December 24th 2013. Pick of the Day.
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Time to prep for Santa's big trip. Hope you've all done your damndest to stay on his Nice list. Amongst those who may claim to have done such are the esteemed programmers from the various venues that act as enablers for those of us absolutely stricken with the movie bug, especially the classic variety. Today's culprits include the Film Society's Richard Pena and the Film Forum's Bruce Goldstein. Their respective series, on display today as they duel it out to the last this month, are exhaustive tribs to director George Cukor and movie star exemplar Barbara Stanwyck. The submissions for your perusal;
IFC Center
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Forum
THE LADY EVE (1941) Dir; John Sturges
CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT (1945) Dir; Peter Godfrey
Film Society of Lincoln Center
A DOUBLE LIFE (1947) Dir; George Cukor
GASLIGHT (1944) Dir; George Cukor
Today's Pick? Easy. It's Xmas Eve, and I haven't chosen Frank Capra's IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE yet this month. It screens tonight in a restored DCP as part of a relatively new tradition at IFC Center on 6th ave 'n 3rd street. So to protect Violet's honor, Uncle Billy's sanity, Harry's life, Ernie's equity, Martini's gin mill, Clarence's rank, Mary and the kids' happiness and the good of Bedford Falls in general, I take as my Pick today one of the great beacons of simple human decency in all of filmdom, one George Bailey, and the dark crisis of faith he encounters one hopeless Christmas Eve, that ultimately results in one of the great reaffirmings of hope for the human spirit. Plus, agnostic though I may be, I really wanna believe Mark Twain's working on a new book. That's what keeps me going.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic screenings for the remainder of 2013 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter! Have a safe and happy Christmas Eve with your loved ones and I'll catch you on the other side, Stockahz.
-Joe Walsh
