FALL 2010 SCHEDULE

September 10: Hud (Martin Ritt, 1963)

Hud is the story of selfish modern day cowboy (Paul Newman) and his relationship with his rancher-father, Homer (Melvyn Douglas), whose sense of principle and honor bring him into conflict with his only surviving son. The film is based on Larry McMurtry’s novel Horseman Pass By.  Melvyn Douglas won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, and Patricia Neal earned an award for Best Actress playing Homer’s housekeeper, Alma. (112 minutes)

September 17: The Saragossa Manuscript (Wojciech Has, 1965)

A surrealist adaptation of an 1815 novel, The Saragossa Manuscript was something of a neglected masterpiece when it was restored and re-released in 2001. The film is structured as a frame story through which is recounted an interweaving set of tales discovered in a Spanish house during the Napoleonic wars. However, the complex relationships between the various frames challenge the viewer to make sense of the film’s narrative tapestry without resorting to simple divisions between fiction and reality. The Saragossa Manuscript won the 1965 Bucharest film festival, and it has been acclaimed as a favorite film by such heavyweights as Martin Scorsese, Lars Von Trier, and Luis Buñuel. (160 Minutes)

September 24: The Italian (Reginald Baker, 1915)

Thomas Ince’s 1915 production The Italian, starring George Beban (an actor notorious for his portrayal of Italian-American immigrants) features the story of Beppo, a Venetian gondolier who leaves his home country as well as his fiancée in order to find fortune in America. What follows is a story that is both hopeful and tragic, as Beban’s powerful performance brings a striking amount of depth to this problematic, yet altogether compelling character study. (78 minutes)

October 1: An evening of short documentaries about music

White Lines and The Fever: The Death of DJ Junebug (Travis Senger, 2010) is the story of Junebug's double-life as a DJ and drug dealer. Recalling the Bronx in the early 1980s, this documentary explores the old-school days of hip-hop and the dangerous underworld at the legendary Disco Fever. Never-before-seen footage and interviews with Kurtis Blow, DJ Hollywood and Sal Abbatiello tell the tragic story of one of the greatest DJ's ever.
Jacob Young’s Dancing Outlaw (1991) is probably the best film ever made in West Virginia and that rare PBS documentary to become a cult classic. The film follows Jesco White, a singer/dancer/Elvis-impersonator/drug addict from rural Boone County, as he pontificates on life, family, and culture. (60 minute program)

October 8: Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961)

The inimitable Toshiro Mifune stars in one of his most memorable roles, as a nameless ronin samurai who saves a besieged town from warring crime lords using only his wit and his sword in Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo. Remade twice by both Sergio Leone (A Fistful of Dollars, 1967) and Walter Hill (Last Man Standing, 1996), and nominated for an Academy Award for best costume, Kurosawa’s visually stunning film still stands as one of the most exhilarating classics in the cinematic canon. (110 minutes)

October 15: Anvil: The Story of Anvil (Sacha Gervasi, 2009)

Called “possibly the greatest film yet made about rock and roll” by the London Times, Anvil: The Story of the Anvil is an affectionate documentary about the almost-made-it heavy metal band and their 30+ years of struggle in the rock and roll wilderness. A surprisingly inspiring tale, Anvil brings to light the heartaches and unusual triumphs of the thousands of bands that keep playing regardless of commercial success. (80 minutes)

October 22: Barbara Hammer Night

Tonight we will screen several films by avant-garde stalwart Barbara Hammer, whose career has lasted over 40 years. Best known for her work on sexuality, she has been an important influence on whole schools of experimental filmmaking. Hammer’s work is predicated on “revealing, showing, expressing, uncovering that which has not been seen before,” and this screening will present a varied selection of such revelations, including Optic Nerve (1985), Jane Brakhage (1974), and Parisian Blinds (1984).

October 29: Doctor X (Michael Curtiz, 1932)

Wise-cracking reporter Lee Taylor (Lee Tracy) is investigating a series of murders taking place on the streets of New York under the light of the full moon in Michael Curtiz’s 1932 horror-thriller, Doctor X. Dubbed the “Moon Killer” by newspapers, the killer leaves a trail of strangled, surgically incised, and cannibalized victims – leading Taylor to the Academy of Surgical Research, run by the mysterious Dr. X and his team of suspicious colleagues. Help us kick-off the countdown to Halloween with this macabre pre-code gem! (77 minutes)

November 5: The Letter (William Wyler, 1940)

Based on W. Somerset Maugham’s play by the same name, Wyler’s adaptation features Bette Davis in the height of melodrama, playing a woman who, according to the film’s tagline is, “Fascinating, Tantalizing, and DANGEROUS!” Davis stars as Leslie Crosbie, a woman on trial for the murder of a rubber plantation administrator. Leslie claims the shooting was self-defense, but a letter in her own handwriting may reveal an entirely different story. Nominated for seven Academy Awards, the film’s controversial finale is a prime example of Hollywood filmmaking in the Hays Production Code era. (95 minutes)

November 12: Films about vision and technology

Tonight’s presentation is a pair of films that, in very different ways, investigate the effects that film technology can have on vision. David Gatten produced What the Water Said, Parts 1-3 (1997, 16 min.) by immersing filmstock in the Atlantic Ocean. The result is a peculiarly cinematic mode of inscribing nature, with sound. Print Generation (1974, 50 min.) continues J.J. Murphy’s experiments in the compositionand decomposition of celluloid through a series of 50 contact printings of 60 one-second shots, accompanied by an aquatic soundscape.

December 3: The 49th Parallel (Michael Powell, 1941)

 (FINAL CL SCREENING OF FALL SEMESTER)

Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 49th Parallel is one of their more notable masterpieces among their tremendous collaborative work. Like their other World War II era films, the 49th Parallel was produced to “uplift” the British people. Starring Laurence Olivier and Eric Portman, the film was set around a stranded German U-boat off the coast of Canada. The 49th Parallel finds a way to bring humor to the seriousness of war and violence in a way that only Powell was able to accomplish. Nominated for two Academy Awards, Best Picture and Best Screenplay. (122 minutes)