 97 min. Dir. Paul Dinello. A daring leap… backwards! A prequel to the critically acclaimed Comedy Central series of the same name, it is the story of Jerri Blank (Amy Sedaris), a 46 year old, one-time "loser, boozer and user" who returns to high school to start her life over and right her 32 years of debaucherous wrongs – only to find that the cool kids, teen adolescence and the State Science Fair prove to be the more dangerous terrain than her former life. Also starring Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello.


THREE IN THE ATTIC, 1968, Sony Repertory, 90 min. Dir. Richard Wilson. College lothario, Paxton Quigley (Christopher Jones) decides to settle down when he meets his match in the intelligent, vivacious Tobey (Yvette Mimieux). But he soon finds that his libido has a mind of its own, attracted first to foxy soul sister, Eulice (Judy Pace) and then hippie chick, Jan (Maggie Thrett). When the three girls find out about each other, they resolve to join together to teach their swinging, mutual boyfriend a lesson, caging him in the attic of their dormitory and overdosing him with their ample physical charms in non-stop lovemaking! NOT ON DVD.


ULTRAMAN MAX, 2005, Tsuburaya Prod. Approx. 90 min.. Dir. Shusuke Kaneko and Takashi Miike. The Ultraman franchise returned to it roots with this hit series that brought back several classic monsters as well as original ULTRAMAN stars Susumu Kurobe (Hayata) and Hiroko Sakurai (Fuji). Some of Japan’s top directors took a rare turn at television with ULTRAMAN MAX, including this trio of episodes from Takashi Miike (AUDITION, GREAT YOKAI WAR) and Shusuke Kaneko (the Gamera trilogy, GMK) (All three episodes in Japanese with English Subtitles.)


WILD IN THE STREETS, 1968, Sony Repertory, 97 min. Dir. Barry Shear. Astounding, grunge-fueled political satire of rock star, Max Frost (Christopher Jones) who gets elected President after the voting age is lowered to 15. He gets his spaced-out girlfriend (Diane Varsi) elected to Congress, dumps LSD into the Washington, D.C. water supply and sets up concentration camps for anyone over-35! With songs by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil performed by Max Frost & The Troopers, including the thundersome "Shape of Things to Come." Co-starring Hal Holbrook, Shelley Winters, Richard Pryor, Larry Bishop and Millie Perkins.


WONDERWALL, 1969, 94 min. Dir. Joe Massot. Absolutely glorious/meaningless headtripping madness, this is a virtually plotless fantasy about a doddering old professor (Jack MacGowran) who discovers a secret window into the endless sex-life of gorgeous nymph Jane Birkin (Serge Gainsbourg’s main squeeze and co-singer of "Je t’aime moi non plus"-!) Awash in swirling oranges, golds and reds (and featuring a shimmering, sitar-laced score by Beatle George Harrison, plus the film's lost (and previously unused) theme song later discovered in Harrison's vaults,) WONDERWALL is a surreal journey back to the Age of Altered Consciousness -- lap it up. Preceded by the short: "Reflections On Love," 1965, 13 min. Exuberant cinemascope portrait of Swinging London from director Joe Massot featuring definitive London dollybird Jenny Boyd (sister of Beatle George's wife Pattie and future wife of Mick Fleetwood).


WORK IS A FOUR LETTER WORD, 1967, Universal, 93 min. Another true pop rarity, from stage director turned filmmaker Sir Peter Hall (A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM). David Warner and songstress/Beatle pal Cilla Black star in this delightfully-absurd account of a young man on a mission - to grow giant psychedelic mushrooms to promote happiness for Britain's overworked masses!! Based on the play Eh? NOT ON DVD!

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