a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
thu. jul. 2
scott walker 30 century man, absolute beginners @ new beverly theatre
citay @ silverlake lounge
mr. michel's dog, the moon in the gutter @ egyptian theatre
dr. strangelove, the loved one @ aero theatre
chicano rock!: the sounds of east los angeles 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
dead meadow @ echoplex
ghostworld 10 PM @ downtown independent
fri. jul. 3
ema & the ghosts @ mr. t's bowl
bipolar bear @ ghost house
the sting, slap shot @ aero theatre
sat. jul. 4
the great gatsby, citizen kane @ starlight studio screenings
red dawn MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
jaws @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
imaad wasif 6 PM @ new weird america fest @ nomad gallery
timonium @ pehrspace
monty python and the holy grail, life of brian @ aero theatre
strange boys, abe vigoda, etc @ best summer this year unplugged (highland park)
sun. jul. 5
bipolar bear @ the smell
locked-in syndrome, roselyne and the lions @ egyptian theatre
the princess bride, roxanne @ aero theatre
brazil @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
frank fairfield @ echo curio
tue. jul. 7
jerry beck presents: frank tashlin toons 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
angels with dirty faces 1 PM @ lacma
wed. jul. 8
bert jansch @ largo
watts ensemble 10 PM @ bootleg theater
mortal transfer, diva @ egyptian theatre
born to kill, odds against tomorrow @ aero theatre
ferris bueller's day off FREE 8 PM @ century city mall food court terrace
200 motels, fritz the cat @ new beverly theatre
love 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
mika miko, ty segall @ the smell
thu. jul. 9
opera, cemetery man @ egyptian theatre
the haunting, the day the earth stood still @ aero theatre
200 motels, fritz the cat @ new beverly theatre
hungarian rock night 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
fri. jul. 10
paranoia, a quiet place to kill @ egyptian theatre
ilsa she wolf of the s.s., ilsa harem keeper of the oil sheiks, bare knuckles @ new beverly theatre
ivan the terrible parts i & ii @ lacma
muppet history 101 8 PM, muppet music moments @ silent movie theatre
the dark crystal MIDNIGHT @ silent movie theatre
jon brion @ largo
static static @ show cave
sat. jul. 11
night of the iguana @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
earthless @ troubadour
foot village, gowns @ the smell
wild at heart @ devil's night drive-in
hercules in the haunted world, duel of the titans @ egyptian theatre
ilsa she wolf of the s.s., ilsa harem keeper of the oil sheiks, bare knuckles @ new beverly theatre
ivan the terrible parts i & ii @ lacma
the yankee clipper 8 PM @ heritage square museum lawn
the lonely lady 8 PM, butterfly @ silent movie theatre
sun. jul. 12
sparrows 2 PM @ alex theatre
oneida, amps for christ @ the echo
sartana, minnesota clay @ egyptian theatre
la dolce vita 6 PM @ new beverly theatre
ema & the ghosts @ pehrspace
the wicker man @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
mon. jul. 13
ninotchka 7 PM @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater
la dolce vita 8 PM @ new beverly theatre
tue. jul. 14
la dolce vita 8 PM @ new beverly theatre
etienne! 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
luluc @ hotel cafe
wed. jul. 15
watts ensemble @ bootleg theater
the next victim, queens of evil @ egyptian theatre
sappho 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
fol chen FREE 7 PM @ pershing square
raiders of the lost ark FREE 8 PM @ century city mall food court terrace
mika miko FREE 2 PM @ santa monica public library mlk jr. auditorium
back to the future FREE 8 PM @ yamashiro lounge
luluc @ bootleg theater
thu. jul. 16
machine gun mccain, high crime @ egyptian theatre
medium cool, coming home @ aero theatre
america's lost band: the remains 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
fri. jul. 17
modern vampires, shrunken heads @ egyptian theatre
prophecy: the monster movie MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
bigger than life 7:30, 9:30 PM @ lacma
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind MIDNIGHT @ regency fairfax theater
muppet fairy tales 8 PM, labyrinth @ silent movie theatre
mika miko @ the smell
jon brion @ largo
sat. jul. 18
bride of frankenstein @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
giant drag @ beach dazed @ out of asia
forbidden zone 8 PM @ egyptian theatre
to live and die in l.a. MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
20,000 leagues under the sea 4 PM @ lacma
pandora and the flying dutchman @ lacma
age of consent 9:45 PM @ lacma
early films by robert frank @ silent movie theatre
the morlocks @ the bullet allnighter
get crazy 10:15 PM @ new year's in july party @ silent movie theatre
a modern musketeer 8 PM @ heritage square museum lawn
superman rarities 2 PM @ skirball center
bipolar bear @ the smell
sun. jul. 19
the phantom tollbooth 4 PM @ aero theatre
the warriors (cast members in person), the long riders @ new beverly theatre
films by and about robert frank @ filmforum @ egyptian theatre
kenneth anger films @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
private beach @ echo curio
the cameraman 8 PM @ silents under the stars @ paramount ranch (agoura)
telic fundraiser @ mandrake bar
mon. jul. 20
the pains of being pure at heart, girls @ the echo
the warriors, the long riders @ new beverly theatre
pocket full of soul 6 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ the talking stick
tue. jul. 21
ditty bops @ steve allen theater
heartbeat 100, angel enforcers @ new beverly theatre
wed. jul. 22
watts ensemble 10 PM @ bootleg theater
boxcar bertha, bound for glory @ new beverly theatre
show people 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
ghostbusters FREE 8 PM @ century city mall food court terrace
beverly hills cop FREE 8 PM @ yamashiro lounge
fred armisen @ largo
thu. jul. 23
monty python's the meaning of life, monty python and the holy grail @ egyptian theatre
atlantic city @ aero theatre
it came from detroit 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
eskimo hunter FREE 8 PM @ hammer museum
squirrel nut zippers FREE @ santa monica pier twilight dance series
fri. jul. 24
pagan love song, diamond head @ egyptian theatre
tokyo!, paris je t'aime @ new beverly theatre
terminal island @ ucla film archive
the reckless moment @ lacma
odd man out 9 PM @ lacma
van dyke parks & inara george @ mccabe's
mike watt, the living sickness @ redwood bar
sat. jul. 25
the muppet movie @ cinespia @ hollywood forever
the devil at 4 o'clock @ egyptian theatre
raiders of the lost ark 5 PM, indiana jones and the temple of doom, indiana jones and the last crusade @ aero theatre
tokyo! 3:00 PM 7:30 PM, paris je t'aime 5:10 PM 9:40 PM @ new beverly theatre
dangerous men MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
cut chemist FREE 6 PM @ getty center
the garden of eden 8 PM @ heritage square museum lawn
jason and the argonauts FREE 11 AM @ getty villa
sun. jul. 26
playtime (70mm) @ aero theatre
the human condition i: no greater love 7 PM @ new beverly theatre
the echo park lake paddle boat regatta 4 PM
the mekons @ mccabe's
clash of the titans FREE 11 AM @ getty villa
mon. jul. 27
the mekons @ the echo
the human condition ii: the road to eternity 8 PM @ new beverly theatre
bad girls go to hell, another day another man @ ucla film archive
of mice and men 7 PM @ ampas samuel goldwyn theater
tue. jul. 28
the human condition iii: a soldier's prayer 8 PM @ new beverly theatre
wed. jul. 29
watts ensemble 10 PM @ bootleg theater
the limits of control, broken flowers @ new beverly theatre
ella cinders 8 PM, orchids and ermine @ silent movie theatre
the goonies FREE 8 PM @ yamashiro lounge
sunset blvd. 8 PM @ AFI 100s @ arclight hollywood
thu. jul. 30
godzilla mothra & king ghidorah: giant monsters all-out attack, battle in outer space @ egyptian theatre
the limits of control, broken flowers @ new beverly theatre
pardon us for living but the graveyard is full 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
the goonies FREE 7:30 PM @ universal citywalk
fri. jul. 31
upsilon acrux @ eagle rock center for arts
the terminator, terminator 2: judgment day @ aero theatre
stunt rock MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
the big lebowski MIDNIGHT @ regency fairfax theater
5 fingers @ lacma
the deadly affair 9:30 PM @ lacma
jim henson commercials and experiments 8 PM, 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
deerhoof @ echoplex
jon brion @ largo
dead meadow @ henry miller library (big sur)
sat. aug. 1
shanghai express, the bitter tea of general yen @ starlight studio screenings
timonium @ pehrspace
it's a bikini world, angel angel down we go @ egyptian theatre
ghostbusters 7 PM @ hollywood almost free outdoor cinema
lolita @ lacma
sun. aug. 2
uncle meat, cafe l.a.: the beat generation in los angeles @ egyptian theatre
upsilon acrux @ the smell
mon. aug. 3
gator bait @ ucla film archive
wed. aug. 5
bury me an angel @ ucla film archive
the extra girl 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
abe vigoda, bipolar bear @ the smell
thu. aug. 6
wesley willis' joyrides 8 PM, haack... the king of techno @ silent movie theatre
fri. aug. 7
razorback MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
sat. aug. 8
the slumber party massacre @ ucla film archive
dead meadow @ arts theatre (long beach)
tue. aug. 11
sunn O))) @ eagle rock center for arts
to my great chagrin: the unbelievable story of brother theodore 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
thu. aug. 13
i need that record! 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
fri. aug. 14
leon morin priest @ lacma
the aztec mummy vs. the human robot @ hammer museum
sat. aug. 15
leon morin priest @ lacma
shaun of the dead 7 PM @ hollywood almost free outdoor cinema
sun. aug. 16
the 5,000 fingers of dr. t FREE 11 AM @ hammer museum
mon. aug. 17
forgotten tenor 6 PM @ 7 dudley cinema @ the talking stick
tue. aug. 18
my own private crucifixion 7 PM @ larry johnson film series @ hammer museum
thu. aug. 20
on/off: mark stewart from the pop group to the maffia 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
fri. aug. 21
the sonics @ echoplex
aliens MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
the strong sex @ hammer museum
sat. aug. 22
bipolar bear @ redwood bar
fast times at ridgemont high @ devil's night drive-in
sun. aug. 23
occult USA: the process church of the final judgment 6 PM @ silent movie theatre
the planet of the female invaders 7 PM @ hammer museum
tue. aug. 25
the cincinnati kid 1 PM @ lacma
wed. aug. 26
male and female 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
kurt vile @ troubadour
thu. aug. 27
night flight tribute night 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
dirtbombs @ the echo
fri. aug. 28
os mutantes @ echoplex
ted leo & the pharmacists @ the echo
office space MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
ape and super-ape 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
the warlocks @ spaceland
the monster's ship @ hammer museum
sat. aug. 29
the warlocks @ spaceland
santo the silver mask vs. the martian invasion @ hammer museum
fri. sep. 4
twin peaks: fire walk with me MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
sat. sep. 5
timonium @ pehrspace
the morlocks @ haunted house a-go-go @ bordello
sat. sep. 12
clue @ devil's night drive-in
tue. sep. 29
sonic youth @ the wiltern
WHAT IT IS:
ABSOLUTE BEGINNERS
When London was starting to swing, they called the first teenagers "Absolute Beginners." David Bowie stars in this film which charts the lives of two lovers who must choose to live by their idealist principles or sell out to get to the top of the fashion world. A memorable soundtrack backs admirable dance and musical numbers. Julien Temple---Great Britain---1976---107 mins.
Age of Consent
1969/color/98 min. | Scr: Peter Yeldham; dir: Michael Powell; w/ James Mason, Helen Mirren.
Powell and Mason, who was himself an accomplished painter and caricaturist, joined forces on this story of an aging painter who retreats to an island off Australia to replenish his creative juices. His muse and lover appears in the form of a young, voluptuous, and frequently nude Helen Mirren in her first major film. "A lovely erotic and idyllic comedy."—Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader.
America's Lost Band: The Remains
"Had these Boston bad boys stuck it out beyond their 1966 debut, we might today be calling them--and not the Stones--the World’s Greatest Rock N’ Roll band." -Mark Kemp, Paste Magazine. They played The Ed Sullivan Show, were hand-picked by Paul McCartney to open for the Beatles, and then...gone. America's Lost Band captures the essence of The Remains, one of the best of American rock bands you've never heard. The story follows guitarist Barry Tashian, keyboardist Billy Briggs, bassist Vern Miller and drummer Chip Damiani, the four young original members of The Remains, from their earliest beginnings to their all-too-early end, when they broke up on the brink of fame, right after opening for the Beatles’ last-ever tour in 1966. America's Lost Band finds the heart of music that refuses to die, culminating in the band's recent well-deserved rediscovery and reunion. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Michael Stich, producer Fred Cantor, Remains keyboardist Bill Briggs and Remains frontman Barry Tashian (who will also be on hand to sign copies of his book "Ticket To Ride", as well as your Remains albums!), in addition to a live set by psych garage rockers The Living Sickness!
Dir. Michael Stich, 2008, HDCAM, 66 min.
ANGEL, ANGEL, DOWN WE GO (aka CULT OF THE DAMNED), 1969, MGM Repertory, 103 min. Robert Thom (writer of WILD IN THE STREETS) scripted and directed this jaw-dropping hymn to purple prose and psychedelic nihilism. Washed-up star Astrid (Jennifer Jones), her jaded millionaire spouse (Charles Aidman) and their searching-for-meaning daughter (Holly Near) all have the misfortune to meet Machiavellian pop star Bogart Peter Stuyvesant (Jordan Christopher) who worms his way into the household with his band, The Rabbit Habit (!), in tow. While occasionally belting out catchy songs by Barry Mann/Cynthia Weil (more WILD IN THE STREETS alumni), and with the help of plenty of LSD, he alternately charms and intimidates everyone in this dysfunctional family. Imagine a remake of Pasolini's TEOREMA done in the American International drive-in mindset, and you’ll get some idea of what to expect. An absurdly tasteless vision of the evil flipside of the late ‘60s Hollywood counterculture. Be sure to look for Roddy McDowall and Lou Rawls in Jordan Christopher’s spaced-out entourage! NOT ON DVD Introduction to the screening by Domenic Priore.
ANGEL ENFORCERS
(from IMDB)
Trying to protect a policewoman (Sharon Yeung,), an undercover cop shoots a criminal, exposes his identity, and is promptly marked for death by the organization he was working for. The hit-man (Philip Ko) completes the job, but during his escape he is shot dead by another policewoman from Sharon's squad. His partner and friend (Dick Wei) is not too pleased about that, and swears vengeance... Dir. Godfrey Ho, 1989, 86 mins.
Angels with Dirty Faces
1938/b&w/105 min. | Scr: John Wexley, Warren Duff; dir: Michael Curtiz; w/ James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, George Bancroft.
Childhood friends on opposite sides of the law fight over the future of a street gang.
ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER MAN
(1966) Directed by Doris Wishman
The future looks bright for Steve and Ann, a young, well-endowed, newly-married couple settling into their first home together. Tragedy strikes, however, when Steve falls ill and Ann must secretly become a call-girl to pay the bills. Director Doris Wishman's titillating follow-up to Bad Girls Go To Hell, Another Day, Another Man doubles as a teasing come-on for national health care.
Producer: Doris Wishman. Screenwriter: Doris Wishman. Cinematographer: Nouri Haviv. Editor: Doris Wishman. Cast: Darlene Bennett, Dawn Bennett, John B. Brandt, Tony Gregory, Barbara Kemp. DigiBeta, B/W, 70 min.
Ape and Super-Ape
Bert Haanstra, a legend in the Netherlands and one of the greatest of nature documentarians, delivered his magnum opus with Ape And Super-Ape. The scope of the film is massive and encompassing on numerous levels--artistically, intellectually, and geographically. Haanstra travelled to the literal farthest corners of the world, covering over 150,000 miles, and taking over three years to collect stunning footage of the animal kingdom, which demonstrated his thesis of the survival of all species on this planet. Before shooting, Haanstra lived like a hermit, studied dozens of books on the subject, and meditated upon how to make this film appeal to a wide audience, and not just a few biologists. The final result is a masterpiece. Ape and Super-Ape is both serious, even savage, in subject matter, yet often playful in treatment--full of witty montages and clever crosscutting between human and animal behavior, a killer jazz score, and a laconic voiceover commentary that both add to the images and sometimes undermines them. It is visually beautiful, moving, entertaining, thought-provoking, humorous--but above all, remorseless.
ATLANTIC CITY, 1980, Paramount, 104 min. One of director Louis Malle's finest films. The lives of four dreams -- Burt Lancaster, an aging numbers runner yearning for his glory days; casino employee Susan Sarandon and her drug-dealing ex-husband on the run with her pregnant sister (Hollis McLaren and Robert Joy), converge in the famous resort. Malle, working from John Guare's adaptation of the Laird Koenig novel The Neighbor, tells their stories as if they were fairy tales. For Malle, Atlantic City is America's Cinderella city, just saved from the pumpkin patch by the magic wand of legalized gambling -- which poses a threat to Lancaster. Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor (Lancaster), Actress (Sarandon), Director, Picture and Original Screenplay. This shimmering 1980 film is both an offbeat love story and an affectionate satire of American pop culture, past and present. Film critic Kevin Thomas will introduce the screening.
The Aztec Mummy vs. The Human Robot
Mexico, 1957
PROD: Guillermo Calderón. DIR: Rafael Portillo. SCR: Guillermo Calderón, Alfredo Salazar. CINE: Enrique Wallace. EDIT: Jorge Bustos, José Li-ho, J.R. Remy. CAST: Ramón Gay, Rosa Arenas, Ángel di Stefani, Crox Alvarado, Luis Aceves Castañeda.
The sinister Dr. Krupp covets the ancient treasure guarded for centuries by the dread Aztec mummy Popoca. Dr. Almada, a modern Mexican scientist, tells his incredulous colleagues about Dr. Krupp’s earlier attempts to hypnotize Almada’s beautiful fiancée Flor into stealing the treasure. The final confrontation in a cemetery between the mummy and Krupp’s metallic robot (both of them more kooky than menacing) is a spectacle reminiscent of Ed Wood. Can Krupp’s tin monstrosity finally rob Mexico of its ancient patrimony, or will Popoca vanquish the evil invader?
35mm, b/w, subtitles, 65 min.
BAD GIRLS GO TO HELL
(1965) Directed by Doris Wishman
Director Doris Wishman's jazz-fueled, sex-crazed girl-on-the-run film stars Gigi Darlene as a housewife forced to flee her home and hunky hubby after accidentally killing her landlord during an attempted rape. With no one to turn to, she must depend on the kindness of strangers, all of whom, male and female, want something in return for their favors.
Doris Wishman Productions. Producer: Doris Wishman. Screenwriter: Doris Wishman. Cinematographer: C. Davis Smith. Editor: Ali Bendi. Cast: Gigi Darlene, George La Rocque, Sam Stewart, Gertrude Cross, Alan Feinstein. 35mm, B/W, 71 min.
BARE KNUCKLES
(from IMDB)
A bounty hunter in Los Angeles sets out to track down and stop a masked serial killer who murders women by using kung-fu moves. Dir. Don Edmonds, 1977, 90 min.
BATTLE IN OUTER SPACE, 1959, Sony Repertory, 90 min. Dir. Ishiro Honda. Nations of the world unite against a massive alien force, doing spaceship and raygun battle in space and on the moon to thwart the invaders' onslaught. A pretty impressive special effects display for the time period. English dubbedversion. With Ryo Ikebe, Kyoko Anzai, Koreya Senda, Yoshio Tsuchiya.
Bigger Than Life
1956/color/95 min./Scope | Scr: Cyril Hume, Richard Maibaum; dir: Nicholas Ray; w/ James Mason, Barbara Rush, Walter Matthau.
Mason produced and hired Nicholas Ray to direct this striking film based on a New Yorker article about the hallucinatory side-effects of the new miracle drug cortisone. As Ed Avery, upstanding teacher, husband and father turned suburban Jekyll and Hyde, Mason gives one of his best performances, and Ray, using dramatic Rebel Without a Cause-style compositions and lighting, portrays his bedeviled hero with both horror and pathos. Released to indifferent not to say hostile reviews, the film is now acclaimed for its gothic depiction of repression and conformity in mid-century America. "Under Ray's masterful direction, James Mason is given three or four of the most beautiful close-ups I have had the chance to see since the advent of CinemaScope… An exceptional story, an excellent portrait of marriage. A film of implacable logic and sanity, Bigger than Life uses both those very qualities as targets, and scores a bull's-eye in every frame."—François Truffaut.
BORN TO KILL, 1947, Warner Bros., 92 min. Dir. Robert Wise. Unquestionably the most depraved picture made in Hollywood in the 1940s, stars Lawrence Tierney (the meanest man in noir) as a homicidal social climber who meets his match in debased San Francisco socialite Claire Trevor. He marries her wealthy half-sister (Audrey Long), but carries on his torrid affair with Claire while tenacious detective Walter Slezak hunts him down. This murderous, panting pair make MacMurray and Stanwyck in DOUBLE INDEMNITY pale in comparison. Elisha Cook Jr. is Tierney’s justifiably nervous pal.
BOUND FOR GLORY
The story of Woody Guthrie, America's great folk musician and poet, featuring David Carradine. Winner of two Academy Awards including Best Cinematography by Haskell Wexler, with many of Guthrie''s songs, including "This Land Is Your Land" and "Roll On Columbia." Hal Ashby---USA---1976---149 mins.
BOXCAR BERTHA
Boxcar Bertha (1972, 72 mins.), Scorsese's second feature and the gory sequel to Roger Corman''s Bloody Mama. It stars Barbara Hershey as an orphaned woman on the run from a corrupt railroad company in Depression-era America. Dir. Martin Scorsese.
BURY ME AN ANGEL
(1972) Directed by Barbara Peters
After making her directorial debut in 1970 with the lezploitation feature, Just the Two of Us, Barbara Peters made a string of films for Roger Corman's New World Pictures beginning with this female biker revenge flick. Dixie Peabody stars as Dag, a biker chick who hits the road to revenge when someone kills her boyfriend. Peters aerates the action with extended detours through dispersed pockets of California's hippie culture and performances that are almost-Bressonian in their blankness.
Meier-Murray Productions. Producer: Paul Norbert. Screenplay: Connie Graver. Cinematographer: Sven Walnum. Editor: Tony de Zarraga. Cast: Dixie Peabody, Terry Mace, Clyde Ventura, Joanne Moore Jordan, Marie Denn. 35mm, 89 min.
BUTTERFLY
Before Zadora's outrageous stint as The Lonely Lady, she flew high as a Butterfly, in a five-course buffet of cinematic soapy indulgence based upon the novel by James M. Cain (who also wrote the source material for such noirs as Body Heat and The Postman Always Rings Twice.) Our tawdry Depression-era tale has Jess Tyler (the always-sharp Stacy Keach) moping over the failure of his silver mine and the struggling, dusty town around him--until his life is complicated beyond belief by the arrival of Kady (Zadora), a pubesquent bad girl who waltzes in wearing long, flowing Bob Mackie gowns (yep, the same guy who did Xanadu), proclaims she's his long-lost daughter from a former fling, and pouts and gyrates her way through one of the most deliciously nutty femme fatale roles ever conceived. Add to that a whole heap o' sinful shenanigans including Keach as her presumed father feeling her up in a tin bath, Orson Welles as a clucking judge scolding juvenile delinquents, and James Franciscus as a jailbait-chasing scuzzbag, and you've got one seriously warped good time. Director Matt Cimber will appear in person for a post-screening Q&A!
Cafe L.A.: The Beat Generation in Los Angeles
Approx. 60 min. Produced by Domenic Priore and Brian Chidester. This now-updated 850-image slideshow brings you inside the coffeehouses and jazz joints of the greater Los Angeles area during the 1955-1965 era. Done with a local geography spin, the presentation is inspired by KNXT's "Ralph Story's Los Angeles" and Mike Salisbury's visual montage work in the Los Angeles Times' old (1966-1972) West magazine supplement. We go from Santa Barbara to Laguna Beach down the coastline, then north through Tustin, Buena Park, Pasadena, into Silver Lake, downtown L.A., a bit over to Western Avenue, South Central, up Fairfax and La Cienega and out to Sunset Strip. Beatniks in Venice, jazz and R&B pioneers downtown, pop artists on Restaurant Row and the earliest stages of folk-rock and psychedelia on the Strip are all captured, with a final run at the end of the artists on the L.A. scene. Introduction and live slideshow narration by Domenic Priore, author of Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll's Last Stand in Hollywood and Beatsville.
THE CAMERAMAN (1928) starring Buster Keaton and Marceline Day. Directed by Edward Sedgwick. Buster trades in his still camera for an antiquated movie camera in an attempt to gain a job with the MGM Newsreel to impress his girlfriend who works there as a secretary. Partially filmed on Catalina Island.
CEMETERY MAN (aka DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE), 1996, 105 min. Director Michele Soavi (THE CHURCH, STAGE FRIGHT) adapts Tiziano Sclavi’s darkly humorous graphic novel Dylan Dog into this eccentric, sumptuously photographed zombie film. Rupert Everett is Francesco Dellamorte, a lonely, romantic caretaker who needs to keep killing the undead that stubbornly keep rising from the graves in his cemetery. His best friend is Gnaghi, an obese mute savant (Francois Hadji-Lazaro) who helps him around the graveyard (and falls for a decapitated biker chick!). Dellamorte courts an exotic widow (Anna Falchi), but things take a turn for the worse when she becomes a zombie from her dead husband’s bite, and our hero must pursue his romance beyond the grave. "Strikes a unique tone…Like EVIL DEAD II or RE-ANIMATOR, the film leans into modern comedy, but it also passes through moments of genuine longing and even existential crisis…one unique film and a wake-up call for anyone who thinks recent zombie movies like DAWN OF THE DEAD and 28 DAYS LATER are cool." – Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Chicano Rock!: The Sounds of East Los Angeles
"Let's take a trip down Whittier Boulevard!" chant Thee Midniters, in Jon Wilkman's beautiful love letter to the soulful sounds of So Cal. Narrated by Edward James Olmos, this lively and inspiring film explores more than fifty years in the musical history of East Los Angeles, America’s largest Mexican-American community. For decades, generations of East LA artists created a unique musical voice, and in the process, proudly expressed their cultural identity, from '40s pachuco swing to '50s teen idol Ritchie Valens, '60s garage rock and soul, to punk and beyond. Chicano Rock! features the timeless music of these eras, including Lalo Guerrero, Ritchie Valens, Cannibal and the Headhunters, Thee Midniters, El Chicano, Tierra, Los Lobos, Ozomotli, and Alice Velasquez (The Bags, Cholita, Las Tres). Jam-packed with rare footage, photos, artifacts, Chicano Rock! treats you to an exhilarating lowrider cruise that could only happen on the streets of Los Angeles. Author Gene Aguilera ("The Golden Age of Chicano Rock 'n Roll") will be on-hand to spin classic 45s, and we've also got a post-screening live set by a very special seminal LA punk band!
Dir. Jon Wilkman, 2008, digital presentation, 60 min.
The Cincinnati Kid
1965/color/113 min. | Scr: Ring Lardner Jr., Terry Southern; dir: Norman Jewison; w/ Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margret, Karl Malden, Tuesday Weld, Joan Blondell, Rip Torn, Jack Weston, Cab Calloway.
Cardsharps try to deal with personal problems during a big game in New Orleans.
CLASH OF THE TITANS
Produced by special effects master Ray Harryhausen, this 1981 "kitsch classic" introduced to audiences a very young and scantily-clad Harry Hamlin as the half-mortal hero Perseus. The film features some of Harryhausen's most memorable monsters and creatures (including Pegesus, the flying horse of the gods, and the fatal Medusa) and an unrivaled constellation of British and American stars in cameo roles. Free admission; tickets required.
COMING HOME, 1978, MGM Repertory, 126 min. Dir. Hal Ashby. As timely as ever, this moving and uncompromising film about the Vietnam War and the brutal struggle at home won Best Actor and Actress Oscars for stars Jane Fonda and Jon Voight. Fonda is left alone for the first time as her husband, Bruce Dern, is fighting in Vietnam. She falls in love with Voight, a paraplegic vet whom she had known briefly in high school. Highlighted by one of the most tender and emotional love scenes in film history, with performances so real you almost want to look away from the screen. Nominated for eight Academy Awards and the winner of three, it also took home the Original Screenplay Oscar for Nancy Dowd, Waldo Salt and Robert C. Jones (who was also Ashby’s longtime editor). Beautifully shot by legendary cinematographer Haskell Wexler. Also featuring Robert Carradine and Penelope Milford. Discussion following with cinematographer Haskell Wexler.
The Deadly Affair
1966/color/107 min. | Scr: Paul Dehn; dir: Sidney Lumet; w/ James Mason, Harriet Andersson, Simone Signoret, Maximilian Schell.
This sophisticated, adult spy thriller, based on a novel by John le Carré, stars Mason as a burnt-out security inspector in the Foreign Office who finds himself threatened by an espionage ring while investigating a colleague's suicide. On display are the genre's standard ingredients-intrigue, betrayal, and violent death-but Lumet's primary focus is on a fascinating group of characters brought vividly to life by a stellar international cast including Signoret, who gives gut-wrenching performance as a Holocaust survivor. Master cinematographer Freddie Young, of Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago fame, pre-exposed the film to give the images a psychological realism unique to the mid-sixties Cold War era. "Thematically it was a film about life's disappointments. I wanted to get that dreary, lifeless feeling London has in winter. I wanted to desaturate the colors."—Sidney Lumet.
THE DEVIL AT 4 O’CLOCK, 1961, Sony Repertory, 126 min. "48 Hours of Terrific Suspense as Nature Goes on a Relentless Rampage of Destruction!" Anyone for an erupting volcano threatening a tropical island’s leper colony orphanage? With only a trio of convicts (Frank Sinatra, Bernie Hamilton, Gregoire Aslan) and a grizzled alcoholic priest (Spencer Tracy) to save the kids? Yes? Then add in a subplot of hard-ass, cynical Sinatra falling in lust/love with beautiful blind native girl Barbara Luna. Great, effective old-time Hollywood storytelling from director Mervyn LeRoy (THE BAD SEED, GYPSY) with superior color cinematography by Joseph Biroc and a terrific score by George Duning. With Kerwin Matthews (7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) as Tracy’s young priest replacement. "Tracy delivers one of his more colorful portrayals in his hard-drinking cleric who has lost faith in his God, Sinatra's role, first-class…Special effects of Larry Butler and Willis Cook highlight the picture, filmed impressively by Joseph Biroc on the vivid island of Maui..." – Variety.
Feature film preceded by a Tiki clip show (approx. 60 min.) compiled by Denny Moynahan. Introduction to the film by actress Barbara Luna.
DIAMOND HEAD, 1963, Sony Repertory, 107 min. Rich control freak Charlton Heston, a pineapple plantation owner and candidate for senator, doesn’t take it lying down when his independent younger sister (Yvette Mimieux) decides to marry her boyfriend, a local native (James Darren). What most don’t know is that Heston himself is in a relationship with an Eurasian woman (France Nuyen). Darren’s doctor brother (George Chakiris) sees potential tragedy down the road, but won’t admit to himself that he also carries a torch for Mimieux. Respected British director Guy Green (LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA) keeps things intense and the actors on their toes, never letting the interracial and cross-cultural love affairs descend into mere soap opera. Spectacular cinematography of heavenly Hawaiian locations by Sam Leavitt (EXODUS), with one of John Williams’ (STAR WARS, JAWS) earliest scores.
DIVA, 1981, Rialto Pictures, 123 min. Director Jean-Jacques Beineix scored a bull’s-eye internationally at arthouse box offices with his debut film, a deftly constructed souffle of a suspense thriller with a comic, tongue-in-cheek tone. Postman and opera fanatic Jules (Frederic Andrei) surreptitiously records his idol, diva Cynthia (Wilhemenia Wiggins Fernandez), and is so overcome by her performance that he steals her costume from her dressing room, which causes a scandal. Later, while on his rounds, he encounters two thugs beating up a woman and is the unwitting recipient of a blackmail tape that the victim sneaks into his letter bag. Soon the chase is on, with not only the hoods (including Dominic Pinon) but also Taiwanese music bootleggers hoping to steal his opera cassette. Before things come to a head, Jules befriends singer Cynthia and is aided in his escape from danger by a teenage Vietnamese street girl and a sophisticated mystery man (Richard Bohringer). "…One of the best thrillers of recent years but, more than that, it is a brilliant film, a visual extravaganza that announces the considerable gifts of its young director, Jean-Jacques Beineix…Filled with so many small character touches, so many perfectly observed intimacies, so many visual inventions, from the sly to the grand, that the thriller plot is just a bonus… Pauline Kael has compared Beineix to Orson Welles and, as Welles so often did, he has made a movie that is a feast to look at, regardless of its subject." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
DUEL OF THE TITANS, 1961, Paramount, 89 min. "The Legendary Conflict of Mankind's Mightiest Mortals!" Director Sergio Corbucci (THE GREAT SILENCE, DJANGO) tackles the myth of Romulus (Steve Reeves) and Remus (Gordon Scott), the two rebel brothers said to have been suckled by wolves at birth, who went on to found the ancient city of Rome. Reeves had already garnered fame as Hercules, and Scott was a veteran of some of the best post-Johnny Weismuller Tarzan films; it was a perfect pairing for this tale of the legendary rival siblings who lead their people out of bondage to a more enlightened future. Co-starring Virna Lisi. NOT ON DVD
THE DUNGEONMASTER
(from IMDB)
Paul, a computer whiz who spends more time with his machine than with his girlfriend, finds that he has been chosen as a worthy opponent for Mestema, an evil wizard who has spent centuries searching for a challenging foe. After having his computer changed into wristband weapon, Paul does battle with a variety of monsters before finally coming face to face with the ultimate adversary. 1985, 73 mins.
Early Films by Robert Frank
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Robert Frank's landmark publication, The Americans, and in conjunction with MOCA's exhibition From the Permanent Collection: Robert Frank's "The Americans", MOCA, Los Angeles Filmforum and the Cinefamily present an evening of early films by the renowned photographer Robert Frank. Pull My Daisy (1959, b/w, 28 min.), directed by Frank and Alfred Leslie from a script by Jack Kerouac, is a classic whimsical, even magical work of avant-garde cinema, revolving around a group of beat poets (Allen Ginsberg, Peter Orlovsky, and Gregory Corso) who question a bishop (Richard Bellamy) and his mother (Alice Neel) about art, poetry, and everyday life. Me and My Brother (1965-68, re-edited 1997, b/w and color, 91 min.), Frank's first feature-length film (given a re-edit treatment in 1997 to mark Allen Ginsberg's passing), blends documentary footage of Ginsberg and Orlovsky with fictional constructs, as it explores the inner and outer worlds of Julius Orlovsky, a catatonic who silently observes the world around him.
Ella Cinders
Tonight's Siren, the petite Ms. Colleen Moore, is often cited as originating the Flapper character with 1923's Flaming Youth. The film's tagline dared audiences to ask, "How Far Can a Girl Go?", and Moore answered that question generously for the rest of her screen career. Ushered into Hollywood by D.W. Griffith, she made a name for herself playing wholesome Little Orphan Annie. As soon as that persona--and much of her wardrobe--was shed in the early '20s, the dazzling, feisty Moore became Hollywood's top box-office attraction, and its highest-paid star. Tonight's Colleen Moore films--Ella Cinders (a "modern" retelling of the Cinderalla story) and the hilariously screwball Orchids and Ermine, in which she plays a ditzy telephone operator--show a stunning star at the height of her charm.
Etienne!
(presented by CineVegas)
Our friends at the CineVegas Film Festival have brought us Etienne!, winner of the festival’s “Filmmaker To Watch” award this year. After Richard’s best and only friend, a dwarf hamster named Etienne, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Richard decides to take him on a bicycle road trip up the California coast to show him the world before he must put him to sleep. First-time director Jeff Mizushima balances the comedy with the genuine drama between hamster and man. Influenced by 70’s films--in a good way--Etienne! also has a terrific soundtrack with songs by Dan Deacon, Great Northern, The Happy Hollows and others. Preceding the feature is Acting for the Camera by Justin Nowell, a funny and very messed-up 15-minute short that won CineVegas’ Best Short Film Director award.
The Extra Girl
Though she had the doe eyes, thousand-watt smile, and cascading curls of a classic Silent ingenue, Mabel Normand set herself apart from a generation of starlets with a whole tabloid's worth of Gothic Hollywood scandals. By 1924, Normand had starred in over 200 films, written and directed dozens more, and was publicly linked with the shootings of two men. At the height of her career, Normand starred in The Extra Girl, a film which steeled her reputation as a comedienne as brilliant as she was beautiful. The film follows a small-town sweetheart who ambles into Hollywood, much as Normand did as a teenager. Her performance is just one in a career that included countless collaborations with Mack Sennett, Fatty Arbuckle, and Charlie Chaplin, and fortunately for us, she sparkles like a gem.
Films By and About Robert Frank
Fire in the East: A Portrait of Robert Frank (1986, color, 28 min) which looks at four decades of Frank’s life and career and includes interviews with such collaborators as Allen Ginsberg and Jonas Mekas.
O. K. End Here (1963, b/w, 30 min) Frank’s portrait of a New York City couple spending an intimate Sunday together, was honored with the grand prize at the 1963 Bergamo Film Festival.
Flamingo (1997, 7 min.) is Frank’s video diary of the construction of a new foundation for his house in a remote area of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
In Sanyu (1999, 27 min.), Frank memorializes his friend Sanyu (1901–1964), an important Chinese artist who died in anonymity in Paris.
5 Fingers
1952/b&w/108 min. | Scr: Michael Wilson; dir: Joseph Mankiewicz; w/ James Mason, Danielle Darrieux, Michael Rennie.
Based loosely on a true story, this elegant espionage film set in Ankara in 1944 stars Mason as an Albanian-born valet working at the British embassy who teams up with an unscrupulous countess (Darrieux) to sell secret Allied documents to the Germans. An excellent screenplay made even better by the witty embellishments of Mankiewicz, "The tale becomes an irresistibly cynical comedy of manners in which the crafty gentleman's gentleman (a marvelous performance from Mason), scheming to promote himself as a member of the leisure classes, falls victim to his own pretensions. An irresistible treat."—Time Out.
FORBIDDEN ZONE, 1982, Legend Films, 74 min. Dir. Richard Elfman. A mysterious door leads to the Sixth Dimension -- get ready for a wild ride – in one of the greatest cult classics 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, Screenwriter Matthew Bright (also the director of FREEWAY) and other guests.
FORGOTTEN TENOR (‘94, 136m) at 7:30pm- Abraham Ravett's experimental documentary pays tribute to bebop saxophonist WARDELL GRAY, who was a contemporary of Count Basie and Charlie Parker. Ravett is interested in why some figures are inscribed in history and others are not, but he is primarily concerned with the process of investigating a person's life--the attempt to construct a vision of a figure from incomplete and fragmentary documents. Wardell Gray's story is pieced together from both willing and reluctant witnesses, film snippets, personal letters, home movies and photographs, and a number of in credible recordings. The inevitable gap between a life lived and a life remembered is suggested by Ravett's use of animation and recreations. Whether trying to connect with a potential interviewee by phone, examining a photograph, or explaining the economics of avant-garde productions, Ravett reveals the storie s behind oral histories. His portrait not only provides a face to the sound, it evokes a sense of what it is like to be a black musician in postwar America. With Clark Terry, Art Farmer, Teddy Edwards. 6pm- rare Jimmy Smith & Jaki Byrd films.
FRITZ THE CAT
The infamous Ralph Bakshi feature that made his reputation was the first animated film to receive an "X" rating. Based on R. Crumb's underground comic character, Fritz is a college-age feline wandering the hippie-era streets of New York in search of political, sexual and chemical experiences. "A bitter and snarling satire that refuses to curl up in anyone''s lap" (Bruce Ralph Bakshi---USA---1972---78 mins.
THE GARDEN OF EDEN
This sly and sophisticated romantic comedy is in the spirit of Ernst Lubitsch's best work and, indeed, was adapted for the screen by Hans Kraley, a frequent Lubitsch scenarist. Corrine Griffith stars as a singer who tells her family she is starting a career in opera, although she is actually working as a cabaret dancer. A romance with Charles Ray is threatened should the truth come out, but someone seems to be looking out for the singer. This rediscovered silent treasure was mastered from the best surviving film elements and features a new music score by Robert Israel. Lewis Milestone---USA---1928---78 mins.
GATOR BAIT
(1973) Directed by Beverly Sebastian
A redneck clan is out for Cajun blood after they're led to believe that a sexy swamp thing, played by former Playboy Playmate Claudia Jennings, killed one of their own. Driven deep into the bayou as much by male sexual aggression and anxiety as revenge, the hunters quickly become the hunted in this drive-in classic.
Sebastian Films Limited, Inc.. Producer: Beverly Sebastian, Ferd Sebastian. Screenplay: Beverly Sebastian. Cinematographer: Ferd Sebastian. Editor: Ron Johnson. Cast: Claudia Jennings, Sam Gilman, Doug Dirkson, Clyde Ventura, Bill Thurman. 35mm, 88 min.
Get Crazy
With the thousands of cultures there are in the world, it's gotta be New Year's somewhere--right? Right? No? Who cares, we're gonna have a party anyway, complete with streamers, noisemakers, a ton of booze, a midnight countdown complete with a dropping ball--and the absolute ultimate party movie, Get Crazy, the most wild, untamed, unleashed, unbelievable sex-drugs-and-rock-'n-roll movie ever made. Move over, Animal House, there's a new sheriff in Partytown! This devastatingly addictive comedy orgy, set on New Year's Eve, is Rock 'N' Roll High School director Allan Arkush's loving tribute to his bacchanalian days working at NYC's legendary concert venue Fillmore East, and features a nonstop parade of slick rock parody (including Lou Reed as a Dylan-esque mumbling stumbler and Malcolm McDowell as a Jagger clone who ends up having a conversation with his penis), a surprising amount of edgy, dangerous-looking stuntwork, cameo porn galore (Lee Ving! Fabian! Clint Howard!), enough rapid-fire schtick for a dozen Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker flicks, a buffet of salacious souped-up T&A--and a stratospheric level of insane drug use. Every substance in the rainbow is partaken in, joyously and without consequence, almost all provided by the film's mythical El Topo-esque space cowboy, Electric Larry, one of the coolest motherfuckers you've ever set eyes on. Get Crazy is rabid, manic and totally raging, so strap yourself in, tip back that drink--and say goodbye to your brain!
GODZILLA, MOTHRA & KING GHIDORAH: GIANT MONSTERS ALL-OUT ATTACK, 2001, Sony Repertory, 105 min. Acclaimed by fans as one of the most exciting Godzilla films since the heyday of the 1960’s, "GMK" features a terrific, redesigned Big G (hint: he’s leaner, meaner and packs a nasty bite), bent on destroying Japan as vengeance for the restless souls of WWII victims. Standing in his way are the "Guardian Deities" – i.e. Mothra, King Ghidorah and Baragon. Director Shusuke Kaneko helmed the astounding trio of GAMERA films for Kadokawa-Daiei in the mid-1990s – here, he’s practically reinvented the Godzilla series for the 21st century. In Japanese with English subtitles.
Haack...The King Of Techno
Bruce Haack was one of the most musically and lyrically inventive artists of the early electronic age, combining homemade analog synths, classical, country, pop and acid rock elements into one massive, heady stew. His craft evolved from his passion and creation of numerous kids' records, and today his work has inspired the likes of world-renowned musicians such as Beck, the Beastie Boys and Mouse On Mars, proving he's an almost-lost treasure ripe for rediscovery. Packed with warped visuals, wild music and far out stories, Haack follows the King of Techno as he drops in on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" and golden-oldie game show host Garry Moore, playing his bizarre instruments such as the Peopleodian, a device played by touching peoples' skin! Directed in true Haack spirit, for kids, adults and music fans alike, Philip Anagnos' directorial debut will send you out humming "School For Robots" and scrambling for Haack's records! Director Philip Anagnos will appear in person for a post-screening Q&A session! Haack: The King of Techno Dir. Philip Anagnos, 2004, DigiBeta, 57 min.
HEARTBEAT 100
Maggie Cheung is at the center of this peculiar, gory slasher movie and wacky comedy. Cheung is a writer who seeks inspiration for her new screenplay, so she, her sister and a friend travel to a small town that is connected to a recent crime. Instead of inspiration she finds a host of dangers, including haunted houses, corrupt police, a village idiot who carries around poisonous snakes, and his axe-wielding father. When she thinks she witnesses a murder, she decides to investigate on her own, and before long she is helplessly enmeshed in a bizarre concoction that can only lead to mayhem and frustration. Kent Cheng/Lo Kin---Hong Kong---1986
HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (ERCOLE AL CENTRO DELLA TERRA), 1961, 86 min. Director Mario Bava’s glorious Cinemascope spectacle is one of his most visually ravishing films, as strongman Hercules (Reg Park) descends into a phantasmagorical underworld in search of a stone that will restore his beloved’s memory. With Christopher Lee as evil Lycos, the smooth-talking, bloodthirsty necromancer out to destroy the legendary hero. Bava’s color palette and matte work is astonishing, a sterling example of imagination triumphing over budget. Whatever the audience’s nationality, this is what Saturday matinees were all about, pure and unpretentious, with an infectious, effortless storytelling embodying the joy of cinema.
HIGH CRIME, 1973, 100 min. Franco Nero is an obsessed police commissioner frustrated with superior James Whitmore’s slow, methodical accumulation of evidence against a vast European drug ring. Nero goes on a violent trek through the underworld connecting the dots, confronting ailing, old school mob boss, Fernando Rey (THE FRENCH CONNECTION) and untouchable rich importer Silvano Tranquilli. As Nero steps on more and more toes, people around him start to die, and he must face the reality that he has put his girlfriend and young daughter in harm’s way. Unrelenting and unforgiving, this is one of the best collaborations between Nero and action auteur Enzo G. Castellari (director of the original INGLORIOUS BASTARDS). (Screened from a digital source) NOT ON DVD
THE HUMAN CONDITION I: NO GREATER LOVE
The production at mining camps has come to a standstill. Japan is desperate, so Kaji, who believes that war can be won through the hearts and minds of labor, is given authority. Japanese with English subtitles. Masaki Kobayashi---Japan---1959---200 mins.
THE HUMAN CONDITION II: THE ROAD TO ETERNITY
As this sequence opens, Kaji is tortured by the military police for having mistreated the Chinese. Allowed one memorable night with his wife, he is ordered to the front. His records brand him as a "red," and his superiors mistreat him. Japanese with English subtitles. Masaki Kobayashi---Japan---1959---180 mins.
THE HUMAN CONDITION III: A SOLDIER'S PRAYER
Ravaged by hunger and thirst, Kaji awakens to a world gone mad. Surrender? To whom? Americans? Russians? Chiang Kai-shek? Surrendering to avoid needless slaughter, Kaji is force marched to Siberia, where he finds his worst enemy is now a collaborator who brands him a war criminal. Escaping into the wastelands of Siberia, he continues his desperate journey into the ultimate reality of war. Japanese with English subtitles. Masaki Kobayashi---Japan---1961---190 mins.
Hungarian Rock Night
British DJ extraordinaire Andy Votel will be in person at the Cinefamily to spin tunes and to present what is both a remarkable achievement in Hungarian pop culture and Eastern European film, starring some of the leading lights of both Communist era New Wave cinema and the forward-thinking Hungarian rock scene. Szép lányok, ne sírjatok! (aka Don't Cry, Pretty Girls) stars Jaroslava Schallerova (fresh from her leading role in Valerie And Her Week Of Wonders) alongside Hungarian rock goddess Sarolta Zalatnay and a cast of freak-rock non-actors plucked from the disgruntled state-governed Qualiton and Pepita record label rosters to make this underhanded tribute to the 'silenced' pop group Illes, in disguise as a working-class drama/rock festival liberation expose. Directed by Marta Mészáros (wife of Hungarian New Wave luminary Miklós Jancsó) and featuring heavy footage of bands like Metro, Syrius and Omega (who can be heard on the recently released "Well Hung" compilation on Finders Keepers records), this buried and previously untranslated film holds serious appeal to fans of both Polish and Czech Cinema, Mod culture, Youth culture and obscure 70's rock music.
Don't Cry, Pretty Girls Dir. Marta Mészáros 1970, digital presentation, 90 min
ILSA, HAREM KEEPER OF THE OIL SHEIKS
Ilsa, Harem Keeper of the Oil Sheiks (Don Edmonds, USA, 1975, 93 mins.), moves Ilsa from the war camps to the deserts of the Middle East, where she runs a harem and sadistic slavery ring for a depraved sheik. Stars Spalding Gray (credited as Victor Alexander) as the mad oil sheik.
ILSA, SHE-WOLF OF THE S.S.
Filmed on the sets of TV's Hogan''s Heroes, this shameless exploitation film makes the sitcom''s lightweight approach to the Nazi regime seem downright tasteful. Las Vegas showgirl Dyanne Thorne shot to trash film infamy as the title character, a Nazi officer with insatiable appetites for sex and brutality. The film deals out both commodities in healthy (or perhaps unhealthy) doses as Ilsa conducts experiments in torture on her prisoners. Although not hardcore pornography, the film was explicit enough to be banned in several countries and successful enough to spawn three sequels. Don Edmonds---USA---1974---96 mins.
I Need That Record!
I Need That Record! asks the simple question: why have over 3,000 independent record stores in the U.S. closed in the past decade? As much a cool history lesson on vinyl as a portrait of greedy record labels, media consolidation, homogenized radio, big box stores, e-commerce, shoddy "stars" pushed by big money and even the digital revolution, the film is, at its core, a loving tribute to the cherished nerdy record stores which for decades have nurtured our access to the music we all love. In addition to the exploration of its juicy premise, the film contains interviews with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth), Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Mike Watt (Minutemen), Lenny Kaye (Patti Smith Group), Chris Frantz (Talking Heads), Pat Carney (The Black Keyes), composer Glenn Branca, authors Noam Chomsky and Legs McNeil, rock photographer Bob Gruen--and dozens of indie record stores across the U.S. of A.! The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Brendan Toller, a panel discussion (moderated by Michael Des Barres, featuring special guests) on the fate of the indie record store today, a Danny Benair Record Club listening party (bring a record to share if you want!), and a record swap on the Cinefamily outdoor patio!
Dir. Brendan Toller, 2008, digital presentation, 77 min.
It Came From Detroit
In a smashing, energetic presentation, It Came From Detroit lovingly puts on display the "Motor City", home to an internationally renowned and influential garage rock scene. Starting with The Gories in the 1980s, the bands of the Detroit garage scene have been known for two things: an impeccable knowledge of rock history, and a raucous live show. As bands such as the White Stripes, The Von Bondies, and the Electric Six started to develop a following overseas, journalists everywhere started to hype Detroit as “the next Seattle”, and It Came From Detroit documents the evolution of this scene, from its humble underground beginnings to its ascension as a trend known the world over. And, perhaps most touchingly, the film deals as well with how the unexpected popularity of certain key bands impacts the scene's small group of friends, as some are catapulted to global recognition, while others are barely known outside of Detroit's crumbling confines. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director James R. Petix, plus a live set by special musical guests!
Dir. James R. Petix, 2008, digital presentation, 102 min.
IT’S A BIKINI WORLD, 1967, MGM Repertory, 86 min. Set the Wayback Machine to 1966, where you actually get to go inside the notorious Haunted House club on Hollywood Boulevard. Originally a Schindler-designed L.A. version of the Broadway theater watering hole Sardi’s (’30s), then the incredible Zardi’s Jassland (’50s), the Haunted House is definitely the star of this movie. The psychotronic monster-au-go-go stage featured shimmy-shake dancers and bloodshot eyeballs that rotated while "smoke" (dry ice) was snorted onto a packed dancefloor (eat your heart out, Led Zep). Not a bad effect when orbing The Animals, who groove to "We’ve Gotta Get Outta This Place," teen garage punk godz The Castaways ("Liar Liar"), R&B girl group The Toys and Chicano rock ’n’ rollers Pat & Lolly Vegas. For good measure, The Gentrys of "Keep on Dancing" fame perform some great mid-‘60s slop at a beach pad with Pop Art on the walls. The Mike Curb soundtrack features an early Moog cut plus a kinetic surf instrumental theme by Bob Summers. Also featuring Sid "Spider Baby" Haig as Daddy (a takeoff on hot rod king Ed Roth), monster-mashin’ Bobby "Boris" Pickett, Disney teen geek Tommy Kirk and beach flick starlet Deborah Walley (as Delilah) in a quasi-feminist plot; she competes with Kirk at the drag strip, in skateboard races and other dares thought up at Wil Wright’s Ice Cream Parlor. Directed by Stephanie Rothman, who later got auteur cred for GROUP MARRIAGE, THE VELVET VAMPIRE and the women’s-prison flick TERMINAL ISLAND. Rothman would say of this film, "I became very depressed after making IT’S A BIKINI WORLD." Perhaps it was the crud culture, or the instinct that the world would never be as cool again. NOT ON DVD
Ivan the Terrible, Parts I & II (Ivan Groznyy)
1944 & 1958/b&w and color/186 min. plus intermission| Scr/dir: Sergei Eisentein; w/ Nikolai Cherkasov, Serafima Birman, Pavel Kadochnikov, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya.
This two-part historical epic, Sergei Eisenstein's final film, depicts the life and murderous exploits of the sixteenth-century Ivan IV, the first czar and unifier of the Russian people. A spectacle of baroque splendor, the film opens with the teenaged ruler's opulent coronation in 1546. As Ivan struggles to consolidate his power by expanding his territory eastward, he attracts the enmity of the Russian nobility—especially his aunt, who plots to put her son, a simpleton, on the throne—and "the boyars," a centuries-old alliance of high-ranking landowners who refuse to swear allegiance to Ivan's one-year-old son. As the battles rage and the court intrigue plays out, Eisenstein's command of light and shadow creates a series of dynamic, eye-filling scenes. This unique visual quality, featuring ornate set design and costumes, along with a performance style influenced by Russian classicism, grand opera, and Kabuki theater, makes Ivan the Terrible, Parts I & II one of the great masterpieces of world cinema. With a symphonic score by Sergei Prokofiev. "A majestic synthesis of disparate forms…seems to be as much a ballet or an opera or a moving painting (or a mutant kabuki show) as it is a movie."—J. Hoberman.
JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS
This classic 1963 cinema fantasy follows the Greek hero Jason's voyage to Colchis (site of the ancient capitol of Vani) and the quest for the Golden Fleece. Produced by special effects master Ray Harryhausen, the film features several of his most groundbreaking visual sequences, still widely considered to be among the greatest achievements of motion picture special effects. Free admission; tickets required.
Jerry Beck presents: Frank Tashlin Toons
Frank Tashlin spent the first part of his screen career as an animator, storyman and cartoon director at various Hollywood animation studios in the 1930s and 40s. It was during this period he honed his sense of comedy timing and crafted his most outrageous visual gags. He began his career in New York gaining his first screen credits on the original black and white Tom & Jerry cartoons (not the cat-and-mouse, but loose limbed humanoids). He went west to Warner Bros. and helped Tex Avery revolutionize the pace and humor of the earliest Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. Tashlin’s talents next brought him at Disney where he contributed sight gags to various Donald Duck cartoons. He was soon hired away to run the Columbia cartoon studio and for them created the Fox & Crow – a long forgotten cartoon duo who were quite popular during the 1940s (their DC Comic books, which were published through 1968, are worth a fortune). Warner Bros. called Tashlin back in the mid forties and he made his funniest cartoons at this time with the likes of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck. Check out the roots of Tashlins genius with this rare screening of Tashlin’s best animation, with rare film prints, curated by animation historian Jerry Beck.
Jim Henson Commercials and Experiments
A mind-blowing collection of shorts, crazy commercials, and other rarities from the Henson vault. Highlights include: an industrial film for Wilson’s Meat that must be seen to be believed, commercials featuring the LaChoy Dragon (a full-body character that caused Frank Oz to swear off doing any others), animation utilizing techniques ranging from stop-motion to early computer animation, excerpts from The Cube and Youth 68, the two episodes Jim and company created for NBC's "Experiment in Television", and a 35mm print of Time Piece, an Academy Award nominated 8-minute masterpiece that showcases Henson’s talent for making music out of everyday sounds. When we featured this 90-minute Commercials and Experiments program back in 2008, it sold out three showings, so be sure to get your ticket early for this one-of-a-kind event!
LA DOLCE VITA
"A landmark of cinematic social comment," wrote one critic about Fellini's journey through a decadent Rome. Banned by the Church in many countries, the sensationalism of the film often obscured its serious intent. La Dolce Vita follows a society journalist (Marcello Mastroianni) through a nightmarish world in which emotions have been destroyed by surface realities, moral conventions and unresolved guilt. With Anita Ekberg, Anouk Aimee, Alain Cuny and Nadia Gray. Federico Fellini---Italy---1961---174 mins.
Léon Morin, Priest
1961/b&w/115 min. | Scr/dir: Jean-Pierre Melville; w/ Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva.
During the Occupation in a provincial French village, Communist widow Riva becomes enthralled by serenely devout Belmondo, fresh off Breathless and switching gears from hardboiled gangster to enigmatic man of the cloth. Under the taut direction of noir master (and Jewish atheist) Jean-Pierre Melville and based on an autobiographical novel by Beatrice Beck, the platonic encounters and intellectual jousts of this unlikely couple are at once erotic and cerebral. This reissue of a film rarely seen on the big screen may help to secure its place in the canon of transcendental cinema.
LOCKED-IN SYNDROME
Locked-In Syndrome (1997, 27 min.) Come see director Beineix’s original short take on the true story that would eventually be remade as the award-winning feature THE DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY. Discussion following the feature film with director Jean-Jacques Beineix. (TBC)
Lolita
1962/b&w/152 min. | Scr: Vladimir Nabokov, Kubrick; dir: Stanley Kubrick; w/ James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, Peter Sellers.
If ever an actor was born to play a fictional character it was James Mason as Humbert Humbert, the pedophile narrator of Nabokov's controversial best-selling novel. Hiding his dark and twisted desires behind the façade of a suave European academic, Humbert insinuates himself into the life of fourteen-year-old Lolita by marrying her sexually frustrated mother, a strident and suspicious presence conveniently silenced by a speeding car. Disguised as father and daughter, Humbert and his self-centered nymphet embark on a cross-country car trip closely shadowed by the chameleon-like Clare Quilty, Lolita's "true love." A visually striking adaptation of a novel that many felt could not be filmed, Kubrick's Lolita is a black comedy set in a vulgar America of shabby motels and fast-food stands, and a postmodern version of Pandora's Box in which the predator is destroyed by his own obsession. "A simple, lucid film, precisely written, which reveals America and American sex better than Melville."—Jean-Luc Godard.
THE LONELY LADY
Two of the last century's most delicious pop culture forces collide when paperback trash king Harold Robbins meets his cinematic match in the form of baby-faced Pia Zadora, as an aspiring screenwriter who must plow her way through a bevy of skeezy sexcapades in order to rise to fame and fortune. After a bombastically traumatic first act, Pia naturally goes off to Hollywood to sleep her way through a string of older men (even on top of a pool table) before losing her marbles in one of the most obliteratingly funny breakdowns in moviedom. If you think that can't be topped, just wait for the final scene which you'll swear you just hallucinated. Pia (who describes this as "a cross between Rocky and Emmanuelle") also contributes a cover of the inane '60s pop tune "The Clapping Song" to the soundtrack, so prepare to hunt down the LP after you leave the theater. Tragically still unavailable on DVD, this laugh-till-you-drop soap classic stormed the '84 Razzie Awards and still packs one hell of a hilarious punch. Pia Zadora will be here in person at the Cinefamily for a Q&A session after our screening of The Lonely Lady!
THE LONG RIDERS
Called "the best directed American movie of the year" by David Denby, The Long Riders uses four theatrical families to tell the James Brothers' story. James and Stacy Keach star as Jesse and Frank James; David, Keith and Robert Carradine are the Younger brothers; Dennis and Randy Quaid are the Miller brothers; and Christopher and Nicholas Guest are Bob and Charlie Ford. Seen by some as an homage to Peckinpah, Walter Hill''s film features some of the best shoot-outs ever committed to film. Walter Hill---USA---1980---100 mins.
Love
Greta Garbo is celebrated for her reign as the Swedish Sphinx of 1930s romances, including 1935's Anna Karenina, in which she breathed passionate life into Tolstoy's timeless tale of star-crossed betrayal. Seven years earlier, Garbo's smoldering presence graced the silent version of Anna Karenina, simply titled Love. Garbo was immortalized for her unceasing elegance, so when her large, beautiful eyes reveal tinges of vulnerability, Tolstoy's classic scenes are rendered truly wrenching. The studio insisted that both happy and unhappy endings be filmed, and in an unusual move, both versions were released to audiences. Come find out which version made its way to the Cinefamily's silver screen, as we watch Greta Garbo and John Gilbert fall--in Love.
THE LOVED ONE, 1965, Warner Bros., 121 min. The movie with something to offend everyone! Judged unfilmable for over a decade (Luis Bunuel was trying to set it up for years), writer Evelyn Waugh’s spot-on satire of Southern California -- specifically the funeral business – was finally brought to the screen in the mid-sixties by director Tony Richardson (TOM JONES) with a screenplay by Terry Southern (CANDY, EASY RIDER) and Christopher Isherwood (!). Robert Morse, a British youth visiting his uncle (John Gielgud) in Los Angeles encounters the weird world of tinseltown’s mortuary subculture, embodied by twins Henry and Reverend Wilbur Glenworthy (Jonathan Winters in a dual role), embalmer Mr. Joyboy (Rod Steiger) and his beautiful apprentice, Aimee Thanatogenous (Anjanette Comer). Marketed as "the motion picture with something to offend everyone!" this is an achingly funny, pitch-black comedy that could only have been released in the anything-goes era of the 1960s. With Liberace, Paul Williams, Dana Andrews
MACHINE GUN MCCAIN (GLI INTOCCABILI), 1968, Sony Repertory, 94 min. Dir. Giuliano Montaldo. John Cassavetes is pitch-perfect as McCain, a lone wolf ex-con who helps his son rip off former mob comrades Peter Falk and Gabriele Ferzetti. Things go wrong, and the gangsters hunt him down. On the run, McCain brings along his girl (Britt Ekland) and enlists the help of his devoted ex-wife (Gena Rowlands), two choices that contribute to his downfall in this violently riveting Italian/American co-production. Ennio Morricone did the simple but very memorable score. With a supporting cast of familiar Italian greats, including Luigi Pistilli, Florinda Bolkan and Tony Kendall. NOT ON DVD
Male and Female
Gloria Swanson's iconic performance as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard is exponentially more affecting in light of its echoing of her own life. Swanson's formidable career as a Silent superstar waned with the advent of Talkies, but those who've seen her in one of many silent turns for Cecille B. DeMille will marvel at a romantic lead and fashion icon whose otherworldly command of the screen elicited countless movie-house sighs. DeMille's Male And Female is a special treat, as it's an adaptation of a play by Peter Pan scribe J.M. Barrie. Swanson's onscreen transition from aristocratic haughtiness to humbled maturity ensured the film's position as Paramount's biggest hit of 1919. If you can tear your eyes away from Swanson, look out for a scene which features an actual chloroformed leopard!
MEDIUM COOL, 1969, Paramount, 110 min. Photographed in and around the riots at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, MEDIUM COOL stars Robert Forster (JACKIE BROWN) as a cynical TV reporter trying to maintain his equilibrium amid tear gas, yippies, black militants and working-class mother Verna Bloom. Written, directed and photographed by Haskell Wexler in a raw, unnerving mixture of radical politics, documentary footage and blistering Chicago blues.
MINNESOTA CLAY, 1965, 90 min."The Sightless Gunman...Who Killed by Sound!" One of the first westerns from director Sergio Corbucci (DJANGO, COMPANEROS) follows released, wrongfully convicted prisoner Minnesota Clay (Cameron Mitchell) as he tries to put his life back together and confront the high-living town boss (Georges Riviere) who betrayed him. But Clay is middle-aged, not as fast on the draw as he used to be and, to make matters worse, he’s going blind! Adding to the aggravation, Mexican bandit Fernando Sancho has his own homicidal agenda. "It's beautifully shot, hiding the film's reduced budget very well, and Mitchell adds a distinctive melancholic touch to his character of the aging gunslinger-with-a-past." – Westerns All’Italiana NOT ON DVD
MR. MICHEL'S DOG
Mr. Michel’s Dog (1977, 14 min.) Beineix’s very first serious (and award-winning) foray into filmmaking. Discussion following the feature film with director Jean-Jacques Beineix.
A MODERN MUSKETEER
(from IMDB)
A young man grows restless living in a small Kansas town, dreaming of the adventures of the Three Musketeers. So in hopes of becoming a modern D'Artagnan, he mounts his steed (a Model T Ford) and sets out across the West in search of excitement and adventure. Dir. Allan Dwan, 1917, 68 mins.
MODERN VAMPIRES, 1998, ContentFilm, 95 min. Director Richard Elfman and writer Matthew Bright return with this gory comedy vampire opus set in the uncharted wilds of Los Angeles. Dracula (Robert Pastorelli) orders maverick vampire Dallas (Casper Van Dien) to get out of town because Dallas’ street vampire girlfriend (Natasha Gregson Wagner) has been indiscriminately attacking too many victims. Simultaneously, an elderly Dr. Van Helsing (Rod Steiger) arrives from Europe, on the trail of the bloodsuckers. With a great supporting cast including Kim Cattrall (SEX IN THE CITY), Natasha Lyonne (SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS), Udo Kier (FLESH FOR FRANKENSTEIN, SUSPIRIA) and last but not least, Craig Ferguson (from "Late, Late Night With…"). "The scene-stealer of this movie is Richard as played by Craig Ferguson…He dives in feet first to every scene, ravaging mortals at a dizzying and comic speed. Simultaneously, it is hilarious and sickening to see him go." – Mike DeWolfe, Apollo Movie Guide. Uncut, Unrated Euro Version!
The Monsters’ Ship
Mexico, 1959
PROD: Jesús Sotomayor Martínez. DIR: Rogelio A. González. SCR: Alfredo Varela. CINE: Raúl Martínez Solares. EDIT: Carlos Savage. CAST: Eulalio González, Ana Bertha Lepe, Lorena Velázquez, Consuelo Frank, Manuel Alvarado.
The last man on Venus has died. Beta and Gamma, two Venusian women, have been sent on an intergalactic mission collecting bizarre male specimens from throughout space. And a monstrous collection they are too, all scales and fangs and exposed brains. An emergency crash landing in Chihuahua, Mexico puts the Venusian women face to face with handsome Laureano and his brother Chuy. Beautiful Beta is enthralled by Laureano’s good looks and sweet singing, but Gamma is set on conquering Earth, using her captive “men” as soldiers. Laureano takes it all in stride, an attitude befitting this Norteño. But can he prevail against the extraterrestrial goons? Or the Venusian beauties themselves? (We haven’t mentioned their vampire-like bloodsucking… but this should give you enough to work with.)
35mm, b/w, subtitles, 81 min.
THE MOON IN THE GUTTER (LA LUNE DANS LE CANIVEAU), 1983, Cinema Libre, 137 min. Director Jean-Jacques Beineix’s terrifically atmospheric and vastly underrated adaptation of David Goodis’ noir classic stars Gerard Depardieu as a raffish longshoreman who mourns the suicide of his raped sister amongst the bars and sleazy dives of the seedy Marseilles waterfront. When mystery girl Nastassja Kinski goes slumming in his neighborhood, Depardieu is bewitched by her beauty and soon learns she may know something about the identity of his sibling’s attacker. Beinieix updates writer Goodis’ dark urban underworld into a color-coded dreamland of nightmarish regret and longing, yet still somehow faithfully retains the essence of the original novel. Delirious, audacious and unashamed of its breathtakingly stylized sets. "Visually stunning…Beineix succeeds in creating a dream world where you can expect anything in the next moment, good or bad." – The Spinning Image (UK) (Screened from a digital source) NOT ON DVD
MORTAL TRANSFER (MORTEL TRANSFERT), 2001, Cinema Libre, 122 min. Overwhelmed psychoanalyst Michel (Jean-Hugues Anglade) falls asleep while listening to sado-masochist kleptomaniac patient Olga (Helene de Fougerolles) and awakens to find her strangled. Panicking, he decides to get rid of her body himself, lest he be saddled with her murder. Complications erupt when Olga’s rich husband (Yves Renier) comes looking for stolen money and Michel’s other neurotic patients clamour for attention. Director Jean-Jacques Beineix keeps a mesmerizing balance on a tightrope between poisonously dark comedy and psychological thriller. This is another of Beineix’s films almost impossible to see in America since its original European release. (Screened from a digital source) "Beineix is…aiming for the sort of darkly comic details and plausibly presented incongruities favored by, say, the Coen brothers…there is a methodical genre-bending at work that draws much inspiration from the ‘wrong man’ school of film noir…Widescreen results are sumptuous in a perfectly controlled, borderline surreal register…the level of craft is still unmistakable…" – Lisa Nesselson, Variety NOT ON DVD
MUPPET HISTORY 101
This unique slate of Muppet rarities examines the origins of Henson's pioneering puppeteering, and includes early live TV appearances, unusual commercials, guest spots by Rowlf The Dog on The Jimmy Dean Show, Muppet surprises on The Dick Cavett Show, and much more. Plus, this program contains the rarely-seen 1975 The Muppet Show pilot, under the provocative title The Muppets: Sex and Violence, which featured a tribute to the Seven Deadly Sins, and gave TV audiences their very first introduction to The Swedish Chef, Sam The Eagle, Statler and Waldorf, and the always-awesome Dr. Teeth!
My Own Private Crucifixion
Nico reads Thomas à Kempis while Ondine and Brigid Polk shoot speed and bemoan their preppy, run-amok children. High tech salvation awaits us all, to the sound of an analog synthesizer.
This evening features a screening of Andy Warhol’s rarely seen “sexploitation” feature Imitation of Christ, preceded by William E. Jones’s short video, Film Montages (for Peter Roehr).
THE NEXT VICTIM (aka THE STRANGE VICE OF MRS. WARDH), 1971, 81 min. Sergio Martino went on to direct many other giallo thrillers, but this was his genre debut and set the template for his films to come. A beautiful, vulnerable woman (Edwige Fenech, of ALL THE COLORS OF THE DARK) is being stalked while her busy diplomat husband (Alberto de Mendoza) is out of town. Is it mod Latin lothario George Hilton (in the first of many such roles), sadistic former lover Ivan Rassimov, maniac Bruno Corazarri or ? Co-written by Italian script maestro Ernesto Gastaldi with a superbly atmospheric lounge score by the rarely-heard-from Nora Orlandi. One of the great guilty pleasures of 1970s cult cinema! (This, one of the only surviving 35mm prints of the American version, is slightly faded.)
Night Flight tribute night
Before infomercials took over the late-night airwaves, overnight programming was a staid line-up of reruns, talk shows, and old movies. Throughout most of the '80s however, there was one anarchic alternative—-Night Flight. Premiering on the fledgling USA Network on June 5, 1981--two months before MTV's arrival—-Night Flight was a glorious amalgamation of music videos, short films, cartoons, interviews, concerts, and cult movies. For many viewers, it was a video primer to the counterculture of the Reagan era, featuring artists and films that at the time could not be seen anywhere else and for seven years, Night Flight was required viewing for stoners, punkers, headbangers, and insomniacs. Now, twenty years after the final episode was aired, the show's producers have gone back into their video vaults and emerged with this best-of program that will bring tears of joy to fans' sleep-deprived eyes, as well as a musical feature film picked from the Night Flight programming schedule archives! Night Flight creator Stuart Shapiro will appear in-person for a Q&A after the program!
NIGHT OF THE IGUANA
Richard Burton, Deborah Kerr and Ava Gardner star in this adaptation of Tennessee Williams' play about a fallen, alcoholic ex-minister, who is self-exiled to Mexico, where he works as a tour guide. John Huston---USA---1964---125 mins.
Occult USA:
The Process Church of the Final Judgment
Was The Process Church truly "one of the most dangerous Satanic cults in America"? Or were they an intensely creative apocalyptic shadow side to the flower-powered '60s and New Age '70s. Scores of black-cloaked devotees swept the streets of New York, San Francisco, London, Paris, and other cities selling magazines with titles like "Sex", "Fear", "Love" and "Death", and a theology proposing the reconciliation of Christ and Satan through love. Marianne Faithfull, George Clinton and Mick Jagger participated in Process publications, and Funkadelic reproduced Process material in two of their albums. The inside story of this controversial group has at last emerged with Feral House's LOVE SEX FEAR DEATH by Timothy Wyllie and other former members. Tonight, Feral House and Process Books present a re-creation of an actual Process Church “Sabbath Assembly” ritual. Author Wyllie (Father Micah) will follow to discuss the cult and his time within it in a multimedia presentation. The Sabbath Assembly band, comprised of Jex Thoth (Profound Lore Records), Imaad Wasif (Tee Pee Records), and David Christian (of No-Neck Blues Band) will perform Process hymns and songs throughout. Join us!
Odd Man Out
1946/b&w/116 min. | Scr: F.L. Green, R.C. Sherriff; dir: Carol Reed; w/ James Mason, Robert Newton, Cyril Cusack.
Mason achieved international leading-man status in this harrowing story of an Irish rebel who stumbles through the streets of Belfast until midnight, the object of a citywide manhunt. In the words of critic Pauline Kael: "The tormented, delirious Johnny, bleeding to death, seeks but does not find refuge on his way to the grave… those he encounters see him as a man beyond help; his final denunciation of a world without charity is one of the most memorable scenes on film. Carol Reed has always been at his best when dealing with outsiders—in Odd Man Out, he gives you an experience you can't shrug off."
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW, 1959, MGM Repertory, 96 min. Dir. Robert Wise. Bigoted ex-convict Robert Ryan’s mistrust of partner Harry Belafonte undermines the heist plans of their ex-cop leader Ed Begley, in this searing, underrated crime drama. Great atmospheric, on-location New York ambience fills every exterior shot. With Shelley Winters, Gloria Grahame.
ON/OFF: Mark Stewart from The Pop Group to The Maffia
This one's a must for all post-punk junkies! The name of singer/industrial hip-hop pioneer Mark Stewart may not be instantly familiar, but his influence is felt the world over. From his early days with confrontational post-punk pioneers The Pop Group to his myriad collaborations with the likes of Trent Reznor, Massive Attack and Primal Scream, Stewart has provided ghostly beats and haunting vocals for over thirty years, and shows no signs of stopping. German filmmaker Tøni Schifer, who followed Stewart around for three years, has crafted a detailed, intimate portrait of the artist, supplemented by interviews with Stewart himself, his Pop Group co-horts Dan Catsis, Gareth Sager and John Waddington, Keith Levine (P.I.L.), Janine Rainforth (Maximum Joy), Douglas Hart (The Jesus & Mary Chain), Fritz Catlin (23 Skidoo), Daniel Miller (Mute Records), Nick Cave, Mick Harvey, Massive Attack and many others, plus some terrific never-before-seen vintage performance footage. Plus, scenes of the wildly eccentric Stewart interacting with his mother are not to be missed! Straight from Berlin, director Tøni Schifer will be in attendance for a post-screening Q&A!
Dir: Tøni Schifer, 2009, DigiBeta, 90 min.
OPERA (aka TERROR AT THE OPERA), 1987, 100 min. One of director Dario Argento’s greatest masterpieces, OPERA is a tour-de-force of deliriously cinematic setpieces surrounding the murderous production of an operatic version of "Macbeth." (The script was inspired by Argento’s own attempt to mount "Rigoletto"!) Argento’s camera moves like a thing possessed: swooping, gliding, tracking a bullet through a peephole and, in one mindbending shot, whirling around the opera house on raven’s wings. When a prominent opera star suffers a non-fatal car accident, her understudy Betty (Cristina Marsillach) must take on the role of Lady Macbeth. Coincidentally, a deranged madman goes on a homicidal rampage. Co-starring Ian Charleson and Daria Nicolodi (DEEP RED). "…A violent aria of memory, bad luck, the artistic drive and the horror of the stare… If you've pinpointed the identity of the film's killer, it's of little consequence -- the genius of the film lies not in such details but in Argento's operatic attention to death and the way in which the film's killer forces Betty's gaze." – Ed Gonzalez, SlantMagazine.com
Orchids and Ermine
Tonight's Siren, the petite Ms. Colleen Moore, is often cited as originating the Flapper character with 1923's Flaming Youth. The film's tagline dared audiences to ask, "How Far Can a Girl Go?", and Moore answered that question generously for the rest of her screen career. Ushered into Hollywood by D.W. Griffith, she made a name for herself playing wholesome Little Orphan Annie. As soon as that persona--and much of her wardrobe--was shed in the early '20s, the dazzling, feisty Moore became Hollywood's top box-office attraction, and its highest-paid star. Tonight's Colleen Moore films--Ella Cinders (a "modern" retelling of the Cinderalla story) and the hilariously screwball Orchids and Ermine, in which she plays a ditzy telephone operator--show a stunning star at the height of her charm.
PAGAN LOVE SONG, 1950, Warner Bros., 76 min. Dir. Robert Alton. Half-American, half-Tahitian Mimi (Esther Williams) has lived all her life on the island and is bored with her idyllic lifestyle. Things change when Ohio-born schoolteacher Hap (Howard Keel) arrives to manage his uncle’s plantation, and the two fall in love. Much singing and Tahitian dancing follow, with some unusually gorgeous Technicolor setpieces with swimming superstar Williams, including an hallucinatory daydream where she swims through the clouds. Co-starring Rita Moreno. NOT ON DVD
Pandora and the Flying Dutchman
1949/color/123 min. | Scr/dir: Albert Lewin; w/ James Mason, Ava Gardner.
This sumptuous color film (shot by Jack Cardiff, the acclaimed cinematographer of The Red Shoes) is a heady mix of romance, fantasy, and poetic fatalism set in quaint Esperanza on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. As the seventeenth-century mariner doomed to sail the seas in search of a woman who will die for him, Mason is a magnificently eerie and brooding presence. Pandora, a willful chanteuse driven by strange passions (Gardner, at the height of her beauty), is his destiny. "Watching this film is like entering a strange and wonderful dream. Everything about it, from the magnificent performances of Ava Gardner and James Mason, to the gorgeous locations and Jack Cardiff's stunning photography, is infused with this ethereal, other-worldly quality. This restoration was several years in the making and I'm glad that the work we've done will allow new audiences to discover this unusual film."—Martin Scorsese.
PARANOIA (aka ORGASMO), 1968, 91 min. Dir. Umberto Lenzi. "Love is the tool that strips a jet-set widow bare of her morals and her millions!" A superbly entertaining Euro-trash psychodrama with love-starved widow Carroll Baker victimized by an unscrupulous, smart-aleck playboy (Lou Castel) and his vixenish, bisexual "sister" (Colette Descombes) in an escalating series of mind games. A tremendously enjoyable mix of Hitchcockian suspense and VALLEY OF THE DOLLS-style histrionics, fueled by Baker’s wonderfully uninhibited performance. The glamorous Baker starred in numerous Italian genre films in the late 1960s through the mid-1970s, including four giallo thrillers directed by the ever-reliable Lenzi – this is one of the best. NOT ON DVD.
Pardon Us For Living But The Graveyard Is Full
30+ years. 2000+ shows. No hits. No sleep. In 1976, a gang of kids from Queens stumbled upon some abandoned instruments in the basement of the house they were renting and ended up forming a band. Little did they realize that thirty years later, they'd still be struggling to play their music and pay the bills. The Fleshtones were an integral part of the '70s NYC underground scene and, amazingly, having soldiered on as a paradox, simultaneously legendary and obscure: boasting a rabid worldwide fan base and a reputation as a white-hot live act, but barely able to keep a record label for two albums in a row and ignored in all histories of the scene they helped create. Stunning vintage footage, insight from Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Clem Burke (Blondie) and Handsome Dick Manitoba (The Dictators), and candid self-deprecating interviews with band members Peter Zaremba, Keith Streng, Bill Milhizer and Ken Fox add up to a thoroughly entertaining portrait of the real hardest-working garage band in show biz. The evening's screening will be followed by a live set by special musical guests!
Dir. Geoffray Barbier, 2009, digital presentation, 65 min.
THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH, 1970, Warner Bros., 90 min. The classic children's adventure novel by Norton Juster and illustrated by Jules Feiffer comes to life in this Chuck Jones ("What's Opera Doc?") musical. Butch Patrick ("The Munsters") plays Milo, a bored city kid who receives a mysterious gift of a magical tollbooth. Entering, he finds himself transported from live action to a psychedelic animated universe, then thrust into a series of far-out adventures including rescuing the Princess Rhyme and Reason from the castle in the air. Voices supplied by voice-over legend Mel Blanc (Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig).
The Planet of Female Invaders
Mexico, 1965
PROD: Emilio Gómez Muriel. DIR: Alfredo B. Crevenna. SCR: Emilio Gomez Muriel, Alfredo Ruanova. CINE: Alfred Uribe. EDIT: Raul J. Casso. CAST: Lorena Velázquez, Elizabeth Campbell, Maura Monti, Guillermo Murray, Adriana Roel.
The female inhabitants of the planet Sibila want to invade Earth, but in order to breathe the Earth’s atmosphere for more than a day, it is necessary to create breathing adaptors from the lungs of living humans. A vanguard force comes to Earth seeking human specimens. Landing near an amusement park on Earth, they manage to disguise their ship as an innocent ride, thereby trapping several Earthlings and bringing them to Sibila. This sets up an intergalactic confrontation that pits rational, masculine, scientifically advanced Mexico against hysterical, overdressed and over-coiffed, feminine outer space. Seguro, it’s clear what has to happen.
35mm, b/w, subtitles, 85 min.
PLAYTIME, 1967, Janus Films, 126 min. Dir. Jacques Tati. If you missed our previous sold-out screenings, this may be one of your last chances to see the fully restored Jacques Tati masterpiece PLAYTIME, which was conceived originally as a 70mm viewing experience, then lost for over 30 years (there were only 35mm prints left of a cut version), and finally rescued by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff and Jerome Deschamps. Monsieur Hulot must contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in a stylish maze of modern architecture filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in a tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner. The star of the film: the city built by Tati and called Tativille/Taticity. From surprise to surprise, it’s an exquisite and divine experience! Francois Truffaut, writing to Jacques Tati about PLAYTIME, said simply, "A film from another planet."
POCKET FULL OF SOUL: PFOS 45 ('09, 45min) at 8:30pm - This comprehensive documentary explores the mythos surrounding the harmonica and the unique relationships forged between the instrument and its players. Filmmaker Marc Lempert (in person) delivers an unvarnished and exciting look at the harmonica's rich subculture, it's versatility across music genres, and its subsequent ubiquity. Get up close&personal with the famous, infamous, and totally unknown players as a universal tale of passion, creativity, and musical celebration unfolds. Featuring interviews with John Popper (of Blue Traveler), James Cotton, Magic Dick (of J. Geils Band), Robert Klein, Peter Madcat Ruth, Lee Oskar (of WAR) and many more. Narrated by Huey Lewis. Plus: ROLLINGMAN ('00, 12m) at 8pm - Mike Sakamoto combines harsh black and white images to portray the dead-end existence of a man living alone in a shabby house."Besides being funny and even a little touching, Rollingman offers a vision of "a way out" that transforms the human condition without attempting to transcend it."-Bill Krohn, Senses of Cinema. Preshow 6pm with live music and rare blues films
PROPHECY: THE MONSTER MOVIE
(from IMDB)
A log company's waste mutates the environment, creating a giant killer bear-monster. Dir. John Frankenheimer, 1979, 102 min.
The Reckless Moment
1949/b&w/82 min. | Scr: Robert W. Soderberg, Henry Garson; dir: Max Ophuls; w/ Joan Bennett, James Mason.
A blend of character study and noir thriller, Ophüls' last American film centers on a respectable wife and mother (Bennett) whose middle-class life is shattered when she recklessly disposes of the body of her daughter's lowlife boyfriend, who has been accidentally killed in her garage. As she valiantly copes with an intrusive family and an inconvenient blackmailer (Mason at his most tortured and tender), Ophüls' circling camera further entraps his stoic heroine until she breaks down in a wrenching finale. Mason held Ophuls in high regard as he demonstrated by penning these affectionate lines: "A shot that does not call for tracks is agony for dear old Max. When separated from his dolly, he's wrapped in deepest melancholy."
QUEENS OF EVIL, 1970, 85 min. Dir. Tonino Cervi. Ray Lovelock stars as a wandering young hippie motorcycling through the countryside. One night he stops on a forest road to help a rich man in a Rolls-Royce (who may be the Devil) with a flat tire. Afterwards he comes upon a strange house inhabited by three beautiful, mysterious, ultra-mod sisters (Evelyn Stewart, Silvia Monti, Haydee Politoff), who invite him to stay. Plied with delicious food, idyllic swims and nature outings – not to mention sex with all three -- Lovelock starts to forget his freedom-loving lifestyle. As he starts to fall into the bourgeois decadence he previously abhorred, weird things start happening. Is he sowing the seeds of his own destruction, helped by the all-too-accommodating sisters? A bizarre, groovy adult fairy tale, superbly photographed by Sergio D’Offizi. (Screened from a digital source) NOT ON DVD
A QUIET PLACE TO KILL (aka A DRUG CALLED HELEN), 1970, 94 min. Director Umberto Lenzi reunites with star Carroll Baker to once again revel in the murderous excesses of the jet set in this super-entertaining followup to PARANOIA. To make matters more confusing to potential patrons, QUIET PLACE was also released under the title PARANOIA in some European territories! Baker is Helen, a race car driver (!) who experiences a near-fatal crash when she thinks she sees her ex-husband, Jean Sorel. Recuperating, she’s invited down to Sorel’s beach villa by his rich new wife (Anna Proclemer). Before long, all kinds of murder plots begin hatching, someone dies, red herrings multiply and Baker is as mystified as we are. The plot thickens when Sorel’s sexy stepdaughter (Marina Coffa) shows up. Rivals Bava’s FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON in ultra-mod, unwholesome goodness, with a suitably over-the-top ending. (Screened from a digital source) NOT ON DVD
RAZORBACK
(from IMDB)
A wild, vicious pig terrorizes the Australian outback. The first victim is a small child who is killed. The child's granddad is brought to trial for killing the child but aquitted. The next victim is an American TV-journalist. Her husband Carl gets there and starts to search for the truth. The local inhabitants won't really help him, but he is joined by a hunter and a female farmer to find the beast. Dir. Russell Mulcahy, 1984, 95 mins.
Recent Films by Robert Frank
The Present (1996, 24 min.) is a thoughtful self-portrait in which Frank contemplates his relationships, his daughter’s death, his son’s mental illness, and his own work.
I Remember (1998, color, 5 min.), Frank recreates his visit to the home of Alfred Stieglitz, with wife June Leaf playing Georgia O’Keeffe, artist Jerome Sother playing Frank, and Frank himself in the role of Stieglitz.
Paper Route (2002, 23 min.) finds Frank accompanying Robert MacMillan on his early-morning paper route in rural Nova Scotia, creating a video portrait of the lives of ordinary people.
True Story (2004, color and b/w, 26 min.), returns to familiar themes of memory and loss, as the artist candidly reflects on his work, his wife’s artwork, and letters written by his son, Pablo, who died in 1994.
ROSELYNE AND THE LIONS (ROSELYNE ET LES LIONS), 1989, Cinema Libre, 170 min. Dir. Jean-Jacques Beineix. Thierry (Gerard Sandoz) drops out of school to apprentice as a circus lion tamer. Soon after, he and fellow trainee Roselyne (Isabelle Pasco) fall in love, he’s fired, and Roselyne leaves with him. The lovebirds journey across France looking for work, hitting up various circuses along the way. Finally they get closer to their aspirations when they’re hired on by a German circus in Munich and both fall under the tutelage of aging big-cat trainer Klint (Gunter Meisner). Beineix’s highly unusual, magical film has never been released in America. Don’t miss this rare opportunity! NOT ON DVD
Santo the Silver Mask Vs. The Martian Invasion
Mexico, 1967
PROD: Alfonso Rosas Priego. DIR: Alfredo B. Crevenna. SCR: Rafael García Travesi. CINE: Jorge Stahl Jr. EDIT: Abraham Cruz. CAST: Santo, Wolf Ruvinskis, El Nazi, Beni Galan, Eva Norvind.
Extraterrestrials invade Earth seeking human specimens. Announcing themselves in apocalyptic television broadcasts, then tele-transporting themselves to private homes and public sporting events, the platinum-bewigged, mylar-clad, macho Martians, backed by scantly dressed female beauties as counterparts, kidnap select humans, obliterating others with vaporizing rays. But heroic masked wrestler “Santo” neutralizes the invaders with his incredible wrestling prowess, after respectfully consulting a famous scientist and the local priest -- thus mediating between Mexico’s high-tech future and its traditional past to restore peace and order to the nation. ¡Bien hecho, luchador!
35mm, b/w, subtitles, 85 min.
Sappho
While some of our Silent Sirens seduce with an angelic, delicate charm, tonight's star slays her suitors with unforgettably dark features and tantalizing villainry. It's no wonder that Pola Negri was the reigning silent queen of femme fatales--her affairs with Chaplin and Valentino ensured that both on-screen and off, her tumultuous love life commanded the sort of attention only a brilliantly scandalous vamp could elicit. In Sappho, a gorgeously designed film from 1922, Negri plays the titular woman whose substantial wiles drive men to certifiable insanity and other forms of romantic disaster. Negri's performance in this film and others is said to have hurried the 1930 induction of the Hays Code, which censored "scenes of passion" and "excessive and lustful kissing"--one of many elements that make this film, and its star, undeniably memorable.
SARTANA, 1968, 95 min. Dir. Gianfranco Parolini (aka Frank Kramer). Known under such grim alternate titles as IF YOU MEET SARTANA, PRAY FOR YOUR DEATH and I AM YOUR PALLBEARER, this was the first in a spectacularly successful (in Europe) series. It sparked the imagination of international audiences, with Gianni Garko as a blond, blue-eyed, black-clad avenger -- a hustling gunslinger whose image blends Old West James Bond with a touch of the Gothic. A stagecoach is robbed, passengers are murdered and a succession of smiling, evil double-crossers and red herrings, among them Klaus Kinski and William Berger (FIVE DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON), vie with Sartana in a search for the loot. "Often remembered as the best (of the series)…from Gianni Garko’s laid back and always smooth performance as well as the welcome cameo…of Klaus Kinski who gives a brief but memorable performance as Lasky’s right-hand man. As Lasky, William Berger, is probably the standout of the cast…his manic personality and amazing charisma shining through at all times. He kept me glued to the film…I’m giving the movie a high four out of five." – Varied Celluloid NOT ON DVD
SHANGHAI EXPRESS
(from IMDB)
Many passengers on the Shanghai Express are more concerned that the notorious Shanghai Lil is on board than the fact that a civil war is going on that may make the trip take more than three days. The British Army doctor, Donald Harvey, knew Lil before she became a famous "coaster." A fellow passenger defines a coaster as "a woman who lives by her wits along the China coast." When Chinese guerillas stop the train, Dr. Harvey is selected as the hostage. Lil saves him, but can she make him believe that she really hasn't changed from the woman he loved five years before? Josef von Sternberg drama w/ Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook. 1932-Paramount
Show People
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. Davies takes center stage in the scathing satire Show People, in a role she was born to play: a Hollywood hopeful (partly modeled after fellow siren Gloria Swanson!) who longs to be recognized as a dramatic diva--but due to her charming ineptitude, ends up successful as a ditzy screen comedienne instead. In addition to Davies' radiant allure, silent fans will also get a kick out of watching legendary director King Vidor having his fun on two counts, with both an in-depth look at the silent film production machine, and a send-up of the in-jokey foibles of fellow directors like John Ford and Jack Conway.
SHRUNKEN HEADS, 1994, Full Moon, 86 min. Richard Elfman directs from a screenplay by the notorious Matthew Bright (FREEWAY). Tommy and his pals Bill and Freddie videotape local gangbangers The Vipers stripping a car, something the delinquents don’t take kindly to, especially after the tape is turned in to the cops. The three kids are captured and brought before the boss, Big Moe (Meg Foster). Escaping with Moe’s gambling receipts, they’re subsequently murdered. Then kindly Haitian comic book salesman (and voodoo priest) Julius Harris comes on the scene and takes matters into his own hands. "What would happen if three kids in the neighborhood got blown away by thugs working for a lesbian gangster, but then they had their heads cut off and boiled in a vat by the friendly neighborhood comic book salesman and Haitian voodoo police officer, and then they came back to life and flew around with knives between their teeth, getting revenge by slicing up criminals and turning em into friendly zombies who go around cleaning off graffiti and replacing the trash in upturned dumpsters..." – Joe Bob’s Drive-In Movie Review. Discussion between films with director Richard Elfman, Screenwriter Matthew Bright (also the director of FREEWAY) and other guests.
THE SLUMBER PARTY MASSACRE
(1982) Directed by Amy Holden-Jones
Written by feminist author Rita Mae Brown and directed by Amy Holden Jones, The Slumber Party Massacre, was intended as a parody of the voyeuristic male fantasies at the throbbing heart of every slasher movie. While Jones still delivers on the T&A before a driller killer unleashes carnage on a bevy of unsuspecting teens, the terrorized women come to their own rescue and there's plenty of camp humor to take the edge off the gore.
Santa Fe Productions. Producer: Amy Holden-Jones. Screenplay: Rita Mae Brown. Cinematographer: Steve Posey. Editor: Wendy Greene Bricmont, Sean Foley. Cast: Michelle Michaels, Robin Stille, Michael Villela, Debra Deliso. 35mm, 76 min.
SPARROWS
(1926) United Artists
The Library of Congress, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, and Glendale Arts join the Alex Film Society to present
Mary Pickford in SPARROWS
In association with the Library of Congress, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and Glendale Arts, AFS presents a screening of the restored silent classic, Sparrows, Mary Pickford’s 1926 dramatic story of abused orphans.
The 35mm print will be accompanied by a live organ performance featuring famed silent film organist Robert (Bob) Mitchell and is the only Los Angeles screening scheduled.
Considered to be Mary Pickford's best feature, Sparrows is an expert blend of thrilling spectacle and hissable villainy. The story concerns a group of orphan children held in virtual slavery on a southern farm surrounded by a treacherous swamp. In the climax, Mollie (Pickford) leads the children to safety after a hair-raising chase through a wilderness filled with alligators and quicksand. This transfer comes from the original 35mm material, from Pickford''s own collection, with a wonderful score by Gaylord Carter. "A gorgeous restoration--Pristine--Sparrows is beautifully mounted, richly Dickensian" (John Hartl, Seattle Times). Also included are two early shorts directed by D.W. Griffith and starring Pickford: Wilful Peggy (1910) and The Mender of Nets (1912), both from the original 35mm William Beaudine---USA---1926---81 mins.
The Strong Sex
Mexico, 1946
PROD: Emilio Gómez Muriel. DIR: Emilio Gómez Muriel. SCR: Humberto Gómez Landero, Miguel Morayta. CINE: Agustín Martínez Solares. EDIT: Jorge Bustos. CAST: Mapy Cortés, Ángel Garasa, Rafael Baledón, Alma Rosa Aguirre, Emperatriz Carvajal.
A fascinating, 1940s precursor to Mexico’s later sci-fi craze, this art deco fantasy imagines a parallel world to macho Mexico. After a shipwreck, Adan -- a handsome “charro” from Guadalajara, and his dashing Spaniard friend Curro, wash ashore on the island of Eden, a land where women are waited upon hand and foot by men. This social order is threatened when Queen Eva XLV falls in love with her guapo visitor Adan, even adopting his curious Mexican ways to win him. A rare peek into an alternate universe, with sexual politics surprisingly little changed.
35mm, b/w, subtitles, 81 min.
STUNT ROCK
(from IMDB)
Australian stuntman Grant Page goes to Los Angeles to work on a television series. He uses his spare time to lend his expertise to rock band Sorcery, whose act features duels between the King of the Wizards and the Prince of Darkness, with his cousin playing the Prince. Page helps the duo develop pyrotechnic magic tricks for their shows, and also finds himself in a budding romance with a magazine writer as he recounts to her his own exploits as a stuntman and daredevil as well as various stunts by other greats. Dir. Brian Trenchard-Smith, 1978, 86 mins.
Superman Rarities
Check out an afternoon's worth of rare footage related to the Superman character, including clips from the 1948 Superman serial.
Superman Rarities is presented in conjunction with: ZAP! POW! BAM! The Superhero: The Golden Age of Comic Books, 1938–1950
TERMINAL ISLAND
(1973) Directed by Stephanie Rothman
On Terminal Island, a brutal, feudalistic penal colony, female prisoners are treated as chattel until one woman rises up to fight back, with the help of a more egalitarian group of convicts. Here, director Stephanie Rothman mobilizes the lurid tropes of the prison flick into an action-packed counter cultural allegory of patriarchal domination and feminist revolution.
Dimension Productions, Inc.. Producer: Charles S. Swartz. Screenplay: Stephanie Rothman, James Barnett, Charles S. Swartz. Cinematographer: Daniel Lacambre. Editor: Jere Huggins, John O'Connor. Cast: Don Marshall, Phylis Davis, Ena Hartman, Marta Kristen, Barbara Leigh. 35mm, 88 min.
IN PERSON: Director Stephanie Rothman
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A.
(from IMDB)
L.A. branch Secret Service Agent Chance obsessively hunts for counterfeiter Rick Masters, who is responsible for the murder of his former partner and mentor. Dir. William Friedkin, 1985, 116 min.
To My Great Chagrin:
The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore
"My friends, I cannot see you. I’m blinded by the spotlight. But somehow with my third eye--with my inner eye I can see you. You are a small but utterly repulsive audience." - Brother Theodore
He was considered to be one of the most significant links in the history of comedy, admired by such people as Woody Allen, Dick Cavett, and Eric Bogosian. His television appearances have spanned from Steve Allen to Merv Griffin to David Letterman. His long-running Off-Broadway show was hailed as “diabolical genius”. He was Brother Theodore. Formerly a millionaire playboy living in pre-war Germany, Theodore endured the sobering destruction of his entire family, his fortune, and his own identity, as a survivor of Dachau. Later shipped to America and continually haunted by his loss, Theodore re-invented himself by capitalizing on his dark, existential humor, to become one of America’s most respected humorists and monologists. Combining ultra-rare footage of performances and TV appearances along with puppetry and innovative use of voiceover, To My Great Chagrin reconciles the cryptic, oddly comic fury of Brother Theodore’s performing persona with the stranger-than-fiction chronology of his life.
20,000 Leagues under the Sea
1954/color/127 min./Scope | Scr: Earl Felton; dir: Richard Fleischer; w/ Kirk Douglas, James Mason, Paul Lukas, Peter Lorre.
Jules Verne's sci-fi fantasy is a story that reverberates for boys of all ages. It is the mid-1800s and a monstrous creature has been sinking ships off San Francisco; an expedition is dispatched to solve the mystery, but the sailors aboard soon discover that the monster is "the Nautilus," a futuristic submarine with a lush Victorian interior, owned by the brooding Captain Nemo, a brilliant messianic scientist who despises humanity and has built his own world under the sea. With its lavish production design and exciting underwater scenes—culminating in a giant squid attack—Disney's classic adaptation still moves the heart and stirs the imagination even after so many years.
Wesley Willis's Joyrides
Despite impossible odds, self-proclaimed rock 'n roll star and "Chicago City Artist" Wesley Willis became an underground rock icon, revered artist and hero to many before his untimely death in 2003. Through his force of personality, his drawing talents, his unique vocabulary and an incredibly focused and singular songwriting style, Wesley’s creativity attracted people from all walks of life, and helped him to overcome the daily torment of schizophrenia, a haunting condition which plagued him throughout his adult life. Directors Chris Bagley and Kim Shively spent five years on the road and at home with Willis (along withn his many family members, friends and collaborators) to create the definitive portrait of Wesley as prolific artist and musician, on his path from obscurity to fame--a journey which will leave you uplifted, tickled and adrenalized. Dirs. Chris Bagley & Kim Shivley, 2008, DigiBeta, 78 min.
THE YANKEE CLIPPER
(from IMDB)
A young William Boyd stars as the captain of the title ship who is involved in a serious maritime challenge on behalf of the U.S. against arch rival Britain. It's a race to see which country's best sailing ship can get from Foochow, China to Boston the fastest. To do this they must sail across the Pacific and around the southern tip of South America. The prize is not only the Foochow tea trade but the winner gets the other's ship.
Boyd's journey quickly becomes encumbered by a young stowaway (Junior Coughlin) and the unexpected additions of a young woman and her craven fiancé. When one of Boyd's crew offers to help the woman and her fiancé escape, Boyd's troubles really start brewing up. From there it's fights, attempted mutiny, budding romance, and comedy relief... and, oh yes, a race to be won. Dir. Rupert Julian, 1927, 88 mins.