September 3rd 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.
Welp, seems like the Yankees are missing the playoffs a second year running. A bitter frankurter to swallow indeed, and the end note to Derek Jeter's long and storied legacy. On the plus side an Alamo Drafthouse may yet open in Manhattan, the Quad Cinema's set to be renovated with an eye bent toward rep film, and I'm still hopeful that director's cut of MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS might still be languishing in a Chilean insane asylum closet or under Val Lewton's pillow. Granted that would be some musty pilllow, but I can dream, no? I stand a better chance of the latter ambition than the Yanks do of making the playoffs this year ba dum I'm here all week try the foot longs!
Today's lone continuing series includes The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy at MoMA. The complete rigmarole looks thus;
Film Forum
THAT MAN FROM RIO! (1964) Dir; Philippe de Broca
THE CONFORMIST (1971) Dir; Bernardo Bertolucci
AMC Loews Kips Bay 15, AMC Empire 25
THE NUTTY PROFESSOR (1963) Dir; Jerry Lewis
MoMA
The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy
HOMECOMING (1928) Dir; Joe May
A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1932) Dir; Frank Borzage
HAT CHECK GIRL (1932) Dir; Sidney Lanfield
Today's Pick? I've got some time left to choose further selections from MoMA's exceptional nod to WWI on film, as well as their trib to a recently restored pre-code gem. And while both de Broca and Bertolucci provide entertaining character studies today, the former perhaps more fleet and lightweight than the latter, they both pale in my opinion to a most overlooked examination of persona, one both whimsically infantile and darkly adolescent. In truth, its creator never quite advanced beyond these developmental stages, no matter how dim the eyeglasses got or how smoky the interview. This is, however, to the equal delight and dismay of his audience. As the last of a thinning breed, one that not only witnessed the death of Vaudeville and the birth of Vegas, but participated in both, there are few if any on the pop culture landscape that can boast his pedigree, his presence, his largesse and his acrimony, a dinosaur if ever there was one, whose Jurassic Park-style water glass ripple effect retains its ability to conjure an ecstatic toothy grin or a cringe. There are few who ever lived whose unpredictable kinetics raised the hairs on the necks of both Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, and can claim that same boast to this day. And while this singular genius, mostly unloved in his home country but much admired abroad and for the bulk of his career, waits perhaps for a time that will only come once he is gone to receive his proper appreciation, we have today a tremendous opportunity to attend what many, on either side of his critical aisle, consider his finest two hours. What can I say, the man's never failed to make me laugh. and I expect no less at tonight's screening.
Jerry Lewis' THE NUTTY PROFESSOR screens in a brand spankin' new DCP transfer at the AMC Loews Kips Bay 15 and AMC Empire 25. Stop by, catch the film, we'll grab a pair of Alaskan Polar Bear Heaters afterwards.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in September '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview and other audio tomfoolery check out the podcast, and follow me on SoundCloud! For reviews of contemporary cinema and my streaming habits (keep it clean!) check out my Letterboxd 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 repeat after me; what'll it be, hmmmmmmm?
-Joe Walsh
