March 13th 2015. Pick of the Day.
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So a very good friend of mine just finished directing her first film. It's a live-action short, but it's a start. Once I get permission from her to throw her name up here, I'll do so, just to tell you to watch out for future Oscars broadcasts so youse can all say ya knew her when.
Continuing series this day include the concurrent tribs to star Ginger Rogers and filmaker Wim Wenders at MoMA, 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 the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The silver halide shenanigans be thus;
Film Forum
THE TALES OF HOFFMAN (1951) Dirs; Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger
MoMA
LADY IN THE DARK (1944) Dir; Mitchell Liesen
WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) Dir; Wim Wenders
BAM Cinématek
Black & White 'Scope: American Cinema
IN COLD BLOOD (1967) Dir; Richard Brooks
Anthology Film Archives
Screenwriters and the Blacklist: Before, During and After - Part Three: Post-Blacklist
THE CHASE (1966) Dir; Arthur Penn
TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA (1970) Dir; Don Siegel
Rubin Museum of Art
THE FALLEN IDOL (1948) Dir; Carol Reed
Nitehawk Cinema
GHOULIES (1984) Dir; Luca Bercovici
Today's Pick? I'd have been all over Leisen's LADY, if only because it showcases one of the great stars of the studio era, the luminous Ginger Rogers. Alas, cancelled. And I've already made Wenders' WINGS my Pick juts last week. Plus I kinda hate it. So MoMA's out.
I just made the Blacklist series at AFA my Pick on Wednesday, and I like to spread the love about a bit. Also, not a huge fan of Penn's pairing of Brando and Redford, and not sure if Seigel's MULES have quick the sufficient kick to knock out today's competiton ya see what I did there with MULE and kick I'm here all week try the veal!
I have a week to make what is probably the last great effort from Powell & Pressburger my Pick, so I'll use that fact to shine the Kliegs on another deserving but limited screening. It's really down to Brooks' adap of Capote's BLOOD and Reed's of Graham Greene's IDOL. Both are crisply, beautifully shot, by Conrad Hall and Georges Périnal, respectively. Both are stark, albeit metaphoric, examinations of culture in decline, as represented by the murderous main characters. How to decide, how to decide...
OH! That's right! Ony one of these two venues lets you sip cocktails during the unspool! Sorry BAM.
Carol Reed's THE FALLEN IDOL screens tonight at the Rubin Museum as part of their fantastic Cabaret Cinema series. It's one of the rare leading perfs delivered by the great Ralph Richardson, and it's a brilliant one. And director Reed, always a good director, became a great one in this immediate postwar period, hitting a commanding stride with the previous year's ODD MAN OUT, and of course, with the film that followed next, the greatest ever made: 1949's THE THIRD MAN. Catch a master at his peak. And order the Negroni. Trust me.
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 mercifully feeling the loosening of winter's embrace, but 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!
