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

wed. jul. 2

ugetsu monogatari, sansho the bailiff @ new beverly theatre
the pink floyd & syd barrett story, robyn hitchcock, all my loving @ egyptian theatre
hula 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
the celluloid palette 7 PM @ 7 dudley cinema
a face in the crowd @ eighteen-thirty rooftop screenings


thu. jul. 3

ugetsu monogatari, sansho the bailiff @ new beverly theatre
mr. hulot's holiday, the big day @ aero theatre
the wrecking crew 8 PM, 10:30 PM @ silent movie theatre


fri. jul. 4

reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
the blue angel, lola @ new beverly theatre
psycho MIDNIGHT @ fairfax regency theatre


sat. jul. 5

suddenly last summer 7 PM @ starlight studios
los muertos @ moca geffen
mystery lights @ satisfaction @ bordello
the blue angel, lola @ new beverly theatre
all you need is love program three 5 PM @ egyptian theatre
all you need is love program four 8:30 PM @ egyptian theatre
the breakfast club, summer school @ aero theatre
the treasure of the sierra madre 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
evil dead two 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
easy rider @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


sun. jul. 6

blade runner the final cut, alien the director's cut @ new beverly theatre
all you need is love program five FREE 2:30 PM @ egyptian theatre
all you need is love program six 4 PM @ egyptian theatre
all you need is love program seven 7:30 PM @ egyptian theatre
a day at the races, room service @ aero theatre
george kuchar part 1 the nyc years 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
blue velvet @ cinespia @ hollywood forever


mon. jul. 7

blade runner the final cut, alien the director's cut @ new beverly theatre
the space movie @ egyptian theatre
joe carducci reading/signing 7:30 PM @ family books


tue. jul. 8

blade runner the final cut, alien the director's cut @ new beverly theatre
the phantom tollbooth 1 PM @ lacma
sunrise (w/ my education) 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


wed. jul. 9

blade runner the final cut, alien the director's cut @ new beverly theatre
persona 8:30 PM @ rooftop screenings @ eighteen-thirty
valley girl, real genius @ aero theatre
why change your wife? 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
king khan and the shrines FREE 7 PM @ amoeba
tv dinner night @ telic arts exchange


thu. jul. 10

blade runner the final cut, alien the director's cut @ new beverly theatre
breakfast at tiffany's @ aero theatre
you think you really know me 8 PM, gary wilson @ silent movie theatre
king khan & the shrines @ the echo
john darnielle - black sabbath's master of reality @ pi restaurant
king of kings @ egyptian theatre


fri. jul. 11

reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
fear and loathing in las vegas MIDNIGHT @ nuart
breakfast at tiffany's FREE 8:30 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ one colorado courtyard
the war of the worlds (1953) FREE 10 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ school house parking structure rooftop
the big gundown, cutthroats nine @ egyptian theatre
the pink panther, the return of the pink panther @ aero theatre
cleo from 5 to 7 @ silent movie theatre
jon brion @ largo
beetle juice MIDNIGHT @ fairfax regency theatre


sat. jul. 12

trashwomen, the flakes, thee cormans @ mr. t's bowl
brother sun sister moon @ moca geffen
4 flies on grey velvet, bird with the crystal plumage, red rings of fear @ egyptian theatre
the pink panther strikes again, revenge of the pink panther @ aero theatre
the night of the iguana 7:15 PM @ silent movie theatre
street trash 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
rtx, earthless, bad dudes @ spaceland
golddiggers of 1933 @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
dinner theater night #1 @ telic arts exchange
the dogs, smogtown, cat party @ gypsy lounge, lake forest
hieroglyphics @ el rey


sun. jul. 13

the violent professionals, big guns @ egyptian theatre
valley girl @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
dinner theater night #2 @ telic arts exchange


mon. jul. 14

the tender trap, all about eve @ egyptian theatre
melvins FREE 6 PM @ amoeba


wed. jul. 16

grey gardens, gimme shelter @ new beverly theatre
s.o.b., the party @ aero theatre
a girl in every port 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
womens films 8 PM @ 7 dudley cinema


thu. jul. 17

grey gardens, gimme shelter @ new beverly theatre
upsilon acrux @ john coltrane memorial show @ the smell
deep red, the secret of dorian gray @ egyptian theatre
days of wine and roses, experiment in terror @ aero theatre
such hawks such hounds 8 PM, earthless @ silent movie theatre
languis @ pehrspace


fri. jul. 18

the ramonas @ the derby
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
darker my love, crystal antlers FREE @ the echo
charade FREE 8:30 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ one colorado courtyard
texas chainsaw massacre FREE 10 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ basement of schoolhouse parking garage
assault with a deadly weapon, almost human, the cynic the rat and the fist @ egyptian theatre
breathless, a woman is a woman @ aero theatre
gaslight 9:20 PM @ lacma
the cool world @ silent movie theatre
cobra woman 10 PM, weird woman @ silent movie theatre
john lurie - a fine example of art @ book soup
upsilon acrux @ the smell
jon brion @ largo
diamonds are forever 7 PM @ hammer museum


sat. jul. 19

the loons @ hipsters @ the pink elephant (SD)
just one of the guys MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
budos band FREE @ getty center
sabrina FREE 8:30 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ one colorado courtyard
mental hygiene short films FREE 10 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ mercantile alley
deadly sweet, the howl @ egyptian theatre
pierrot le fou, masculine feminine @ aero theatre
le bonheur @ lacma
dead alive 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
20th century 7 PM, white woman @ starlight studios
a clockwork orange @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
less than zero 7 PM @ hammer museum
glow festival dusk to dawn @ santa monica pier
mystery picnic cafe @ telic arts exchange


sun. jul. 20

sharon jones & the dap-kings @ hollywood bowl
midnight madness, wet hot american summer @ new beverly theatre
the mercenary, navajo joe @ egyptian theatre
alphaville, la chinoise @ aero theatre
harold lloyd shorts 1 PM 3:30 PM @ silent movie theatre
get carter @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
body double 3 PM @ hammer museum
white rainbow FREE 4 PM @ family
hula @ silents under the stars @ paramount ranch
cartoon dump @ steve allen theatre


mon. jul. 21

midnight madness, wet hot american summer @ new beverly theatre


tue. jul. 22

midnight madness, wet hot american summer @ new beverly theatre


wed. jul. 23

two or three things i know about her, band of outsiders @ aero theatre
the fair co-ed 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
ema & the ghosts FREE @ mr t's bowl 


thu. jul. 24

the warlocks @ the troubadour
techno chaplin 8 PM @ ampas linwood dunn
the family, caliber 9 @ egyptian theatre
the good the bad and the ugly @ aero theatre
beijing bubbles 8 PM, rock 'n tokyo, wasted orient @ silent movie theatre


fri. jul. 25

darker my love FREE @ the echo
rosemary's baby MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
roman holiday FREE 8:30 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ one colorado courtyard
seven samurai FREE 10:45 PM @ old pasadena film festival @ one colorado courtyard
fair wind to java, aloma of the south seas @ egyptian theatre
a fistful of dollars, for a few dollars more @ aero theatre
mikey and nicky @ silent movie theatre
queen of outer space 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
jon brion @ largo


sat. jul. 26

chopping mall MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
lord of the rings trilogy FREE 10:30 PM till dawn @ old pasadena film festival @ one colorado courtyard
tiki on tv, her jungle love @ egyptian theatre
the great race 3 PM @ aero theatre
once upon a time in the west @ aero theatre
the earrings of madame de... @ lacma
riki-oh the story of riki 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
lawrence of arabia 1 PM 7 PM @ alex theatre
the thin man @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
greg proops, flight of the conchords @ largo
the soft epic or savages of the pacific west @ telic arts exchange


sun. jul. 27

bullitt 5:30 PM, point blank @ egyptian theatre
fingers, exposed @ new beverly theatre
once upon a time in america @ aero theatre
neil hamburger @ spaceland
the eyes of laura mars @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
bart davenport @ tangier


mon. jul. 28

fingers, exposed @ new beverly theatre


tue. jul. 29

kes, pressure @ ucla film archive
christian lander - stuff white people like @ book soup
grindhouse film fest - titles TBA @ new beverly theatre


wed. jul. 30

jay reatard @ the echo
radio on, the draughtsman's contract @ ucla film archive
forbidden zone 8 PM @ egyptian theatre
duck you sucker @ aero theatre
the temptress 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
inglorious bastards, TBA @ new beverly theatre


thu. jul. 31

this is the life 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
return of the rub-a-dub style 10:15 PM @ silent movie theatre
languis @ pehrspace
inglorious bastards, TBA @ new beverly theatre


fri. aug. 1

divorce italian style @ lacma
seduced and abandoned 9:30 PM @ lacma
harlan county USA @ silent movie theatre
konga 10 PM @ silent movie theatre


sat. aug. 2

the princess comes across 7 PM, sinners in the sun @ starlight studios
hearst metrotone news collection @ ucla film archive
divorce italian style @ lacma
seduced and abandoned 9:30 PM @ lacma
harakiri 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
bug 10 PM @ silent movie theatre


sun. aug. 3

george kuchar part 2 the sf years 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


tue. aug. 5

clash by night 1 PM @ lacma


wed. aug. 6

high hopes, my beautiful laundrette @ ucla film archive


thu. aug. 7

darker my love @ the troubadour
you weren't there 8 PM, dfw punk @ silent movie theatre


fri. aug. 8

pushover @ lacma
drive a crooked road 9:10 PM @ lacma
wanda @ silent movie theatre
sylvia 10 PM @ silent movie theatre


sat. aug. 9

strangers when we met @ lacma
samurai rebellion 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
the food of the gods 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
anna christie 7 PM @ starlight studios


sun. aug. 10

my childhood 7 PM, my ain folk, my way home @ ucla film archive


tue. aug. 12

jem cohen films 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


wed. aug. 13

welcome danger (X 2) @ ucla film archive


fri. aug. 15

the exiles @ ucla film archive
bell book and candle 9:30 PM @ lacma
love and anarchy @ silent movie theatre
picture mommy dead 10:15 PM @ silent movie theatre
midnight meat train MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre


sat. aug. 16

the exiles 2 PM, 7:30 PM @ ucla film archive
the notorious landlady 9:30 PM @ lacma
sonic youth sleeping nights awake 4:30 PM @ silent movie theatre
kill! @ silent movie theatre
night of the lepus 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
the guardsman 7 PM @ starlight studios


sun. aug. 17

the exiles 7 PM, 8:45 PM @ ucla film archive
our gang shorts 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


mon. aug. 18

the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive


tue. aug. 19

the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
trypps 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


wed. aug. 20

the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
thee makeout party @ mr t's bowl


thu. aug. 21

under the covers 8 PM, let me be your band @ silent movie theatre


fri. aug. 22

the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
what we do is secret MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre


sat. aug. 23

antibalas, etc @ sunset junction
the exiles 4 PM, 7:30 PM, 9:15 PM @ ucla film archive
bandits vs samurai squadron 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
shakma 10:30 PM @ silent movie theatre
inspiration 7 PM, strangers may kiss @ starlight studios


sun. aug. 24

black keys, sister nancy, etc @ sunset junction


wed. aug. 27

the eagle 8 PM @ silent movie theatre


thu. aug. 28

toots and the maytals @ santa monica pier


fri. aug. 29

ratcatcher @ silent movie theatre
the shanghai gesture 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
the warriors MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre


sat. aug. 30

sword of doom 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
day of the animals 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
mata hari 7 PM @ starlight studios


sat. sept. 6

lee perry @ el rey theatre
a free soul 7 PM @ starlight studios


wed. sept. 10

built to spill, quasi @ the troubadour


thu. sept. 11

built to spill, quasi @ the troubadour


sat. sept. 20

stereolab @ detroit bar


wed. oct. 1

my bloody valentine @ santa monica civic center


thu. oct. 2

my bloody valentine @ santa monica civic center



WHAT IT IS:


A DAY AT THE RACES, 1937, Warner Bros., 111 min. Dir. Sam Wood. The Marx Brothers’ second (and most expensive) MGM film serves up Groucho as Dr. Hugo Z. Hackenbush, who arouses all sorts of suspicion as the new head of a posh sanitarium -- and with good reason: He’s actually a veterinarian! Includes the celebrated "tootsie-fruitsie" and examination routines, as well as a tremendous cast including Maureen O’Sullivan, Allan Jones, Douglass Dumbrille, Sig Rumann, Esther Muir and, of course, Margaret Dumont.


A FREE SOUL
Lionel Barrymore won an Oscar for his famous courtroom scene in this story of a hard-drinking lawyer who successfully defends gangster Clark Gable on a murder rap and then discovers that his daughter has fallen in love with him. With Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard.


ALL ABOUT EVE, 1950, 20th Century Fox, 138 min. Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz's multi-Oscar-winning masterpiece. A timid fan who ingratiates herself into Broadway mega-star Bette Davis’ inner circle, Anne Baxter wastes no time stealing Davis’ spotlight and man (Gary Merrill). But Davis takes nothing lying down. A superb supporting cast (Celeste Holm, George Sanders, Marilyn Monroe, Thelma Ritter) brings New York's theater set to life. "Fasten your seatbelts...it’s going to be a bumpy night." Discussion in between films with actress Celeste Holm. Newly Restored Print


ALMOST HUMAN (MILANO ODIA: LA POLIZIA NON PUO SPARERE), 1974, 90 min. Umberto Lenzi’s "I-can’t-believe-what-I’m-seeing-on-screen" epic. Big-mouth sociopath Tomas Milian convinces his crime partners to kidnap the teen daughter of a wealthy businessman. But things go wrong, spurring resentful Milian to massacre an astounding number of people who cross his path at the wrong moment. Refusing to render a happy ending for anyone, including hardboiled cop Henry Silva, and set to a throbbing score by Ennio Morricone, this is a shocking 1970s pulp classic.


ALL MY LOVING, 1968, Isolde/Voiceprint, 50 min. Tony Palmer's time capsule of the State of the Rock Union at the birth of the counter-culture. Instigated by John Lennon, this film features footage of the Beatles, Floyd, Hendrix, Who, Cream, Zappa, Donovan et al. Discussion following with filmmaker Tony Palmer.


ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE PROGRAM THREE, 165 min. Three more of Tony Palmer's musical excavations, examining Ragtime, Jazz and Swing. Introduction by director Tony Palmer.


ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE PROGRAM FOUR, 165 min. Tony Palmer busts numerous myths and uncovers the true origins of blues, R&B, and Rock 'n' Roll in three more films. Introduction by director Tony Palmer.


ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE PROGRAM FIVE, 55 min. Tony Palmer digs into the African roots of popular music and Rock 'n' Roll in this provocative film. Introduction by director Tony Palmer.


ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE PROGRAM SIX, 165 min. In these three films Tony Palmer explores the inter-connected musical horizons of Country, Folk and Prog-Rock. Introduction by director Tony Palmer.


ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE PROGRAM SEVEN, 165 min. Our series concludes with three dynamic films celebrating the Beatles, 60s Rock and 70s Rock respectively. Introduction by director Tony Palmer.


ALOMA OF THE SOUTH SEAS, 1941, Universal, 71 min. Dir. Alfred Santell. As a boy, native Jon Hall is sent to be educated in England. But he returns to his island home to stop a revolution and promptly falls into the arms of first love Dorothy Lamour. Although shot on Paramount backlots, the color cinematography was nominated for an Oscar, as were the special effects – a spectacular earthquake and erupting volcano put an exclamation point on the climactic finale. A kitschy remake of the silent classic. NOT ON DVD


ANNA CHRISTIE
Garbo in a great role as a disillusioned prostitute, based on Eugene O'Neill's play, who returns to her father, a barge captain, and falls in love with a sailor, only to be rejected when her tarnished past is revealed.


ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON (ROMA A MANO ARMATA), 1976, Grindhouse Releasing, 80 min. Director Umberto Lenzi (SPASMO) turns out one of the most gonzo, over-the-top Euro crime films you’ll ever see, a picture that compares favorably in pace and impact to Kinji Fukasaku’s 1970s yakuza thrillers. Maurizio Merli is the hot-tempered cop on the trail of wisecracking hunchback "Il Gobbo" (charismatic Tomas Milian), a psycho thief who occasionally enjoys machine- gunning innocent bystanders just for the hell of it! With Arthur Kennedy, Ivan Rassimov. NOT ON DVD


Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron
"Probably the top samurai film of the '70s." - Film Forum New York
In a big-budget spectacle which marked genre master Hideo Gosha's long-awaited return to the "cinema of the sword", a former samurai spends years amassing a gang of ne'er-do-wells, training them in dirty tricks in a single-minded quest to take down his former clan, the ones responsible for killing his family. His nemesis is an equally wily police officer still loyal to the clan who is not above flouting the law to take him down. Grifts, scams, betrayals, and seventies-style softcore abound in this epic battle of revenge.
Dir. Hideo Gosha, 1978, 35mm, 163 min.


BEIJING BUBBLES
Beijing Bubbles, an intimate document of five bands in China’s capital city. Going well beyond common clichés of life and society in China, the film is a well-paced portrait of how these groups struggle to maintain their individuality in the fastest-growing country in the world. A Q&A with directors George Lindt and Susanne Mesmer will follow the film. Dirs. George Lindt & Susanne Messmer, 2005, digital presentation, 82 min.


Bell, Book and Candle
1959/color/106 min. | Scr: Daniel Taradash; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Kim Novak, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs
James Wong Howe's color cinematography reveals a "magical" Big Apple in this fanciful tale of a beautiful witch who owns a Manhattan art shop. Lemmon is hysterical as a jazz-loving warlock.


THE BIG DAY (JOUR DE FETE), 1947, Janus Films, 79 min. Jacques Tati’s feature debut as director showcases his performance as a mailman attempting to streamline delivery in his small town. But he soon finds his attempts at modernization and a coincidental Bastille Day celebration don’t mix. This is a 1995 restoration of the film's original color version.


THE BIG GUNDOWN, 1966, Sony Repertory, 91 min. Dir. Sergio Sollima. Bounty hunter Corbett (Lee Van Cleef) is hired by wealthy Brokston (Walter Barnes) to hunt down bandit Cuchillo (Tomas Milian) for the rape murder of a teenage girl. But as Corbett tracks the cagey fugitive, he starts to have his doubts about Cuchillo’s guilt and to wonder if there is more at stake than Brokston is letting on. One of the great spaghetti westerns, abetted by one of Ennio Morricone’s most beautiful scores, GUNDOWN compares favorably with the best of Leone’s Eastwood trilogy. NOT ON DVD


BIG GUNS (TONY ARZENTA), 1973, 90 min. Dir. Duccio Tessari. Alain Delon stars in his only Italian crime film as Tony Arzenta, a Sicilian hit man hoping to retire so he can concentrate on a peaceful life with his wife and son. His superior Richard Conte is not happy, and a coterie of bosses decides to eliminate him. But when his wife and son are the accidental victims, Delon goes on a clandestine rampage to destroy his former associates. With Carla Gravina, Nicoletta Machiavelli, Erika Blanc, Anton Diffring. NOT ON DVD


BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (L’UCCELLO DALLE PIUME DI CRISTALLO), 1970, 96 min. Director Dario Argento’s debut feature was a huge success and codified the classic giallo thriller formula. Visiting American writer Tony Musante witnesses an attempted murder when he becomes trapped in an art gallery. He fails to glimpse the assailant’s face, but the black-clad killer starts dogging his trail when not busy dispatching beautiful women. Suzy Kendall is Musante’s girl. A great cast join in the fun, including disturbed gallery owner Eva Renzi, hit man Reggie Nalder and cat-loving painter Mario Adorf. With perhaps Morricone’s greatest giallo score.


THE BLUE ANGEL
Josef von Sternberg's classic adaptation of Heinrich Mann's novel about a repressed school teacher (Emil Jannings) who is seduced and destroyed by his demonic obsession for nightclub singer Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich). "The film echoes the cynicism and hopelessness of the times. As a result, the story is extremely caustic and unforgiving: the desperate voice of a country in turmoil" (Strictly Film School).


BROTHER SUN, SISTER MOON
Selected by Amy Adler
Amy Adler’s work explores the interplay between a life lived on and off screen. She has worked directly with such well-known figures as Leonardo DiCaprio and Joni Mitchell to create bodies of work that question both the origin and the power of media-generated imagery and its effect on the creation of personal identity. Brother Sun, Sister Moon (Franco Zeffirelli, 1972, 121 min.) is a fictional biopic covering key events in the life of St. Francis of Assisi. Returning ill from war, the wealthy Francesco Bernardone undergoes a spiritual epiphany, renouncing his materialistic ways in favor of a contemplative life.


Bug
"They Look Like Rocks...Possess A High Intelligence...Have No Eyes...And Eat Ashes...They Travel In Your Car Exhaust...They Make Fire...They Kill." - original "Bug" poster tagline, 1975
Bug marked the last stand of producer/director William Castle, the loveable B-movie Hitchcock who gave us The Tingler and House On Haunted Hill. Plot: earthquake happens, crack forms in the earth, and a new species of spontaneously combusting hyper-intelligent cockroaches come crawlin' out. Like all the greatest HFS, it starts out pretty fun, but right when you're in your comfort zone ("Sure, flammable cockroaches, that's pretty cool..."), it kicks it up many notches in the second half. Bug keeps getting wilder and wilder, taking you into unknown territories of loopy exploitation. By the time the roaches start spelling out words in English with their bodies like a football halftime show, you know this is good stuff.
Dir. Jeannot Szwarc, 1975, 35mm, 99 min.


BULLITT, 1968, Warner Bros., 113 min. Dir. Peter Yates. An unbelievably tense, pared-to-the-bone thriller, BULLITT helped to pave the way for not only cinema verite-style policiers like THE FRENCH CONNECTION, but every cinematic car chase since then. Steve McQueen is uber-cool Detective Frank Bullitt of the San Francisco P.D., a lone-wolf homicide cop who goes up against mob hit men as well as ambitious bureaucrat Robert Vaughn, when he fights to safeguard a witness. With Jacqueline Bisset, Simon Oakland, Don Gordon.


CALIBER 9 (MILANO CALIBRO 9), 1972, 100 min. Right at the top of the finest crime films from maestro, Fernando Di Leo (THE BOSS, MISTER SCARFACE, TO BE TWENTY). Tough guy, Ugo (Gastone Moschin) is released from stir only to be harassed by an abusive police inspector (the great Frank Wolff in one of his final roles) and former gang partners led by sadistic Mario Adorf. Both want to know the location of stolen loot. Ugo is a surprisingly complex, misfit loner, but is as ruthless as his enemies. He hooks up with former girlfriend Barbara Bouchet and pal Philippe Leroy to try to even the odds. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD.


THE CELLULOID PALETTE - Films About Artists. 7pm- Matthew Barney, 7:30-Salvador Dali, 8:30-Jean-Michel Basquiat (with Kid Creole & the Coconuts, James White & the Blacks). Rare explorations reveal insights about the creative process and the cult of personality.


CHOPPING MALL
A trio of robots programmed to serve as security at a shopping mall goes amok one night, terrorizing a group of teens locked inside the complex.


Clash by Night
1952/b&w/105 min. | Scr: Alfred Hayes; dir: Fritz Lang; w/ Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe
In a northern fishing village, jealousy and near tragedy are occasioned by the return home of a girl hardened by the big city.


Cleo From 5 to 7
Agnes Varda injected a much-needed female perspective into the French New Wave canon with her 1962 debut feature Cleo From 5 To 7, a real-time unfolding of events as Cleo (Corinne Marchand), a conceited pop singer who comes to terms with how the rest of the world works outside her bubble, awaits the results of a biopsy to determine whether or not she has cancer. With her sharp photojournalist background, Varda beautifully captures Cleo's conflict as she wanders in and out of Parisian parlors, cafes and streets; every mundane aspect of life around Cleo pulls her further away from the self-absorbed world in her head, and closer to acceptance of her own mortality. In this vibrant mix of gutsy melodrama and experimental technique, Varda gives us a portrait of day-to-day, hour-by-hour living at its most engrossing.
Dir. Agnes Varda, 1962, 35mm, 90 min.


COBRA WOMAN
Technicolor doesn’t get any wilder than this inexplicable vehicle for exotic Hollywood superstar Maria Montez, here essaying two roles as a tyrannical island queen and her goody two-shoes sister who’s abducted into a variety of perilous shenanigans to overthrow her evil sibling. This delirious concoction has become an audience favorite over the past few decades, thanks to its show-stopping set pieces (Montez’s method of picking citizens to be executed is truly unforgettable) and some ridiculous gender-bending visual double entendres (don’t miss that last shot!), often involving perpetual cinetwink Sabu. Among Montez’s films, this one held a special place for the ‘60s underground film movement, with George Kuchar appreciating “the leading lady, whose accent fits nicely into the staged exotica and crazily choreographed temple routines. Sabu is refreshingly real and the leading man appropriately stilted amid the obvious chicanery being pulled by the director. This type of film was a jumping off point for Jack Smith, who pushed it to even nuttier extremes." Dir. Robert Siodmak, 1944, 35mm, 71 min.


The Cool World
The underground meets the underworld in Shirley Clarke's The Cool World, perhaps the last great undiscovered crime film of the 1960s. Clarke filmed this absorbing gangland tragedy in a groundbreaking verite documentary style, rich with vivid details of dead-end Harlem and heartbreakingly real performances by a non-professional cast. Unlike many mid-60s experiments in style and form, The Cool World succeeds both as gripping entertainment and revolutionary political art. Clarke takes a street-level view of Duke, a doomed hoodlum whose sole ambition is to score a pistol and take over his gang. From the first frame to the last, Clarke's unsentimental take on the crime genre brims with righteous anger against the societal roots of poverty and crime. To top it off, the film's perfect score was written by jazz legend Mal Waldron and performed by Dizzy Gillespie.
Dir. Shirley Clarke, 1964, 16mm, 105 min.


CUTTHROATS NINE, 1972, Grindhouse Releasing, 90 min. Joaquin Romero Marchent directed this notorious Spanish-Italian western. A cavalry troop escorts chained convicts through a treacherous mountain range. When the convoy is attacked by bandits, the balance of power shifts, and the only surviving soldier (Robert Hundar) must still somehow transport the prisoners in addition to protecting his teenage daughter (Emma Cohen). Labeled by fans as one of the goriest Euro westerns ever made, the American distributors dispensed "terror masks" to audience patrons on its initial release.


THE CYNIC, THE RAT AND THE FIST (IL CINICO, L’INFAME, IL VIOLENTO), 1977, 100 min. Dir. Umberto Lenzi. Maurizio Merli reprises his role as the apoplectic cop from ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON. This time he’s going after small-time crime boss Tomas Milian, who is allied with big-shot New York mobster John Saxon. But shrewd Milian ("The Cynic") is maneuvering to play lawman Merli ("The Fist") and Saxon ("The Rat") off against each other. ASSAULT composer Franco Micalizzi supplies another pulse-pounding score. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD


Day of the Animals
In the grand tradition of stage musicals, we're ending this festival with a big production number, one in which the whole zoo crew comes out to rip mankind a bunch of new orifices. Of all the critter flicks, Day Of The Animals makes the most hamhanded connection between environmentalist fears and nature's vengeance. The animals are literally driven crazy as a result of man's depletion of the ozone layer, and in the furry free-for-all, a B-movie all-star cast (Leslie Nielsen, Richard Jaeckel, Christopher George, Lynda Day George) are picked off one by one by various woodland creatures -- all ticked off because it's so damn hot. Best of all, Nielsen gets a bit of the ozone-born madness himself, transforming into a raging shirtless maniac ready to take on all comers, including a full-sized grizzly bear (cue thunderstorm!).
Dir. William Girdler, 1977, 35mm, 97 min.


DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, 1962, Warner Bros. 117 min. Dir. Blake Edwards. This tragic love story might come as a surprise to fans of director Edwards’ PINK PANTHER series and other comic masterpieces, but in its own way it may be one of his best films. Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick play a superficially perfect couple whose lives are shattered by alcoholism, and Edwards’ typical affection for his characters allows him to bring out both the romantic and the heartbreaking elements of their tragic story.


Dead Alive
Years before Peter Jackson was winning Oscars for family-friendly fare about cuddly Hobbits, he made this wildly enjoyable blood-drenched zombie comedy, one of the best pieces of splatstick ever made. After sharpening his blades with the lo-fi Bad Taste and Meet The Feebles, the New Zealander shot this mad, over-the-top opus warning us all about the dangers of being bitten by a Sumatran rat-monkey. Once that happens to the lead guy's mother...well, let's just say Bactine and bedrest ain't gonna save her. Thus begins a cavalcade of squirting pus jokes, zombie babies, preening spleens, and possibly the bloodiest climax ever filmed -- who knew a lawnmower had a "zombie" setting?
Dir. Peter Jackson, 1992, 35mm, 97 min.


DEADLY SWEET (COL CUORE IN GOLA), 1967, Cult Epics, 107 min. A psychedelic giallo by Tinto Brass, starring Ewa Aulin (CANDY) and Jean-Louis Trintignant. After finding his business contact murdered, a French actor protects the young woman he discovers at the scene and decides to hunt the killers himself. A mind-bending series of Pop Art visuals follows as he plunges into the London underworld, created by renowned erotic cartoonist Guido Crepax (Valentina). Unseen since its initial release, the film’s two leads went on to co-star in the legendary DEATH LAID AN EGG the very next year. In Italian with English subtitles. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD


DEEP RED (PROFONDO ROSSO), 1975, 106 min. Dir. Dario Argento. From the opening with a child slashing someone and a bloody knife dropping to the floor, we’re plunged into an ever-deepening pool of repressed terrors. David Hemmings is a pianist sucked into an undertow of escalating homicide after he witnesses the murder of psychic Macha Meril. One of Argento’s most justly-famous gialli, where something as simple as a lizard writhing on the floor could represent a child’s wounded psyche, bound some day to erupt in spectacular fits of murder. With Daria Nicolodi.


DFW PUNK
DFW Punk, covering the Dallas/Ft. Worth punk/new wave scene. If you thought Texas in the late ’70s was all about urban cowboys, country tunes and bible-thumping, get ready to be proved dead wrong. Filmmaker Q&As follow the screenings, and DJ Terry “Dadbag” Graham (Gun Club, The Bags) will be on-hand to spin tunes before and after the films. Dir. Laura Tabor-Huerta, 2007, MiniDV, 64 min.


Divorce Italian Style
1961/b&w/104 min. | Scr: Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti; dir: Germi; w/ Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli
Baron Ferdinando Cefalù longs to marry his nubile young cousin Angela, but one obstacle stands in his way: his fatuous and fawning wife, Rosalia. A hilarious and cutting satire of Sicilian male-chauvinist culture, the film won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1962. "One of the greatest films about Sicily. Ferdinando remains one of the great icons of my movie-going memory. Has some of the richest, most beautiful black and white photography ever put on film and, sensual atmosphere, where lust and passion become almost aromatic. Very inventive, it really moves, as few films do, with deftness and the driest, most cutting wit... It's a film that truly haunts me. As funny as it is, the emotions that Germi was dealing with were primal, savage, and most disturbingly of all, eternal."—Martin Scorsese.


THE DRAUGHTSMAN'S CONTRACT
(1982) Directed by Peter Greenaway
Greenaway's sumptuous, cerebral and sexually-charged first feature recounts the artful and amorous adventures of a 17th-century draughtsman who is commissioned to capture 12 drawings of a nobleman's sprawling English estate. His fee includes one sexual favor provided by the lady of the house for each drawing rendered--drawings which may provide clues to a murder committed on the grounds.
Producer: David Payne. Cinematographer: Curtis Clark. Editor: John Wilson. Cast: Anthony Higgins, Janet Suzman, Anne Louise Lambert. 35mm, 108 min.


Drive a Crooked Road
1954/b&w/83 min. | Scr: Blake Edwards, Richard Quine; dir: Quine; w/ Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy
A lonely mechanic with dreams of racing car fame is lured into driving a getaway vehicle in this intelligent and ingenious thriller.


DUCK YOU SUCKER aka A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE (GIU LA TESTA), 1971, MGM Repertory, 138 min. The last -- and least-seen -- of Sergio Leone’s epic westerns: Earthy peasant Rod Steiger and Irishman James Coburn (hiding from the I.R.A.) find themselves tossed into the middle of the Mexican Revolution. Widely ignored on its release, DUCK YOU SUCKER looks better and better with each year: Leone’s blend of explosive action and boozy poetry is just strange enough to work. Music by Ennio Morricone.


The Eagle
Having previously played romantic leads from France, Spain, India, Arabia, England, America and Italy, Valentino later portrayed Vladimir Dubrovsky, a Cossack serving in the Russian army, in The Eagle, one of his final films before his death in 1926. After spurning the advances of Catherine the Great (Louise Dresser) in the opening minutes of the film, Vlad finds that the villian responsible for stealing his family's land and killing his father is in fact the father of his secret lover, the young aristocrat Mascha (a lovely Vilma Bánky). Seeking revenge, Vlad dons a Robin Hood-like persona, and storms off to torment rich people across the land. Jettisoning the softer image he'd acquired from such films as Monsieur Beucaire and Camille, Valentino utilized for this film a mixture of machismo and self-aware comedy that would befit a James Bond movie.
Dir. Clarence Brown, 1925, 16mm, 73 min.


The Earrings of Madame de…
1953/b&w/105 min. | Scr: Marcel Achard, Max Ophüls, Annette Wademant; dir: Max Ophüls; w/ Charles Boyer, Danielle Darrieux, Vittorio De Sica
As the earrings of Madame de… travel a circuitous route from one owner to the next, an entire world comes to life—the world of the French aristocracy during the Belle Èpoque, particularly the interior world shared by Madame de..., her proud husband, and her soft, charming lover. Ophüls' masterpiece, easily one of the greatest films ever made, has all the trappings of romantic cinema, but its fluid camera takes us beyond the film's glittering surfaces ("only superficially superficial," as Boyer so aptly puts it) to the raw feelings surging beneath-and ultimately into the spiritually redemptive territory of grand passion. Darrieux, Boyer and de Sica did their greatest work in this towering film. "The Earrings of Madame de… glitters and dazzles… The film is famous for its elaborate camera movements, its graceful style, its sets, its costumes and of course, its jewelry. We sit in admiration of Ophüls' visual display, so fluid and intricate. Then to our surprise we find ourselves caring. His films are one of the great pleasures of the cinema."—Roger Ebert.


THE EXILES
A landmark of American independent cinema, Kent Mackenzie's The Exiles (1961) has been rarely seen, even in its native Los Angeles, for over 40 years. Unlike its better known counterparts—Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977) and John Cassavetes' Shadows (1959)—this improvisational day-in-the-life chronicle of Bunker Hill's Native American community quickly fell into obscurity—save for ultra-rare screenings at venues such as the UCLA Film & Television Archive—after it failed to find theatrical distribution. Featured in Thom Andersen's documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003), The Exiles has been newly restored by the Archive and is ready to be re-discovered.
Shot in rich black-and-white, The Exiles is both a moving portrait of an outsider community and a cinematic time capsule of a storied Los Angeles neighborhood. When Homer (Nish) and Yvonne (Williams) leave their Apache reservation to start a new life in Bunker Hill, they find only poverty and isolation awaiting them. With an eye to downtown's grittier details—neon signs, anonymous alleys, tenement halls—The Exiles chronicles a single night in the couple's troubled search for a place to call home.
In Person: Special Guests TBA.
Cinematographer: Erik Daarstad, Robert Kaufman, John Morrill. Editor: Kent Mackenzie, Warren Brown, Thomas Conrad, Erik Daarstad, Thomas Miller, Beth Pattrick. Cast: Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, Tommy Reynolds, Rico Rodriguez, Clifford Ray Sam. 35mm, 72 min.


EXPERIMENT IN TERROR, 1962, Sony Repertory, 123 min. Lee Remick is a bank teller whose teenage sister (Stephanie Powers) is kidnapped by Ross Martin, a creepy, sociopathic crook brewing an extortion plot. Glenn Ford is the no-nonsense FBI agent who steps in to help. Director Blake Edwards’ skill at creating nail-biting suspense presaged his later seemingly contradictory focus on effervescent comedy. Frequent Edwards collaborator Henry Mancini graces us with his most memorable (and sinister) score.


EXPOSED
Wisconsin farm girl Elizabeth Carlson leaves family and her English teacher lover behind and escapes to New York. There she soon makes a career for herself as a fashion model. During a vernissage she's approached by a mysterious man whose motives are unclear... With Harvey Keitel, Nastassia Kinski.


A FACE IN THE CROWD
Andy Griffith stars as the hobo who is discovered by Patricia Neal and turned into a TV star in Elia Kazan's perceptive comment on American values, aided by a strong script by Budd Schulberg, who also collaborated with Kazan in On the Waterfront.


The Fair Co-Ed
As newspaper mogul William Randolph Hearst's real-life mistress, the luminous Marion Davies garnered a lifelong reputation for controversy, and an unjustified caricature in the form of Citizen Kane's ditzy charmer, Susan Alexander. The limelight was often unflattering to Davies, and her ill-advised turns, at Hearst's insistence, in overwrought dramas often overshadowed her wonderful run as a skilled comedienne in some of the Roaring Twenties' most playful films. The Fair Co-Ed casts Davies in the sort of role she was born to play--a flighty, loveable flapper who agrees to attend college after taking a shine to Bob, the school's young basketball coach. A romantic comedy-of-errors threatens to derail the women's basketball team on their way to the finals, and it's left up to the vivacious Davies to connect the dots between true sportsmanship and true love.
Dir. Sam Wood, 1927, 35mm.


FAIR WIND TO JAVA, 1953, Paramount, 92 min. Dir. Joseph Kane. Fred MacMurray, captain of a late 19th-century ship in the East Indies, makes like an early Indiana Jones searching for a sunken vessel laden with a fortune in diamonds. But he has to keep looking over his shoulder when cunning, bloodthirsty pirates, an angry volcano and last, but not least, a smitten native girl (Vera Ralston) start to gum up the works. Gorgeous color adventure antics in true Republic Pictures style. Preserved by UCLA with funds from the Film Foundation. NOT ON DVD


THE FAMILY (CITTA VIOLENTA aka VIOLENT CITY), 1970, 100 min. Dir. Sergio Sollima. Killer Charles Bronson is chased by double-crossers while on a vacation with main squeeze Jill Ireland and, after mucho mayhem, left for dead. But Bronson re-emerges from prison to hunt through the New Orleans underworld for his traitorous comrades. He gets more than he bargains for, running into duplicitous Ireland and her new hubby, mob boss Telly Savalas who wants to hire Bronson -- and won’t take no for an answer. "One stylish action scene after another…whipped into a frenzy by Ennio Morricone's shredded electro soundtrack..." – Grady Hendrix, New York Sun


FINGERS
An overlooked gem from the 1970s, with Harvey Keitel as an aspiring concert pianist tormented by conflicting pressures - to succeed on his own through his art or join his family in New York City's organized crime business. Co-stars Jim Brown.


The Food of the Gods
Throughout his career, director Bert I. Gordon repeatedly returned to the theme of mutant oversized evil, using spiders (Earth Vs. The Spider), ants (Empire of the Ants) and dudes (The Amazing Colossal Man), but Mr. B.I.G.'s obsession found its best vehicle in this H.G. Wells adaptation; here, a bubbling goo oozes up from the earth, turning little creatures into very big ones, mostly with a tendency to eat people. Evangelist-turned-actor Marjoe Gortner stars as a football player on a hunting trip who happens to notice that the area's wasps are the size of Vespas. Mutant chickens and worms follow, along with grizzled film veterans Ralph Meeker (who looks like the skin of Lloyd Bridges pulled over the bone structure of Terry Bradshaw), and Ida Lupino, who gives the best performance of a woman being eaten by rats we've ever seen.
Dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1976, 35mm, 88 min.


FORBIDDEN ZONE, 1982, 74 min. Dir. Richard Elfman. A mysterious door leads to the Sixth Dimension -- get ready for a wild ride - in the greatest cult classic of all time. Beautiful young "Frenchy" (Marie-Pascale Elfman) slides through cosmic intestines into a subterranean world ruled by horny midget King Fausto (Herve Villechaize) and his jealous Queen Doris (Susan Tyrrell). "Chicken-boy" (Matthew Bright, director of FREEWAY) comes to the rescue, only to have his head cut off by the soul-singing Devil himself -- played by Danny Elfman and the original Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo. Frog butlers, topless princesses, and rioting school kids sing and dance in unforgettable musical numbers by Danny Elfman, Cab Calloway, Josephine Baker and others. An experience guaranteed you will never forget! Now in mind-boggling color! Newly remixed Dolby Digital 6 track stereo. Discussion following with director Richard Elfman and other guests (tba). Digitally Restored


4 FLIES ON GREY VELVET (4 MOSCHE DI VELLUTO GRIGIO), 1971, Paramount, 104 min. Michael Brandon is a rock drummer who thinks he accidentally killed the strange man who was following him. Mimsy Farmer is his high-strung wife, and Bud Spencer is "God," Brandon’s pal who lives in a shack by the river. Soon a maniac blackmails Brandon with photos of the "killing" and begins murdering people in horrible ways, all set to a creepy Ennio Morricone score. One of Dario Argento’s hardest-to-see pictures. Don’t miss this super-rare screening! NOT ON DVD.


Gaslight
1944/b&w/114 min. | Scr: John Van Druten, Walter Reisch, John L. Balderston; dir: George Cukor; w/ Charles Boyer, Ingrid Bergman, Joseph Cotten, Angela Lansbury
Cukor called this gothic chiller about a greedy Victorian husband trying to drive his wife insane in a gaslit London mansion "a movie in the best movie tradition … the scenario seems to move up and down and around." Among the film's seven Oscar nominations were Best Picture, Best Actor, and Best Actress, which Bergman won.


GEORGE KUCHAR PARTS 1 AND 2
“George and Mike Kuchar’s films were my first inspiration.”—John Waters
Starting at the age of twelve on their parents’ Bronx rooftop, George Kuchar and his twin brother Mike created a series of absurd, homemade epics that became underground film classics, probably to the brothers’ own surprise. Made with their cast of misfits, drag queens, and overweight women--in other words, stars!--the Kuchar brothers employed an original lo-fi aesthetic that joyfully transformed every flaw into a charming detail, and wallowed cheerfully in their own cheapness. George’s love of trash, camp, and melodrama, infect every second of his crazed, unique films. Aside from John Waters, his influence can still be felt in filmmakers from Guy Maddin to David Lynch. The prolific nature of George’s output made it hard for us to keep our program down to two nights, but this is the best we could do. Enjoy.


A Girl in Every Port
It's difficult to think of cinematic personalities more divergent than Howard Hawks, master of the western (Stagecoach) and the dialogue-driven comedy (His Girl Friday) -- and Louise Brooks, the willful, silent muse of German Expressionist cinema -- but heir paths crossed with 1928's A Girl in Every Port, a playful film about two Lothario sailors whose rivalry gives way to an unlikely, tumultuous friendship. Brooks plays a seductive French dame whose multitude of charms hides questionable intentions; her subtle performance is exceptional, as well as her refusal to undermine the complex character of a seemingly duplicitous temptress. "The great art of films," Brooks once said, "does not consist in descriptive movement of face and body, but in the movements of thought and soul transmitted in a kind of intense isolation." Brooks captures this method perfectly in her role here, one unlike any she would later play.
Dir. Howard Hawks, 1928, 16mm, 62 min.


THE GREAT RACE, 1965, Warner Bros. 152 min. Dir. Blake Edwards. White-suited Tony Curtis foils the schemes of villainous Professor Fate (Jack Lemmon), while wooing reporter Natalie Wood on a New York-to-Paris road race (the very concept indicates the film's zaniness!) in 1908. Edwards' love letter to the films of Chaplin, Keaton and Laurel & Hardy is a nonstop comic chase with humor that's easily accessible to adults and children alike.


THE GUARDSMAN
An adaptation of Molnar's comedy about a jealous husband who tests his wife's fidelity. The film stars the real-life married couple, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. With Roland Young, ZaSu Pitts and Herman Bing.


Harakiri
A monumental effort in any genre, Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri towers among samurai films as a near-perfect combination of cinematic style, innovative storytelling and nuanced political commentary. Driven by Toru Takemitsu's saber-rattling score and Kobayashi's mastery of widescreen cinematography, Harakiri's twisting flashbacks tell a tale of desperation and unintentional sacrifice. An unemployed young samurai appears at the gates of a successful clan, asking to die with honor in a ritual suicide on their grounds. In truth, the young man is looking for charity, but the ruthless warlords, hoping to provide a warning to others, hold him to his word. In a chilling lead performance, screen legend Tatsuya Nakadai plays the young man's father-in-law, who comes knocking at the same gates months later--but with a very different agenda. A damning critique of the feudal era's hollow codes of justice and honor, Harakiri burns with tension, passion, rage and violence.
Dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 1962, 35mm, 135 min.


Harlan County USA
The poverty and tension on display in the Oscar-winning 1976 documentary Harlan County USA is so vivid and tangible that it will take the auditorium house lights fading back up for you to shake its stark images from your mind. Originally having planned to make a film simply about a contentious union election, director Barbara Kopple found in the Harlan, Kentucky miners' strike of 1973-4 a sweeping vista of potent drama: picketers clashing with management's thugs, the grim conditions of mining life, political assassination, the desperation of families' dwindling savings -- and even a survey of the folk music indigenous to the Harlan area. With a fearless resolve (the filmmaker's life was
continuously threatened by armed-to-the-teeth coal company goons throughout the making of the film), Kopple presents a landmark in documentary film that today still has few equals.
Dir. Barbara Kopple, 1976, 35mm, 103 min.


Harold Lloyd Shorts
When Hal Roach came into a small inheritance and decided to start producing comedies, he immediately hired fellow extra Harold Lloyd to be his star. For years, they worked together looking for a successful public image for Lloyd (first going through "Willy Work" and "Lucky Luke" phases). Upon discovering his famous "glasses" character--an ambitious, go-getting man of the century!--it all fell into place. From there, they made a series of classics that made him one of the most popular stars in silent film history, with the sum grosses outmatching even Chaplin's. The glasses disarmed the aggression of his striving character enough for audience sympathy, paving the way for an incredible bounty of gags in these fast-paced films. Harold Lloyd liked something funny to be happening at all times, and succeeded at a phenomenally high rate. Come laugh it up, with a selection of some of his best shorts!


HEARST METROTONE NEWS COLLECTION: MUSIC, HUMOR AND HUMAN INTEREST IN THE NEWSREELS, 1929-1934
The Hearst Metrotone News collection contains much more than just a visual record of the military and political events of the 20th century. Newsreel cameramen captured fads, stunts, obscure talents, polished performers and publicity seekers, as well as presidents, generals and prime ministers. Some of the more interesting examples of this kind of newsreel story are from the first five years of sound production.
In addition to stories about unusual inventions and interesting animals, we will be screening several stories which amount to the newsreel equivalent of music videos. Stories with titles such as "Old Time Fiddlers Have a Jamboree," "U.S. Boy Violinist Amazes Europe," and "Chinese Co-eds Give a 'Kitchen' Recital" will be shown. These stories illustrate the wide range of musical styles showcased once sound became available to newsreel producers.
Those familiar with newsreels from World War II will recall dramatized editorials featuring big-name stars reminding the home front to conserve, recycle and that "loose lips sink ships." However, this type of screen editorial was used years earlier. One example of an early dramatized newsreel editorial will be shown in which a character identified as "Mr. Courage" will explain to "Mr. Fear" just how to fight the Great Depression.
There will also be appearances by Will Rogers, Eleanor Roosevelt and Buster Keaton. Jimmy Durante, who was then going by the name "Schnozzle," rather than the more familiar "Schnozzola," will make two appearances.
During the first five years of sound newsreel production the trademark voiceover style that came to be identified with newsreels had not yet become the norm. At the dawn of the sound era, newsreels were produced in a manner virtually identical to their silent precursors. The only difference being that music was played during the title sequences and only ambient sound was heard during the story. Tonight's presentation will show how the transformation to an off-screen narrator began and how it was all but complete by 1934.
*NOTE: All of the newsreel footage to be screened has been restored as well as preserved.
Presented by Blaine Bartell, UCLA Senior Newsreel Preservationist; Jeffrey Bickel, Newsreel Preservationist.


HER JUNGLE LOVE, 1938, Universal, 81 min. Dir. George Archainbaud. Aviator Ray Milland and partner Lynne Overman are searching for a missing plane when they’re marooned on what seems like a deserted island. Deserted -- except for the lovely Dorothy Lamour, who is a goddess to the natives of the adjoining isles and is soon being romanced by hero Milland. Neighboring native chief J. Carroll Naish hates white men and soon slots our heroes for sacrifice to crocodiles. But villain Naish doesn’t count on having to deal with the obligatory erupting volcano. Supremely entertaining, in sumptuous color. NOT ON DVD


HIGH HOPES
(1988) Directed by Mike Leigh and Jon Gregory
Applauded both for his realism and biting caricatures, director Mike Leigh satirically weaves together characters from conflicting social classes during the Thatcher era. In High Hopes Leigh focuses on a working class Socialist couple Shirley and Cyril, (marvelously played by Ruth Sheen and Philip Davis) who struggle with their upwardly mobile in-laws, Cyril's aging and increasingly needy mother, and their obnoxious right wing neighbors.
Producer: Simon Channing-Williams, Victor Glynn. Cinematographer: Roger Pratt. Cast: Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré. 35mm, 112 min.


THE HOWL (L’URLO), 1970, Cult Epics, 93 min. A surrealist classic by Tinto Brass, filled with eye-shattering imagery, visual jokes, impossible characters, riotous comedy and punk rock well before its time. A bride escapes her wedding with a stranger, and together they trek though increasingly bizarre lands. They come across talking animals, mournful exhibitionists and a psychedelic hotel, instigate a prison riot, escape from cannibals and battle a wind-up midget dictator! Featuring Tina Aumont and Italy's great clown Luigi Proietti, cavorting in the anarchist spirit of the 1960s. In Italian with English subtitles. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD


Hula
This unabashedly sexual pre-code Hawaiian adventure stars Hollywood's first-ever "It Girl", Clara Bow, as vibrant, sultry Hula Calhoun, the clothing-impaired daughter of a pineapple rancher. Hula is satisfied enough riding horses and being a saucy nuisance, until she comes across the very dashing (and very married) English engineer, Anthony Haldane. It doesn't take much time (or much liquor, or many lascivious dance moves, or much nude bathing) before Haldane is equally smitten with Hula, at which point the pair must contend with the only true obstacle to their lust -- Haldane's wife. Rather than following conventions into tired foul play scenarios, the film resolves its conflicts in increasingly implausible and entertaining ways, all the while letting Bow's celluloid-searing sex appeal hold the reigns in a romance that, if released today, would surely give the MPAA dizzy spells.
Dir. Victor Fleming, 1927, 16mm, 64 min.


INGLORIOUS BASTARDS
This Enzo Castellari spaghetti action-war movie stars Bo Svenson and Fred Williamson in the fast-paced story of a group of American soldiers headed for military prison during WWII. When their transport gets attacked, they escape and make their way towards the neutral Swiss border. Before they know it, these AWOL army badasses get roped into helping the French steal a secret weapon deep inside Nazi occupied territory.


INSPIRATION
A modern version of Sappho, the enigmatic Garbo is Yvonne, an alluring artist's model in Paris, whose misfortune is her imprudent past, which compels her to leave the man she loves. Starring Robert Montgomery and Lewis Stone. 1931, M-G-M


Jem Cohen Films
Filming always, and everywhere, Jem Cohen has collected countless hours of poetic images of the universe on 16mm. His films give us insight into our world--they challenge us to stop, to focus. In his rarely-seen feature Chain, he shows how the bleak specifics of where we live, shop and eat deplete our relationship with character and personal identity. Actual malls, theme parks, hotels and corporate centers worldwide are joined into a monolithic “superlandscape” that shapes and circumscribes the lives of two distinct inhabitants: one a businesswoman researching the international theme park industry for her home company, and the other a young drifter, illegally living and working on the fringes of a shopping mall. Preceding Chain are three lyrical short films by Cohen: the political statement Little Flags, the ode to travel Blessed Are The Dreams Of Men, and the beautiful Lucky 3, a portrait of Elliott Smith.


JUST ONE OF THE GUYS
Convinced that she is not being taken seriously because of her looks, Terry (Joyce Hyser), a pretty 18-year-old girl, enrolls in a new high school disguised as a boy, setting off a chain of events leading to comic hysteria, and more than a little social awareness. With Sherilyn Fenn, Clayton Rohner, and Arye Gross.


KES
(1970) Directed by Kenneth Loach
Abused or ignored at home and in school, "hopeless case" Billy Casper (Bradley) seems destined to follow his older brother (Fletcher) to the bottom of a Yorkshire coal mine. When he captures a young kestrel, however, Billy becomes determined to train the bird and escape his bleak surroundings. Director Loach's first feature, shot entirely on location for only £157,000, was a hit upon release in the UK and launched careers for many of its non-professional cast. Former wrestler-turned-actor Brian Glover, who plays the film's memorably sadistic P.E. instructor, once taught at the same school depicted in the film. The British Film Institute recently named Kes one of the ten greatest British movies of all time.
Based on a novel by Barry Hines. Producer: Tony Garnett. Screenwriter: Kenneth Loach, Tony Garnett. Cinematographer: Chris Menges. Editor: Roy Watts. Cast: David Bradley, Lynne Perrie, Freddie Fletcher. 35mm, 109 min.


Kill!
Slapstick mixes with gripping swordplay in director Kihachi Okamoto's subversive rebuke to outdated notions of blind obedience to power. In the film, two wandering loners witness a samurai collective kill a prominent leader under orders from their boss, and as they each make contact with the boss, realize he intends to double-cross the crew. And, if the men don't end up double-crossing each other as well, maybe the samurai can be saved. As Dr. Strangelove was the comic spin on the serious nuclear countdown drama Fail Safe, Kill! is to Kurosawa's Sanjuro, a convoluted absurdist farce that takes shots at both samurai and spaghetti western myths -- the swordsmen here are dim and dangerous, knowing that nobility is for fools.
Dir. Kihachi Okamoto, 1968, 35mm, 109 min.


KING OF KINGS, 1961, Warner Bros., 168 min. Director Nicholas Ray and epic producer Samuel Bronston seemed an odd couple, but the pair made this reverent, straightforward portrait of the life of Christ work on its own terms. Filled with moving performances by Jeffrey Hunter as Jesus, a potent, often mysterious messiah, and Robert Ryan as John the Baptist, with support from Siobhan McKenna, Rip Torn, Royal Dano, Harry Guardino, Viveca Lindfors and others. Meticulous and spectacular production design adds to the realism, while Orson Welles' narration adds storybook charm. Originally played at the Egyptian Theatre. Ray Bradbury will introduce the screening. He wrote the narration read by Orson Welles. 1961 Prices! Tickets are only $3 each! Ray Bradbury In Person!


Konga
When Samuel Z. Arkoff and his AIP cronies were on a string of hit teen exploitation films--I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage You-Get-The Idea--they got around to adapting the formula to King Kong, inevitably. Unfortunately, the working title I Was A Teenage Gorilla was dropped before this goofy British co-production hit the screen; fortunately, Konga is a colorful, hilarious goof of a film full of droll evil scientist dialogue, matte shots mismatched in scale, improper teacher-student relations, mutant plants that look like genitalia, and one really cheap ape suit. Kuchar sez, "A truly unforgettable role for the magnificent Michael Gough, whose concentration and acid delivery of the dialogue make this gorilla-at-large movie something memorable. The mature performers and comic-book counterparts in the youth brigade are all propelled by the same primitive passions that animate the beast of the title and make this film something we can completely understand."
Dir. John Lemont, 1961, 35mm, 90 min.


LA CHINOISE, 1967, Koch Lorber, 99 min. Philosophy student Anne Wiazemsky, actor Jean-Pierre Laud and friends, crashing at an apartment lent to them for the summer, form a Maoist cell; and then... Godard’s tour de force of idealism, naivete and flat affect includes red accents in nearly every shot. "Amazing! Like a speed freak’s anticipatory vision of the political horrors to come!" – Pauline Kael.


Le Bonheur
1934/b&w/98 min. | Scr: Michel Duran, Marcel L'Herbier; dir: L'Herbier; w/ Charles Boyer; Gaby Morlay, Michel Simon
Boyer is superb as an educated anarchist who attempts to kill a music hall chanteuse (Morlay) whose repertoire includes "Le Bonheur," a.k.a. "Happiness." For his crime he is given eighteen months' jail time and on his release discovers that his story will be turned into a movie. An enigmatic and complex film from one of the prominent figures of the French avant-garde of the 1920s, featuring a comic turn by Michel Simon, as a limp-wristed art director, and an early appearance of Jean Marais. Print courtesy the Bureau du cinema, Paris.


LET ME BE YOUR BAND
Let Me Be Your Band, a joyous ode to the tradition of the one-man band. It’s a heart-pumping trek leading to the rockabilly sounds of Hasil Adkins, the punk-infused Delta Blues skronk of Bob Log III, Eric Royer’s self-built five-piece bluegrass band, the haunting tones of the Lonesome Organist, Washboard Hank performing on his kitchen-sink tuba, and more. Let Me Be Your Band Dir. Derek & Heather Emerson, 2003, Beta SP, 76 min.


LOLA
In 1978, Rainer Werner Fassbinder began a series of films that would trace the history of postwar Germany through the eyes of three women. Called the BRD (Bundesrepublick Deutschland) Trilogy, these three remarkable films would cement the young director's place in international cinema. Lola (1981, 113 mins.) sees a seductive cabaret singer/prostitute (Barbara Sukowa) use her power over men to elevate herself in Germany society in the late 1950's.


LOS MUERTOS
Selected by Larry Clark
Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential American photographers of his generation, Larry Clark is known for both his raw and contentious photographs and his controversial films focusing on teen sexuality, violence, and drug use. Clark burst into public consciousness with his landmark book Tulsa in 1971, and directed the groundbreaking film Kids in 1995. Los Muertos (Lisandro Alonso, 2004, 82 min.) is a haunting film from Argentina in which a 54-year-old man, freshly out of jail, goes on a long journey through deep swamp and jungle territory in order to find his now-adult daughter. Highly atmospheric, the film has an unexpected ending that leaves viewers with more questions than answers.


Love and Anarchy
Famous for both taunting 1970s feminists and creating films with the longest movie titles in Italian ever devised, Lina Wertmuller is largely ignored today among the international cinema greats, but remains a key figure in the rise of female film directors. Two of her best repertory players, Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangelo Melato, team up in this quirky character study about Turin, a provincial wannabe anarchist who decides to assassinate Mussolini in 1930s Italy and hides out in a brothel where he becomes involved with one of the employees. Alternately witty and tragic, it offers both an actors' feast and a vibrantly colorful visual demonstration of the filmmaker's daring fusion of melodrama and politics. Backed up with a delicious score by Nino Rota, this remains one of Italian cinema's most significant and unorthodox attempts to deal with its World War II history, and is a fine piece of entertainment to boot.
Dir. Lina Wertmuller,1973, 35mm, 120 min.


MATA HARI
Greta Garbo adds her glamour to the tale of the exotic World War I spy. She dances, she flirts, she gives comfort to wounded soldiers. With Ramon Navarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone and Karen Morley.


MENTAL HYGIENE SHORT FILMS
Presented by Archivist and Historian Rick Prelinger.
For the quarter-century following World War II, a special kind of classroom film received wide circulation. These "mental hygiene" films thrived in a confused and nervous America. The rebellious behavior of young people challenging the social norms struck fear into the hearts of parents and educators, who saw dark futures for the teens who broke the rules and refused to fit in with society. These concerned adults embraced the metal hygiene film as a new means of delivering social guidance. The creators of the films took their cues from the wildly successful training and propaganda films of the World War II era. They used the same shock and scare techniques to warn teenagers about substance abuse, venereal disease, juvenile delinquency and the awful fate of kids who drive too fast on prom night.


THE MERCENARY (IL MERCENARIO), 1968, MGM Repertory, 105 min. Franco Nero is a Polish dandy-cum-mercenary who becomes uneasy allies with Mexican revolutionary Tony Musante in this action-packed, very entertaining and often very funny spaghetti western. Jack Palance is in rare form as their nemesis, a prissy bounty hunter with a sadistic sense of humor. Quentin Tarantino reused Ennio Morricone’s "L’Arena" piece from the soundtrack to stirring effect in KILL BILL: VOL. II. Director Sergio Corbucci went on to reprise the same general storyline with Nero, Palance and Tomas Milian with COMPANEROS in 1971. NOT ON DVD. New 35mm Print


Mikey and Nicky
Elaine May worshipped John Cassavetes, and Mikey and Nicky (starring the man himself and his good friend Peter Falk) ended up as the greatest Cassavetes film Cassavetes never directed. This textured 1976 drama focuses with remarkable effect on May's obsessions -- the flimsiness of trust, loyalty, and truth. The relationship of two childhood-friends-turned-small-time-hoods is laid bare with equal parts poignancy and tension, as over the course of a single evening Cassavetes tries his best to outrun mobsters who've put a contract out on his life with Falk's reluctant assistance. May's genius for discovering the microscopic nuances of human behavior (previously put to use as a comedienne) here merged with Cassavetes' intensity and willingness to push limits, resulting in one of the greatest acting workshops ever filmed.
Dir. Elaine May, 1976, 35mm, 119 min.


MY AIN FOLK
(1973) Directed by Bill Douglas
The midpoint of the trilogy, My Ain Folk returns to Douglas' hometown of Newcraighall, where Jamie is sent to live with his harsh paternal grandmother. The film opens with an unexpected Technicolor clip from Lassie Comes Home, making Jamie's black and white reality seem all the more bleak and oppressive.
Producer: Nick Nascht. Cinematographer: Gale Tattersall. 35mm, 55 min.


MY CHILDHOOD
(1972) Directed by Bill Douglas
Stark, black and white cinematography evokes a poor Scottish mining town literally and figuratively stripped of color in this first installment of writer-director Douglas' autobiographical trilogy. Jamie (Archibald), Douglas' alterego, lives with his maternal grandmother (Smith) in a working-class neighborhood scarred by the Depression and WWII. Searching to fill the emotional void left by two parents he never knew, Jamie finds an unexpected father-figure in a German POW (Karl Fieseler) who speaks little English. With minimal dialogue and no score, My Childhood harkens back to the cinematic language of the silent era, and delivers emotional punches through intimate storytelling that hits harder than bombast ever could.
Producer: Geoffrey Evans. Cinematographer: Mick Campbell. Editor: Brand Thumim. Cast: Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor Smith. 35mm, 46 min.


MY WAY HOME
(1978) Directed by Bill Douglas
Completed five years after My Ain Folk, Archibald returns to reprise the role of Jamie, now an adult, as the burdens of work and war strip him of his childhood. When the British Army drafts Jamie and stations him in Egypt, an unexpected friendship with an erudite Englishman (Joseph Blatchley) leads to new opportunities and the possibility of a brighter future.
Producer: Judy Cottam, Richard Craven. Screenwriter: Bill Douglas. Cinematographer: Ray Orton. Cast: Stephen Archibald, Paul Kermack, Jessie Combe. 35mm, 71 min.


NAVAJO JOE, 1966, MGM Repertory, 93 min. Dir. Sergio Corbucci (THE GREAT SILENCE). Burt Reynolds (himself part Indian) is Joe, the lone-wolf Navajo, in one of his first lead movie roles. When his wife is butchered by scalphunters led by the ultra-cruel Aldo Sambrell, Joe agrees to help the neighboring town recover its gold shipment that was stolen by the lawless bunch. Ennio Morricone (under pseudonym Leo Nichols) contributes a score that ranks alongside THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY as one of his most exhilarating. New 35mm Print


The Night of the Iguana
This transcendent adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play was produced during Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor's candid early '60s extramarital fling. Huston ingeniously "kept the peace" by giving each of his leads (including Deborah Kerr and Sue Lyon, still in nymphet mode two years after Lolita) a gold Derringer with their co-stars' names inscribed on actual bullets. Burton mesmerizes as defrocked clergyman Dr. T. Lawrence Shannon, in the throes of perdition and guiding a testy group of church ladies on a Mexican bus tour. After an alcoholic relapse, the good Reverend commandeers the bus, stranding the spinsters at a decadent B&B run by a licentious widow (Ava Gardner) -- one of three women with designs on him. Brimming with characters as flawed as they are graceful, the film shrewdly leaves the heavy-handed allegorizing behind, creating something far more vital, where Williams' complex themes of sexual subjugation and salvation coalesce effortlessly, right down to the sacrificial ritual of the title.
Dir. John Huston, 1964, 35mm, 125 min.


Night of the Lepus
What can ya say? Either you wanna see a movie about giant mutant bloodthirsty bunnies run around on miniature sets, murdering '70s character actors, or ya don't. We do! There's something inherently ridiculous in watching small furry creatures trample in slo-mo to dissonant synth blasts, but perhaps even more dissonant is the sounds of growls and roars coming from a rabbit. We guess their vocal chords mutated as well as their size. The legendary late-night TV staple Night of the Lepus features a hoary cast so gloriously middle-aged that a 1972 Janet Leigh stands out as the believable sex object, one of the most desperate attempts to explain the menace of its chosen feared animal (in a truly wacky "what we're up against" monologue set to newsreel footage), and...GIANT KILLER BUNNIES. Sorry, it bears repeating.
Dir. William F. Claxton, 1972, 35mm, 88 min.


The Notorious Landlady
1962/b&w/123 min. | Scr: Blake Edwards, Larry Gelbart; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Fred Astaire
As a woman suspected of murdering her husband, Novak is ravishing in this clever romantic comedy-mystery, her final film with Quine.


ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, 1984, Warner Bros., 229 min. Childhood friends Robert De Niro and James Woods rise to power as New York gangsters during the glory years of Prohibition, only to lose their souls in the process. Leone’s last, and perhaps greatest, masterpiece features a stellar supporting cast, including Elizabeth McGovern, Treat Williams, Tuesday Weld, Joe Pesci, Burt Young, Danny Aiello and William Forsythe, as well as the debut of Jennifer Connelly.


Our Gang Shorts
We all remember the beloved set of Our Gang characters -- Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat and the rest -- from frequent airings of shorts on local TV, but did you know that there were also eighty-eight silent shorts produced in the 1920s featuring those Little Rascals? Created by film pioneer Hal Roach, the Our Gang shorts make for endlessly fun viewing, as we watch these scraggly, streetwise, mischievous kids do their thing: tussling with snotty rich kids, making trouble, and having a good time. Noted for the naturalism of the children's performances (Roach started the series with the offspring of his various employees at the studio) and their multi-racial cast, the Our Gang films continue to charm both kids and their parents. Kids get in half price!


THE PARTY, 1968, MGM Repertory, 99 min. Dir. Blake Edwards. For most of its length, THE PARTY is a wonderfully restrained homage to Jacques Tati, with Peter Sellers in perfect pitch as an awestruck Indian actor who disrupts a chic Hollywood gathering with the help of French songbird Claudine Longet and an elephant. The final 15 minutes prove that any great joke deserves a totally outrageous punchline. Look for Steve Franken as an inebriated waiter and Denny Miller as a hilarious rhinestone cowboy. Cinematography by the great Lucien Ballard (THE WILD BUNCH). Film critic Kevin Thomas will introduce the screening.


Picture Mommy Dead
During the heyday of "Hags Gone Wild" horror films after What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, enterprising drive-in kingpin Bert I. Gordon (The Food of the Gods) chipped in his own lurid, heavy-breathing contribution with this thriller featuring a rare big-screen turn for Beverly Hills cop-slapper Zsa Zsa Gabor. The film opens with a dead Gabor going up in flames next to her oversized oil portrait, but that fiery demise is just the beginning as her daughter, Susan (played by Gordon's daughter named, yes, Susan), recovers from the trauma of losing her mother by returning to the family home with her remarried dad (Don Ameche) and his bitchtastic new wife (Martha Hyer). Mind games and nocturnal traumas ensue, all revolving around a valuable missing necklace and Zsa Zsa's possible return from the dead. Soapy dialogue and a sicko twist ending tie it all together in one very pretty Technicolor package ripe for rediscovery.
Dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1966, 35mm, 88 min.


PIERROT LE FOU, 1965, Janus Films, 110 min. "The last romantic couple," as Jean-Paul Belmondo, fed up with wife and Paris, heads for the south of France with old flame Anna Karina, a classic pulp fiction moll of a gang of crooks. Essential ‘60s Godard, with sun-splashed color and ‘Scope photography by Raoul Coutard, a cameo by tough-guy director Sam Fuller and an explosive finale. "The most ravishing and romantic film ever made... The dazzling mise–en-scene alternates Lichtenstein with Cezanne, pop art with Impressionism, the shadow of Amerika falling across the Provencal sun." – Amy Taubin, Village Voice.


THE PINK FLOYD & SYD BARRETT STORY, 2001, Otmoor Productions, 50 min. Filmmaker John Edginton's portrait of rock's most enigmatic acid casualty. Interviews with the rest of the Floyd together with rare Barrett footage. Plus, Ultra-rare early Floyd footage!


POINT BLANK, 1967, Warner Bros., 92 min. Director John Boorman’s second feature film really put him on the New Hollywood map and changed the look of action movies for years to come. This hardboiled neo-noir (adapted from The Hunter, the first of a series of novels by Richard Stark) retains the gritty frissons of the best pulp thrillers but is also a brain-twisting deconstruction of narrative. Brilliant from beginning to end, with Lee Marvin as a master thief seemingly back from the dead, out to get payback on the best friend who betrayed him (John Vernon) as well as the shadowy mob money men behind the scenes. With Angie Dickinson, Carroll O’Connor, Keenan Wynn.


PRESSURE
(1975) Directed by Horace Ové
British-born Tony (Norville) confounds his Trinidadian immigrant family by eating bacon and listening to white pop music. After graduating with excellent grades, he learns that he's too black to land a high-paying professional job and too educated for blue-collar work. Then a beautiful radical (Sheila Scott-Wilkinson) and the framing of his brother (James) by the police push Tony from disillusionment and helplessness toward direct political action. Partly adapted from Selvon's novel and partly improvised, director Ove' summoned his firsthand experiences in the British black power movement to recreate London's racial powder keg. Scenes of police brutality and racist church sermons were shot with many of the "extras" unaware that the participants were actors!
Producer: Barry Gavin, Samuel Selvon. Screenwriter: Horace Ové. Cinematographer: Michael J. Davis. Editor: Alan Cumner-Price. Cast: Herbert Norville, Oscar James, Frank Singuineau. 35mm, 120 min.


THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS
The imperious Swedish Princess Olga (Lombard) boards an ocean liner bound for America, to star in a Hollywood movie. That kicks bandleader King Mantell (Fred MacMurray) out of the liner's royal suite, but not before he decides that the princess is the girl for him. The boat is also carrying an escaped killer, five international police experts on a vacation (Douglass Dumbrille, Lumsden Hare, Sig Ruman, Mischa Auer, Tetsu Komai) and a professional blackmailer (Porter Hall) who has three potential customers to corner -- and two of them are Mantell and the Princess.


Pushover
1954/b&w/88 min. | Scr: Roy Huggins; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak
This moody film noir features a vulnerable Novak as a bank robber's girlfriend who falls for a corrupt cop.


Queen of Outer Space
Kuchar sez: "Widescreen color serves this tapestry of draped cheesecake to great advantage, and so do the straight performances of all involved in this excellent display of space-age nonsense." Queen of Outer Space, based on a threadbare outline by famed screenwriter Ben Hecht, is an unapologetic paean to every comic book reader's fantasy -- the planet Venus is populated by hot love-starved chicks! -- and every single man's nightmare, a woman who, when literally burned by her last boyfriend, won't be satisfied until every man in the the literal universe is made to suffer. Loaded with buxom Star Trek-esque space babes, laughably archaic 50s sexism, and the loosest relationship to "science" you'll ever seen in a sci-fi flick. And while Laurie Mitchell may play the Queen of Outer Space, we all know who the real Queen of this movie is...why it's Zsa Zsa Gabor, dah-link!
Dir. Edward Bernds, 1958, 35mm, 80 min.


RADIO ON
(1979) Directed by Christopher Petit
Next Wave cinema collides head-on with New Wave tunes in this grim, black and white road movie. London DJ Robert (Beames) sets out for Bristol to investigate his brother's suicide, but the tortured souls he meets along the way ensure that his journey will not follow a straight line. Director Petit made the leap from Time Out critic to auteur with this film, in which the music of David Bowie, Kraftwerk and Devo propel the narrative forward as much as Robert's existential encounters and Schäfer's lingering shots of decaying, late '70s English landscapes. Radio On also features a memorable appearance by Sting, fresh off his Quadrophenia debut.
Cinematographer: Martin Schäfer. Camera: Sandy Ratcliff. Editor: Anthony Sloman. Cast: David Beames, Lisa Kreuzer. 35mm, 104 min.


Ratcatcher
Ratcatcher is a grim coming-of-age tale set in working-class Glasgow during a sanitation strike, but director Lynne Ramsey's imaginative flights of fantasy and masterful filmmaking seem to help her characters transcend the world of garbage and grime they inhabit. She selects her details with the taste of a great short-story teller, just a couple at a time; each image and sound is beautiful in some way, rich with potency. Ratcatcher seemingly documents spontaneous and unrecreatable real events, and also captures carefully composed images of a talented cinematographer; it is this balance of talents that makes Ramsey one of the rising stars of international cinema today. Incredibly, the film is her debut feature, and represents the best of a trend towards a modern poetic realism--films trying for hyper-realism in location and characters, but seeking to create a strange, mysterious quality, rather than just a gritty documentary world. Stunning.
Dir. Lynne Ramsay, 1999, 35mm, 94 min.


RED RINGS OF FEAR (ENIGMA ROSSO), 1978, 85 min. Director Alberto Negrin wraps up the SOLANGE trilogy in this giallo where more sexually precocious schoolgirls bite the dust. Fabio Testi is the police inspector on the murderer’s trail, and Christine Kaufmann is his girlfriend. Chock-full of red herrings, perverse twists, sleazy situations, outrageous dialogue and an out-of-left-field climax, punctuated by Riz Ortolani’s groovy score. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD


Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style
Return of the Rub-A-Dub Style charts the dual history of reggae soundsystem culture in Jamaica and its renewal at L.A.’s weekly Dub Club, held in Echo Park, where hardcore Jamaican micsmiths known as “deejays” come from around the world to “chat on the mic” with their lyrics of consciousness. Featured artists include Brigadier Jerry, Ranking Joe, Sister Nancy and U-Roy. A Q&A with director Steve Hanft, and a live performance by Ranking Joe, Tippa Lee, and the Echodelic Soundsystem will immediately follow the film.
Dir. Steve Hanft, 2008, HDCAM, 58 min.


Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
A movie you'll spend a lot of time attempting to describe to people, this Hong Kong splatter platter is a must-see amongst hardcore mondo movie fans. Adapted by Hong Kong filmmakers from a Japanese manga, Riki-Oh is the story of a hunky young innocent with superhuman strength, who kills some druggies who try and rape his girlfriend, and ends up in a corrupt prison. Piles of prosthetics and well-stocked blood hoses are put to good use as he murders with his bare hands every single baddie in the whole clink, in ascending levels of gory absurdity. Never has the term "must be seen to be believed" been more appropriate than with Riki-Oh. And what other movie has an evil warden who keeps breath mints in his fake eye? Huh? Ok, maybe in the director's cut of The Green Mile, but otherwise it's a rarity!
Dir. Ngai Kai Lam, 1991, 35mm, 88 min.


ROCK 'N TOKYO
Rock ‘N Tokyo, an jolt of Japanese energy profiling some of their tightest and fastest bands, like Guitar Wolf and The 5.6.7.8.s, followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Pamela Valente. Dir. Pamela Valente, 2007, Betacam, 90 min.


ROOM SERVICE, 1938, Warner Bros., 78 min. Dir. William A. Seiter. Groucho, Chico, and Harpo stall to extend their hotel credit while trying to mount a play -- with the expected chaotic results -- in this zany Marx Brothers farce. Based on the play by Allen Boretz and John Murray, ROOM SERVICE is not only a delightful showcase for the brothers themselves, but for comedienne Lucille Ball, whose presence almost makes up for the lack of Margaret Dumont!


Samurai Rebellion
Samurai Rebellion is another triumph from Masaki Kobayashi, which again explores Kobayashi's great theme, "resisting entrenched authority". This time directing Toshiro Mifune in a story of feudal-era political intrigue, vengeance and loyalty, Kobayashi uses his knowledge of traditional Japanese aesthetics to choreograph his action and camera movement with a stately, geometric precision. The story concerns a warlord's retainer (Mifune) who has happily promised his beautiful daughter to her true love, but his decadent master has claimed the girl as his own. After his attempts to negotiate backfire, Mifune has no choice but to turn to his sword in a beautiful and brutal climactic showdown. Kobayashi's fatalistic view of society made him an outcast in the Japanese industry, yet films like Samurai Rebellion were always popular successes both in Japan and abroad--a measure of how powerful and disturbing a critique of power they could express.
Dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 1967, 35mm, 128 min.


SANSHO THE BAILIFF
Set in 11th century Japan, this monumental Mizoguchi drama focuses on a noble family torn apart by feudal barbarism. Setting off to find their patriarch--an idealistic provincial governor driven into exile--the mother and her two children are kidnapped and sold into slavery. After many hardships, the son rises to the office of governor under the guidance of his master, the tyrannical Sansho Dayu. Mizoguchi and cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa masterfully convey the characters' sorrow and resilience with long takes, deep focus lensing, and fluid camera movements.


THE SECRET OF DORIAN GRAY (IL DIO CHIAMATO DORIAN), 1970, 93 min. Massimo Dallamano (WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO SOLANGE?) directs this Mod, super-trashy update on Oscar Wilde’s classic. Narcissistic youth Dorian (Helmut Berger) has his portrait painted by his artist friend Basil (Richard Todd). As time passes and he falls into an ever-more-decadent lifestyle, he remains perpetually young. However, his painting registers every bit of his depravity, drawing him deeper into an inescapable nightmare, culminating in murder. With Herbert Lom, Marie Liljedahl, Margaret Lee.


Seduced and Abandoned
1964/b&w/117 min. | Scr: Pietro Germi, Luciano Vincenzoni; dir: Germi; w/ Stefania Sandrelli, Saro Urzi, Aldo Puglisi.
Shotgun weddings, kidnapping, attempted murder, emergency dental work—the things Don Vincenzo will do to restore his family's honor! Germi's follow-up to his international sensation Divorce Italian Style skewers Sicilian social customs and pompous patriarchies with a sly, devilish grin. "Maliciously funny … in a crowded, cartoonish style that suggests the work of Preston Sturges."—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader.


Shakma
Remember hearing about the California man whose pet chimp went ape and ripped off his face and testicles? Did it make you flinch, covering your own parts in sympathy? Get ready to flinch once again, for Shakma will swipe at your jewels in a bloodthirsty rage. Christopher Atkins (the deeply tanned star of The Blue Lagoon) and his friends hang out after-hours in their med school building playing (what else?) a D&D-like role playing game run by game master Roddy McDowall (or as he pronounces it, "Gay Master"), and proceed to have their throats ripped out by an angered, psychotic lab test baboon who hunts them down one by one. The real stars of the film are the production's animal handlers, who managed to not get themselves or the filmmakers killed while their baboon actor forcefully hurled itself at doors, windows, its co-stars or anything else in its path, screaming bloody murder all the while in a truly terrifying electric rage.
Dirs. Tom Logan & Hugh Parks, 1990, 35mm, 101 min.


THE SHANGHAI GESTURE
Legendary director Josef von Sternberg is renowned for his critically praised, sensitive films offering insight into the delicate male-female dynamic. The Shanghai Gesture is not one of them. Shot mostly while the director was laid up flat on his back in pain, this wonderfully overheated 1941 melodrama follows the misadventures of pretty Poppy (Gene Tierney), who slides into the booze and gambling world of Shanghai, thanks to the unholy influence of Mother Gin Sling (Ona Munson, sporting some of funniest hairdos in Hollywood history), while her estranged dad (Walter Huston) tries to intervene. This dreamlike orgy of Art Deco excess, quotable juicy dialogue and surreal plotting offers one compulsive guilty pleasure after another, showing exactly where Kenneth Anger got most of his ideas. For years this was considered an embarrassment for the director, but its avid cult following would certainly argue otherwise. The Shanghai Gesture Dir. Josef von Sternberg, 1941, 35mm, 98 min.


SINNERS IN THE SUN
A model and a mechanic experience wealth, fall in love. Alexander Hall melodrama w/ Carole Lombard, Chester Morris. 1932, Paramount.


S.O.B., 1981, Warner Bros., 122 min. Dir. Blake Edwards. When director Richard Mulligan's expensive musical turns out to be a flop, he decides to recut it as an erotic epic that will exploit the squeaky-clean image of star Julie Andrews. This hilarious and trenchant satire has echoes of Edwards' own experiences making DARLING LILI, but its comedy reaches beyond mere score-settling to present a mercilessly funny -- and at times surprisingly sweet – poison-pen love letter to the American cinema. The great supporting cast includes William Holden, Robert Webber, Robert Vaughn, Larry Hagman (J.R. of "Dallas") and a very young Rosanna Arquette.


Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake
In the summer of 2006, a group of seven high school students from Reno, NV, set out to make a documentary on Sonic Youth. As part of a non-profit organization called 'Project Moonshine', these teens were given cameras and a few days of training and set loose to record a day in the life of
Sonic Youth. Shot on the 4th of July, this intimate documentary is a behind the scenes look at one of the most influential indie bands of all time and contains some of the most insightful and candid concert footage ever recorded. Shot in glorious black and white, highlights in the set include 'Tom Violence,' 'Shaking Hell,' 'Mote,' 'Incinerate' and 'Kool Thing.' Filled with
behind-the-scenes interviews with Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo as well as their guitar techs and sound engineers, original performances and a little basketball, the result is a point of view that is authentically refreshing, with an honesty and innocence not often found in veteran documentary filmmakers. A Q&A with director Michael Albright will follow the screening.
Dir. Michael Albright, 2007, DigiBeta, 82 min.


THE SPACE MOVIE, 1979, Virgin Vision, 80 min. Created to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Moon landing, British filmmaker Tony Palmer made this spectacular film about NASA's space program and in particular the lunar explorations that led to the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. NASA provided unprecedented access to its archives and its Deep Space satellite imagery -- which Palmer weaves together with respect and a deft hand. Binding the broadly-sourced footage together was Palmer's inspired selection of a young Mike Oldfield to score the film. Preceded by special presentation of footage from NASA's launch this year of the Beatles song "Across The Universe" into Deep Space. Discussion following with filmmaker Tony Palmer and astronaut Buzz Aldrin. Ultra-Rare Mike Oldfield score! Celebrating NASA's 50th Anniversary!


STRANGERS MAY KISS
The love of a woman for an undependable reporter leads to a surprise. George Fitzmaurice drama w/ Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery. 1931, M-G-M.


Strangers When We Meet
1960/color//117 min./ Panavision | Scr: Evan Hunter; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Kim Novak, Kirk Douglas, Ernie Kovacs, Walter Matthau
A married architect constructing an ultramodern Bel Air house embarks on a secret affair with a beautiful suburban mother.


Street Trash
Street Trash is a film that really has no right being any good at all; the concept sounds like your average Troma movie, and the all-over-the-map storyline threatens to blow apart into incoherence at any second. This little sickie (derived from Kurosawa's Dodes-ka-den, naturally) has a liquor store owner uncovering a long-lost crate of booze called Tenafly Viper, which he sells to the homeless for a dollar; unfortunately, Viper also causes the consumer to bubble, burst, and melt in a bright shrieking mess of pastel colors. Also swirling around in this city-sized toilet are hookers (both dead and alive), corrupt cops, swaggering Mafiosi, flying genitalia, a deadly acetylene tank, and much, much more. Street Trash is guaranteed to either make you laugh, or puke a little in your mouth.
Dir. J. Michael Muro, 1987, 35mm, 91 min.


Such Hawks, Such Hounds
A heavy, heavy film exploring the music and musicians of the American hard rock underground circa 1970-2007, emphasizing psychedelic and '70s proto-metal-derived styles such as doom metal, stoner rock, desert rock and space rock, which have in recent years all formed a rich tapestry of ear-splitting sounds. The film charts the evolution of these styles, while serving as a character study of the musicians themselves: artists on the fringes of both straight society and hip indie circles. We see how these musicians work and live, and how they sustain careers outside the rock mainstream. Bands featured include Pentagram, Black Sabbath, Dead Meadow, Earthless, Fu Manchu, Sleep, Comets on Fire, Kyuss and Nebula. DJ Tony "Tee Pee" Presedo will be presiding over the decks before and after the show, and following the screening will be a Q&A with filmmakers John Srebalus and Jessica Hundley, and a live performance by San Diego psych band Earthless.
Dirs. John Srebalus, 2007, digital presentation, 82 min.


SUDDENLY LAST SUMMER
Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn both earned Oscar nominations for their riveting performances in Tennessee Williams' classic story. When the beautiful Catherine (Taylor), committed to a mental institution, threatens to disrupt the eerily intimate relationship between her possessive Aunt Violet (Hepburn) and Violet's son, Sebastian, Violet tries to influence a young surgeon (Montgomery Clift) to lobotomize Catherine. Instead, the doctor helps Catherine uncover the truth about her cousin.


Sunrise (with live music by My Education [Austin, TX])
As part of The Cinefamily's ongoing attempt to merge modern music with silent film, the Austin, TX-based instrumental band My Education will appear live to perform the score they've written for F.M. Murnau's 1928 silent masterpiece Sunrise. In Murnau's morality tale, Anses (George O'Brien), a sensitive and easily-swayed farmer, falls under the spell of The Woman From The City (Margaret Livingston), a jezebel who convinces him to run off with her -- but only after he murders his innocent wife Indre (Janet Gaynor). Murnau used his expert German Expressionist techniques to craft a fairytale ride through the tortured mental landscape of a man caught between devotion and seduction, making Sunrise (widely regarded as one of the best films ever made) the most vibrant of all his Hollywood productions. My Education's densely textured accompaniment to the film, a mix of turbulent rock theatrics and lush ambient work, first premiered at Austin's legendary Alamo Drafthouse in 2007, and makes its L.A. debut at the Cinefamily.
Dir. F.W. Murnau, 1927, digital presentation, 95 min.


Sword of Doom
In the tradition of comparing the samurai film to the western, Sword of Doom would be High Plains Drifter or The Wild Bunch: stylish, pitch-black, ultraviolent, with an anti-hero far beyond good and evil--the ultimate embodiment of amoral killing technique. Period specialist Kihachi Okamoto skillfully adapts Shinobu Hashimoto's bestselling novel about the emptiness of revenge. Tatsuya Nakadai is unforgettable as an orphan-turned-samurai whose one ambition--to avenge his father's murder--leads him to forsake any semblance of humanity or pity. Toshiro Mifune is his instructor, who is increasingly appalled by his pupil's cruelty, but helpless to match his swordsmanship. Sword of Doom culminates in what may be the most stunning blowout of abstract bloodletting ever filmed in black-and-white.
Dir. Kihachi Okamoto, 1966, 35mm, 119 min.


Sylvia
Former "Baby Doll" Carrol Baker goes from playing a nymphet to playing a nympho in this soapy tale of a prostitute-turned-poetess, told from the point-of-view of her former johns and fellow hookers, all interviewed by private eye George Maharis. Sylvia’s millionaire fiancé wishes to discover her true past before he ties the knot, so he hires Maharis, who uncovers a list of sins and transgressions that would make a housewife blush, or, at least, that's what the producers were hoping with this hilarious potboiler. Plus, there's a drag queen/pimp who sings a torch song and then karate chops a wooden board as his finale. Kuchar sez: "Something very special, because of the oddity in exposition and lurid overtones that are more fun to soak in than wallow in.”
(Print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive)
Dir. Gordon Douglas, 1965, 16mm, 115 min.


TECHNO CHAPLIN
Visual effects supervisor Craig Barron and silent film author John Bengtson will examine the filmmaking techniques and Hollywood landmarks hidden in one of Charlie Chaplin’s greatest films, MODERN TIMES (1936). The virtuoso work, written, produced and directed by Chaplin, marks the Little Tramp’s final film appearance and arguably the culmination of the silent film era.
In MODERN TIMES Chaplin made significant use of technical effects such as matte shots, process shots, miniatures and rear projection to complement real-life industrial settings. Barron and Bengtson’s presentation will include a multimedia tour of 1930s Los Angeles, offering a visual treasure hunt of the evolving city that served as a backdrop for Chaplin’s art. Rare behind-the-scenes photos will reveal how the film’s many special effects were created.
The evening’s special screening of a high-definition digitally restored 35mm print of MODERN TIMES is courtesy of Kino International.


THE TENDER TRAP, 1955, Warner Bros., 111 min. Dir. Charles Walters. Debbie Reynolds stars as the ambitious Julie, who happens upon womanizing theatrical agent and Manhattan socialite Charlie Reader (Frank Sinatra). Celeste Holm is delightful as Reynolds’ prime competition.


TIKI ON TV
Approx. 30 min. Watch seldom-seen Tiki TV classics presented by Los Angeles artist Kevin Kidney. Just as mainland Tiki restaurants and watering holes perfected the artifice of exotic environments, Hollywood's hills and backlots masqueraded as the island tropics for television viewers of the ‘50s and ‘60s. Filled with clip highlights from the shows themselves, Kevin's program will include never-before-seen images and fascinating ephemera -- and explore how these programs influenced other areas of midcentury American culture, from nightlife to travel.


The Temptress
The Temptress tells the story of a woman so completely luscious and irresistible that her mere presence is a hazard to the loyalties, physical well-beings, and local economic infrastructures of all she encounters. No mistake, then, that director Fred Niblo (Camille, Blood and Sand) cast Greta Garbo in the lead role--her beauty and brilliance in this film are devastating, if not utterly decimating. In this passionate drama, she plays Elena, married to a Marquis in Paris, but having hurried affairs with both a banker and a South American architect. After the distraught banker commits suicide over not having her to himself, Elena flees the scene and follows the architect to Argentina, where she manages to bring the entire country’s male population to its knees in a lustful panic. It's tempting to rein in the superlatives, if only to be fair to our other Sirens, but come on--it's Garbo.
Dirs. Fred Niblo & Mauritz Stiller, 1926, 35mm, 106 min.


This is The Life
This Is The Life tells the little-known story of a group of teens who, starting in 1989, regularly met at the South Central L.A. health food store The Good Life and revolutionized hip-hop by innovating rhyme patterns, melodic concepts and lyrical styles used by many of today's biggest rap stars. Directed by former Good Life emcee Ava DuVernay, the film features interviews and performances from members of Freestyle Fellowship, Jurassic 5 and more. A filmmaker Q&A with Ava DuVernay will follow the screening.
Dir. Ava DuVernay, 2008, DigiBeta, 97 min.


The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
"I doubt we shall ever see...as good a job on bumming, a bum's life, a city as a bum sees it...or a crueler communication of hardship, labor, and exhuastion." - James Agee
John Huston's masterpiece The Treasure of the Sierra Madre is an embarrassment of riches, thematically and cinematically, but also in terms of the savory minutia of beautiful loserdom: itinerant work, flophouses, lottery tickets, prospecting, shifty bosses, hazy schemes, misplaced trust, sweaty paranoia, and yes, even that patron saint of losers, the grizzled old coot. Add to this mix the rib-sticking performances of Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston, an Oscar-winning screenplay and direction, and a vivid location shoot South of the border, and there's no way one could walk away unsatisfied.
Dir. John Huston, 1948, 35mm, 126 min.


TRYPPS
Blasting out of Chicago, experimental filmmaker Ben Russell makes vibrant, “tryppy” films as emotional as they are beautiful to sink in to. His Black and White Trypps subjects range from elliptical trees in high contrast to a crowd at a Lightning Bolt show to a Richard Pryor performance blown out visually. His newest captures workers in Dubai leaving a factory, a nod to early silent film. Russell will also perform The American War (#10), a 16mm double-projection live performance involving film loops, mixer feedback, a delay pedal, and a homemade light-sensitive synthesizer. WARNING: This show contains visuals that may be harmful to those with epilepsy.
Dir. Ben Russell, 2005-2008, 16mm/35mm, 60 min.


20TH CENTURY
Howard Hawks' classic with John Barrymore as the maniacal Broadway director who takes talented starlet Carole Lombard and transforms her into a smashing success adored by the public and press. But when Lombard tires of Barrymore's manic-excessive ways, she heads to Hollywood for even greater stardom, but possibly loses the one good thing in her life--Barrymore. A treasure.


TWO OR THREE THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER (2 OU 3 CHOSES QUE JE SAIS D’ELLE), 1967, Rialto, 100 min. Is she Marina Vlady or Juliette Janson? asks the narrating Godard in a conspiratorial whisper. She’s both: an actress in a film and a housewife from the Paris suburbs who turns tricks in the city to make ends meet. With characters casually addressing the camera, a conversation between complete strangers in a bistro – all underscored by relentless thuddings of a pinball machine – and an unblinking gaze at the cosmic whirls of foam in a coffee cup. "Amid splashes of bold color, discordant sound, and brilliant observation, the personal meets the political... the new CinemaScope print makes this perennial must-see a must-see-now." – Manohla Dargis, New York Times.


Ugetsu Monogatari
Kenji Mizoguchi's poetic film is set in feudal, war-ravaged, 16th-century Japan and focuses on the opposite fortunes of two peasants who abandon their families to accumulate wealth and prestige and find emptiness and despair. The film is remarkable for its expressive photography, diagonal compositions and uninterrupted takes. With Machiko Kyo and Masayuki Mori. "Scenes of everyday life alternate with those of a dreamlike, erotic intensity. At the end it is difficult to remember where reality stops and hallucination begins" (Newsweek).


THE VIOLENT PROFESSIONALS (MILANO TREMA – LA POLIZIA VUOLE GIUSTIZIA), 1973, Grindhouse Releasing, 104 min. Giallo master Sergio Martino helmed other genre pictures, too, including this ultra-violent and subversive poliziotteschi. Ferocious cop Luc Merenda (TORSO) swears revenge when his boss is murdered. He infiltrates a prostitution ring, but soon uncovers evidence of a major political conspiracy. Right-wing politicians are secretly manipulating radicals as pawns so they’ll have an excuse to step in and order a major clampdown. Co-starring Richard Conte.


Wanda
Shot in 16mm reversal stock with a four-person crew, including writer-director-star Barbara Loden herself, Wanda is a small miracle of independent filmmaking. Loden plays a poverty-stricken housewife who listlessly allows her marriage to end, and her children to be taken away from her. From there, she begins a nomadic, existential wander through Pennyslvannia coal-country, finally drifting into a relationship as the disrespected sidekick to a middle-aged crook, Mr. Dennis. The straight-shot storyline and semi-improvisational style allows for a wealth of detail, both in the working-class milieu and the subtle performances (Loden was a talented actress, featured in her husband Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass and Wild River). Widely praised internationally, and given the Critics' Prize at the 1970 Venice Film Festival, Wanda never managed to secure commercial distribution, and thus became not only a lost classic, but the only film that Loden directed before her early death at age 48.
Dir. Barbara Loden, 1970, DigiBeta, 102 min.


WASTED ORIENT
Wasted Orient, a profile of Chinese band Joyside (also in Beijing Bubbles). Obsessed with Johnny Thunders and American punk, the film follows the band spreading their beer-soaked message across an unprepared Chinese countryside. Dir. Kevin Fritz, 2006, digital presentation, 92 min.


WEIRD WOMAN
Weird Woman, presented under the aegis of the "Inner Sanctum" radio series, the film takes campus politics and sexual tension, and somehow encapsules it into a Universal Studios B-movie voodoo horror plot. Kuchar: Weird Woman has Lon Chaney Jr. in one of his finest roles as he alternates from thoughtful academic to blunt bloke in a matter of seconds. He also looks good in a suit with the hair combed. A very fine and truthful film about the world of academia." Dir. Reginald Le Borg, 1944, 16mm, 63 min.


WELCOME DANGER (X 2)
(1929) Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Ted Wilde
Harold Lloyd's 12th silent feature film was Welcome Danger, directed by Ted Wilde and Mal St. Clair—but wait a moment! Welcome Danger was directed by Clyde Bruckman, and it was Lloyd's first sound feature, wasn't it? What's going on?
Welcome Danger was indeed begun as a silent directed by Wilde, who was replaced due to illness by St. Clair. But the sound revolution was in full swing by the time the production had wrapped, and Lloyd, fearful of releasing a silent in a talkie-dominated market, reworked the story, replaced the cast and some of the crew, scrapped most of what had been shot, and started all over again, shooting silent and sound versions simultaneously.
Unfortunately for comedy fans, the abandoned Welcome Danger is lost but the subsequent sound and silent versions remain in existence, preserved by the Archive.
Grosses for the sound version were higher than for any other Lloyd picture (due primarily to the novelty for theater patrons of hearing the star speak), but contemporary reviews were not uniformly enthusiastic. Though Lloyd believed it to be a success at the time, in later years he wished it had remained a silent.
The silent version, for the most part adapted from the talkie version, was released as well, to accommodate theaters that still had not converted to sound. While the differences between the two are minor, the sound version is, admittedly, minor Lloyd, rife with many of the pitfalls associated with early sound movies—although even minor Lloyd is entertaining.
The silent version somehow just seems funnier, the comedy comes to life in ways the sound feature—weighed down by unnecessary and improvised dialogue, grunts of exertion and cries for help—could never quite manage. And though hampered by some of the same problems that beset other silent versions of sound films—particularly an overabundance of titles meant to reproduce as much of the dialogue as possible—in general, Welcome Danger works better as a silent. Snappier and better paced than its sound double, it proves an enjoyable coda to a silent film career that was among the cinema's brightest.
This double bill presents both the silent and sound versions of Welcome Danger for a unique and fascinating chance to compare the two films and decide for yourself!
Presented by Jere Guldin, UCLA Film Preservationist.
Live musical accompaniment for silent version by Michael Mortilla.
Screenplay: Clyde Bruckman, Lex Neal, Felix Adler, Paul Gerard Smith. Cast: Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent, Noah Young. Approx. 240 min.


WHAT WE DO IS SECRET
“Everything starts with a germ,” explains lead singer Darby Crash (Shane West) of The Germs, “the most unpredictable, the most chaotic, and the least understood band in the whole Los Angeles punk rock scene.” In December of 1975, Crash, then known as Jan Paul Beahm, makes a five-year plan inspired by David Bowie. After recruiting other high school outsiders, his first task is to get a gig on stage, and after that, learn how to play instruments. Accompanied by bandmates, dubbed Pat Smear and Lorna Doom (Bijou Phillips), Crash makes a reputation by self-mutilating on stage, and audiences go crazy for it. Soon their underground success lands them a record deal, produced by Joan Jett. But when their antics get them banned from every venue in Los Angeles, The Germs must assume false names and stage surprise gigs to please their fans. As with most rock legends, fame isn’t enough for Crash, whose heroin addiction quickly progresses to deathly proportions. Rodger Grossman’s debut as writer, director, and producer, WHAT WE DO IS SECRET, aptly chronicles the volatile rise and fall of Darby Crash and The Germs.


WHITE WOMAN
Gong beaters turn on a ruthless jungle trader and the well-dressed blonde who goes with him. Stuart Walker melodrama w/ Carole Lombard, Charles Laughton, Charles Bickford.


Why Change Your Wife?
When diva Gloria Swanson appeared in Cecil B. Demille's silent comedy Why Change Your Wife?, she was on her second of seven marriages, and well on her way to being the highest-paid movie star of the Jazz Age. The '20s established Swanson as a magnetic and captivating dream girl (a far cry from the crazed Norma Desmond from Sunset Boulevard), and her famously unnecessary costume changes further enchanted film audiences that were already taken with her unique glamor. Swanson's bookish character in Wife is the nerdy spouse of a playboy who's quick to leave her for the delectable, empty-headed Bebe Daniels (two sirens for the price of one!) After the former gets an extensive makeover, the married couple run into each other at a summer resort, and the film's title is addressed to hilarious effect.
Dir. Cecil B. Demille, 1920, 16mm, 90 min.


WOMENS FILMS at 8pm: STACEY STEERS' Phantom Canyon ('06, 10m) meticulous handmade collages explores a woman's fantastical journey through memories. COURTNEY EGAN's Big Shtick ('03, 3m) makes the case that “the stick is the shtick” in this tool-driven tour through American cinematic entertainment, The Mummy's Dance ('04,4m) embodies a mute obsession with body image, in constant flux, wishing to live forever, embalmed in youth, and The Chaos Hags ('03, 8m) experimental digital animations as visual metaphors for psychological states of mind, body sensations and memories. AMY ROSE SAMPSON's 25 minutes of provocative experimental short films using green screen technology to alter and question her place in reality. WEDNESDAY ALEXANDER's The Prince of the USA ('07, 57m) at 9pm - A young man proclaims himself the Prince of the USA with the paperwork to prove it. Is he insane, serious, or a big prankster?


The Wrecking Crew
You heard them playing on the Beach Boys hits, on the Mamas and the Papas' tunes, on Frank Sinatra records, on Monkees' singles and they were Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Simply put, you heard them everywhere. They have performed on more number-one charted singles than the Beatles, and were one of rock and roll's most legendary bands, a hit-making machine. Most likely, you never heard their name; if you knew who they were, you called them the Wrecking Crew. Denny Tedesco, son of Crew member Tommy Tedesco, knew their story was too important to leave to just a small circle of friends, and set out to film his father and other members of the Wrecking Crew to capture their story firsthand. The film features conversations with Brian Wilson, Cher, Nancy Sinatra, Mickey Dolenz, Herb Alpert, Lou Adler, Dick Clark, Jimmy Webb, Brian Wilson, Roger McGuinn and many others. Denny Tedesco will be present for a post-screening Q&A, and Boyd Rice will be on-hand to DJ, and to VJ vintage scopitones both before and after the screening.
Dir. Denny Tedesco, 2008, HDCAM, 95 min.


You Think You Really Know Me: The Gary Wilson Story
Championed by the likes of Beck and Matt Groening, and obsessed over by record collectors, Gary Wilson’s album “You Think You Really Know Me” is one of the most unique, personal musical statements of the 1970s. Inspired by the seminal album’s 2002 reissue, director Michael Wolk set out to learn more about its creator, only to find that Wilson had vanished shortly after its release, making for a story just as peculiar as the album itself. You Think You Really Know Me: The Gary Wilson Story is a look at the bittersweet life of a musician well ahead of his time and ripe for rediscovery. As a special treat, Gary Wilson will perform live on the Cinefamily stage after the screening.
Dir. Michael Wolk, 2005, digital presentation, 74 min.


YOU WEREN'T THERE: A HISTORY OF CHICAGO PUNK 1977-1984
You Weren’t There is a gritty, exhilarating look back on the impact punk had on the Windy City. From what is now considered to be the first punk club in America (La Mere Vipere) to other proto-hardcore clubs and DIY venues, Chicagoans made sure that there were outlets for the genre that was often blacklisted by the mainstream rock scene. Featuring archival footage of Naked Raygun, Big Black and more. Dirs. Joe Losurdo & Chris Tillman, 2007, digital presentation, 120 min.