March 7th 2015. 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.
Hello, 40 degree temps. It's been so long, I've forgotten what you look like. Think you might wanna stick around for a spell?
Ongoing series today include Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema at BAM Cinématek, Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After - Part Three: Post-Blacklist at Anthology Film Archives, and See It Big! High and Wide at Museum of the Moving Image. The wimwammery be thus;
Nitehawk Cinema
CRITTERS (1987) Dir; Stephen Herek
SPELLBOUND (1945) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
DEMONS (1982) Dir; Lamberto Bava
BAM Cinématek
Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema
THE LONGEST DAY (1962) Dir; Ken Annakin
Anthology Film Archives
Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After - Part Three: Post-Blacklist
THE CHASE (1966) Dir; Arthur Penn
FAIL-SAFE (1964) Dir; Sidney Lumet
SEMI-TOUGH (1978) Dir; Michael Ritchie
Museum of the Moving Image
A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH (1946) Dirs; Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
HIGH AND LOW (1963) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
NOTHING BUT A MAN (1964) Dir; Michael Roemer
Film Forum
BOOM (1967) Dir; Joseph Losey
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
SLEEPER (1972) Dir; Woody Allen
Today's Pick? So much tempts today, but first the instant disqualifications; I've never cared for Hitch's first go-'round with Gregory Peck, one drizzled by the bizarre tomfoolery of one Salvadore Dali. But actually, I'm no fan of either of their collaborations. PARADINE CASE defenders, unite?
Joe Losey is a director whose work I'm most fond of, yet this misguided, misshapen, ill-conceived combining of Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Tennessee Williams, and himself, is best left to the dustbins of cinema history, were my opinion solicited. Even were it not solicited. That opinion's on me. You just enjoy that.
So what's left are the tough choices; BAM's trib to widescreen monochrome, AFA's to film scribes' regrouping after McCarthyism's wane, and Moving Image's celebration of big screen aspect ratio and its malleable relation to cinematic narrative. All worthy selections. So once again, my Pick? Well, only one of these prominent programs features what I deem the 2nd greatest film ever committed to celluloid, just behind Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN. A film that champions the best of our human spirit, while also challenging the universal laws that govern us, those of physics, of philosophy, questioning whether we exist because the universe observes us or vice versa, and perhaps landing firmly on one side of the query.
It begins with the world at its worst, with a main character literally in this realm's hell, and ends with the best that might possibly exist within us conquering death, time, and maybe even the celestial creator. Which was perhaps a part of the latter's plan all along. It was begun as postwar propaganda, a notion that in the wake of Hitler's erasure, might not now-allied America and Britain learn to get along, perhaps even love each other? It emerged as a fable about the resilience of the romantic heart. It has become one of the all-timers in terms of sheer cinematic beauty, thanks to DP Jack Cardiff, in his first feature outing in the chair; in terms of magic realism, a genre it helped create from the legacies of dadaism and surrealism and the kind of stomach ache too many fried eel and chip snacks might procure; in terms of sheer poetry, of the wonder of the moving image, the way it may reach immediately into our hearts, our very essence, and plant a seed that will only grow larger over the course of our lifetimes. It is perfect. It is magical. It is everything the cinema may strive toward and more. Next year it will turn 70 years old. In truth, however, it is born for the first every time you view it.
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH unspools in a glorious archival 35mm print today at Museum of the Moving Image, as part of their new and excellent series See It Big! High and Wide! One is starved for Technicolor, indeed.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in March '15 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. 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 soon with new Picks 'n perks, til then safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too!
P. S. We're fully entwined in winter's embrace, and believe it or not some of our fellow NY'ers have still yet to be made whole in the wake of the 2012 storm. Should you be feeling charitable please visit the folks at OccupySandy.net, follow their hammer-in-hand efforts to restore people's lives, and donate/volunteer if you have the inclination and availability. Be a collective mensch, Stockahz!
