a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
fri. aug. 1
divorce italian style @ lacma
seduced and abandoned 9:30 PM @ lacma
harlan county USA @ silent movie theatre
konga 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
people watching @ telic arts exchange
curse of the demon (uncut), the lineup @ new beverly theatre
jack the ripper, a study in terror @ egyptian theatre
re-cycle MIDNIGHT @ egyptian theatre
upsilon acrux @ cafe mariposa
pineapple express (preview screening) @ aero theatre
jon brion @ largo
the fifth element MIDNIGHT @ regency fairfax theatre
sat. aug. 2
the princess comes across 7 PM, sinners in the sun @ starlight studios
hearst metrotone news collection @ ucla film archive
divorce italian style @ lacma
seduced and abandoned 9:30 PM @ lacma
harakiri 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
bug 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
touch of evil @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
curse of the demon (uncut), the lineup @ new beverly theatre
night of the juggler MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
the lydeckers 2 PM @ egyptian theatre
the vampire lovers, the vampire and the ballerina, the tell-tale heart @ egyptian theatre
the phantom surfers @ satisfaction @ the bordello
sun. aug. 3
barbarella @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
george kuchar part 2 the sf years 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
bringing godzilla down to size, war of the gargantuas, mothra @ egyptian theatre
dr. no, from russia with love @ new beverly theatre
nomo FREE 2 PM @ amoeba
mon. aug. 4
mia doi todd FREE @ spaceland
dr. no, from russia with love @ new beverly theatre
tue. aug. 5
clash by night 1 PM @ lacma
the informer 1:30 PM FREE @ skirball center
dr. no, from russia with love @ new beverly theatre
man on wire 8 PM FREE @ lacma
wed. aug. 6
high hopes, my beautiful laundrette @ ucla film archive
thu. aug. 7
darker my love @ the troubadour
you weren't there 8 PM, dfw punk @ silent movie theatre
reyner banham loves los angeles 8 PM @ the public school @ telic arts exchange
fri. aug. 8
pushover @ lacma
drive a crooked road 9:10 PM @ lacma
wanda @ silent movie theatre
sylvia 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
boredoms 88boadrum @ la brea tar pits
ema & the ghosts @ pehrspace
marty, the apartment @ new beverly theatre
the pirates of blood river, the devil-ship pirates @ egyptian theatre
jon brion @ largo
the dark crystal MIDNIGHT @ regency fairfax theatre
sat. aug. 9
strangers when we met @ lacma
samurai rebellion 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
the food of the gods 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
sixteen candles @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
anna christie 7 PM @ starlight studios
marty, the apartment @ new beverly theatre
it came from beneath the sea, kronos, earth vs the flying saucers @ egyptian theatre
the dirty dozen, emperor of the north pole @ aero theatre
mi ami @ show cave
sun. aug. 10
my childhood 7 PM, my ain folk, my way home @ ucla film archive
terror of the tongs, the camp on blood island @ egyptian theatre
goldfinger, thunderball @ new beverly theatre
phantasm @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
thee cormans FREE 7 PM @ vinyl solution (huntington beach)
queen of outer space 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
xbxrx, foot village @ the smell
the loons 7 PM @ mondo hollywood rock n roll weekender @ egyptian theatre
mon. aug. 11
mi ami @ pehrspace
goldfinger, thunderball @ new beverly theatre
tue. aug. 12
jem cohen films 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
eraserhead @ egyptian theatre
wed. aug. 13
welcome danger (X 2) @ ucla film archive
fantasy horror and sci-fi shorts @ egyptian theatre
angel heart, birdy @ new beverly theatre
qui, upsilon acrux @ the echo
thu. aug. 14
deep end, the witches @ egyptian theatre
angel heart, birdy @ new beverly theatre
this is the life (+ live performances by the good life MCs) @ downtown film festival
fri. aug. 15
the exiles @ ucla film archive
bell book and candle 9:30 PM @ lacma
love and anarchy @ silent movie theatre
picture mommy dead 10:15 PM @ silent movie theatre
midnight meat train MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
the abominable snowman of the himalayas, island of terror, island of the burning damned @ egyptian theatre
jon brion @ largo
magnolia MIDNIGHT @ regency fairfax theatre
mutiny on the bounty 8 PM @ warner grand theatre
sat. aug. 16
the exiles 2 PM, 7:30 PM @ ucla film archive
the notorious landlady 9:30 PM @ lacma
sonic youth sleeping nights awake 4:30 PM @ silent movie theatre
kill! @ silent movie theatre
night of the lepus 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
the guardsman 7 PM @ starlight studios
everyone's a curator @ telic arts exchange
badlands @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
upsilon acrux @ the smell
saccharine trust @ mccabe's
prometheus triumphant 5 PM @ egyptian theatre
dementia 13, curse of the faceless man, frankenstein's daughter @ egyptian theatre
sun. aug. 17
the exiles 7 PM, 8:45 PM @ ucla film archive
our gang shorts 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
the magnificent seven, the professionals @ new beverly theatre
robinson crusoe on mars, mutiny in outer space @ egyptian theatre
bunny lake is missing @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
mon. aug. 18
the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
the magnificent seven, the professionals @ new beverly theatre
tue. aug. 19
the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
the magnificent seven, the professionals @ new beverly theatre
trypps 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
wed. aug. 20
the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
thee makeout party @ mr t's bowl
island of lost souls, kongo @ egyptian theatre
thu. aug. 21
under the covers 8 PM, let me be your band @ silent movie theatre
alien, aliens @ egyptian theatre
the last picture show (director's cut) @ aero theatre
fri. aug. 22
the exiles 7:30 PM, 9:45 PM @ ucla film archive
what we do is secret MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
wizards, damnation alley, a boy and his dog @ aero theatre
the whole town's talking, two rode together @ new beverly theatre
mia doi todd @ echoplex
expo '70 @ the smell
jon brion @ largo
the neverending story MIDNIGHT @ regency fairfax theatre
sat. aug. 23
antibalas, isaac hayes @ sunset junction
the exiles 4 PM, 7:30 PM, 9:15 PM @ ucla film archive
bandits vs samurai squadron 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
shakma 10:30 PM @ silent movie theatre
john fante's dreams from bunker hill (walking tour) 11 AM @ skylight books
rear window @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
the whole town's talking, two rode together @ new beverly theatre
the gate MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
inspiration 7 PM, strangers may kiss @ starlight studios
last man on earth, the omega man, 12 monkeys @ aero theatre
ditty bops @ largo
sun. aug. 24
black keys, sister nancy, etc @ sunset junction
the pink panther, a shot in the dark @ new beverly theatre
for a few dollars more @ cinespia @ hollywood forever cemetery
mon. aug. 25
foot village @ pehrspace
the pink panther, a shot in the dark @ new beverly theatre
tue. aug. 26
bad dudes @ the smell
the pink panther, a shot in the dark @ new beverly theatre
wed. aug. 27
the eagle 8 PM @ silent movie theatre
the return of the living dead, feast @ new beverly theatre
thu. aug. 28
toots and the maytals @ santa monica pier
cinecon @ egyptian theatre
the return of the living dead, feast @ new beverly theatre
fri. aug. 29
ratcatcher @ silent movie theatre
the shanghai gesture 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
the warriors MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
three films of guy debord @ the public school @ telic arts exchange
the killers, the last picture show @ new beverly theatre
cinecon @ egyptian theatre
jon brion @ largo
sat. aug. 30
sword of doom 7 PM @ silent movie theatre
day of the animals 10 PM @ silent movie theatre
mata hari 7 PM @ starlight studios
f yeah fest @ the echo, echoplex
the killers, the last picture show @ new beverly theatre
three films of guy debord @ the public school @ telic arts exchange
cinecon @ egyptian theatre
melvins, big business @ troubadour
sun. aug. 31
cinecon @ egyptian theatre
polvo, trans am @ the echo
melvins, big business @ troubadour
mon. sept. 1
cinecon @ egyptian theatre
fri. sept. 5
jon brion @ largo
sat. sept. 6
lee perry @ el rey theatre
a free soul 7 PM @ starlight studios
wed. sept. 10
built to spill, quasi @ the troubadour
thu. sept. 11
built to spill, quasi @ the troubadour
fri. sept. 12
mystery science theatre 3000 the movie MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
mirah @ the troubadour
jon brion @ largo
tue. sept. 16
thee oh sees, sic alps @ the smell
wed. sept. 17
spiritualized @ hollywood bowl
fri. sept. 19
street scene (SD)
fright night MIDNIGHT @ nuart theatre
jon brion @ largo
sat. sept. 20
stereolab @ detroit bar
spiritualized @ street scene (SD)
the keep MIDNIGHT @ new beverly theatre
arsene lupin 7 PM, faithless @ starlight studios
fri. sept. 26
jon brion @ largo
sat. sept. 27
the mask of fu manchu 7 PM, as you desire me @ starlight studios
sun. sept. 28
louis ck @ largo
wed. oct. 1
my bloody valentine @ santa monica civic center
thu. oct. 2
my bloody valentine @ santa monica civic center
fri. oct. 3
black lips, miko mika @ detroit bar
fri. oct. 10
sunn O))) @ safari sam's
thu. oct. 23
stereolab, monade @ henry fonda
fri. oct. 31
roky erickson, the black angels @ el rey theatre
WHAT IT IS:
THE ABOMINABLE SNOWMAN OF THE HIMALAYAS, 1957, 85 min. Researcher Peter Cushing butts heads with ruthlessly unprincipled carnival impresario Forrest Tucker, when the pair join forces to capture the elusive Yeti of the Himalayas. Director Val Guest and screenwriter Nigel Kneale (the QUATERMASS films) balance tight, Hawksian action against an eerie, insistent sense of the supernatural. With evocative B&W photography by veteran Hammer cameraman Arthur Grant (PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES).
A FREE SOUL
Lionel Barrymore won an Oscar for his famous courtroom scene in this story of a hard-drinking lawyer who successfully defends gangster Clark Gable on a murder rap and then discovers that his daughter has fallen in love with him. With Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard.
Angel Heart
Exotic journey into voodoo, cults, sex and death. A journey of violence and darkness that moves from the streets of New York to the swamps of Louisiana featuring Mickey Rourke, Lisa Bonet, Robert de Niro and Charlotte Rampling.
ANNA CHRISTIE
Garbo in a great role as a disillusioned prostitute, based on Eugene O'Neill's play, who returns to her father, a barge captain, and falls in love with a sailor, only to be rejected when her tarnished past is revealed.
Bandits vs. Samurai Squadron
"Probably the top samurai film of the '70s." - Film Forum New York
In a big-budget spectacle which marked genre master Hideo Gosha's long-awaited return to the "cinema of the sword", a former samurai spends years amassing a gang of ne'er-do-wells, training them in dirty tricks in a single-minded quest to take down his former clan, the ones responsible for killing his family. His nemesis is an equally wily police officer still loyal to the clan who is not above flouting the law to take him down. Grifts, scams, betrayals, and seventies-style softcore abound in this epic battle of revenge.
Dir. Hideo Gosha, 1978, 35mm, 163 min.
Bell, Book and Candle
1959/color/106 min. | Scr: Daniel Taradash; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Kim Novak, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs
James Wong Howe's color cinematography reveals a "magical" Big Apple in this fanciful tale of a beautiful witch who owns a Manhattan art shop. Lemmon is hysterical as a jazz-loving warlock.
Birdy
A spellbinding, captivating movie about a Vietnam vet (Matthew Modine) who has come to believe he is a bird, and the efforts of his best friend (Nicolas Cage) to break him out of his silence. Part comedy, part drama, totally unlike any movie before.
A BOY AND HIS DOG, 1975, 91 min. Jason Robards and a young Don Johnson star in this cult classic, an adaptation of Harlan Ellison’s short story about the survivors of a nuclear holocaust. Slyly satiric, the film was directed by character actor (and Peckinpah favorite) L.Q. Jones. Special guests, giveaways and free popcorn & soda.
BRINGING GODZILLA DOWN TO SIZE, 2008, Classic Media, 68 min. Dir. Norman England. Featuring Akira Takarada, Haruo Nakajima, Hiroshi Koizumi, others. For more than 50 years, Godzilla, Mothra, King Ghidorah and other monsters have been created with traditional, handmade F/X techniques. Through interviews with actors, filmmakers, special-effects artists, and monster stuntmen from the golden age of Japanese sci-fi, this documentary goes behind the scenes of this unique and outlandish genre. Narrated by Alex Cox (director of REPO MAN, SID & NANCY). In English and Japanese with English subtitles. World Premiere!
Bug
"They Look Like Rocks...Possess A High Intelligence...Have No Eyes...And Eat Ashes...They Travel In Your Car Exhaust...They Make Fire...They Kill." - original "Bug" poster tagline, 1975
Bug marked the last stand of producer/director William Castle, the loveable B-movie Hitchcock who gave us The Tingler and House On Haunted Hill. Plot: earthquake happens, crack forms in the earth, and a new species of spontaneously combusting hyper-intelligent cockroaches come crawlin' out. Like all the greatest HFS, it starts out pretty fun, but right when you're in your comfort zone ("Sure, flammable cockroaches, that's pretty cool..."), it kicks it up many notches in the second half. Bug keeps getting wilder and wilder, taking you into unknown territories of loopy exploitation. By the time the roaches start spelling out words in English with their bodies like a football halftime show, you know this is good stuff.
Dir. Jeannot Szwarc, 1975, 35mm, 99 min.
THE CAMP ON BLOOD ISLAND, 1958, Sony Repertory, 81 min. Director Val Guest (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT) helmed this relentlessly fast-paced chronicle of Japanese POW camp atrocities that had a notorious reputation on its initial release for its – for the time – graphic violence. British POW Andre Morell (THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES) has to make sure that their sadistic Japanese camp commandment doesn’t find out Japan has surrendered or the whole POW population will be massacred. With a who’s who of great Hammer Studios supporting players, including Barbara Shelley (THE GORGON), Richard Wordsworth (THE QUATERMASS XPERIMENT), Michael Gwynn (REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN), Marne Maitland and Carl Mohner. NOT ON DVD. Ultra-Rare! New 35mm Print!
Clash by Night
1952/b&w/105 min. | Scr: Alfred Hayes; dir: Fritz Lang; w/ Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe
In a northern fishing village, jealousy and near tragedy are occasioned by the return home of a girl hardened by the big city.
Curse of the Demon
When psychologist John Holden's colleague, Professor Harrington, is mysteriously and brutally murdered, Holden denies it's the work of the devil--until he becomes the next target. Great suspense from Jacques Tourneur.
CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN, 1958, MGM Repertory, 67 min. Edward L. Cahn (IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE) directed this low-budget scarefest about a petrified man dug out of a Pompeii archeological site who comes back to life, pining for the reincarnation of his lost love, artist Elaine Edwards. Archeologists Richard Anderson and Luis Van Rooten investigate as the stone monster leaves a trail of bodies in his wake. With another great, underrated score by maestro Gerald Fried (THE KILLING). NOT ON DVD
DAMNATION ALLEY, 1977, 20th Century Fox, 91 min. Dir. Jack Smight. After World War III, George Peppard leads a ragged group of survivors (including Jan Michael Vincent, Dominique Sanda and Paul Winfield) on a journey to the last civilized spot in America -- Albany, N.Y.! Part road movie, part apocalyptic action flick, this is one of the most enjoyable -- and hard-to-see -- sci-fi films of the 1970s.
Day of the Animals
In the grand tradition of stage musicals, we're ending this festival with a big production number, one in which the whole zoo crew comes out to rip mankind a bunch of new orifices. Of all the critter flicks, Day Of The Animals makes the most hamhanded connection between environmentalist fears and nature's vengeance. The animals are literally driven crazy as a result of man's depletion of the ozone layer, and in the furry free-for-all, a B-movie all-star cast (Leslie Nielsen, Richard Jaeckel, Christopher George, Lynda Day George) are picked off one by one by various woodland creatures -- all ticked off because it's so damn hot. Best of all, Nielsen gets a bit of the ozone-born madness himself, transforming into a raging shirtless maniac ready to take on all comers, including a full-sized grizzly bear (cue thunderstorm!).
Dir. William Girdler, 1977, 35mm, 97 min.
DEEP END, 1971, Paramount, 88 min. One of the great lost films of the early 1970s from Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski captures the sense of impending dread and spiritual breakdown at the end of the ‘60s like no other movie. John Moulder-Brown stars as an innocent teenage psychopath working in a public bathhouse who becomes obsessed with doe-eyed Jane Asher, with shocking results. Terrific score by krautrock great Can and British songwriter Cat Stevens. "Jerzy Skolimowski's directorial career…began with this offbeat tale of obsessive, destructive love…haunting…An increasingly tense, dreamlike drama from an…uncompromising filmmaker." – Steven Puchalski, Shock Cinema NOT ON DVD. Rare! New 35mm Print!
DEMENTIA 13, 1963, MGM Repertory, 75 min. Director Francis Ford Coppola’s low-budget feature debut was one of the few pictures to effectively meld a contemporary PSYCHO-type scenario with Gothic horror motifs. When Louise’s (Luana Anders) husband, John, dies of a heart attack, she knows she won’t get any part of his mother’s inheritance if the family finds out he’s dead. She travels to the family castle in Ireland to finagle her way into a fortune, but must deal with John’s siblings, artist William Campbell, his new wife (Mary Mitchel), younger brother Billy (Bart Patton) and a still-alive matriarch. Then someone starts chopping people up with an axe! Fast-moving with a memorably great score by Ronald Stein and an uncredited Les Baxter. Produced by Roger Corman. "Francis Ford Coppola's first mainstream feature…is a little gem of Gothic horror, stylishly helmed on a shoestring budget." – TV Guide
THE DEVIL-SHIP PIRATES, 1964, Sony Repertory, 86 min. Dir. Don Sharp (KISS OF THE VAMPIRE). A pirate ship allied to the Spanish Armada docks at a village on the British coast for repairs and convinces the inhabitants that Spain has won the war. Lording it over the villagers as their new ruler, evil Christopher Lee causes plenty of suffering, and rebellious young John Cairney foments revolt with rumors that their Spanish masters are bluffing. More swashbuckling action with Hammer’s customary excellent period atmosphere. Co-starring Andrew Keir, Suzan Farmer (DRACULA PRINCE OF DARKNESS). New 35mm Print!
DFW PUNK
DFW Punk, covering the Dallas/Ft. Worth punk/new wave scene. If you thought Texas in the late ’70s was all about urban cowboys, country tunes and bible-thumping, get ready to be proved dead wrong. Filmmaker Q&As follow the screenings, and DJ Terry “Dadbag” Graham (Gun Club, The Bags) will be on-hand to spin tunes before and after the films. Dir. Laura Tabor-Huerta, 2007, MiniDV, 64 min.
Divorce Italian Style
1961/b&w/104 min. | Scr: Ennio De Concini, Pietro Germi, Alfredo Giannetti; dir: Germi; w/ Marcello Mastroianni, Daniela Rocca, Stefania Sandrelli
Baron Ferdinando Cefalù longs to marry his nubile young cousin Angela, but one obstacle stands in his way: his fatuous and fawning wife, Rosalia. A hilarious and cutting satire of Sicilian male-chauvinist culture, the film won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1962. "One of the greatest films about Sicily. Ferdinando remains one of the great icons of my movie-going memory. Has some of the richest, most beautiful black and white photography ever put on film and, sensual atmosphere, where lust and passion become almost aromatic. Very inventive, it really moves, as few films do, with deftness and the driest, most cutting wit... It's a film that truly haunts me. As funny as it is, the emotions that Germi was dealing with were primal, savage, and most disturbingly of all, eternal."—Martin Scorsese.
Drive a Crooked Road
1954/b&w/83 min. | Scr: Blake Edwards, Richard Quine; dir: Quine; w/ Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy
A lonely mechanic with dreams of racing car fame is lured into driving a getaway vehicle in this intelligent and ingenious thriller.
The Eagle
Having previously played romantic leads from France, Spain, India, Arabia, England, America and Italy, Valentino later portrayed Vladimir Dubrovsky, a Cossack serving in the Russian army, in The Eagle, one of his final films before his death in 1926. After spurning the advances of Catherine the Great (Louise Dresser) in the opening minutes of the film, Vlad finds that the villian responsible for stealing his family's land and killing his father is in fact the father of his secret lover, the young aristocrat Mascha (a lovely Vilma Bánky). Seeking revenge, Vlad dons a Robin Hood-like persona, and storms off to torment rich people across the land. Jettisoning the softer image he'd acquired from such films as Monsieur Beucaire and Camille, Valentino utilized for this film a mixture of machismo and self-aware comedy that would befit a James Bond movie.
Dir. Clarence Brown, 1925, 16mm, 73 min.
EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, 1956, Sony Repertory, 83 min. Dir. Fred F. Sears (THE WEREWOLF, TEENAGE CRIME WAVE). Classic 1950s drive-in stuff: Earth’s scientists can’t figure out why all the rockets they shoot into space are disappearing … until a fleet of flying saucers appears over the White House! Husband-and-wife scientist team Hugh Marlowe and Joan Taylor form a vanguard of defense against the invaders. FX man Ray Harryhausen collaborated on the original story for the film with famed sci-fi writer Curt Siodmak (THE WOLF MAN).
THE EXILES
A landmark of American independent cinema, Kent Mackenzie's The Exiles (1961) has been rarely seen, even in its native Los Angeles, for over 40 years. Unlike its better known counterparts—Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977) and John Cassavetes' Shadows (1959)—this improvisational day-in-the-life chronicle of Bunker Hill's Native American community quickly fell into obscurity—save for ultra-rare screenings at venues such as the UCLA Film & Television Archive—after it failed to find theatrical distribution. Featured in Thom Andersen's documentary Los Angeles Plays Itself (2003), The Exiles has been newly restored by the Archive and is ready to be re-discovered.
Shot in rich black-and-white, The Exiles is both a moving portrait of an outsider community and a cinematic time capsule of a storied Los Angeles neighborhood. When Homer (Nish) and Yvonne (Williams) leave their Apache reservation to start a new life in Bunker Hill, they find only poverty and isolation awaiting them. With an eye to downtown's grittier details—neon signs, anonymous alleys, tenement halls—The Exiles chronicles a single night in the couple's troubled search for a place to call home.
In Person: Special Guests TBA.
Cinematographer: Erik Daarstad, Robert Kaufman, John Morrill. Editor: Kent Mackenzie, Warren Brown, Thomas Conrad, Erik Daarstad, Thomas Miller, Beth Pattrick. Cast: Yvonne Williams, Homer Nish, Tommy Reynolds, Rico Rodriguez, Clifford Ray Sam. 35mm, 72 min.
FANTASY. HORROR AND SCI-FI SHORTS, 90 min. Robert Cosnahan's "Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre" (19 min, USA). A spoof on all initiations in order to be part of any "in" group. Mike Williamson's "In the Wall" (22 min, USA). On the eve of the hottest New Year on record, a young pregnant wife happily prepares for the birth of her child, but her secretive husband may have darker plans for the family. Paul Bickel's "Hollow" (9 min, USA). A young boy has more to be afraid of than in your standard scary movies. Floris Kaayk's "Metalosis Maligna" (8 min, Netherlands). In this "documentary" you will learn about a disease from the future that is spectacular and chronically debilitating. Ray Griggs’ "Lucifer" (8 min, USA). Gorgeously shot high-budget fantasy short starring Jason Lewis (SEX AND THE CITY) that begs to be seen on the Egyptian’s big screen. Nick Brandestini & Steve Ellington's "H.R. Giger's Sanctuary" (19 min, Switzerland) Fascinating look into the fears, nightmares and visions of the inventor of the "biomechanics" and the creator of the creature for ALIEN. Andrew Huang's "The Gloaming" (4 min, USA). While working in his office, a man has an unsettling vision both outside the office and inside his computer. Aideen McCarthy's "The Formorian" (6 min, Ireland). A tale about a long-forgotten demon race that, according to Irish myth, threatened to wipe out all human life. Discussion following with Robert Cosnahan ("Psycho Hillbilly..."), Mike Williamson ("In the Wall"), Paul Biggs ("Hollow") and Andrew Huang ("The Gloaming").
Feast
Possibly the most successful spawn of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's Project Greenlight series, Feast is a blood-drenched horror tale that blends dark, tongue-in-cheek humor with even darker visuals, courtesy of Greenlight winners Marcus Dunstan, Patrick Melton, and director John Gulager. The film features a family of monsters feasting on some trapped bar patrons in the middle of the desert. Sure, the budget is low and the plot well-trodden, but the most exciting aspect of Feast is knowing its gory genesis and watching the finished product. With Balthazar Getty, Henry Rollins, and Krista Allen.
The Food of the Gods
Throughout his career, director Bert I. Gordon repeatedly returned to the theme of mutant oversized evil, using spiders (Earth Vs. The Spider), ants (Empire of the Ants) and dudes (The Amazing Colossal Man), but Mr. B.I.G.'s obsession found its best vehicle in this H.G. Wells adaptation; here, a bubbling goo oozes up from the earth, turning little creatures into very big ones, mostly with a tendency to eat people. Evangelist-turned-actor Marjoe Gortner stars as a football player on a hunting trip who happens to notice that the area's wasps are the size of Vespas. Mutant chickens and worms follow, along with grizzled film veterans Ralph Meeker (who looks like the skin of Lloyd Bridges pulled over the bone structure of Terry Bradshaw), and Ida Lupino, who gives the best performance of a woman being eaten by rats we've ever seen.
Dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1976, 35mm, 88 min.
FRANKENSTEIN’S DAUGHTER, 1958, 85 min. Dir. Richard E. Cunha. Good girl teen Sandra Knight is turned into a bucktoothed, pockmarked creature in a negligee by her scientist uncle’s sleazeball assistant, Oliver Frank (Donald Murphy). Boyfriend John Ashley is bewildered by the mysterious goings-on. Of course, Frank is really short for Frankenstein, and Oliver also has plans for the snooty blond bombshell (Sally Todd) who spurned his advances. Two monsters for the price of one! With the ultra-square musical stylings of the Page Cavanaugh Trio. "With lovable horror clichés, gooey monsters, and funny dialogue, this is a classic of its type from director Richard Cunha… one of the best teenage monster movies of them all." – Joe Lozowsky, DVD Drive-In. Discussion between the first two films with actor Richard Anderson (CURSE OF THE FACELESS MAN).
THE GATE
(from IMDB)
Three young children accidentally release a horde of nasty, pint-sized demons from a hole in a suburban backyard. What follows is a classic battle between good and evil as the three kids struggle to overcome a nightmarish hell that is literally taking over the Earth.
GEORGE KUCHAR PARTS 1 AND 2
“George and Mike Kuchar’s films were my first inspiration.”—John Waters
Starting at the age of twelve on their parents’ Bronx rooftop, George Kuchar and his twin brother Mike created a series of absurd, homemade epics that became underground film classics, probably to the brothers’ own surprise. Made with their cast of misfits, drag queens, and overweight women--in other words, stars!--the Kuchar brothers employed an original lo-fi aesthetic that joyfully transformed every flaw into a charming detail, and wallowed cheerfully in their own cheapness. George’s love of trash, camp, and melodrama, infect every second of his crazed, unique films. Aside from John Waters, his influence can still be felt in filmmakers from Guy Maddin to David Lynch. The prolific nature of George’s output made it hard for us to keep our program down to two nights, but this is the best we could do. Enjoy.
THE GUARDSMAN
An adaptation of Molnar's comedy about a jealous husband who tests his wife's fidelity. The film stars the real-life married couple, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne. With Roland Young, ZaSu Pitts and Herman Bing.
Harakiri
A monumental effort in any genre, Masaki Kobayashi's Harakiri towers among samurai films as a near-perfect combination of cinematic style, innovative storytelling and nuanced political commentary. Driven by Toru Takemitsu's saber-rattling score and Kobayashi's mastery of widescreen cinematography, Harakiri's twisting flashbacks tell a tale of desperation and unintentional sacrifice. An unemployed young samurai appears at the gates of a successful clan, asking to die with honor in a ritual suicide on their grounds. In truth, the young man is looking for charity, but the ruthless warlords, hoping to provide a warning to others, hold him to his word. In a chilling lead performance, screen legend Tatsuya Nakadai plays the young man's father-in-law, who comes knocking at the same gates months later--but with a very different agenda. A damning critique of the feudal era's hollow codes of justice and honor, Harakiri burns with tension, passion, rage and violence.
Dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 1962, 35mm, 135 min.
Harlan County USA
The poverty and tension on display in the Oscar-winning 1976 documentary Harlan County USA is so vivid and tangible that it will take the auditorium house lights fading back up for you to shake its stark images from your mind. Originally having planned to make a film simply about a contentious union election, director Barbara Kopple found in the Harlan, Kentucky miners' strike of 1973-4 a sweeping vista of potent drama: picketers clashing with management's thugs, the grim conditions of mining life, political assassination, the desperation of families' dwindling savings -- and even a survey of the folk music indigenous to the Harlan area. With a fearless resolve (the filmmaker's life was
continuously threatened by armed-to-the-teeth coal company goons throughout the making of the film), Kopple presents a landmark in documentary film that today still has few equals.
Dir. Barbara Kopple, 1976, 35mm, 103 min.
HEARST METROTONE NEWS COLLECTION: MUSIC, HUMOR AND HUMAN INTEREST IN THE NEWSREELS, 1929-1934
The Hearst Metrotone News collection contains much more than just a visual record of the military and political events of the 20th century. Newsreel cameramen captured fads, stunts, obscure talents, polished performers and publicity seekers, as well as presidents, generals and prime ministers. Some of the more interesting examples of this kind of newsreel story are from the first five years of sound production.
In addition to stories about unusual inventions and interesting animals, we will be screening several stories which amount to the newsreel equivalent of music videos. Stories with titles such as "Old Time Fiddlers Have a Jamboree," "U.S. Boy Violinist Amazes Europe," and "Chinese Co-eds Give a 'Kitchen' Recital" will be shown. These stories illustrate the wide range of musical styles showcased once sound became available to newsreel producers.
Those familiar with newsreels from World War II will recall dramatized editorials featuring big-name stars reminding the home front to conserve, recycle and that "loose lips sink ships." However, this type of screen editorial was used years earlier. One example of an early dramatized newsreel editorial will be shown in which a character identified as "Mr. Courage" will explain to "Mr. Fear" just how to fight the Great Depression.
There will also be appearances by Will Rogers, Eleanor Roosevelt and Buster Keaton. Jimmy Durante, who was then going by the name "Schnozzle," rather than the more familiar "Schnozzola," will make two appearances.
During the first five years of sound newsreel production the trademark voiceover style that came to be identified with newsreels had not yet become the norm. At the dawn of the sound era, newsreels were produced in a manner virtually identical to their silent precursors. The only difference being that music was played during the title sequences and only ambient sound was heard during the story. Tonight's presentation will show how the transformation to an off-screen narrator began and how it was all but complete by 1934.
*NOTE: All of the newsreel footage to be screened has been restored as well as preserved.
Presented by Blaine Bartell, UCLA Senior Newsreel Preservationist; Jeffrey Bickel, Newsreel Preservationist.
HIGH HOPES
(1988) Directed by Mike Leigh and Jon Gregory
Applauded both for his realism and biting caricatures, director Mike Leigh satirically weaves together characters from conflicting social classes during the Thatcher era. In High Hopes Leigh focuses on a working class Socialist couple Shirley and Cyril, (marvelously played by Ruth Sheen and Philip Davis) who struggle with their upwardly mobile in-laws, Cyril's aging and increasingly needy mother, and their obnoxious right wing neighbors.
Producer: Simon Channing-Williams, Victor Glynn. Cinematographer: Roger Pratt. Cast: Philip Davis, Ruth Sheen, Edna Doré. 35mm, 112 min.
THE INFORMER
A hard-drinking brute (Victor McLaglen) informs on a friend in order to collect a reward during the Irish Civil War of 1922. This Oscar-winning study of moral strength and weakness explores the pressures upon the poor in an underground movement. (1935, 91 min. No MPAA rating.)
INSPIRATION
A modern version of Sappho, the enigmatic Garbo is Yvonne, an alluring artist's model in Paris, whose misfortune is her imprudent past, which compels her to leave the man she loves. Starring Robert Montgomery and Lewis Stone. 1931, M-G-M
ISLAND OF LOST SOULS, 1932, Universal, 70 min. Director Erle C. Kenton adapted H.G. Wells’ Island of Dr. Moreau into one of the classic Pre-Code horror shockers. Originally released by Paramount to compete with Universal’s monster menagerie, Universal ironically now owns the rights. Seaman Richard Arlen gets marooned on vivisectionist Charles Laughton’s private isle, where he has developed a race of subhumans from various wild animals in his "House of Pain." An old school chiller that remains scary to this day. Bela Lugosi is the ringleader of the beast-men. With Kathleen Burke as Lota, the Panther Woman. "…a remarkably powerful film." – Time Out (London) NOT ON DVD
ISLAND OF TERROR, 1966, Universal, 89 min. Director Terence Fisher took a vacation from Hammer Studios to do two indie sci-fi films with Peter Cushing. Scientists Cushing and Edward Judd (THE DAY THE EARTH CAUGHT FIRE) trek to a remote British isle to find out why villagers are turning up dead – and boneless. They discover a private cancer-research facility has unwittingly mutated microscopic organisms into deadly, crawling, man-sized amoebas. With Carole Gray, Eddie Byrne. Richard Gordon (FIEND WITHOUT A FACE) was one of the executive producers. Great, scary drive-in fare. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD
ISLAND OF THE BURNING DAMNED, 1967, 94 min. The second mid-‘60s sci-fi melodrama Terence Fisher did with Peter Cushing focuses on a brutal mid-winter heat wave that suddenly transforms a British isle into a community of frayed tempers, heat strokes and histrionic love triangles. Mysterious investigator Christopher Lee and local doctor Cushing learn that protoplasmic aliens are causing the problem and soon will incinerate the area. Best-selling author Patrick Allen and wife Sarah Lawson own the pub where everyone congregates, and the temperature is raised higher when sexy secretary Jane Merrow arrives to take dictation. (Screened from a digital video source.) NOT ON DVD
IT CAME FROM BENEATH THE SEA, 1955, Sony Repertory, 79 min. Robert Gordon directs classic giant monster action. Submarine commander Kenneth Tobey (THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD) finds himself hunting down a giant octopus that has been coaxed from the depths by atomic testing and is now raiding Pacific shipping lanes and the western seacoast. He teams up to find the marauding behemoth with marine biologists Donald Curtis and Faith Domergue (THIS ISLAND EARTH) and is soon romancing the latter. More great stop-motion animation from Ray Harryhausen.
JACK THE RIPPER, 1959, 84 min. Producers/directors Robert S. Baker and Monty Berman, those master showmen who brought you THE CRAWLING EYE and THE FLESH AND THE FIENDS, take a crack at the Jack the Ripper legend, with hackles-raising results. Inspector O’Neill (Eddie Byrne) and American detective Sam Lowry (Lee Patterson) do their best to track the maniac who is dispatching prostitutes in poverty-stricken Whitechapel. They narrow the hunt to a charity clinic, but are confounded by many suspects. Ewen Solon and John Le Mesurier play two doctors at the top of their list. Producer Joseph E. Levine (HERCULES) picked up this shocker for American distribution and spent a fortune on promoting its initial release. With a famous theme by jazz composer Pete Rugolo. "Gruesome account of the mysteries surrounding the most infamous serial killer of them all…manages to effectively re-create period London in an atmospheric and suspenseful dramatization." – Britmovie NOT ON DVD
Jem Cohen Films
Filming always, and everywhere, Jem Cohen has collected countless hours of poetic images of the universe on 16mm. His films give us insight into our world--they challenge us to stop, to focus. In his rarely-seen feature Chain, he shows how the bleak specifics of where we live, shop and eat deplete our relationship with character and personal identity. Actual malls, theme parks, hotels and corporate centers worldwide are joined into a monolithic “superlandscape” that shapes and circumscribes the lives of two distinct inhabitants: one a businesswoman researching the international theme park industry for her home company, and the other a young drifter, illegally living and working on the fringes of a shopping mall. Preceding Chain are three lyrical short films by Cohen: the political statement Little Flags, the ode to travel Blessed Are The Dreams Of Men, and the beautiful Lucky 3, a portrait of Elliott Smith.
The Keep
Michael Mann follows up the moody, rain-soaked neon of his Chicago heist film Thief with this very different feature--a historical drama set in German-occupied Romania during WWII. At the center of the mysterious drama is a foreboding castle whose walls contain an ancient and powerful force. When an enigmatic drifter arrives, revealing the nature of the creature, a struggle ensues over whether to contain or release it. A stellar cast (including Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellan, and Scott Glen) and Mann's patented visual style make this an effectively moody (if sometimes muddled) effort by a skilled American auteur.
Kill!
Slapstick mixes with gripping swordplay in director Kihachi Okamoto's subversive rebuke to outdated notions of blind obedience to power. In the film, two wandering loners witness a samurai collective kill a prominent leader under orders from their boss, and as they each make contact with the boss, realize he intends to double-cross the crew. And, if the men don't end up double-crossing each other as well, maybe the samurai can be saved. As Dr. Strangelove was the comic spin on the serious nuclear countdown drama Fail Safe, Kill! is to Kurosawa's Sanjuro, a convoluted absurdist farce that takes shots at both samurai and spaghetti western myths -- the swordsmen here are dim and dangerous, knowing that nobility is for fools.
Dir. Kihachi Okamoto, 1968, 35mm, 109 min.
Konga
When Samuel Z. Arkoff and his AIP cronies were on a string of hit teen exploitation films--I Was a Teenage Frankenstein, I Was A Teenage Werewolf, I Was a Teenage You-Get-The Idea--they got around to adapting the formula to King Kong, inevitably. Unfortunately, the working title I Was A Teenage Gorilla was dropped before this goofy British co-production hit the screen; fortunately, Konga is a colorful, hilarious goof of a film full of droll evil scientist dialogue, matte shots mismatched in scale, improper teacher-student relations, mutant plants that look like genitalia, and one really cheap ape suit. Kuchar sez, "A truly unforgettable role for the magnificent Michael Gough, whose concentration and acid delivery of the dialogue make this gorilla-at-large movie something memorable. The mature performers and comic-book counterparts in the youth brigade are all propelled by the same primitive passions that animate the beast of the title and make this film something we can completely understand."
Dir. John Lemont, 1961, 35mm, 90 min.
KONGO, 1932, Warner Bros., 86 min. William J. Cowen helmed this sound remake of the silent Lon Chaney thriller WEST OF ZANZIBAR. Walter Huston is a crippled renegade in darkest Africa who drags himself around on his powerful arms. He lords it over local tribesmen, intimidating them with "voodoo" and parlor tricks. He also enjoys torturing and driving mad any whites who fall into his clutches, especially Virginia Bruce, whom he believes to be his arch-enemy’s daughter. Tragic legend Lupe Velez stars as Tula, a woman under cruel Huston’s thumb.
KRONOS, 1957, 78 min. "Planet Robber Tramples Earth…Stealing Energy for Other Worlds!" Kurt Neumann, director of the original THE FLY, helmed this superb indie sci-fi thriller. Scientists Jeff Morrow, Barbara Lawrence and George O’Hanlon go up against a giant robot from outer space that is systematically sucking the planet dry of all energy. Unbeknownst to the trio, the mind of their colleague, head scientist John Emery, is under direct control of the voracious monolith as it cuts a swath toward Los Angeles. "…well-made…boasts quality special effects that would do credit to a much higher-budgeted film." – Variety
LET ME BE YOUR BAND
Let Me Be Your Band, a joyous ode to the tradition of the one-man band. It’s a heart-pumping trek leading to the rockabilly sounds of Hasil Adkins, the punk-infused Delta Blues skronk of Bob Log III, Eric Royer’s self-built five-piece bluegrass band, the haunting tones of the Lonesome Organist, Washboard Hank performing on his kitchen-sink tuba, and more. Let Me Be Your Band Dir. Derek & Heather Emerson, 2003, Beta SP, 76 min.
The Lineup
Spun off the 1954-1960 TV cop show of the same title but playing more like Elmore Leonard than Joe Friday, Don Siegel’s 1958 “The Lineup” is vintage film noir enlivened by a dazzling performance by Eli Wallach.
In only his second film performance after an assured debut in “Baby Doll” two years earlier, Wallach plays Dancer, a dapper hitman whose neat appearance masks a loose-cannon temperament that puts the mission — locating a lost dope shipment — in jeopardy.
Robert Keith, one of the unsung character actors of the ’50s (and father of Brian Keith), plays Julian, the brains of the outfit, and Richard Jaeckel, always a valuable supporting player, co-star as their driver.
But this is really Siegel’s show all the way — along with “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” and “Riot in Cell Block 11,” his finest work of the ’50s and a worthy companion piece to such later genre masterworks as “Madigan,” “The Killers,” “Dirty Harry” and “Charley Varrick.”
Love and Anarchy
Famous for both taunting 1970s feminists and creating films with the longest movie titles in Italian ever devised, Lina Wertmuller is largely ignored today among the international cinema greats, but remains a key figure in the rise of female film directors. Two of her best repertory players, Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangelo Melato, team up in this quirky character study about Turin, a provincial wannabe anarchist who decides to assassinate Mussolini in 1930s Italy and hides out in a brothel where he becomes involved with one of the employees. Alternately witty and tragic, it offers both an actors' feast and a vibrantly colorful visual demonstration of the filmmaker's daring fusion of melodrama and politics. Backed up with a delicious score by Nino Rota, this remains one of Italian cinema's most significant and unorthodox attempts to deal with its World War II history, and is a fine piece of entertainment to boot.
Dir. Lina Wertmuller,1973, 35mm, 120 min.
The Lydeckers: Special Effects Pioneers & Streamline Moderne Architecture
Starting in the 1930s, the Lydecker Brothers (Theodore & Howard) produced revolutionary special effects for nearly 400 movies and serials, including the 1942 WWII action picture FLYING TIGERS which uses not a single real fighter plane! They were the undisputed masters of the minatures in Hollywood and worked together closely during the entire production history of Republic Pictures were they had a great deal of creative freedom. Howard Lydecker used his cinematic vision to design and build his own futuristic Streamline Moderne home in Studio City. Travel through worlds real and imagined with Lydecker House historian and TV News Producer Jason Burks who will introduce film clips and discuss how Lydecker’s work influenced his home, which is now an Historic Monument. Nephew to Howard Lydecker and son to Theodore Lydecker, George Lydecker will share his memories of the work of his father and uncle.
MAN ON WIRE
Man on Wire is the extraordinary story of Philippe Petit, who thrilled the world in the summer of 1974 when he snuck to the top of the World Trade Center and performed the greatest high-wire walk in history. Combining edge-of-your seat re-enactments, candid interviews, and astonishing archival footage of the puckish Petit and his cohorts, director James Marsh elegantly fashions a rare documentary that transports, moves, and buoyantly entertains.
Winner of the Grand Jury and Audience Awards for World Cinema-Documentary at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival
MATA HARI
Greta Garbo adds her glamour to the tale of the exotic World War I spy. She dances, she flirts, she gives comfort to wounded soldiers. With Ramon Navarro, Lionel Barrymore, Lewis Stone and Karen Morley.
MOTHRA, 1961, Sony Repertory, 100 min. Giant caterpillar-turned-avenging insect Mothra wreaks havoc on Japan when its best friends -- two tiny, telepathic, singing sisters (played by real-life siblings Yumi and Emi Ito) -- are kidnapped by an unscrupulous promoter and forced to perform in a Tokyo nightclub! Classic oversized bug action from the master of Japanese monster movies, director Ishiro Honda. English dubbed version. NOT ON DVD Discussion in between first two films with BRINGING GODZILLA DOWN TO SIZE producers Steve Ryfle and Ed Godziszewski.
MUTINY IN OUTER SPACE, 1965, 80 min. Dir. Hugo Grimaldi. A slimy, slithering fungus permeates a spaceship returning from the Moon, threatening to annihilate the crew. William Leslie, Dolores Faith and Richard Garland (ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS) are just a few of those menaced by the unstoppable mold. To make matters worse, the paranoid, autocratic head officer on board engenders rebellious feelings from those in his command. A virtually lost drive-in classic, not screened in decades. NOT ON DVD
MY AIN FOLK
(1973) Directed by Bill Douglas
The midpoint of the trilogy, My Ain Folk returns to Douglas' hometown of Newcraighall, where Jamie is sent to live with his harsh paternal grandmother. The film opens with an unexpected Technicolor clip from Lassie Comes Home, making Jamie's black and white reality seem all the more bleak and oppressive.
Producer: Nick Nascht. Cinematographer: Gale Tattersall. 35mm, 55 min.
MY CHILDHOOD
(1972) Directed by Bill Douglas
Stark, black and white cinematography evokes a poor Scottish mining town literally and figuratively stripped of color in this first installment of writer-director Douglas' autobiographical trilogy. Jamie (Archibald), Douglas' alterego, lives with his maternal grandmother (Smith) in a working-class neighborhood scarred by the Depression and WWII. Searching to fill the emotional void left by two parents he never knew, Jamie finds an unexpected father-figure in a German POW (Karl Fieseler) who speaks little English. With minimal dialogue and no score, My Childhood harkens back to the cinematic language of the silent era, and delivers emotional punches through intimate storytelling that hits harder than bombast ever could.
Producer: Geoffrey Evans. Cinematographer: Mick Campbell. Editor: Brand Thumim. Cast: Stephen Archibald, Hughie Restorick, Jean Taylor Smith. 35mm, 46 min.
MY WAY HOME
(1978) Directed by Bill Douglas
Completed five years after My Ain Folk, Archibald returns to reprise the role of Jamie, now an adult, as the burdens of work and war strip him of his childhood. When the British Army drafts Jamie and stations him in Egypt, an unexpected friendship with an erudite Englishman (Joseph Blatchley) leads to new opportunities and the possibility of a brighter future.
Producer: Judy Cottam, Richard Craven. Screenwriter: Bill Douglas. Cinematographer: Ray Orton. Cast: Stephen Archibald, Paul Kermack, Jessie Combe. 35mm, 71 min.
NIGHT OF THE JUGGLER
(from IMDB)
A tough cop goes on a citywide rampage when his daughter is mistakenly kidnapped by a psycho. The psycho had originally targeted someone else's daughter, but is just as prepared to kill anybody unless his colossal ransom demands are met. With James Brolin.
Night of the Lepus
What can ya say? Either you wanna see a movie about giant mutant bloodthirsty bunnies run around on miniature sets, murdering '70s character actors, or ya don't. We do! There's something inherently ridiculous in watching small furry creatures trample in slo-mo to dissonant synth blasts, but perhaps even more dissonant is the sounds of growls and roars coming from a rabbit. We guess their vocal chords mutated as well as their size. The legendary late-night TV staple Night of the Lepus features a hoary cast so gloriously middle-aged that a 1972 Janet Leigh stands out as the believable sex object, one of the most desperate attempts to explain the menace of its chosen feared animal (in a truly wacky "what we're up against" monologue set to newsreel footage), and...GIANT KILLER BUNNIES. Sorry, it bears repeating.
Dir. William F. Claxton, 1972, 35mm, 88 min.
The Notorious Landlady
1962/b&w/123 min. | Scr: Blake Edwards, Larry Gelbart; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Fred Astaire
As a woman suspected of murdering her husband, Novak is ravishing in this clever romantic comedy-mystery, her final film with Quine.
Our Gang Shorts
We all remember the beloved set of Our Gang characters -- Spanky, Alfalfa, Buckwheat and the rest -- from frequent airings of shorts on local TV, but did you know that there were also eighty-eight silent shorts produced in the 1920s featuring those Little Rascals? Created by film pioneer Hal Roach, the Our Gang shorts make for endlessly fun viewing, as we watch these scraggly, streetwise, mischievous kids do their thing: tussling with snotty rich kids, making trouble, and having a good time. Noted for the naturalism of the children's performances (Roach started the series with the offspring of his various employees at the studio) and their multi-racial cast, the Our Gang films continue to charm both kids and their parents. Kids get in half price!
Picture Mommy Dead
During the heyday of "Hags Gone Wild" horror films after What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, enterprising drive-in kingpin Bert I. Gordon (The Food of the Gods) chipped in his own lurid, heavy-breathing contribution with this thriller featuring a rare big-screen turn for Beverly Hills cop-slapper Zsa Zsa Gabor. The film opens with a dead Gabor going up in flames next to her oversized oil portrait, but that fiery demise is just the beginning as her daughter, Susan (played by Gordon's daughter named, yes, Susan), recovers from the trauma of losing her mother by returning to the family home with her remarried dad (Don Ameche) and his bitchtastic new wife (Martha Hyer). Mind games and nocturnal traumas ensue, all revolving around a valuable missing necklace and Zsa Zsa's possible return from the dead. Soapy dialogue and a sicko twist ending tie it all together in one very pretty Technicolor package ripe for rediscovery.
Dir. Bert I. Gordon, 1966, 35mm, 88 min.
THE PIRATES OF BLOOD RIVER, 1962, Sony Repertory, 87 min. Dir. John Gilling (THE PLAGUE OF THE ZOMBIES, THE REPTILE). Hammer Studios exhibited their panache for Gothic period ambience in these breakneck-paced pirate adventure thrillers. A Huguenot community living on a Caribbean isle is menaced by pirates because the renegades’ eyepatch-wearing captain Christopher Lee believes the village has a secret treasure of gold. The community leader’s son (Kerwin Mathews, of THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD), who has been sentenced to hard labor for adultery (after losing his paramour to a river full of piranha!), may be their only hope for salvation. With Glenn Corbett ("Route 66"), Marla Landi, Oliver Reed, Andrew Keir (QUATERMASS AND THE PIT). New 35mm Print!
THE PRINCESS COMES ACROSS
The imperious Swedish Princess Olga (Lombard) boards an ocean liner bound for America, to star in a Hollywood movie. That kicks bandleader King Mantell (Fred MacMurray) out of the liner's royal suite, but not before he decides that the princess is the girl for him. The boat is also carrying an escaped killer, five international police experts on a vacation (Douglass Dumbrille, Lumsden Hare, Sig Ruman, Mischa Auer, Tetsu Komai) and a professional blackmailer (Porter Hall) who has three potential customers to corner -- and two of them are Mantell and the Princess.
The Professionals
Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin and Robert Ryan top the cast of this exciting western about four soliders of fortune hired to rescue a woman from a Mexican outlaw. Richard Brooks' sharp direction and Conrad Hall's superb cinematography turn what might have been standard genre fare into a memorable, action-packed feature. With Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale, Ralph Bellamy and Woody Strode.
PROMETHEUS TRIUMPHANT - A FUGUE IN THE KEY OF FLESH, 2007, 79 min. When the lovely Esmeralda falls victim to the plague, her banished lover Janick (Josh Ebel) finds a revolutionary cure. The film weaves a timelessly tragic tale with true 1920s German Expressionist style. Silent, in black and white with title cards. With Melissa Troughtzmantz. Directed by Jim Towns and Mike McKown with a score by Lucien Desar.
Pushover
1954/b&w/88 min. | Scr: Roy Huggins; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Fred MacMurray, Kim Novak
This moody film noir features a vulnerable Novak as a bank robber's girlfriend who falls for a corrupt cop.
QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE
In our research for Queen Of Outer Space, one of the films in our Summer "Camp"
series, we discovered the familial connection between Paris Hilton and Zsa Zsa
Gabor. Zsa Zsa's first of eight husbands was Conrad Hilton, great-grandfather to
Paris. It was oddly calming-suddenly, the universe made sense. Every generation
has its blonde socialite who epitomized the "famous for being famous", Hollywood
Squares phenomena. But there was only one Zsa Zsa.
Well, you wouldn't believe who called the other day-Francesca Hilton! That's Zsa
Zsa's daughter. She wanted to bring out Zsa Zsa, still fabulous at 91, out to Queen
of Outer Space. One problem: We'd already shown it.
But it's ZSA ZSA, DAHLNK! How could we miss this opportunity to be fabulous! So,
we're bringing Queen of Outer Space back this Sunday for an encore show at 8pm. It
was a great movie, lots of fun, so we hope some of you can make it.
Queen of Outer Space, based on a threadbare outline by famed screenwriter Ben Hecht,
is an unapologetic paean to every comic book reader's fantasy -- the planet Venus is
populated by hot love-starved chicks! -- and every single man's nightmare, a woman
who, when literally burned by her last boyfriend, won't be satisfied until every man
in the world, no, the universe, is made to suffer. Loaded with buxom Star
Trek-esque space babes, laughably archaic 50s sexism, and the loosest relationship
to "science" you'll ever seen in a sci-fi flick. And while Laurie Mitchell may play
the Queen of Outer Space, we all know who the real Queen of this movie is...why it's
Zsa Zsa, dah-link! Our Summer "Camp" festival programmer George Kuchar says:
"Widescreen color serves this tapestry of draped cheesecake to great advantage, and
so do the straight performances of all involved in this excellent display of
space-age nonsense."
Dir. Edward Bernds, 1958, 35mm, 80 min.
Ratcatcher
Ratcatcher is a grim coming-of-age tale set in working-class Glasgow during a sanitation strike, but director Lynne Ramsey's imaginative flights of fantasy and masterful filmmaking seem to help her characters transcend the world of garbage and grime they inhabit. She selects her details with the taste of a great short-story teller, just a couple at a time; each image and sound is beautiful in some way, rich with potency. Ratcatcher seemingly documents spontaneous and unrecreatable real events, and also captures carefully composed images of a talented cinematographer; it is this balance of talents that makes Ramsey one of the rising stars of international cinema today. Incredibly, the film is her debut feature, and represents the best of a trend towards a modern poetic realism--films trying for hyper-realism in location and characters, but seeking to create a strange, mysterious quality, rather than just a gritty documentary world. Stunning.
Dir. Lynne Ramsay, 1999, 35mm, 94 min.
RE-CYCLE, 2008, Walking Shadows-Image Home Entertainment, 109 min. Dir. Danny & Oxide Pang (THE EYE). Suffering from writer’s block after three successful romance novels, author Ting-Yin (Lee Sinje) undertakes a new subject: ghosts. As she begins to write, the creepy things she’s writing about begin to manifest in her life – and continue to appear even after she’s deleted the drafts from her computer. As the veils between the worlds grow thinner and thinner, she is transported into a surreal wasteland where she is confronted with everything she has ever discarded. Like a post-apocalyptic Alice in Wonderland, RE-CYCLE is a horror-fantasy thriller that leaves you reeling long after the credits roll. NOT ON DVD
RETURN OF THE LIVING DEAD
Both a spoof and affectionate tribute to Night of the Living Dead, this film puts the zombies on the loose again after employees at a medical supply warehouse accidentally release a deadly gas into the air that reanimates corpses at the local cemetery. Lots of outrageous humor, a frenetic pace and gross-out effects aplenty. With James Karen, Clu Gulager, and the uninhibited Linnea Quigley. The directing debut of screenwriter Dan O'Bannon (Dark Star, Alien).
ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS, 1964, Paramount, 110 min. Paul Mantee stars as an astronaut abandoned on the Red Planet, dealing with simple necessities like finding drinkable water and avoiding marauding aliens, in this wonderfully human 1960s sci-fi flick. Directed with surefire confidence by WAR OF THE WORLDS and "Outer Limits" veteran Byron Haskin, from an excellent script by Ib Melchior and John C. Higgins. Co-starring Adam West (TV’s "Batman") and Vic Lundin. Don’t miss this chance to see the rarely revived ROBINSON CRUSOE ON MARS in a beautiful CinemaScope Technicolor print!
Samurai Rebellion
Samurai Rebellion is another triumph from Masaki Kobayashi, which again explores Kobayashi's great theme, "resisting entrenched authority". This time directing Toshiro Mifune in a story of feudal-era political intrigue, vengeance and loyalty, Kobayashi uses his knowledge of traditional Japanese aesthetics to choreograph his action and camera movement with a stately, geometric precision. The story concerns a warlord's retainer (Mifune) who has happily promised his beautiful daughter to her true love, but his decadent master has claimed the girl as his own. After his attempts to negotiate backfire, Mifune has no choice but to turn to his sword in a beautiful and brutal climactic showdown. Kobayashi's fatalistic view of society made him an outcast in the Japanese industry, yet films like Samurai Rebellion were always popular successes both in Japan and abroad--a measure of how powerful and disturbing a critique of power they could express.
Dir. Masaki Kobayashi, 1967, 35mm, 128 min.
Seduced and Abandoned
1964/b&w/117 min. | Scr: Pietro Germi, Luciano Vincenzoni; dir: Germi; w/ Stefania Sandrelli, Saro Urzi, Aldo Puglisi.
Shotgun weddings, kidnapping, attempted murder, emergency dental work—the things Don Vincenzo will do to restore his family's honor! Germi's follow-up to his international sensation Divorce Italian Style skewers Sicilian social customs and pompous patriarchies with a sly, devilish grin. "Maliciously funny … in a crowded, cartoonish style that suggests the work of Preston Sturges."—Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader.
Shakma
Remember hearing about the California man whose pet chimp went ape and ripped off his face and testicles? Did it make you flinch, covering your own parts in sympathy? Get ready to flinch once again, for Shakma will swipe at your jewels in a bloodthirsty rage. Christopher Atkins (the deeply tanned star of The Blue Lagoon) and his friends hang out after-hours in their med school building playing (what else?) a D&D-like role playing game run by game master Roddy McDowall (or as he pronounces it, "Gay Master"), and proceed to have their throats ripped out by an angered, psychotic lab test baboon who hunts them down one by one. The real stars of the film are the production's animal handlers, who managed to not get themselves or the filmmakers killed while their baboon actor forcefully hurled itself at doors, windows, its co-stars or anything else in its path, screaming bloody murder all the while in a truly terrifying electric rage.
Dirs. Tom Logan & Hugh Parks, 1990, 35mm, 101 min.
THE SHANGHAI GESTURE
Legendary director Josef von Sternberg is renowned for his critically praised, sensitive films offering insight into the delicate male-female dynamic. The Shanghai Gesture is not one of them. Shot mostly while the director was laid up flat on his back in pain, this wonderfully overheated 1941 melodrama follows the misadventures of pretty Poppy (Gene Tierney), who slides into the booze and gambling world of Shanghai, thanks to the unholy influence of Mother Gin Sling (Ona Munson, sporting some of funniest hairdos in Hollywood history), while her estranged dad (Walter Huston) tries to intervene. This dreamlike orgy of Art Deco excess, quotable juicy dialogue and surreal plotting offers one compulsive guilty pleasure after another, showing exactly where Kenneth Anger got most of his ideas. For years this was considered an embarrassment for the director, but its avid cult following would certainly argue otherwise. The Shanghai Gesture Dir. Josef von Sternberg, 1941, 35mm, 98 min.
SINNERS IN THE SUN
A model and a mechanic experience wealth, fall in love. Alexander Hall melodrama w/ Carole Lombard, Chester Morris. 1932, Paramount.
Sonic Youth: Sleeping Nights Awake
In the summer of 2006, a group of seven high school students from Reno, NV, set out to make a documentary on Sonic Youth. As part of a non-profit organization called 'Project Moonshine', these teens were given cameras and a few days of training and set loose to record a day in the life of
Sonic Youth. Shot on the 4th of July, this intimate documentary is a behind the scenes look at one of the most influential indie bands of all time and contains some of the most insightful and candid concert footage ever recorded. Shot in glorious black and white, highlights in the set include 'Tom Violence,' 'Shaking Hell,' 'Mote,' 'Incinerate' and 'Kool Thing.' Filled with
behind-the-scenes interviews with Kim Gordon, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo as well as their guitar techs and sound engineers, original performances and a little basketball, the result is a point of view that is authentically refreshing, with an honesty and innocence not often found in veteran documentary filmmakers. A Q&A with director Michael Albright will follow the screening.
Dir. Michael Albright, 2007, DigiBeta, 82 min.
STRANGERS MAY KISS
The love of a woman for an undependable reporter leads to a surprise. George Fitzmaurice drama w/ Norma Shearer, Robert Montgomery. 1931, M-G-M.
Strangers When We Meet
1960/color//117 min./ Panavision | Scr: Evan Hunter; dir: Richard Quine; w/ Kim Novak, Kirk Douglas, Ernie Kovacs, Walter Matthau
A married architect constructing an ultramodern Bel Air house embarks on a secret affair with a beautiful suburban mother.
A STUDY IN TERROR, 1965, Sony Repertory, 95 min. James Hill’s fast-moving direction steers John Neville (THE ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN) as Sherlock Holmes, on a collision course with Jack the Ripper in this unpretentious, well-paced thriller – more violent and pulpy than most earlier Holmes films, in keeping with the grisly Ripper crimes. The cast includes the incomparable Robert Morley as Holmes’ petulant brother, Mycroft, Donald Houston as Dr. Watson and Frank Finlay as Inspector Lestrade. (Coincidentally, Finlay would reprise the Lestrade role in the later MURDER BY DECREE, a Holmes film with similar subject matter.) NOT ON DVD
Sword of Doom
In the tradition of comparing the samurai film to the western, Sword of Doom would be High Plains Drifter or The Wild Bunch: stylish, pitch-black, ultraviolent, with an anti-hero far beyond good and evil--the ultimate embodiment of amoral killing technique. Period specialist Kihachi Okamoto skillfully adapts Shinobu Hashimoto's bestselling novel about the emptiness of revenge. Tatsuya Nakadai is unforgettable as an orphan-turned-samurai whose one ambition--to avenge his father's murder--leads him to forsake any semblance of humanity or pity. Toshiro Mifune is his instructor, who is increasingly appalled by his pupil's cruelty, but helpless to match his swordsmanship. Sword of Doom culminates in what may be the most stunning blowout of abstract bloodletting ever filmed in black-and-white.
Dir. Kihachi Okamoto, 1966, 35mm, 119 min.
Sylvia
Former "Baby Doll" Carrol Baker goes from playing a nymphet to playing a nympho in this soapy tale of a prostitute-turned-poetess, told from the point-of-view of her former johns and fellow hookers, all interviewed by private eye George Maharis. Sylvia’s millionaire fiancé wishes to discover her true past before he ties the knot, so he hires Maharis, who uncovers a list of sins and transgressions that would make a housewife blush, or, at least, that's what the producers were hoping with this hilarious potboiler. Plus, there's a drag queen/pimp who sings a torch song and then karate chops a wooden board as his finale. Kuchar sez: "Something very special, because of the oddity in exposition and lurid overtones that are more fun to soak in than wallow in.”
(Print courtesy of UCLA Film and Television Archive)
Dir. Gordon Douglas, 1965, 16mm, 115 min.
THE TELL-TALE HEART, 1960, 78 min. Dir. Ernest Morris, A strikingly moody period rendition of the Poe tale. Handsome but shy Laurence Payne (THE CRAWLING EYE, VAMPIRE CIRCUS) becomes enamored of his bewitching neighbor (Adrienne Corri) across the street. However, she falls for Payne’s best friend (Dermot Walsh), causing Payne to murder his comrade and bury him under the floorboards. Then comes "the beating of that hideous heart." The expertly paced screenplay was co-written by Brian Clemens ("The Avengers," DR. JEKYLL & SISTER HYDE).
THE TERROR OF THE TONGS, 1961, Sony Repertory, 80 min. "Deadliest, Diabolical Brotherhood of Terror!" Dir. Anthony Bushell. Christopher Lee warms up for his later Fu Manchu films as the Red Dragon Tong leader in 1910 Hong Kong. When merchant ship captain Geoffrey Toone’s home is ransacked and his daughter ruthlessly murdered, he goes on the warpath, searching high and low for the ceremonial crime cult responsible. Featuring one of Lee’s most famous lines: "Have you ever had your bones scraped?" With Burt Kwouk (the PINK PANTHER series), Marne Maitland (THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY) and Yvonne Monlaur (BRIDES OF DRACULA) as an Eurasian femme fatale. New 35mm Print!
This is The Life
This Is The Life tells the little-known story of a group of teens who, starting in 1989, regularly met at the South Central L.A. health food store The Good Life and revolutionized hip-hop by innovating rhyme patterns, melodic concepts and lyrical styles used by many of today's biggest rap stars. Directed by former Good Life emcee Ava DuVernay, the film features interviews and performances from members of Freestyle Fellowship, Jurassic 5 and more. A live performace by musicians featured in the film will follow the screening.
Dir. Ava DuVernay, 2008, 97 min.
TRYPPS
Blasting out of Chicago, experimental filmmaker Ben Russell makes vibrant, “tryppy” films as emotional as they are beautiful to sink in to. His Black and White Trypps subjects range from elliptical trees in high contrast to a crowd at a Lightning Bolt show to a Richard Pryor performance blown out visually. His newest captures workers in Dubai leaving a factory, a nod to early silent film. Russell will also perform The American War (#10), a 16mm double-projection live performance involving film loops, mixer feedback, a delay pedal, and a homemade light-sensitive synthesizer. WARNING: This show contains visuals that may be harmful to those with epilepsy.
Dir. Ben Russell, 2005-2008, 16mm/35mm, 60 min.
Two Rode Together
Jimmy Stewart is the cynical marshall who is hired to rescue pioneers of the west who are being held by the Comanches. With Richard Widmark.
THE VAMPIRE AND THE BALLERINA (L’AMANTE DEL VAMPIRO), 1960, MGM Repertory, 85 min. Dir. Renato Polselli. A troupe of ballerinas (dressed more like showgirls) are stranded in an abandoned castle. Nobleman Walter Brandi and countess Maria Luisa Rolando, who look like they’ve been caught in a time warp, live in a neighboring palace’s ruins. Soon dancer Louisa (Helene Remy) falls prey to smitten Brandi when he periodically transforms into a crusty-faced vampire. Beautifully photographed and creepy, this is a fun, low budget classic of Italian Gothic horror. NOT ON DVD. Ultra-Rare! New 35mm Print!
THE VAMPIRE LOVERS, 1970, MGM Repertory, 91 min. Roy Ward Baker (QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, A NIGHT TO REMEMBER) directed the first in Hammer’s infamous lesbian vampire trilogy based on J. Sheridan Le Fanu’s classic Carmilla. Ingrid Pitt is the sexy bloodsucker planted to roost in the homes of upper-class citizens with nubile teenage daughters. Shortly after General von Spielsdorf (Peter Cushing) loses his offspring, he is consulted by friend Roger Morton (George Cole) when his wide-eyed daughter (Pippa Steele) becomes severely anemic. Steele’s suitor, debonair Carl (Jon Finch), is also concerned. But infatuated governess Kate O’Mara is in thrall to vampiric house guest Pitt. Rip-roaringly fast-paced horror action in Hammer’s usual well-done period setting. New 35mm Print! Uncut and Uncensored Version!
Wanda
Shot in 16mm reversal stock with a four-person crew, including writer-director-star Barbara Loden herself, Wanda is a small miracle of independent filmmaking. Loden plays a poverty-stricken housewife who listlessly allows her marriage to end, and her children to be taken away from her. From there, she begins a nomadic, existential wander through Pennyslvannia coal-country, finally drifting into a relationship as the disrespected sidekick to a middle-aged crook, Mr. Dennis. The straight-shot storyline and semi-improvisational style allows for a wealth of detail, both in the working-class milieu and the subtle performances (Loden was a talented actress, featured in her husband Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass and Wild River). Widely praised internationally, and given the Critics' Prize at the 1970 Venice Film Festival, Wanda never managed to secure commercial distribution, and thus became not only a lost classic, but the only film that Loden directed before her early death at age 48.
Dir. Barbara Loden, 1970, DigiBeta, 102 min.
WAR OF THE GARGANTUAS, 1966, Toho Studios, 92 min. Dir. Ishiro Honda (the original GODZILLA). A hairy green giant terrorizes Japan, sinking ships, eating fishermen and attacking an airport. Using a space-age ray cannon, the military nearly kills the monster before it is rescued by its even bigger, brown-haired brother. But the evil green gargantua and the good-hearted brown gargantua don't see eye-to-eye, and their monster-sized sibling rivalry leads to a death match in the streets of Tokyo, with civilization hanging in the balance. Russ Tamblyn (WEST SIDE STORY) is the American scientist and Kumi Mizuno (INVASION OF ASTRO-MONSTER) is his beautiful assistant, plus American starlet Kipp Hamilton as an ill-fated nightclub singer performing the kitschy classic "The Words Get Stuck in My Throat." English dubbed version. NOT ON DVD
WELCOME DANGER (X 2)
(1929) Directed by Clyde Bruckman and Ted Wilde
Harold Lloyd's 12th silent feature film was Welcome Danger, directed by Ted Wilde and Mal St. Clair—but wait a moment! Welcome Danger was directed by Clyde Bruckman, and it was Lloyd's first sound feature, wasn't it? What's going on?
Welcome Danger was indeed begun as a silent directed by Wilde, who was replaced due to illness by St. Clair. But the sound revolution was in full swing by the time the production had wrapped, and Lloyd, fearful of releasing a silent in a talkie-dominated market, reworked the story, replaced the cast and some of the crew, scrapped most of what had been shot, and started all over again, shooting silent and sound versions simultaneously.
Unfortunately for comedy fans, the abandoned Welcome Danger is lost but the subsequent sound and silent versions remain in existence, preserved by the Archive.
Grosses for the sound version were higher than for any other Lloyd picture (due primarily to the novelty for theater patrons of hearing the star speak), but contemporary reviews were not uniformly enthusiastic. Though Lloyd believed it to be a success at the time, in later years he wished it had remained a silent.
The silent version, for the most part adapted from the talkie version, was released as well, to accommodate theaters that still had not converted to sound. While the differences between the two are minor, the sound version is, admittedly, minor Lloyd, rife with many of the pitfalls associated with early sound movies—although even minor Lloyd is entertaining.
The silent version somehow just seems funnier, the comedy comes to life in ways the sound feature—weighed down by unnecessary and improvised dialogue, grunts of exertion and cries for help—could never quite manage. And though hampered by some of the same problems that beset other silent versions of sound films—particularly an overabundance of titles meant to reproduce as much of the dialogue as possible—in general, Welcome Danger works better as a silent. Snappier and better paced than its sound double, it proves an enjoyable coda to a silent film career that was among the cinema's brightest.
This double bill presents both the silent and sound versions of Welcome Danger for a unique and fascinating chance to compare the two films and decide for yourself!
Presented by Jere Guldin, UCLA Film Preservationist.
Live musical accompaniment for silent version by Michael Mortilla.
Screenplay: Clyde Bruckman, Lex Neal, Felix Adler, Paul Gerard Smith. Cast: Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent, Noah Young. Approx. 240 min.
WHAT WE DO IS SECRET
“Everything starts with a germ,” explains lead singer Darby Crash (Shane West) of The Germs, “the most unpredictable, the most chaotic, and the least understood band in the whole Los Angeles punk rock scene.” In December of 1975, Crash, then known as Jan Paul Beahm, makes a five-year plan inspired by David Bowie. After recruiting other high school outsiders, his first task is to get a gig on stage, and after that, learn how to play instruments. Accompanied by bandmates, dubbed Pat Smear and Lorna Doom (Bijou Phillips), Crash makes a reputation by self-mutilating on stage, and audiences go crazy for it. Soon their underground success lands them a record deal, produced by Joan Jett. But when their antics get them banned from every venue in Los Angeles, The Germs must assume false names and stage surprise gigs to please their fans. As with most rock legends, fame isn’t enough for Crash, whose heroin addiction quickly progresses to deathly proportions. Rodger Grossman’s debut as writer, director, and producer, WHAT WE DO IS SECRET, aptly chronicles the volatile rise and fall of Darby Crash and The Germs.
The Whole Town's Talking
Edward G. Robinson is public enemy number one--and two--in a dual role as both a timid clerk and a notorious gangster in this screwball comedy co-starring Jean Arthur.
THE WITCHES (LE STREGHE), 1967, MGM Repertory, 105 min. The anthology film was a popular format of 1960s Italian filmmaking, running the gamut from BOCCACCIO ’70 to SPIRITS OF THE DEAD. This is one of the least known and most underrated. Silvana Mangano stars in five metaphorical tales delving into women’s sexy sweetness, cold-bloodedness, being put on a pedestal, destructive manipulation and rebellion against domesticity that undoubtedly would have gotten them burned at the stake in medieval times. Standout segments include Luchino Visconti directing Mangano as a movie superstar held prisoner by her fame; Pier Paolo Pasolini’s live-action cartoon sequel to his THE HAWKS AND THE SPARROWS with Toto and son Ninetto Davoli in search of a new matriarch and meeting green-haired, mute Mangano; and Vittorio De Sica’s look at bespectacled housewife Mangano’s sexual fantasies as she banters with complacent, overworked husband Clint Eastwood (in a three-piece suit!). NOT ON DVD. Rare! New 35mm Print!
WIZARDS, 1977, 20th Century Fox, 82 min. Dir. Ralph Bakshi. An animated post-apocalyptic vision like none before, where twin wizards — the wicked Blackwolf and the good-hearted Avatar — battle for rule over an epic fantasy wasteland.
YOU WEREN'T THERE: A HISTORY OF CHICAGO PUNK 1977-1984
You Weren’t There is a gritty, exhilarating look back on the impact punk had on the Windy City. From what is now considered to be the first punk club in America (La Mere Vipere) to other proto-hardcore clubs and DIY venues, Chicagoans made sure that there were outlets for the genre that was often blacklisted by the mainstream rock scene. Featuring archival footage of Naked Raygun, Big Black and more. Dirs. Joe Losurdo & Chris Tillman, 2007, digital presentation, 120 min.