September 26th 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.
Continuing series this day include the waning calendar pages of both Vittorio De Sica: Attore, Regista, Seduttore at Film Forum and Ingrid Bergman at BAM at, um, BAM, See it Big: New York on Film! at Museum of the Moving Image, and This is Celluloid: 35mm Encore! at Anthology Film Archives.
Nitehawk Cinema
REAL GENIUS (1985) Dir; Martha Coolidge
THE FILMS OF ALICE GUY-BLACHE (1897-1907) Dir; Alice Guy-Blaché
A NIGHT TO DISMEMBER (1983) Dir; Doris Wishman
Film Forum
Vittorio De Sica: Attore, Regista, Seduttore
MIRACLE IN MILAN (1951) Dir; Vittorio De Sica
UMBERTO D. (1952) Dir; Vittorio De Sica
SHOESHINE (1946) Dir; Vittorio De Sica
BAM Cinématek
SPELLBOUND (1945) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Museum of the Moving Image
LONESOME (1928) Dir; Paul Fejös
Anthology Film Archives
This is Celluloid: 35mm Encore!
THE BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE (1956) Dir; Henry Hathaway
CEREMONY (1971) Dir; Nagisa Oshima
Today's Pick? I was the lucky beneficiary of a most unique BluRay release back in 2012, as I consider this whole thing I'm doing here less an outlet for my acumen, which is meager, than an opportunity to decrease my ignorance of film and film history, which is vast, but I'm workin' on it. The Criterion Collection, every film lover's Supreme Court, helped restore and release a title I'd never previously heard of. Or if I did, I'd forgotten. Booze'll do that. It was a film made during that delicate turnover period from the soundless to the sound, amended in progress due to the new tech's sudden crash landing. So certain sequences were filmed or re-shot with the new audio-eager audience in mind, in addition to the film's other audacious moves; color-tinted passages, brilliant location footage of a then-thriving Coney Island, and camera movement that'd make Murnau jealous. It's helmer was a man possesed of a resume most diverse; M.D., anthropoligist, film director. In some ways all three vocations came together for this project, one that observes but also empathizes, and tells a quaint and heart-warming tale in the process. All these elements make this film a must-see, perhaps not a silent on the order of masterpieces by Lang or Ford or Gance, but an essential piece of film history, a curio, and a still-relevant emotional tug. For anyone who's ever ridden the Cyclone rollercoater, or drank at Ruby's, or is just a film junkie in general or the silent era specifically, there is simply no other option today.
Paul Fejös' LONESOME screens tonight at Museum of the Moving Image as part of their spectacular series See it Big: New York on Film! And by the way, if this flick, which is currently 87 years old, doesn't inspire you to hop back on that subway and take the long haul out to the actual Coney Island boardwalk? I got nothin' for ya man. #WhatWouldTheWarriorsDo?
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in September '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. The warmer, fiercer cuddle of the sun's sunnier disposition has begun its annual wane, 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!
