March 15th 2014. Pick of the Day.
New York City's premiere resource for classic film screenings in the metropolitan area. Offering reviews, recommendations, venues and a host of links keeping classic film and the silver screens alive.
Today's continuing series include The Complete Hitchcock at Film Forum, Vienna Unveiled at MoMA, See It Big!: Comedies at Museum of the Moving Image, Overdue: Richard Fleischer at Anthology Film Archives, and Under the Influence: Scorsese/Walsh at BAM Cinematek. The cinematc shebang in whole;
Nitehawk Cinema
THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982) Dir; Jim Henson
MAD MAX (1979) Dir; George Miller
Film Forum
VERTIGO (1958) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
MoMA
LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN (1948) Dir; Max Ophuls
BAD TIMING: A SENSUAL OBSESSION (1980) Dir; Nicolas Roeg
Museum of the Moving Image
SEVEN CHANCES (1925) Dir; Buster Keaton
TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) Dir; Ernst Lubitsch
Anthology Film Archives
SEE NO EVIL (1972) Dir; Richard Fleischer
20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1955) Dir; Richard Fleischer
BARABBAS (1961) Dir; Richard Fleischer
BAM Cinematek
RAGING BULL (1980) Dir; Martin Scorsese
IFC Center
DRESSED TO KILL (1980) Dir; Brian de Palma
Today's Pick? I'd love to choose Richard Fleischer's 20,000 LEAGUES a second weekend in a row but rules be rules. I hate my boss. Also I feel like I've selected SEVEN CHANCES and RAGING BULL fairly recently as well. And to paraphrase Don Corleone, De Palma, ehh, De Palma...
So I'm going today with an absolute gem of the early talkie era, a splendid and quintessential example of its maker's famed "touch"; Ernst Lubitsch's TROUBLE IN PARADISE, the tale of amoral characters mingling with the immoral type. As usual Lubitsch leaves it to his audience to decide which is which. The now mostly, sadly forgotten cast is headlined by a trio of then-heavywieghts; Herbert Marshall and Miriam Hopkins as a pair of slick confidence artists who infiltrate perfume mogul Kay Francis' estate as suitor and secretary, respectively. As the web increasingly tangles laughs ensue, but so does the inconvenient discovery of conscience. If you think you know how it all ends, you don't know Lubitsch. It screens tonight at Museum of the Moving Image, the pride of sunny downtown Astoria, as part of their excellent See It Big series, focusing this month on great movie comedies. They don't come much greater than this.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in March '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on both Facebook, where I provide further info and esoterica on the rep film circuit and star birthdays, and Twitter, where I provide a daily feed for the day's screenings and other blathery. Back tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then safe, sound, make sure the next batch of knuckleheads is too. Excelsior!
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Should you be feeling charitable during this harsh weather period please remember to check in with the good folks over at Occupy Sandy. Some of our NY neighbors are still feeling the effects of last year's hurricane. Be a mensch.
