June 2015! Black & White 'Scope, Glorious Technicolor, and the Greatest Movie Ever Made!

Hallo Stockahz! And welcome to summer '15! Good god how awful a winter we've had. Good gravy what a spectacular season looms on the horizon. Fairer weather permits easier transit between our fave rep venues. Greater deposits of Vitamin D from the sun's rays guarantee the energy to catch 4, even 5 screenings a day. And the balmy breezes coming off the Hudson and East Rivers conspire with night-time outdoor screenings to cool our temperaments and help create movie memories that will last a lifetime. We have lush 3-strip color stock! We have stark degress of black and white. We have tribs to Eisenstein and Dreyer, to Cronenberg and Jean-Claude Carrière. We have a series dedicated to the beginnings of 3-D cinema. And we have the new 4K restoration of the greatest movie ever made. So let's get to biz.

To those of you familiar with this site, y'know, the good people amongst ye, the awarding of what I lovingly call Big Dawg status to the series or screening I deem the month's most unmissable will be a routine event, yet a thrilling one by god! I've got much to select from this month, restorations of great import, revivals meriting reevaluation, midnight movies and other fringe cinema worth discovering. My instinct, nay my passion, draws me magnetically toward the film I consider the finest of all. Yet, tempting as this choice be, I must admit that an upcoming series, taken at its full measure, is the worthier selection. There may be no one film in the series that surpasses the perfection of THE THIRD MAN, but in terms of historical signifigance to the cinematic timeline, as well as sheer pound-for-pound entertainment value, this series snags the Daily Growl and makes synthetic fish wrapping of it.

So this month's Who's A Good Boy? goes to MoMA and their fantastic, essential, unmissable series Glorious Technicolor: From George Eastman House and Beyond! A spectacular celbration of Herbert and Natalie Kalmus' legacy, the process by which color not only come to be represented on celluloid, but in the lushest and most intoxicating tones the cinema was ever privy to. what began as a mission to better rep the real world on film became an entirely different realization: Technicolor resulted in second-hand for alternate reality, a richer, more delicious verison of the world. Thankfully, because the process came wieghed with expensive materials those materials have aged relatively well, and while the restoration process remains a painstaking one, the elements required come in reasonably good condition. Titles in the series include stalwarts like Victor Fleming's THE WIZARD OF OZ, Michael Curtiz's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD, and Donen & Kelley's SINGIN' IN THE RAIN, as well as rarer and lesser known titles like Chester M. Frankiln's THE TOLL OF THE SEA with Anna May Wong, Lloyd Corrigan's FOLLOW THRU, and King Vidor's AN AMERICAN ROMANCE. The series runs from Friday June 5th to August 5th.

Also at MoMA this month the series A Road 300 Years Long: Cinema and the Great Migration, focusing on the black American experience in the post-Civil War era from both before and behind the camera, screens from June 1st to the 12th, and includes works from the great race-studio mogul Oscar Micheaux (THE SYMBOL OF THE UNCONQUERED, SWING!), the great basement-budget auteur Edgar G. Ulmer (LET MY PEOPLE LIVE), and the modern trailblazer Charles Burnett (TO SLEEP WITH ANGER). And later this month 3-D Summer kicks off on the 13th with John Farrow's HONDO, and continues forth with selections such as George Sidney's KISS ME KATE, and archivist George Furmanek's compilation film 3-D RARITIES. MoMA is located at 11 W53rd st. in midtown Manhattan.

Coming in at a close second for June's premiere woof-woof is what I consider the greatest film ever made, dusted off, scrubbed, and digitally spit-shined into an awe-inspiring new 4K DCP resto; Carol Reed's one-and-only THE THIRD MAN, a film I have mused upon and written about extensively, coming from an emotional angle if not quite an academic one. Those of you who know me, you're welcome. Ba dum. I mean, those of you who know me know the reasons I elevate this film above all others, why I consider it the apex of the medium. As I've said before, it is the most romantic film about the death of romance, the most iconic film about demythification. It is the single bleakest film that leaves me most elated, not wanting to slit my wrists. Above all, I find it to be the truest movie while remaining the most entertaining. Its lights have been lightened and its darks pitched even blacker, and once more residing in the grey area inbetween is one Harry Lime, presented perhaps at his clearest, which means proportionately at his blurriest. I never miss it when it screens, so perhaps I'll see you there. Screens at Film Forum from the 26th of June through July 9th.

Also at Film Forum this month 1953's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, what might be Grit-teur Sam Fuller's masterpiece, screens til the 4th. Joseph H. Lewis' GUN CRAZY screens on the 6th, while D. W. Griffith's BIRTH OF A NATION unspools on the 7th. And Martin Scorsese's GOODFELLAS gets a two-week booking starting Friday June 19th. Lastly, screenings in the Film Forum Jr. series include Harold Lloyd's THE KID BROTHER on the 7th, Ken Annakin's SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON on the 21st, and Mel stuart's WILLY WONKA AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY on the 28th. Film Forum is located at 209 W. Houston Street.

Jumping across the strait that both connects and divides our common language, BAM Cinématek enters into phase two of its Black & White 'Scope series, celebrating widescreen monochrome in all its sumptuous glory, its focus now redirected toward International Cinema. Screenings in this series' resumption include François Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER and JULES AND JIM, Carol Reed's OUR MAN IN HAVANA, Jack Clayton's THE INNOCENTS, and Akira Kurosawa's YOJIMBO, SANJURO, THE BAD SLEEP WELL, HIGH AND LOW and RED BEARD. The series runs til June 16th.

Also at BAM this month departing president Karen Brooks Hopkins gets her way with a short but potent slate of faves. Qualifying entries for the Nitrate Stock regs include John Hughes' FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF and Richard Donner's THE GOONIES, on the 29th and the 30th, respectively. BAM Cinématek is located at the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette avenue in Brooklyn.

Returning to the civilized side of the East River the adorably crumbling Anthology Film Archives has an exceptional series dedicated to real honest-to-goodness emulsified film stock cleverly entitled This is Celluloid: 35mm! Titles in the self-explanatory program include Fritz Lang's MOONFLEET, Roger Corman's THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH, John Ford's SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, Francis Ford Coppola's RUMBLEFISH, and John Boorman's EXCALIBUR. Also at AFA this month are dustings off of classics from the canons of Carl Theodore Dreyer (VAMPYR, DAY OF WRATH, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC) and Sergei Eisenstein (STRIKE, THE BATTLESHIP POTEMPKIN, IVAN THE TERRIBLE PARTS ONE & TWO). Anthology Film Archives is located at 32 Second Avenue on Manhattan's East Village.

Sojourning on the N line to the luxurious Astoria section of Queens County we find ourselves at the majestic Museum of the Moving Image, and while this month might seem slim compared to what they've got planned for July and August (just you wait!), the slate on view is cherce indeed. Horror Father's Day is the bookend to their prior Horror mother's Day series, and this month includes such exemplary father figures as Bob Mitchum's preacher in THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, Pierre Brasseur's Hippocratic debaser in EYES WITHOUT A FACE, and Jack Nicholson's official World's Worst Dad in THE SHINING. Museum of the Moving Image is located at 36-01 35th avenue in Queens.

Sidling southward back into Kings County the involiably idiosyncratic Nitehawk Cinema dishes up their usual choice fare. Brunch and midnight screenings include Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL, W. D. Richter's THE ADVENTURES OF BUCKAROO BANZAI: ACROSS THE EIGHTH DIMENSION and Julien Temple's EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY for the Bellini-besotted, and the David Cronenberg classics SCANNERS, VIDEODROME and THE BROOD at the Witching Hour. This month's entry in The Deuce, the series dedicated to Times Square's glory grindhouse past, offers Staten Island Grime-teur Andy Milligan's TORTURE DUNGEON. Plus, the best draft root beer n' tater tots. You really need to find out for yourselves. The Nitehawk Cinema is located at 136 Metropolitan Avenue, a short stumble from the Bedford Avenue L train stop, in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Returning to NYC's more Manhattan-y side the Rubin Museum continues to provide the swank screenings with their Cabaret Cinema series. This month the martini-swig and leg-stretch include Walt Disney's DUMBO, David Lynch's BLUE VELVET, Terry Gilliam's BRAZIL, and Georges Franju's EYES WITHOUT A FACE. The exacts of the series have changed; no onger will a $10 bar tab guarantee you a first-come-first-seat tik, you must purchase your admission entirely separately. However, who cares? The experience is still well worth the ten bucks to get in and the ability to quaff quality cocktails whilst watching a classic. The longtime advisory remains; seats fill up quickly, so get there early to claim your territory. The Rubin Museum is located at 150 West 17th street in Manhattan.

Back into midtown the French Institute/Alliance Française begins the new series Jean-Claude Carrière: Writing the Impossible. Screenings include Jacques Deray's LA PISCINE, Jean-Luc Godard's EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF, Milos Forman's VALMONT, and Volker Schlöndorff's SWANN IN LOVE. Each unspooling is followed by a spectacular wine reception that allows for exceptional film banter. Do your best to attend one or all of these screenings. The French Institute/Alliance Française is located at 55 E. 59th street, and the screening space is located around the block at 58th st. between Park and Madison.

Other indoor screenings this month include the following;

The George Cukor retro at Mid-Manhattan Library, featuring the titles TWO-FACED WOMAN, KEEPER OF THE FLAME, ADAM'S RIB, and BORN YESTERDAY. All showtimes Sunday afternoon at 2pm.

The Justice in Film series at the New York Historical Society, spotlighting Frank Capra's IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT on the 5th.

Cukor's THE WOMEN, Michael Curtiz's MILDRED PIERCE, Ranald MacDougall's QUEEN BEE, Robert Aldrich's WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, and Frank Perry's MOMMIE DEAREST, Thursday evenings at 7pm at the BowTie Chelsea Cinemas.

And finally, the outdoor screenings begin! The kickoff proper occurs at Washington Square Park for their annual Films on the Green series, spotlighting classic French cinema. This month we're treated to Julien Duvivier's PEPE LE MOKO on the 12th. The mantle is then taken up by Randall's Island Park, which screens Spielberg's JAWS on the 15th. Michael Schultz's THE LAST DRAGON screens on the 26th at Columbus Park. And the cherished annual Bryant Park Film Fest begins its unspool with GHOSTBUSTERS on the 22nd and THE KILLERS on the 29th.

So there you have it, your June 2015 repertory film calendar. Skeds are subject to change, and they do, so be sure to check back with the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. Don't be shy about feedback, either. Be sure to let me know what ya think of the job I'm doing. And be sure to like me on Facebook, follow me on Twitter, observe me on Instagram, stalk me on Tumblr, measure me on Vine okay that's enough now. You know where to find me should ya wanna keep up with the rep film doings in NYC. So until next time, be safe and sound, Stockahz, and make sure the next knucklehead is too. Excelsior!

-Joe Walsh

JoeW@NitrateStock.net