35MM FOREVER!
Our summer programming will provide due attention to the once standard and now increasingly rarified mode of motion picture exhibition via 35mm film prints. More than two thirds of our selections, an exciting array of international gems from throughout cinema history, will be shown on 35mm.
- Thu., Jun. 14 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
- Fri., Jun. 15 | 2:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Hemmings is a fashion photographer who takes a stroll through a London park for a few snapshots, but do his images of a lovers’ lunchtime tryst also offer clues to a murder? Perhaps the ultimate statement on fear and alienation in the big city, Antonioni’s international box office smash was a taboo breaker in terms of full frontal nudity, as well as a gripping existential mystery. The score is by Herbie Hancock and The Yardbirds (featuring Jimmy Page) appear in a memorable party scene.
- Wed., Jun. 20 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Hungarian immigrant Janos Szabo (Lorre) is horribly burned in a NYC rooming house. Unable to find work and seeking the funds for plastic surgery, he soon becomes a mask-donning master thief. When he finds love with a blind girl (Keyes), Szabo has second thoughts about his criminal activities. Lorre’s remarkable performance in this terrific horror/noir hybrid displays his full range of talent. "A marvelous little film...Florey's subtly stylized direction, Planer's superb camerawork and first-rate performances (Lorre, cleverly made up, has rarely been better) weave it into a miracle of tenderness” (Phil Hardy, The Encyclopedia of Horror Films). Preceded by Bugs Bunny in Hare-Raising Hare (1947, 6 min.)
- Wed., Jun. 20 | 8:30 PM4070 Vilas Hall
A secret service agent infiltrates a Pacific island prison that is actually a slave racket run by the sadistic and cruel Stephen Danel (Lorre). Lorre brings a touch of Dr. Moreau to this Columbia B-movie treat.
- Thu., Jun. 21 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
In this clever punk comedy that revels in the bizarre, alienated Otto ( Estevez) quits his soulless supermarket job and loses his girlfriend, eventually finding a form of salvation as an apprentice to career repo agent Bud (Stanton, in one of his quintessential roles). Bolstered by some of the best comedic writing of the 80s, and a punk rock score featuring Iggy Pop, The Circle Jerks, and Black Flag, Alex Cox's directorial debut excoriates Los Angeles with playful rage.
- Thu., Jun. 28 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Country club gigolo Richard Bone (Bridges) witnesses the aftermath of a murder and then gets embroiled in a plot to extort an ultra-rich business executive who may or may not be the killer. Passer’s sun-drenched, California noir also offers exquisitely dark character studies not only of Bone, but of his disabled Vietnam-vet buddy Alex Cutter and Cutter’s alcoholic wife, Mo (Heard and Eichhorn in career-defining performances) before building to an exciting climax that sets the stage for one of the great final moments in all of film. (BR)
- Wed., Jul. 4 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
This charmingly morbid screwball comedy teams up director Capra and leading man Grant for their only film together. The complex story involves two elderly sisters who commit “mercy” killings, Grant as their drama critic nephew, his new bride, and his two brothers – one who is convinced he’s Teddy Roosevelt and the other (Massey) a serial killer on the run with a drunken plastic surgeon played by Lorre. Preceded by Daffy Duck & Dr. Lorre in Birth of a Notion (1947, 7 min., 35mm). Prints courtesy Library of Congress.
- Thu., Jul. 5 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Teenager Simone (Nosbusch) has developed a bordering-on-unhealthy obsession with pop singer R (Steiger). Abandoning school and her family to pursue her fantasy, Simone encounters her idol at a TV taping and the stage is set for a coolly enacted nightmare of seduction, rejection, and revenge. Eerily directed in a clinically detached style, this gem of a thriller was never given a theatrical release in the U.S. Der Fan takes on an extra level of creepiness in the superbly dubbed English version that will be shown.
- Fri., Jul. 6 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
In his directorial debut, acclaimed martial arts stylist King Hu (Dragon Inn, A Touch of Zen) presents a complex tale of deception, intrigue, and shifting alliances in ancient China. With its innovative choreography of combat sequences, brilliant camerawork, and high production values, this film established a new standard of excellence in its genre. “The beginning of a legendary run of filmmaking… it’s no exaggeration to say that Come Drink With Me was to the wuxia what The Wild Bunch was to the Western” (Artforum).
- Wed., Jul. 11 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
In the only feature film he ever directed, Lorre plays a doctor and research scientist working in a post-war refugee camp. The sudden appearance of a former colleague (John) causes Lorre to reflect on his sinister past during the war years. A sometimes shocking stunner, Der Verlorene was a flop with European audiences on its original release and was unseen in the U.S. until 1984. “Visually, [Lorre] combines realism (the many shots of bombed-out Hamburg) and expressionism; you’ll notice the strong influence of Lang and Pabst” (Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic). 35mm print courtesy Goethe Institut.
- Thu., Jul. 12 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
This thinly veiled political allegory and satire depicts the mounting mayhem that begins when a small town’s fire department decides to throw a big party. Forman’s last Czech production, a sharp and lucid depiction of human weakness and moral decay, was originally banned in his homeland. Presented with the support of UW’s Center for Russia, East Europe, and Central Asia (CREECA).
- Wed., Jul. 18 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Lorre is the title character and a newspaper reporter’s chief suspect in a murder case. This crazily inventive and expressionistic thriller helped lay the groundwork for the classic Hollywood film noir style. “Latvian émigré director plays up the mental anguish of the hero through flashbacks, subjective voice-over, and a stylized dream sequence reminiscent of avant-garde European Cinema” (David Bordwell, Reinventing Hollywood). Print courtesy Library of Congress.
- Thu., Jul. 19 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
A down-and-out ex-con plans a brazen daytime robbery in order to recover his underworld status. Working in exile from McCarthy-era Hollywood, Dassin transplants his American noir aesthetic to the dark streets of Paris in this edgy heist film. Rififi’s cinematic tour-de-force: a 30-minute burglary sequence performed entirely without dialogue. Preceded by Tex Avery’s Deputy Droopy (1955, 7 min.).
- Fri., Jul. 20 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Alcoholic swimming pool cleaner Buttermaker (Matthau, in one of his finest hours onscreen) is hired to coach southern California’s worst little league baseball team, and foul-mouthed, under-aged chaos ensues. Ritchie’s mid-seventies satiric masterpiece careens from hilarity to poignance to clear-eyed social commentary faster than a home-run trot around the bases. The Bad News Bears is a comedy with real bite, and one of cinema’s best explorations of the boys of summer. (BR)
- Wed., Jul. 25 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Bogart is Dashiell Hammett’s detective Sam Spade, and not about to play the sap for anyone. In a labyrinthine plot involving false identities, trans-continental smuggling, and murder, Spade meets an eccentric crew of antique hunters (Sydney Greenstreet, Lorre, and Astor) all looking for the title bird, which, like Huston’s detective noir classic, is “the stuff dreams are made of”. Print courtesy Library of Congress.
- Thu., Jul. 26 | 7:00 PM4070 Vilas Hall
Stumbling around a leaf-strewn pool, woozy from humidity and booze, a wasted matriarch slightly injures herself on some shattered wine glasses. The rest of that hot Argentine summer, she drags two wealthy families into her swampy orbit, forming a multi-generational hothouse of restless desire. Strikingly photographed and intoxicatingly atmospheric, the elliptical first feature by Martel (Zama) ranks among the most accomplished and original debut films ever made. (MK)