October 18th 2013. Pick Of The Day.

World cinema dominates the rep circuit today as we the Cinegeek are served a Kurosawa police procedural potboiler, the great Mario Bava's solo directorial debut, and what many consider to be Yasujiro Ozu's finest two-plus hours. Continuing series include Film Forum's trib to the great Jacques Demy, MoMA's ongoing Auteurist History of Film, the Japan Society's Donald Richie appreciation, the Film Society's thankfully waning Jean-Luc Godard Zippo wave, and the Rubin Museum's Cabaret Cinema. Here be the full itinerary;

IFC Center

BABY THE RAIN MUST FALL (1965) Dir; Robert Mulligan

Film Forum

TOKYO STORY (1952) Dir; Yasujiro Ozu

THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG (1966) Dir; Jacques Demy

MoMA

DIVORCE, ITALIAN STYLE (1961) Dir; Pietro Germi

Film Society of Lincoln Center

NOUVELLE VAGUE (1980) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard

LES CARABINIERS (1961) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard

BAND OF OUTSIDERS (1964) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard

VIVRE SA VIE (1962) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard

New York Historical Society

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT (1930) Dir; Lewis Milestone

Japan Society

HIGH AND LOW (1963) Dir; Akira Kurosawa

Museum of the Moving Image

CHOCOLAT (1988) Dir; Claire Denis

Rubin Museum

BLOOD SIMPLE (1984) Dir; Joel and Ethan Coen

Nitehawk Cinema

MONTY PYTHON'S LIFE OF BRIAN (1978) Dirs; Terry Gilliam And Terry Jones

BLACK SUNDAY (1960) Dir; Mario Bava

Today's Pick? TOUGH call today, as I'm sorely tempted to choose Lewis Milestone's Academy Award-winning template for the anti-war film, the debut feature from the Coens, Marcello Mastroianni's hilarious turn as a murderous husband seeking his blackly comic DIVORCE, and anything by Akira Kurosawa. As All Hallows Eve's creep is slowly felt, however, I believe I'd be remiss in not selecting one of the seminal works of modern horror, one that birthed a most celebrated directorial career and gave the 20th century one of its great iconic Scream Queens.

Mario Bava had served as an ace cinematographer for years in his native Italy, and had stepped in to complete several films that suddenly became rudderless for various reasons, before finally setting up a project of his own. Initially planned as a moody adap of Russian author Nikolai Gogol's Viy, it soon derived greater influence from the Universal Pictures horror cycle of the 30's, seeking not merely to unnerve but to shock, to thrill. Actress Barbara Steele was selected based on her headshot submission, having in the eyes of director Bava not merely the beauty the role required but something altogether more menacing as well. For her part she found the experience harrowing, as she not only had to play an 18th century witch murdered in a manner most unpleasant (is there any other?), who then returns to wreak venegance on the progeny of her killers, she had to do so as the script was being written while filming commenced. As anyone who's delighted in this blood-curdling bedtime story will attest, both actress and director acquitted themselves quite nicely, and the film's resulting success helped reignite interest in the supernatural horror genre and reinforced the popularity of Roger Corman's Poe cycle of films at its beginnings (Steele even went on to star in Corman's THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM). Simple as a campfire tale, indelible as a bad nightmare, the flick remains one of the most influential cinematic works of Boo! in the postwar era, and while both Bava and Steele would forever be associated with the horror genre going forward and do it proud on several occasions, they'd never get it quite this right again.

Mario Bava's BLACK SUNDAY screens past the Witching Hour at 12:15am at the Nitehawk Cinema. Williamsburg, hard though it may be to believe, just got scarier.

For more info on these and all October 13's classic screenings in NYC click the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter! I'm-a seeyoo tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then look out for yourselves and give a heck about the next knucklehead too!

-Joe Walsh

joew@nitratestock.net