September 2015! Gloria Grahame, the Apu Encore, and We'll Always Have Ingrid Bergman!

Allo Stockahz! Welcome to your monthly overview of the rep film circuit in NYC! I hope you've taken advantage thus far of summer's pleasant climes to zip between sfreens that have graced us with tribs to B&W 'Scope and Technicolor, True Crime and Mexican Noir and game-changing independent cinema from the 80's, and tribs to eminemt personalities from both beind and before the screen like John Ford, Yasujiro Ozu, Marlon Brando and Roger Corman. This month of June promises to let down not a notch, offering ...ahem. This month of July promises...this month of August...waitaminnit! September? Freakin' September?1?
How the hell did it get to be #@*%$@#ing SEPTEMBER already! Didn't FURY ROAD just open like five weeks ago??? Didn't Baseball season start 2 months ago??? Don't we still have Bloomsday, July 4th and the Jersey shore Clamfest to look forward to?? CURSE YOU SUN AND YOUR PERPETUAL HOLD ON OUR ORBIT!

No, no, I can't blame you sun, with your glorious rays that provide ample basking time with which to enjoy chilled white wine in Washington Square Park whilst reading my 1st 007 novel. I'm just bummed that my most dreaded foe, the season known as winter, as well as its obnoxious herald bearing the acronym NFL, are mere seconds away from their annual ressurection and takeover of my town. But despair not my fellow Cinegeeks! We still have 4-6 weeks of winds pleasant to accompany and accomodate our rep screen travails, and the next month is absolutely PACKED with 35mm & DCP treasure! So without further ado, let's get to it. Not you, NFL, you go to hell and you die.

Those of you who regularly visit the site know I like to bestow what I lovingly refer to as Big Dawg status to the series or screenign I deem each month's most ummissable. Last month that most sought-after distinction went to MoMA and its magnificent, and not quite ended Scorsese Screens series, which spotlighted films and filmmakers that were crucial influences to the man who would emerge as dean emeritus of American Film. This month I choose the same venue but share it with another, as they do regarding a most special birthday celebration. The 100th anniversary of Ingrid Bergman, one of cinema's finest talents and most luminous onscreen figures, is split between MoMA's Ingrid Bergman: A Centennial Celebration, and BAM's inventively monickered Ingrid Bergman at BAM. Her daughters, Ingrid Rossellini, film writer/critic Pia Lindstrom, and actress/filmmaker Isabella Rossellini join with actor Jeremy Irons
in introducing the films and discussing the legendary actress' work and personal life. Films scheduled for both series include boilerplate classics like gustaf Molander's original Swedish verison of INTERMEZZO, George Cukor's Hollywood remake of GASLIGHT, her first Oscar-winning turn, Leo McCarey's THE BELL'S OF ST. MARY'S, her three collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock; 1945's SPELLBOUND, 1946's NOTORIOUS, and 1949's UNDER CAPRICORN. Of most important note however must be her work with Italian neo-realist pioneer and eventul lover Roberto Rossellini, films like STROMBOLI, JOURNEY TO ITALY and EUROPA '51. Later work of importance includes Sidney Lumet's lavish MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, for which she won her third Oscar, and AUTUMN SONATA, which finally proved conclusively that she was not director Ingmar Bergman. But of course, the keynote film, screening at both MoMA and BAM, the one she'll most be remembered for, is Michael Curtiz's masterpiece CASABLANCA, which is fully, generously on view at both venues, as are most of the titles in the celebratory series. It runs at MoMa til Thursday the 10th, then resumes across the pond at BAM Sunday the 13th, running til Tuesday the 29th. No matter how bummed the world may make us form time to time one simple, special truth shines eternal: we'll always have Ingrid. C'entanni, bella faccia!

Also at MoMA this month Associate Curator Anne Morra has programed a new afternoon series following up Charles Silver's Auteurist History of film and Dave Kehr's Acteurism. Modern Matinees: Earliest Days focuses on the inaugural donations to MoMA's film library from Hollywood's major studios waaaaay back in 1935. Titles include John Ford's breakout Fox Studios epic THE IRON HORSE, Ernst Lubitch's droll, pre-code Paramount classic TROUBLE IN PARADISE, Mervyn Le Roy's contibution to Warner Brothers ganster cycle, 1932's LITTLE CAESAR, and Harold Lloyd's GRANDMA'S BOY, a comedy classic crafted for the Hal Roach unit. The series runs intermittently over the month, concluding Wednesday the 30th.

MoMA also offers a celebration of another Spruce Goose, one perhaps criminally overshadowed by his fellow contemprary, a gent known as Ingmar Bergamn. Hasse Ekman: The Other Swede in the Room pays trib to a man who competed with Sweden's most famous directorial export, amd in some cases may have bested him. Titles, admittedly previously unbeknownst to me, include 1950's GIRL WITH HYACINTHS, 1943's CHANGING TRAINS, 1949's THE GIRL FROM THE THIRD ROW, 1941's THE FIRST DIVISION, and 1957's THE HALO IS SLIPPING. The series runs from Wednesday the 9th til Friday the 18th.

And finally the aforementioned Scorsese Screens sadly wraps up , with screenings of Howard Hawks' SCARFACE, John Ford's THE SEARCHERS, Otto Preminger's LAURA and Kubrick's 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY still to unspool. the series conlcudes on the 6th. MoMA is located at 11 W 53rd st. in Manhattan.

Coming in at a close 2nd for Daily Growl braggin' rights is a screening at Astoria's magnificent Museum of the Moving Image, which this month offers a special one-time only screening of Michael Schultz's classic urban youth tale COOLEY HIGH, a masterpiece of teen coming-of-age cinema on a par with AMERICAN GRAFFITI, and accompanied by an in-person Q&A with the filmmaker himself. Schultz is the only director who can make the case, which I support, for being the only African-American autuer operating within the 70's New Hollywood studio system, and most of his work holds up remarkably well, some of it looking even better with age. This opportunity to hear him remark on what might be his masterpiece is unmissable. So don't miss it. Screens on the 13th at 2pm.

Also at the MoMI this month the See it Big! series narrows its focus to examine New York in Film. Usual suspects in this series include Martin Scorsese's TAXI DRIVER, Alexander MacKendrick's SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS, Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW, and Sidney Lumet's DOG DAY AFTERNOON. The series runs from Friday the 4th til Sunday the 27th. Moving Image is located at 36-01 35th avenue in Astoria, Queens.

Paddlin' back to the civilized side of the Hudson the glorious temple to all things rep film has a crammed sked for the month of September. The crown jewel at West Houston's Film Forum in September, however, must surely be their retrospective trib to the CV of Italian neo-realist master Vittorio de Sica, the man 2nd only to Roberto Rossellini to that movement's worldwide influence. His key films from that era, SHOESHINE and BICYCLE THIEVES and UMBERTO D., are of course on display, along with later experiments, like the proto-magic realism of MIRACLE IN MILAN and his episode of 1967's THE WITCHES, and the screwball comedy of AFTER THE FOX (scripted by Neil Simon!), leaving ample room on the sked for his acting triumphs in Max Ophuls' THE EARRINGS OF MADAME DE..., Rossellini's GENERAL DELLA ROVERE, and his lone Oscar-nom from Charles Vidor's A FAREWELL TO ARMS. A resto of his Selznick-butchered TERMINAL STATION is on hand, as well as Sophia Loren's Oscar-wiining perf in 1960's TWO WOMEN. The series runs from the 9th til Thursday October 8th.

Also at Film Forum this month is a brand-spankin' new DCP resto of Jules Dassin's insanely influential heist film masterpiece RIFIFI, a film that should be celebrated for multiple reasons: its muggy atmospheric noir, its easy co-mingling of Hollywood and French genre tropes, something the French New Wave would capitalize on some years later. Perhaps the best reason to hoist this heist upon our shoulders is the success of its director, perhaps the heavywieght champ of the cats who beat McCarthy's blacklist. Dassin, an accomplished, I would argue brilliant genre filmmaker in the years prior to the witch hunt, fled the country in search of work once he refused to name names. Once in France he beat on every door for work, until an unpromising gig directing a screen adap of a pulp novel landed at his feet. Completely unfamiliar with the language, he sorted out what he could with the help of a translator buddy and then concocted a wholly different story from what the novel offered. He bluffed his way through the production, then reaped the rewards of the film's magnificence. On a trip back to the states not long after, he had to explain to a film professor before his students that he wasn't a famed French filmmaker named Zhools Dah-seen, he was Julie Dahsen from the Bronx. I heart this man, who also directed BRUTE FORCE, NIGHT AND THE CITY, and TOPKAPI, incredibly, and this film tremendously. It's a thing. Screens til the 8th.

Film Forum Jr. resumes this month, kicking off with Gene Kelly & Stanley Donen's ON THE TOWN, and continuing with Buster Keaton's THE CAMERAMAN, Gordon Douglas' THEM!, and Richard Lester's A HARD DAY'S NIGHT. All showtimes Sunday mornings at 11am.

Stars Kier Dullea and Diane Baker appear in-person for screenings of Otto Preminger's BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING and Alfred Hitchcock's MARNIE, respectively, and Steve Sterner provides the piano accompaniment for the screening of Arthur Berthelet's 1916 SHERLOCK HOLMES. Jean-Pierre Melville's ARMY OF SHADOWS has been held over as well. Til when, I couldn't tell ya. But it's there. Film Forum is located at 209 W. Houston St. in downtown Manhattan.

Skateboarding eastward to the NYC film fanatic's fave haunted house, Anthology Film Archives offers up a few choice series. Chief amongst these is the trib to stalwart mug Robert Ryan, an actor that is in recnet years, I feel, finally getting his just credit. An Actor's Actor offers up classics like Nick Ray's ON DANGEROUS GROUND, Anthony Mann's THE NAKED SPUR, and John Sturges' BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK. The series runs from the 4th to the 10th.

Also at AFA this month is a short series dedicated to lesser-known German New Wave pioneer Edgar Reitz, presenting two of his best early efforts: 1967's TABLE OF LOVE and 1977's ZERO HOUR. And the long term series This is Celluloid: 35mm resumes, presenting offbeat choices like a double bill of Allan Dwan's THE RIVER'S EDGE and Tim Hunter's 80's tour-de-force melodowner RIVER'S EDGE, Richard Safarian's 70's existential car-chase classic VANISHING POINT, and Henry Hathaway's THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE. AFA is located at 32 2nd Avenue in Manhattan's East Village.

Paragliding back into Brooklyn, BAM's Cinématek offers up much more than the Ingrid Bergman trib. The new and bedazzling DCP resto of Satyajit Ray's Apu Trilogy encores after its seemingly year-long run at Film Forum. The original negatives having been destroyed in a fire some years ago, these new 4K spitshines are absolutely soul-shaking. All three films, PATHER PANCHALI, APARAJITO and APUR SANSAR, are on offer, with 3-count-'em-3 opportunities to watch them back-to-back-to-back! Take advantage of the opportunity, trust me. The series runs for the brief period of Wednesday the 9th thru Saturday the 12th.

Also at BAM this month is the gleefully intermittent Overdue series, programmed by critics Nick Pinkerton and Nicolas Rapold. On the slate this time around are Brian G. Hutton's Burton and Eastwood WW2 actioner WHERE EAGLES DARE and John Hough's conspiracy thriller BRASS TARGET. The films screen on the 16th and 17th, respectively. BAM Cinématek is located at the Peter Jay Sharp building, 30 Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn.

Ziplining back into Manhattan the Film Society has planned a spectacular trib to one of my all-time faves, an actress that could play the hunter and the hunted, the anxious and the attuned. There was always some trace of sin wherever she strode, but always also the desire to believe the better of her. That quality worked in various degrees to both her favor and ours as collective. I'm grafteful that the folks at Lincoln Center have deigned to pay tribute to the mercurial Gloria Grahame, with a series subtitled, what else, Blonde Ambition. Films scheduled in the series include such indelible classics as Fritz Lang's THE BIG HEAT and HUMAN DESIRE, Nick Ray's IN A LONLEY PLACE and A WOMAN'S SECRET, and her Oscar-winning perf in Vincente Minnelli's THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL. Tough stuff to turn down. That's what she always counted on. The series runs from Friday the 4th to Monday the 8th.

Also at the Film Society, hallelloo indeed! The 53rd annual New York Film Fest approacheth, and while the bulk of the goods, particularly the rep riches, await come October, Brian de Palma's BLOW OUT screens on the 30th. How magical. The Film Society is located at the Walter Reade theater at 165 W. 65th street and the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center at 144 W. 65th street.

Batskiboating back into the borough of Brooklyn we find ourselves at what remains my fave new movie theater in the 5 arrondissements. Follically-festooned BillyBurg's Nitehawk Cinema offers up their usual cackling kook, from midnight screenings of Mary Lambert's PET SEMATERY and Doris Wishman's A NIGHT TO DISMEMBER, to brunchtime unspoolings of the films of pioneering female filmmaker Alice Guy Blaché, to a presentation of Sam Peckinpah's underrated sleaze masterpiece BRING ME THE HEAD OF ALFREDO GARCIA. Plus, root beer 'n tater tots. Believe. The Nitehawk Cinema is just a mere jump, skip and hop from the Bedford Avenue L Train stop at 136 Metropolitan Avenue.

Walking on water back to our section of the civilized world IFC Center has plotted a spectacular trib to one of the fathers of the German New Wave. Wim Wenders: Portraits Along the Road presents docs and experimaental works, but as the focus of this site remains on features I shine my kliegs on 1971's THE GOALIE'S ANXIETY AT THE PENALTY KICK and 1974's ALICE IN THE CITIES, masterpieces like 1976's THE AMERICAN FRIEND and 1984's PARIS, TEXAS, and confoundingly praised, to me anyway, films like 1987's WINGS OF DESIRE. The filmmaker will be on hand for a Q&A at several of these screenings, and the series runs through Thursday the 24th.

Also at IFC the Yasujiro Ozu trib proceeds merrily apace, which is something no one ever said about his films. Upcoming titles include his masterpiece, 1953's TOKYO STORY. The remaining films are TBA, but the series runs til Sunday the 27th. IFC Center is located at 323 6th avenue betwixt 3rd and 4th streets in Manhattan.

September's last licks include Keisuke Kinoshita's CARMEN COMES HOME at the Japan Society. The Cabaret Cinema series at the Rubin Museum focuses on Luchino Visconti's SENSO and Carol Reed's OLIVER! The BowTie Cinema's Thursday Classics Series reveres Bette Davis this month, with screenings of Vincent Sherman's MR. SKEFFINGTON, William Wyler's THE LETTER, Irving Rapper's NOW, VOYAGER, and Paul Henreid's DEAD RINGER. Finally the Landmark Sunshine Cinema hints at Jonathan Lynn's CLUE, navigates Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER, and sneaks a peek at Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW. I f only there were more bad puns in this film world, what joy.

So there you have it, your July 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