SUNDAY CINEMATHEQUE AT THE CHAZEN: 35MM FOREVER!

THE LUSTY MEN

This September through December, our regular Sunday afternoon screenings at the Chazen Museum of Art will provide due attention to the once standard and now increasingly rarified mode of motion picture exhibition via 35mm film. The series will also put the spotlight on the heroic 35mm film preservation work being done by independent and studio archives all around the globe. The often intoxicating beauty of 35mm projection will be demonstrated via an exciting selection of international gems - some titles better known than others - from throughout cinema history, all shown in new or recently struck 35mm prints.

  • Sun., Sep. 6 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Kubrick’s cold war triumph is an absolutely brilliant black comedy about a frantic group of U.S. political and military leaders who must de-escalate a possible nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Sellers shines in three roles: as the President, a British Captain, and the infamous title character! A recently struck 35mm print from Sony Pictures will be screened.

  • Sun., Sep. 13 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

This sophisticated screwball comedy pits unbending D.A. Tracy against his talented lawyer/wife Hepburn in an attempted murder case involving Holliday as a jealous lover with a knack for mishandling handguns. Adam’s Rib is generally regarded as the best of the Hepburn-Tracy collaborations, as well as perhaps the quintessential ‘Battle of the Sexes’ comedy. The screenplay was penned by married couple Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. A 35mm print from Library of Congress will be screened.

  • Sun., Sep. 20 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Virtually unseen for more than 80 years and now presented in a beautiful new 35mm print from the Museum of Modern Art, Caravan is a delightful Hungarian musical romance. “With its complex camera movements, extreme long takes, Busby Berkeley-like musical spectacle and bittersweet, the politically charged story of a Gypsy (Boyer) foolish enough to believe that his love for a princess (Young) will surmount all social barriers, Caravan is a genuinely great movie awaiting its return to the spotlight” (Dave Kehr, The New York Times).

  • Sun., Sep. 27 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Oshima’s masterpiece reveals the life of 10-year-old Toshio, who works by pretending to be hit by speeding cars so his con artist parents can collect some quick hush money. Inspired by a headline-making true story, Oshima avoids the sermonizing of most social-issue movies, allowing the audience to take what they will from this fascinating story. The director’s stunning widescreen images are well demonstrated here in a new 35mm print from Janus Films.

  • Sun., Oct. 4 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Valli plays the tragic, aristocratic Italian heroine whose downward spiral begins when she falls blindly for an Austrian soldier (Granger) in this “lush, melodramatic portrait of seduction and betrayal, decadence and deceit in the midst of Italy's resistance to Austrian occupation in the mid-19th century.” (Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader). Visconti’s sensuous direction, production design, and use of color are all seen at their finest in this new 35mm restoration by Studiocanal, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia/Cineteca Nazionale, Cineteca di Bologna/L'Immagine Ritrovata. Funding provided by GUCCI, The Film Foundation and Comitato Italia 150.

 

 

 

 

  • Sun., Oct. 11 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Anna May Wong, the only Asian-American leading lady of her era, stars as a fascinating young woman who breaks up the illegal alien smuggling gang that killed her father. The first half of this double feature of late 30s Paramount ‘B’ thrillers from the stylish European emigre Florey is a superb vehicle for the neglected Wong. Anthony Quinn co-stars. This program is part of Madison’s Asian-American Media Spotlight.

  • Sun., Oct. 11 | 3:15 PM
    Chazen

Anna May Wong, the only Asian-American leading lady of her era, co-stars as a scorned and vengeful mistress of a ruthless racketeer. The second half of this double feature of late 30s Paramount ‘B’ thrillers from the stylish European emigre Florey provides another fine showcase for the third-billed Wong. Anthony Quinn, Wong's Daughter of Shanghai co-star, also appears. This program is part of Madison’s Asian-American Media Spotlight.

  • Sun., Oct. 18 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Williams, who also composed the catchy score, plays the malevolent Swan, an elusive record producer who makes Phil Spector look like Mother Teresa. The opening of Swan’s new concert hall, the Paradise, is jeopardized by a mysterious masked figure who keeps killing off Swan’s new recording artists. A loose re-working of Phantom of the Opera and the Faust legend, DePalma’s delirious musical fusion of cinematic homages and rock industry satire is a great-looking and great-sounding film, one of the director’s best.

  • Sun., Oct. 25 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Laughton plays a sadistic mad doctor with a plan to create a population of half men/half animal mutants. Lugosi is one of the pathetic creatures who asks, “Are We Not Men?” Paramount’s pre-code sci-fi chiller is the first of three (so far) movie adaptations of H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr. Moreau and still the best version. To read more about this film, visit our blog here.

  • Sun., Nov. 1 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Ray’s moody and moving study of rodeo life features Mitchum in one of his greatest performances as Jeff, a washed-up champion who takes on young Wes (Kennedy) as a protégé. While success goes to Wes’s head, Jeff finds himself drawn to Wes’s wife Louise (Hayward). A psychologically rich study of beautiful losers, The Lusty Men is an astonishingly modern film. “Working with the great cinematographer Lee Garmes, Ray creates an unstable atmosphere of dust and despair—trailer camps and broken-down ranches—that expresses the contradictory impulses of his characters: a lust for freedom balanced by a quest for security.” (Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader). A newly struck 35mm print, courtesy of the Film Foundation and the Academy Film Archive, will be screened. To read more about this great movie, visit our blog here.

  • Sun., Nov. 15 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Dreamily innovative, the nine independent short animated films by John Hubley (1914-1977) and Faith Hubley (1924-2001) showcased in this program combine often startling and original imagery with equally imaginative soundtracks. Often collaborating with legendary jazz artists, this collection features musical contributions from Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Dudley Moore, Quincy Jones, and Benny Carter. The program includes The Adventures of An * (1956); Tender Game (1958); Moonbird (1959); The Hat (1964); Urbanissimo (1966); Windy Day (1968); Of Men and Demons (1969); Eggs (1970); and the Oscar-winning The Hole. The selected films address a wide range of topics - from urbanization and overpopulation to two boys’ search for a pet bird. All new 35mm prints, struck to commemorate John Hubley’s centennial, will be screened courtesy of Artist’s Public Domain.

  • Sun., Nov. 22 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

In Godard’s allegorical, surreal, and politically-charged masterwork about the end of society, a bickering bourgeois couple who plan to kill each other drive to the country for a weekend visit. En route, they are ensnarled in the most memorably nasty traffic jam ever committed to celluloid. “This is [Godard’s] best film, and his most inventive. It is almost pure movie” (Roger Ebert).

  • Sun., Dec. 6 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

Heflin is disturbingly memorable as a really bad L.A. cop who seduces a married woman (Keyes, never better) and then plots to murder her husband. This intense thriller is the best of the Wisconsin-born Losey’s Hollywood films made prior to his blacklisting and European exile. The screenplay was written by the blacklisted and originally uncredited Dalton Trumbo, who also contributes an uncredited voiceover cameo. “Stark sinuous film noir. Opens with a bang and never lets up” (Leonard Maltin). 35mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restoration funding provided by the Film Noir Foundation.

  • Sun., Dec. 13 | 2:00 PM
    Chazen

At Christmas time, in a small leather goods shop in Budapest owned by Morgan, rival employees Stewart and Sullavan unwittingly carry on a letter romance. While they think they detest each other, the young couple have already fallen in love. The inevitable remake, You’ve Got Mail, doesn’t hold a candle to this still sparkling classic from Hollywood’s golden age.