December 2013! Barbara Stanwyck, George Cukor, and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

I am of two moods whence this season makes its annual visitation upon our city. The kinder, gentler one is a deep case of the warm fuzzies, a bask in the glow of renewed holiday spirit, a blush at the recognition of temperments swayed from inherently sour to infinitely pleasant, an all-too-rare provision of evidence visual that the human spirit is ultmately and essentially good. Hence the thumbs-up from none other than Santa himself.

The sadly more human reaction goes thusly; JEEZUS, it's *@#$!* Christmas again!?!?!?! It seems like just yesterday Duane Reade was setting up their Yuletide displays. In October. Of 2012.

Don't look at me like that, I know for a fact you're privy to the same response. I won't be the only curmudgeonly soul in this dialouge! If that's how you're gonna behave let's just set our judgements about each other aside for the moment and get on with the monthly overview, shall we? It's holiday time, after all...

December 2013. It's been quite the year. We started in January with Film Forum's NEW YAWK NEW WAVE, which explored the reinvention of our metropolis' once proud standing as pre-Hollywood movie mecca to postwar breeding ground for experimental, underground and independent filmmaking, nurturing the likes of John Cassavetes, Kenneth Anger and Robert Downey Sr. We saw tribs to such luminaries as Pam Grier and Burt Lancaster, directors like Kubrick and Dwan and Ozu, and in the case of beloved film scholars Donald Richie's passing was cause for not one but two tributes from esteemed rep institutions. We also lost Ray Harryhausen, and were gifted with screenings of his work at the Landmark Jersey Loews and Film Forum. We lost the 92YTribeca, an essential grass roots space for the budding film programmer and avid Cinegeek alike. We gained, at least in spirit, the Loews 175th street movie palace, which promises to be quite the replacement. The takeaway from this year, as with the prior four or five years, is this; the rep film community is not merely still alive but thriving! Enthusiastic fans of classic cinema are willing to brave long lines not merely at Film Forum but at Journal Square's Landmark Jersey Loews, not only willing to wait stand-by at MoMA but to wake up at ungodly hours for the Film Forum Jr. series or BAM's Movie Matinees. So for this moment, because I'm an eternal optimist, I'm fully invested in the prospect of future communal screenings with no forseeable end. Invoke whatever logic or data you wish, I choose Xmas magic as my fallback defense. Screw with Kris Kringle, I dare ye.

And now, to the doings.

I've gotta split this month's Big Dawg status between two of the most esteemed rep houses this town has to offer, who've both scheduled massive career retropsectives to icons of the studio era from the world of acting and directing, respectively. Film Forum, that bejeweled catherdral of classic unspoolings on West Houston St., offers up a nearly complete month-long overview of the films of the great Barbara Stanwyck, the Brooklyn waif once named Ruby Stevens, who infused the newly-minted sound era with her particular brand of NYC moxie. From her early work with Frank Capra at then-skid row Columbia (FORBIDDEN, THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL YEN), to the more salacious efforts that helped invoke the Hays Code (BABYFACE, NIGHT NURSE), to her career-defining broad-with-a-heart roles (STELLA DALLAS, BALL OF FIRE, THE LADY EVE), to later, more mature and perhaps matriarchal turns (THE FURIES, TITANIC), the full depth and breath of my gal Babs' CV is excedingly well-repped, and also provides ample explanation as to why her career lasted from the advent of sound film to THE THORN BIRDS in the early 80's; some jazz just cannot be replicated. It can only be studied.

Also at the Forum this month Nicholas Ray's REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE, the filmmaker's peerless valentine to the romance of teen anguish, gets a week-long streaming of the 1's and 0's in a brand spankin' new 4K DCP transfer. Jim Stark's jacket ever looked so red. Trust me.

The Film Forum Jr. series brings the holiday cheer these next few early Sundays with screenings of Norm MacLeod's MONKEY BUSINESS, Michael Powell (and Ludwig Berger and Tim Whelan)'s THE THIEF OF BAGDAD, and Vincente Minnelli's MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS. The Forum loves. Love back, whydonch'ya?

Uptown and west over at the Film Society of Lincoln Center Richard Pena & Co. counter the Babz-fest with a massive trib to George Cukor, one of the most successful of the studio-era directors, and someone who could quite frankly use this long-overdue career spitshine. Cukor's rep has forever been accompanied by praise that has sometimes seemed faintly damning; "great women's director", implying that he had a special understanding of actresses and female vehicles in particluar and proved no exceptional talent beyond this. So a series like this one serves not only to celebrate a CV of great skill and remarkable longevity, but also of versatile subject matter. For every LITTLE WOMEN and THE WOMEN (I sense a trend), there's an ace adap of Dickens (DAVID COPPERFIELD) or Shakespeare (ROMEO AND JULIET). He did all-star spectacle (DINNER AT EIGHT), psychological thriller (A DOUBLE LIFE), and musical Rashomon (LES GIRLS). He oversaw some of the most iconic perfs from the likes of Ingrid Bergman (GASLIGHT), Greta Garbo (CAMILLE), and Judy Holliday (BORN YESTERDAY). And he routinley pulled off the no-mean-feat miracle of making Kate Hepburn tolerable, even endearing in several screwball classics, including SYLVIA SCARLETT, THE PHILADELPHIA STORY, ADAM'S RIB, and PAT AND MIKE. Perhaps no auteur, although it's impossible to deny the consistency of quality if not personality, Cukor's is a life equally in demand of examination as William Wyler, as Michael Curtiz, as any great figure nominally working at a higher-up's behest yet responsible for a style that helped define what is egardd as Hollywood's Golden Era. Here's your chance, Stockah.

The Film Society also offers one last chance in this year of the Ozu trib to catch the master's AN AUTUMN AFTERNOON and EQUINOX FLOWER. As example of his influence on modern masters Jim Jarmusch's STRANGER THAN PARADISE is afforded a one-night screening. I will listen intently for the sound of one hand clapping in Brooklyn.

Over at Astoria's Museum of the Moving Image their See It Big!: Great Cinematographers series offers up a pleasing pastiche of celluloid magic from some of the greatest visual stylists the cinema has ever seen. Screenings include Alexander MacKendrick's SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS (James Wong Howe), Charles Laughton's THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER (Stanely Cortez), and Powell and Pressburger's BLACK NARCISSUS (Jack Cardiff). I have a special love for this essential, newly-renovated screening space and the excellent museum that houses it, so I implore you to do your damndest to make a visit and support this joint. You won't be sorry.

Back in Manhattan over at IFC Center their trib to the Sundance fest's patriarch, The Way He Was: Early Redford, brings the blond-eyed & blue-haired loving amongst us screenings of Sydney Pollack's JEREMIAH JOHNSON, Arthur Penn's THE CHASE, Michael Ritchie's DOWNHILL RACER, and Pollack's THE WAY WE WERE. Also at IFC John Carpenter's anti-Reagan screed THEY LIVE gets a week-long, or however long they ultimately decide to book it, run. And the theater's trad booking of Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE returns for the holiday season. No re-entry without Zuzu's petals.

Over in follically festooned Billyburg the eclectic Nitehawk Cinema finds increasingly inventive ways to celebrate their unique aesthetic and the Xmas season in particular. Holiday themed fare includes Bob Clark's Yuletide two-fer BLACK CHRISTMAS and A CHRISTMAS STORY, and non-denominational fare includes Robert Altman's MCCABE AND MRS. MILLER, George Lucas' THX1138, Tobe Hooper's EATEN ALIVE, and John Waters' FEMALE TROUBLE.

This month's Film Foundation screening at the Nitehawk, presented by VICE magazine, is Charles Laughton's THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, which seems to be getting quite a bit of play this month. I don't believe, however, any other venue promises root beer n' tater tots as screening accoutrement. So nyeh, mesez.

After this, sadly, it gets quite a bit thin. Unless these venues have plans in store yet unbeknownst to me. And I'd be okay with that.

Back across the pond BAM offers scant more than a screening apiece of Spielberg's E.T. THE EXTRA-TERRESTRIAL and Bob Clark's A CHRISTMAS STORY. Seems like I've heard of that last title recently...

Back on the civilized side of the pond MoMA offers up their continuing Auteurist History of Film series, presenting John Schlesinger's BILLY LIAR, Carl Theodore Dreyer's GERTRUD, and Richard Lester's A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. Also on view in the museum's Our Town: Baltimore series is Barry Levinson's DINER and TIN MEN, and John Waters' POLYESTER, DESPERATE LIVING, PINK FLAMINGOS and HAIRSPRAY.

The Rubin Museum's Cabaret Cinema concludes its I Don't Know series this month with presentations of Woody Allen's HANNAH AND HER SISTERS, Jean Renoir's GRAND ILLUSION, Roger Corman's LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and George Lucas' AMERICAN GRAFFITI. As always the purchase of a cocktail gains your admittance to the screening lounge. Seats go pretty quick, so arrive early.

Anthology Film Archives offers a smattering of celluloid shenanigans to close out their excellent year. The notable (and only) series on their docket is OVERDUE: DELMER DAVES REDUX , featuring such deep cuts as SUSAN SLADE, THE HANGING TREE, and YOUNGBLOOD HAWKE. Other gems include screenings of Buster Keaton's THE GENERAL and short programs showcasing the early works of George Melies and Laurel and Hardy. What joy it must be to work at this customer-friendly venue.

The New York Historical Society chimes in with its own screening of IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE, while the Japan Society honors Donald Richie with a screening of Ozu's LATE AUTUMN.

What may be best, however, is what I've saved for last. The Landmark Jersey Loews, that miracle of a bygone era left standing in Jersey's Journal Square, has not one but two-count-'em-two unmissable screenings this month, one dedicated to the specific approaching holiday and one to cold weather itself and all its attendant inconveniences. The latter refers to Charlie Chaplin's groundbreaking masterpiece THE GOLD RUSH, and the former to George Seaton's MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, what may ultimately be the greatest Xmas movie of all time.

For the moment that be that, but skeds change pretty swiftly and routinely, so be sure to check back for updates. And why not follow me on Facebook and Twitter! Back tomorrow with a new Pick of the Day. Til then be safe and sound and make sure the next guy/gal is too!

-Joe Walsh

joew@nitratestock.net