MARY PICKFORD THEATER (JANUARY-MARCH 2000)In this calendar the Mary Pickford Theater continues its film retrospective in conjunction with the Library of Congress exhibition John Bull and Uncle Sam: Four Centuries of British-American Relations with programming drawn from the holdings of the Library of Congress and the National Film and Television Archive and British Film Institute in London. We will also pay tribute to documentarian Henry Hampton in February, host a five night jazz on film series in January, and have two screenings in conjunction with the Environmental Film Festival in March.
Monday, January 10 (7:00 pm start time) Louis Prima: The Wildest (Deep C Productions, 1999). Director: Don McGlynn. (82 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy Deep C Productions). Trumpeter, singer, bandleader Louis Prima (1911-79) was a respected jazz musician, uninhibited entertainer, notorious ladies' man and all-around swinger. He wrote the swing (and retro-swing) anthems Sing, Sing, Sing and Jump, Jive & Wail, rocked Las Vegas in the 1950s with singer and spouse Keely Smith, and climaxed his career with his role in Disney's Jungle Book film, singing I Wanna Be Like You (The Monkey Song). This new documentary includes interviews with sidemen and ex-wives, and features rare and unforgettable footage of Prima's film and television appearances. Tonight's program will be introduced by Rusty Hassan. Mr. Hassan teaches jazz history at Georgetown and American Universities, and his radio program is heard on WPFW-FM. The Jazz on Film series is curated by Senior Studio Engineer Larry Appelbaum, with support from the Motion Picture, Broadcasting & Recorded Sound Division and the Music Division of the Library of Congress. Tuesday, January 11 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes: Early British Talkies The Speckled Band (British & Dominion, 1931). Director: Jack Raymond. Writer: W.P. Lipscomb, from the story by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Raymond Massey, Athole Stewart, Lyn Harding, Angela Baddeley, Nancy Price. (54 minutes [short version for American television release], sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection). Sherlock Holmes's Fatal Hour (Twickenham, 1931). Director: Leslie S. Hiscott. Writers: Cyril Twyford, H. Fowler Mear, based on "The Final Problem" and "The Empty House" by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Arthur Wontner, Ian Fleming, Minnie Rayner, Leslie Perrins, Jane Welsh. (75 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection). 113 years after his creation by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and over a century after his creator's attempt to kill him off, Sherlock Holmes remains perhaps the single most popular literary character of all time. The original canon of Doyle's four Holmes novels and 56 short stories has been embellished by hundreds of pastiches and sequels by new writers. For over sixty years, hundreds of societies in cities around the world have met regularly, gathering the detective's legion of fans. Washington, D.C. includes its own such group, "The Red Circle," impishly named at the height of the cold war for the title of one of the Conan Doyle stories. In movies and television, Holmes is the most-depicted fictional character on screen, and this series will show a variety of examples of this work, including many of the most rarely-seen. While only some of the films are based on the actual writings of Doyle, all of our examples portray the detective in the manner of the original canon; we have not included here any of the Holmes parodies, or those which have placed him in contexts outside of the mystery genre, such as in science fiction. The series (starting tonight and for seven consecutive Tuesdays thereafter) will include both British and American adaptations, for both movies and television, from the earliest silent films to the first Holmes "talkie," up to the present. The series includes the range of notable actors to have portrayed Holmes, including Clive Brook, Raymond Massey, Arthur Wontner, Basil Rathbone, Alan Napier, Ronald Howard, Peter Cushing, John Neville, Stewart Granger, Christopher Plummer, and Ian Richardson, along with differing portraits of Holmes's associate, Dr. Watson. Holmes is the prototype of the ratiocinative detective, a type originated by Edgar Allan Poe but brought to fruition by writers in England, to such a degree that the form is often known as the "British" mystery, and this formula remains a prime joint contribution of Anglo-American popular culture. Whether Lord Peter Wimsey, or Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple, to such American television detectives as Jessica Fletcher in Murder, She Wrote, the Holmes pattern set by Doyle at the turn of the century remain a dominant formula for audiences worldwide. Wednesday, January 12 (7:00 pm start time) The Railway Children (EMI,1970) Director: Lionel Jeffries. Writer: Lionel Jeffries, from the novel by E. Nesbit. Camera: Arthur Ibbetson. Cast: Jenny Agutter, Bernard Cribbins, Dinah Sheridan, Iain Cuthbertson. (102 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Universal). When their father is mysteriously called away, three children must relocate to a country cottage near a railway line. Rare screening of E. Nesbit's children's story. Thursday, January 13 (7:00 pm start time) Somewhere Over The Rainbow: Harold Arlen (Deep C Productions, 1999). Director: Don McGlynn. (72 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy Deep C Productions). You may not recognize the name, but every jazz fan will know the songs of Harold Arlen. In this tribute to one of the great composers of the century, Frank Sinatra is shown crooning One For My Baby; Cab Calloway sings Blues In The Night; both Duke Ellington and Lena Horne perform their versions of Stormy Weather; and Bing Crosby does Accentuate The Positive. In addition, Barbra Steisand, Tony Bennett, and Mel Torme interpret the Arlen classics Any Place I Hang My Hat Is Home, That Old Black Magic, Come Rain Or Come Shine, and A Sleeping Bee . The music is interspersed with excerpts of Harold Arlen's home movies, including rare, behind-the-scenes footage from the Wizard of Oz, and private moments with George and Ira Gershwin, Irving Berlin and Oz collaborator Yip Harburg. Tonight's program will be introduced by Mark Horowitz. Mr. Horowitz is a Music Specialist in the Music Division at the Library of Congress, where he has archived the papers of Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, Vernon Duke, Richard Rodgers and Leonard Bernstein. Friday, January 14 (7:00 pm start time) Time Bandits (Handmade Films, 1981). Director: Terry Gilliam. Writers: Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam. Cast Craig Warnock, John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm. (115 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection). An inventive fantasy. A madcapped journey through history, in which the tot, Craig Warnock is whisked out of his home by six zany dwarfs holding a map that reveals gaps in the universe. Their mission to rectify various portions of human history that disappoint the mastermind of the Universe, "Supreme Being." Tuesday, January 18 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes: Silent to Sound Sherlock Holmes Baffled (Biograph, 1900). (1 minute, silent, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection). The Copper Beeches (1912). Director: Georges Treville. Cast: Georges Treville, Mr. Moyse. (28 minutes, silent, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection). The Man With the Twisted Lip (Stoll, 1922). Director: Maurice Elvey. Writer: William J. Elliott, based on the story by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Eille Norwood, Hubert Willis, Robert Vallis, Paulette del Baye. (40 minutes, silent, b&w, video; LC collection). Fox Movietone News: "Sherlock Holmes" Turns Engineer [Newsclip of William Gillette] (Fox, 1927). Appearing: William Gillette. (2 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Fox). The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Paramount, 1929). Director: Basil Dean. Writers: Garrett Fort, Basil Dean, based on "The Dying Detective" and "His Last Bow" by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Clive Brook, H. Reeves-Smith, Betty Lawford, Charles Hay. (76 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Paramount). Wednesday, January 19 (7:00 pm start time) Department S: Six Days (ITC, 1969). Director: Cyril Frankel. Writer: Gerald Kelsey. Cast: Peter Wyngarde, Joel Fabiani., Rosemary Nicols. (60 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection). Strange Report: Cult Murder Shrieks Out (Arena Production for ITC, 1969). Director: Charles Crichton. Writer: Morris Farhi. Cast: Anthony Quayle, Kas Garas. (60 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection). In Department S, which could be seen as a British precursor to the X- Files, a special offshoot department of Interpol investigates inexplicable crimes. In Six Days, an airliner is missing for 6 days, but when it reappears, the crew and passengers remember nothing. In a similar vein, Strange Report features an ex-police criminologist, Adam Strange, who investigates unusual cases. In Cult Murder Shrieks Out, Strange suspects that the electrocution of a pop singer during a concert is no accident, and his investigations lead to a charity-collecting religious sect. Thursday, January 20 (7:00 pm start time) Joe Williams: Portrait In Song (Jazz Image, 1997). Director: Burrill Crohn (56 minutes, sound, color, video; print courtesy Jazz Image). But Then, She's Betty Carter (Eye of the Storm Productions, 1980). Director: Michelle Parkerson (53 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Eye of the Storm Productions). The jazz world recently lost several important singers who set the highest standards with their ability to interpret, improvise and swing. Joe Williams, sometimes referred to as Count Basie's "No. 1 Son," is the subject of a documentary shot during a weekend concert with the Basie Orchestra at Hamilton College in 1996. Highlights include archival footage of Williams and Basie on the Pat Boone Show in 1959, Williams and fellow blues shouter Jimmy Rushing at Newport in 1962, and an extraordinary glimpse of Williams watching and singing along with a film clip of himself from an earlier era. Be-bop vocalist and educator Betty Carter is considered one of the greatest pure jazz singers of the 20th century. In this revealing documentary, Carter emerges as a strong-willed woman of integrity who created her own opportunities and persevered, despite mistreatment by major record companies and an indifferent music business. Tonight's program will be introduced by Ira Sabin. Mr. Sabin is the Chairman and founder of JAZZTIMES magazine. Friday, January 21 (7:00 pm start time) How I Won the War (United Artists, 1967). Director: Richard Lester. Writer: Charles Wood, from the novel by Patrick Ryan. Camera: David Watkin. Cast: Michael Crawford, John Lennon, Roy Kinnear. (110 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy United Artists). Peculiar black comedy by one of Britain's premier directors. Pre-Phantom of the Opera Crawford stars as a WWII veteran whose reminiscences don't quite match up with reality. Also features John Lennon, who wrote "Strawberry Fields Forever" while on location. Monday, January 24 (7:00 pm start time) Jazz 625: Erroll Garner, Bill Evans, Thelonious Monk (BBC 1964-65). Director: Terry Henebery. (110 minutes, sound, b&w, video; LC Collection, courtesy BBC). By the mid-1960s, it was rare to find much jazz on television. In the U.S., jazz was mostly found on the NET (National Educational Television) network. In England, the BBC documented many British and American groups in a series called Jazz 625. Tonight, we show three programs from this landmark series featuring three important jazz pianists. Erroll Garner generated enormous momentum and swing with his block chords and way of manipulating tempo. Bill Evans combined a subtle touch with harmonic sophistication which made him one of the most influential musicians of his generation. Thelonious Monk developed an idiosyncratic style that was avant-garde, yet rooted in tradition. His compositions, including Round Midnight, Straight No Chaser, Well You Needn't, Misterioso and others, are an important part of the jazz repertoire. Tonight's program will be introduced by John Edward Hasse. Mr. Hasse is Curator of American Music at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History. He is author of "Beyond Category: The Musical Genius of Duke Ellington" and editor of "Jazz: The First Century." Tuesday, January 25 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes: The American Classics Sherlock Holmes (Fox, 1932). Director: William K. Howard. Writer: Bertram Milhauser, based on the play by William Gillette. Cast: Clive Brook, Miriam Jordan, Ernest Torrence, Reginald Owen, Howard Leeds, Alan Mowbray. (70 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Fox). House of Fear (Universal, 1944). Director: Roy William Neill. Writer: Roy Chanslor, based on "The Five Orange Pips" by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Aubrey Mather, Dennis Hoey. (70 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Universal). Wednesday, January 26 (7:00 pm start time) Genevieve (Sirius, 1954) Director: Henry Cornelius. Writer: William Rose. Editor: Clive Donner. Cast: John Gregson, Dinah Sheridan, Kenneth More, Kay Kendall, Geoffrey Keen. (86 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Sirius). Two friendly rivals, reluctantly accompanied by women who do not share their enthusiasm for antique automobiles, resort to mild skulduggery as they race their erratic 1904 cars in the annual London-to- Brighton old-car competition. Thursday, January 27 (7:00 pm start time) A Man Called Adam (Trace-Mark, 1966). Director: Leo Penn. Writers: Les Pines, Tina Rome. Cast: Sammy Davis, Jr., Louis Armstrong, Mel Torme, Cicely Tyson. (99 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Embassy). This backstage melodrama about non-violence and issues of race, based loosely on Miles Davis, stars Sammy Davis Jr. as a trumpeter (ghosted on the soundtrack by Nat Adderley). Among the many featured musicians are Jo Jones, Buster Bailey, Tyree Glenn, Benny Powell, Frank Wess, Hank Jones and "Pops" Foster. Tonight's program will be introduced by Julian Euell. Mr. Euell is a jazz bassist who played and recorded with John Coltrane, Mal Waldron, Phineas Newborn, Gigi Gryce, Kenny Dorham and others. He is a former Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution and former Director of the Louis Armstrong House and Archive. Friday, January 28 (7:00 pm start time) The Servant (Springbok Films, 1963). Director: Joseph Losey. Writer: Harold Pinter, from the novel by Robin Maugham. Camera: Douglas Slocombe. Music: John Dankworth. Cast: Dirk Bogarde, James Fox, Sarah Miles. (115 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Springbok Films). In the early 50s, Wisconsin-born Joseph Losey (1909-1984) left a stage and Hollywood film directing career because of the blacklist. Resettling in England, he eventually became a major force in British cinema. His work, often bleak and highly symbolic, almost always defined its characters in relation to their specific environment and place within society. The Servant was the first of three acclaimed collaborations with playwright Harold Pinter, and details an increasingly destructive game of role reversals between master (Fox) and servant (the late Bogarde in one of his greatest roles). Monday, January 31 (7:00 pm start time) The Champions: The Beginning (ITC, 1968). Director: Cyril Frankel. Writer: Dennis Spooner. Cast: Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo, William Gaunt. (60 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection). Department S: The Man from X (ITC, 1969). Director: Gill Taylor. Writer: Tony Williamson. Cast: Peter Wyngarde, Joel Fabiani., Rosemary Nicols. (60 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection). Secret agents crash in the Himalayas, but are discovered by a Tibetan who endows them with special powers to fight crime, enabling them to become The Champions. In The Man from X, a man is found in wandering the streets in a spacesuit, dying before he can be questioned. The only clues the Department S team can deduce are that he had recently been in a vacuum and he has radiation burns. Tuesday, February 1 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes Comes to Television Your Show Time: The Adventure of the Speckled Band (Marshall Grant-Realm Television, 1949). Director: Sobey Martin. Writer: Walter Doniger, based on the story by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Alan Napier, Melville Cooper, Evelyn Ankers. (28 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection). Sherlock Holmes: The Man Who Disappeared (Dryer & Weenolsen, 1951). Director: Richard M. Grey. Cast: John Longden, Campbell Singer, Hector Ross. (27 minutes, sound, b&w, video; LC Collection). Sherlock Holmes: The Cunningham Heritage (S.H. Television, 1954) Director: Jack Gage. Writer: Sheldon Reynolds. Cast: Ronald Howard, H. Marion Crawford, Archie Duncan. (25 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection). The Hound of the Baskervilles (Universal TV, 1972). Director: Barry Chase. Writer: Robert E. Thompson, from the book by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Stewart Granger, Bernard Fox, William Shatner. (80 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Universal). Wednesday, February 2 (7:00 pm start time) I'll Make Me a World, Parts 1-2 (1900-1937) (Blackside, 1999). Executive Producer: Henry Hampton. Writer: Sheila Bernard. Story Editor: Thulani Davis. (120 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy PBS). For Black History Month, the Pickford Theater salutes the late documentarian Henry Hampton and his production company Blackside, Inc. (Eyes on the Prize, The Great Depression) with three nights of a recent series chronicling the extraordinary cultural achievements of 20th century African-Americans. Tonight we'll feature the first two episodes of I'll Make Me a World, Lift Every Voice and Without Fear or Shame, which trace the work of the first generation of artists through the Harlem Renaissance. Thursday, February 3 (7:00 pm start time) Kes (Woodfall, 1969). Director: Ken Loach. Writers: Ken Loach and Barry Hines. Camera: Chris Menges. Cast: David Bradley, Lynne Perrie), Freddie Fletcher. (113 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Woodfall). Ken Loach's "social realist" approach to the everyday is best personified in this moving family drama about how a young boy's alienation from the rigors of school and the burden of a dysfunctional family is temporarily appeased by his affection and devotion to a pet kestrel. Friday, February 4 (7:00 pm start time) Absolute Beginners (Palace Pictures, 1986). Director: Julien Temple. Writers: Richard Burridge, Christopher Wicking, Don Macpherson. Camera: Oliver Stapleton. Cast: Patsy Kensit, Eddie O'Connell, David Bowie, James Fox, Ray Davies, Mandy Rice-Davies. (108 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy of Palace Pictures). Music video director Julien Temple pulled out all the stops for his first fiction feature, a musical adaptation of Colin MacInnes' novel about growing up in 1950s London. The spectacular production numbers include a famous opening tracking shot and David Bowie dancing on a Busby Berkeley-inspired giant typewriter. Monday, February 7 (7:00 pm start time) I'll Make Me a World, Parts 3-4 (1935-1965) (Blackside, 1999). Executive Producer: Henry Hampton. Writer: Sheila Bernard. Story Editor: Thulani Davis. (120 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy PBS). Our Henry Hampton tribute continues with Bright Like a Sun and Dream Keepers, an exploration of African-American artists at mid-century such as Paul Robeson, Dizzy Gillespie, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry. Tuesday, February 8 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes: Basil Rathbone and Peter Cushing The Scarlet Claw (Universal, 1944). Director: Roy William Neill. Writers: Edmund L. Hartmann, Roy William Neill, from an original story by Paul Gengelin, Brenda Weisberg. Cast: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Gerald Hamer, Paul Cavanagh. (74 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC collection, courtesy Universal). The Masks of Death (Tyburn, 1984). Director: Roy Ward Baker. Writer: N.J. Crisp. Cast: Peter Cushing, John Mills, Ann Baxter, Ray Milland, Gordon Jackson. (90 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC collection; courtesy Tyburn Productions). Wednesday, February 9 (7:00 pm start time) Gideon's Way: State Visit (ATV Production, 1965). Director: John Moxey. Writer: Jim O'Connolly. Cast: John Gregson, Alexander Davion. (60 minutes, sound, b&w, video; LC Collection). Man in a Suitcase: Brainwash (ITC, 1967). Director: Charles Crichton. Writers: Frances Megahy and Bernie Cooper. Cast: Richard Bradford. (60 minutes, sound, color; 16mm; LC Collection). Commander George Gideon of Scotland Yard investigates crime with his second-in-command, Chief Inspector Keen, in Gideon's Way. In State Visit, both must protect a visiting German statesman who is receiving threats from a former Nazi victim. In Man in a Suitcase, CIA agent McGill is framed and kicked out of the CIA, and decides to become an investigator and bounty hunter for hire. Thursday, February 10 (7:00 pm start time) The Beggar's Opera (British Lion, 1954). Director: Peter Brook. Writer: Denis Cannan. Cast: Laurence Olivier, Hugh Griffith, Dorothy Tutin, George Devine. (94 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy British Lion). A musical, set in 18th century London, about a notorious highwayman and lusty lover who participates in an opera about his own life while awaiting hanging in Newgate prison. Friday, February 11 (7:00 pm start time) The Devils (Warner Bros., 1971). Director: Ken Russell. Writer: Ken Russell, from the novel The Devils of Loudon by Aldous Huxley and the play by John Whiting. Camera: David Watkin. Set design: Derek Jarman. Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Oliver Reed, Gemma Jones. (108 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Warner Bros). In 17th-century France, Sister Jeanne (Redgrave), an insane nun, is used by a power-hungry elite to destroy the head of fortified Loudon, Father Grandier (the late Reed at his very best), a liberal, libertine priest. The Devils is the most intense and controversial film of director Ken Russell's controversial career. Monday, February 14 (7:00 pm start time) Cream in My Coffee (ITV, 1980). Director: Gavin Millar. Writer: Dennis Potter. Camera: Ernest Vincze. Cast: Peter Chelsom, Shelagh McLeod, Peggy Ashcroft, Lionel Jeffries. (91 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy ITV). Sweetly elegiac Dennis Potter (The Singing Detective, Pennies From Heaven ) teleplay about an elderly couple who revisit the hotel where their romance first began, exploring in the process the arc of two lives become one. Tuesday, February 15 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes: The Legacy of Conan Doyle Omnibus: The Fine Art of Murder (Ford Foundation, 1956). Director: Paul Bogart. Writer: Sidney Carroll. Cast: James Daly, Jack Sydow, Rex Stout, Dennis Hoey. (40 minutes, sound, b&w, video; LC Collection, courtesy NBC). A Study in Terror (Compton/Sir Nigel Films, 1965). Director: James Hill. Writers: Donald and Derek Ford. Cast: John Neville, Donald Houston, John Fraser, Anthony Quayle, Robert Morley. (94 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Columbia). Wednesday, February 16 (6:00 pm start time) Blind Date (Independent Artists/Paramount, 1959). US title: Chance Meeting. Director: Joseph Losey. Writers: Ben Barzman and Millard Lampell, from the novel by Leigh Howard. Camera: Christopher Challis. Music: Richard Rodney Bennett. Cast: Hardy Kruger, Stanley Baker, Micheline Presle. (90 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Paramount). These Are the Damned (Hammer/Columbia,1963). UK title: The Damned. Director: Joseph Losey. Writer: Evan Jones, from the novel Children of Light by H.L. Lawrence. Camera: Arthur Grant. Cast: Macdonald Carey, Shirley Ann Field, Oliver Reed, Viveca Lindfors. (87 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Columbia). A double feature of two rarely screened genre films made by Joseph Losey prior to his landmark film The Servant. Among other elements, both explore the artist's role in society. In Blind Date, a Dutch artist living in London suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a murder investigation. Losey uses the mystery format to critique the British class system. In 1961, Losey took Hammer Studios' offer to direct These Are the Damned as the opportunity to make a grand social statement, fashioning a neo-Brechtian melange of Teddy Boy gangs, avant garde sculpture and apocalyptic government conspiracy. His eerie fable proved too much for the distributor, Columbia, which had the picture shelved, then later re-cut and released as a B feature.
Thursday, February 17 The Persuaders: Overture (Tribune Production, 1971). Director: Basil Dearden. Writer: Brian Clemens. Cast: Tony Curtis, Roger Moore. (60 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection). The Baron: The Night of the Hunter (ITC, 1966). Director: Roy Baker. Writer: Terry Nation. Cast: Steve Forrest. (60 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection). In The Persuaders, two playboys, one American and one British, are blackmailed into becoming defenders of the law by a retired judge. In The Baron, an American antiques dealer based in London investigates crimes. In this episode, the Baron investigates whether money from the sale of some antiques will be used to finance a foreign revolution. Friday, February 18 (7:00 pm start time) Red and Blue (Holly Productions, 1967) Director: Tony Richardson. Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (36 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection). The White Bus (Holly Productions, 1967) Director: Lindsay Anderson. Cast: Patricia Healy, Arthur Lowe, John Sharp. (46 minutes, sound, b&w and color, 35mm; LC Collection). The Ride of the Valkyrie (Holly Productions,1967) Director: Peter Brook. Cast: Zero Mostel, Julia Foster, Frank Thornton. (15 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection). These vignettes were filmed by directors Richardson, Anderson, and Brook with the intention of releasing them together under the collective title Red, White, and Zero, but the absence of a unifying theme caused United Artists to shelve the project. They are disparate: Red and Blue is based on three songs, Valkyrie is a romp, and The White Bus is a quasi-experimental film that manages to be simultaneously sad and satirical. Tuesday, February 22 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes: Adaptation and Pastiche Classics Dark and Dangerous: Silver Blaze (Highgate, 1976). Director: John Davies. Writer: Julian Bond, based on the story by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Christopher Plummer, Thorley Walters, Basil Henson, Gary Watson. (31 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Highgate Associates). Murder By Decree (Highlight, 1978). Director: Bob Clark. Writer: John Hopkins. Cast: Christopher Plummer, James Mason, Donald Sutherland, Genevieve Bujold, John Gielgud. (124 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection). Wednesday, February 23 (7:00 pm start time) The Loved One (MGM, 1965). Director: Tony Richardson. Writers: Terry Southern and Christopher Isherwood from the novel by Evelyn Waugh. Camera: Haskell Wexler. Cast: Robert Morse, Jonathan Winters, Anjanette Comer, Rod Steiger. (117 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy MGM). Billed as having "something to offend everyone," this literate and wicked satire chronicles the odyssey of young Britisher Dennis Barlow, newly arrived in Los Angeles. While arranging for his Uncle's internment at the garish mortuary complex Whispering Glades, he accedes to any number of questionable opportunities while seeking gainful employment. Death, love, sex, capitalism, religion and poetry merge into an unholy array of characters and events transpire at the whim of a deranged corporate vision. Don't miss the most outrageous and hilarious parade of cameos in film history exhibiting such absurdities as Liberace's fey coffin salesmanship. Thursday, February 24 (7:00 pm start time) I'll Make Me a World, Parts 5-6 (1963-present) (Blackside, 1999). Executive Producer: Henry Hampton. Writer: Sheila Bernard. Story Editor: Thulani Davis. (120 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy PBS). The last two episodes of I'll Make Me a World, Not a Rhyme Time and The Freedom You Will Take, look at current African-American artists who are revolutionizing American culture, such as Amiri Baraka, Alice Walker, Spike Lee, and Julie Dash. Friday, February 25 (7:00 pm start time) Quatermass and the Pit, Episode 3: Imps and Demons (1959). Producer: Rudolph Cartier. Writer: Nigel Kneale. Cast: Andre Morell, Cec Linder, Anthony Bushell. (20 minutes, sound, b&w, video; LC Collection). The Creeping Unknown (Hammer Films, 1955). Director: Val Guest. Writer: Richard Landau. Cast: Brian Donlevy, Margia Dean, Jack Warner, David King Wood. (78 minutes, sound, b&w, 35 mm; LC Collection, courtesy Hammer). From 1953-1979, Nigel Kneale authored a series of television miniseries for the BBC recounting the science fiction exploits of Professor Quatermass, who encounters and defeats alien invasions in a number of forms. The series was widely acclaimed by aficionados of the genre for its imagination and suspense, and the original television shows were recently made available again in the U.K., but generally they have not been seen in the United States. However, feature film versions of the shows were made in England, while the television series was still being created, and these movies were distributed in the United States and subsequently shown on television. Only the Martian invasion story, Five Million Years to Earth, was widely seen on American screens, and the evening will begin with an episode of the British television serial from which it was derived. It is followed by the first film in the series, The Creeping Unknown (U.K. title: The Quatermass Xperiment), the picture which turned the Hammer company toward the emphasis on horror and science fiction for which it is remembered. Monday, February 28 (7:00 pm start time) The Sentimental Agent: Express Delivery (ATV Production, 1963). Director: Charles Frend. Writer: Lindsay Hardy. Cast: Carlos Thompson. (60 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection). Danger Man: An Affair of State (ITC, 1961). Director: Peter Graham Scott. Writer: Oscar Brodny. Cast: Patrick McGoohan. (30 minutes, sound, b&w, 16mm; LC Collection). The Adventurer: Miss Me Once, Miss Me Twice, and Miss Me Once Again (ITC, 1972). Director: Cyril Frankel. Writer: Marty Roth. Cast: Gene Barry, Barry Morse. (30 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection). The Sentimental Agent has as its hero the charming Varela, who, in this episode, gets involved with helping a young Polish girl escape across the border, only to discover that someone wants her dead. In an early episode of Danger Man (later known to American audiences as Secret Agent ), Drake investigates the supposed suicide of an American economics expert in the Caribbean. In The Adventurer, a U.S. spy works undercover as a film star and, in this episode, must take the place of a potential murder victim. Tuesday, February 29 (6:30 pm start time) Sherlock Holmes on Television in the 1980s The Sign of Four (Mapleton, 1983). Director: Desmond Davis. Writer: Charles Edward Pogue, based on the novel by A. Conan Doyle. Cast: Ian Richardson, David Healy, Cherie Lunghi. (97 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy Mapleton Films). Young Sherlock: The Young Master (Granada, 1985) Director: Nicholas Ferguson. Writer: Gerald Frow. Cast: Guy Henry. (60 minutes, sound, color, video; LC Collection, courtesy Granada Television). Wednesday, March 1 (7:00 pm start time) The Girl with Green Eyes (Woodfall, 1964). Director: Desmond Davis. Writer: Edna O'Brien, from her novel The Lonely Girl. Cast: Rita Tushingham, Peter Finch, Lynn Redgrave. (91 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Lopert Pictures). The Woodfall Organization was an independent company founded by Tony Richardson and John Osborne to film Osborne's hit plays "Look Back In Anger" and "The Entertainer." With the success of those two films and of such others as The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner and, especially, Tom Jones, the company was, briefly and gloriously, on a roll. O'Brien adapted her second novel for the screen, and former cameraman Davis made his directorial debut filming in and around Dublin. Thursday, March 2 (7:00 pm start time) Only Two Can Play (Vale Film,1962). Director: Sidney Gilliat. Writer: Bryan Forbes, from the novel That Uncertain Feeling by Kingsley Amis. Camera: John Wilcox. Cast: Peter Sellers, Mai Zetterling, Virginia Maskell, Richard Attenborough. (106 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection). In this adaptation of Kingsley Amis's satiric novel, Sellers is a frustrated Welsh librarian, married with children, who is fed up with his dead end job and chaotic home life. His hilarious attempts to make it with the sexy wife of a local VIP are met with some formidable obstacles. Friday, March 4 (7:00 pm start time) The Prisoner (London Independent/Facet, 1955). Director: Peter Glenville. Writer: Bridget Boland, from her play. Camera: Reg Wyer. Cast: Alec Guinness, Jack Hawkins, Raymond Huntley, Wilfrid Lawon, Jeannette Sterke. (94 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Facet). A drama revolving around the mental and spiritual struggle between a Roman Catholic cardinal, who is falsely accused of treason against a totalitarian state, and his relentless interrogator whose goal is to break the spirit of the priest. Tuesday, March 7 (7:00 pm start time) Enrico Caruso the Reluctant Movie Star Enrico Caruso, one of the most celebrated operatic singers of the last century, had a tremendous impact not only on the theater, but also on the mechanical media of his time. He truly deserves acknowledgment as one of the first great media stars. His influence on the development of the infant gramophone recording industry is well known, but little work has been carried out on Caruso the radio broadcasting pioneer, or Caruso the reluctant movie star. This presentation by Paul Fryer, Senior Lecturer in Theatre, at Rose Bruford College (U.K..), is illustrated by film and audio clips in an attempt to redress that balance by exploring Caruso`s appearances in motion pictures and the impact and influence of the tenor upon the development of the 20th century's great attempt at democratizing art through the cinema screen. Wednesday, March 8 (7:00 pm start time) Pett and Pott (1934). Director/Writer: Alberto Cavalcanti. Camera: John Taylor. (32 minutes, sound, b&w, video; LC Collection). The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (G & S Films, 1939). Director: Thorold Dickinson. Writers: Thorold Dickinson and Donald Bull, from a novel by Leonard Gribble. Camera: Desmond Dickinson. Cast: Leslie Banks, Greta Gynt, Brian Worth, Wyndham Goldie, Anthony Bushell. (84 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; print courtesy of National Film & Television Archive). The G & S Films company was formed in 1938 with the goal of bringing Gilbert and Sullivan operas to the screen. After their first film, The Mikado, turned into a costly flop, the company adopted a less exotic motto: "Bring Britain to the Screen." Indeed, what could be more British than a story about a Scotland Yard inspector investigating the murder of a star soccer player? The Arsenal Stadium Mystery, which includes appearances by the members of the popular London soccer club, is a hugely entertaining whodunit, with Leslie Banks excelling in the role of Inspector Slade. This was undoubtedly the best, but also the last G & S production. It is preceded by Pett and Pott, a delightful short from the Grierson documentary group promoting telephone service in Great Britain. Thursday, March 9 (7:00 pm start time) The Trans-Atlantic Mystery (Vitaphone, 1932). Director: Joseph Henabery. Writer: Burnet Hershey, from a story by S. S. Van Dine. Camera: E. B. Du Par. Cast: Donald Meek, John Hamilton, Betty Pierce, Ray Collins. (21 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; LC Collection). Transatlantic Tunnel (Gaumont-British, 1935). Director: Maurice Elvey. Writers: Kurt Siodmak, L. DuGarde Peach, and Clemence Dane, from the novel by Bernhard Kellermann. Camera: Günther Krampf. Cast: Richard Dix, Helen Vinson, Madge Evans, Leslie Banks, C. Aubrey Smith, George Arliss, Walter Huston. (94 minutes, sound, b&w, 35mm; print courtesy of National Film & Television Archive). The British remake of the 1933 German film Der Tunnel, itself based on a 1913 novel of the same title, is a spectacular futuristic fantasy with a star-studded Anglo-American cast, including Walter Huston in the role of the U.S. President and George Arliss as the Prime Minister of Great Britain. World- wide television broadcasts, "televisionary telephony," and a transatlantic flight for a quick conference in New York (with a "gyroscope" landing on a penthouse roof), impressed the Variety reviewer as being "casually written in, as if taken for granted." Don't miss this one! It is preceded by The Trans-Atlantic Mystery, a Vitaphone short about a murder investigation involving a cargo of stolen jewels aboard an ocean liner. Friday, March 10 (6:00 pm start time) The Lodger (Gainsborough, 1926). Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Writers: Eliot Stannard, Alfred Hitchcock, based on the novel by Mrs. Belloc Lowndes. Camera: Baron Ventimiglia. Cast: Ivor Novello, Marie Ault, Arthur Chesney. (95 minutes, silent, b&w, 35mm; print courtesy National Film and Television Archives). Blackmail (British International, 1929). Director: Alfred Hitchcock. Writers: Alfred Hitchcock, Benn Levy, Charles Bennett, from the play by Bennett. Camera: Jack Cox. Cast: Anny Ondra, Sara Allgood, John Longden. (96 minutes, silent, b&w, 35mm; print courtesy National Film and Television Archives). Our British series concludes with an Alfred Hitchcock double feature, featuring two lovely prints from the National Film and Television Archives in London. The Lodger is the master's most famous silent film, a chilling Jack the Ripper tale set on the foggy streets of London. More notable is Blackmail, widely known as Britain's first sound film. Hitchcock had, however, initially shot the film silent, then went back and added new scenes with sound. Tonight we screen that rarely seen original and in many ways superior silent version, with accompaniment provided by Ray Brubacher. Tuesday, March 14 (7:00 pm start time) Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers (Flower Films, 1980). Director: Les Blank. Editor: Maureen Gosling. Camera: Wim Wenders, John Lumsdaine, James Schnell, et. al. Narrator: Chris Fray. (51 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection, courtesy Les Blank) Always for Pleasure (Flower Films, 1978). Director/Camera/Editor: Les Blank. Sound and additional cinematography by Maureen Gosling. Features: Professor Longhair, The Wild Tchoupitoulas (with The Neville Brothers), The Olympia Brass Band, Kid Thomas Valentine, and Beautiful Details of Cooking Red Beans and Rice and Crawfish. (57 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection courtesy Les Blank). A confident prediction: When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences one day awards an "Outstanding Lifetime Achievement for Creative Film Titling," renowned documentary filmmaker Les Blank (Chicken Real, Gap-Toothed Women, In Heaven There is No Beer?, Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe ) will stand unchallenged at the podium. His 30+ years of one-of-a-kind films eschew the ponderous analysis of grad school sociology for deft humanistic insights which highlight American folkways and diverse cultures, always going to the essential heart of life: food, love, music, community and humor. Garlic Is As Good As Ten Mothers chronicles the wondrous powers of the "stinking rose" with classic vignettes from Chez Panisse in Berkeley to the Gilroy Garlic Festival, interspersed with a jumping sound track and telling historical tidbits. To grasp American culture and all that has produced it, one need only see Always for Pleasure, Blank's microscope put up to the annual Mardi Gras festival and the mythic, cultural mosaic which is New Orleans. Alas, we will not offer Blank's famed culinary accompaniment of SmellaRound/AromaRound cooking. Thursday, March 16 (7:00 pm start time) Hamburger U (Paramount, 1965). Director: Richard Matt. (9 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection). Hamburger Sandwich (Educational Media, 1969). (10 minutes, sound, color, 16mm; LC Collection). Pound (Pound Films 1970). Director/Writer: Robert Downey. Cast: Joe Madden, Antonio Fargas, Mari-Claire Charba, L. Erroll Jaye, Carolyn Cardwell. (92 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy United Artists). Director Robert Downey, who satirized the advertising industry in Putney Swope, applies his irreverence to society at large in Pound. Based on Downey's play The Comeuppance, this bawdy allegory muses over class, sex, and death among the canine inmates of a New York City pound. Look for Robert Downey Jr. as a puppy. Pound is preceded by two studies of American's favorite sandwich: Hamburger U is a humorous survey of hamburger throughout the ages, while Hamburger Sandwich offers preparation tips for the modern grill. Friday, March 17 (7:00 pm start time) National Lampoon's Animal House (Universal, 1978). Director: John Landis. Writer: Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller. Camera: Charles Correll. Cast: John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Donald Sutherland, John Vernon. (109 minutes, sound, color, 35m; LC Collection, courtesy Universal). Perhaps it might take your IQ down a point or two, but Animal House is a genuinely funny spoof of college life that spawned a regrettable number of pale imitations in addition to a short-lived TV series. John Belushi is, typically, the best thing in it, but there are plenty of sight gags and in-jokes to keep things interesting between his appearances. Tuesday, March 21 (7:00 pm start time)
Red Skies of Montana (20th Century Fox, 1952). Alternate title: Smoke Jumpers. Director: Joseph Newman. Writer: Harry Kleiner, from a story by Art Cohn. Camera: Charles Clarke. Cast: Richard Widmark, Constance Smith, Jeffrey Hunter, Richard Crenna, Charles Bronson. (99 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Fox). The lives and loves of U.S. Forestry Service firefighters are featured in Red Skies of Montana. Widmark is the grizzled veteran assigned to train new recruits after leading a disastrous mission that killed his entire team, Hunter's father among them. When the son decides to follow in his father's footsteps, complications inevitably ensue. The plot might be a bit shopworn, but the scenery and fire sequences are spectacular. Thursday, March 23 (7:00 pm start time) Desert Song (Warner Bros., 1943). Director: Robert Florey. Writer: Robert Buckner, from the operetta by Oscar Hammerstein II, Otto Harbach, Frank Mandel, Sigmund Romberg, and Laurence Schwab. Camera: Bert Glennon. Cast: Dennis Morgan, Irene Manning, Bruce Cabot, Faye Emerson. (90 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Warner Bros). Unlike the mythical tone of the venerable stage operetta and the1929 and 1953 versions, the 1943 Technicolor movie of The Desert Song was reconceived in a far more serious and realistic vein. The story was updated to portray Arab resistance to Nazi occupation under the colonial rule of Vichy France, a highly topical theme which eventually caused the film to eventually face censorship problems. Director/adapter Robert Florey sought to reproduce the Saharan desert locales with the utmost authenticity, selecting an Indian reservation near Gallup, New Mexico. Here, a third of the three months of shooting on The Desert Song were spent, photographing in bright, vivid Technicolor hues, with the entire cast, amidst sandstorms, desert vistas, and 110 degree heat. In this way, the 1943 version of The Desert Song was able to emphasize the adventurous elements and battles, with spectacular, large-scale action sequences, as rebels block construction of a trans-Saharan railway built with forced Arab labor and secretly financed by the Third Reich. The movie provides a vivid demonstration of the potential importance of the environment and the use of the outdoors in creating the setting and enhancing a picture's mood and themes. Ironically, because of a snag over rights to one of the songs added to this version, this 1943 version of The Desert Song remains largely unseen by modern audiences, who for fifty years have missed a classic that was a major hit in its own time. Friday, March 24 (7:00 pm start time) Head (Columbia, 1968). Director: Bob Rafelson. Writers: Jack Nicholson, Bob Rafelson. Camera: Michael Hugo. Cast: Michael Nesmith, Davy Jones, Mickey Dolenz, Peter Tork, Frank Zappa. (85 minutes, sound, color, 35mm; LC Collection, courtesy Columbia). Variety called Head "a mind-blowing collage of mixed media, a free-for-all freakout of rock music and psychedelic splashes of color." Every word is true. The Monkees attempt to one-up The Beatles in this bewildering film concocted by Rafelson and Nicholson as a precursor to Five Easy Pieces. Victor Mature and Sonny Liston make guest appearances as adults. Film notes by Bill Barry, Wilbur King, Steve Leggett, Karen Lund, Mike Mashon, Madeline Matz, Virginia Parks, Zoran Sinobad, Brian Taves, and Kim Tomadjoglou.
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