Festival of Preservation 2009: Joan Bennett, Michael Redgrave, William Powell, Fay Wray, William Desmond Taylor
Tonight at 7:30 pm at UCLA’s Festival of Preservation you’ll be able to catch a screening of Fritz Lang’s unfairly neglected Secret Beyond the Door (above), a 1947 noirish psychological melodrama starring Joan Bennett as woman married to Michael Redgrave, whom she suspects is out to kill her (possibly for her money).
Unlike Alfred Hitchcock’s Suspicion (1941) and George Cukor’s similarly themed Gaslight (1944), Secret Beyond the Door boasts a highly stylized Gothic feel that makes the viewer feel just as off-kilter as both the heroine and the hero. Stanley Cortez, who also shot Orson Welles‘ The Magnificent Ambersons, was the cinematographer.
Tomorrow, Sunday, April 5, at 7pm, the Festival of Preservation will feature two rarities from the 1910s: Lena Rivers, a 1914 drama whose director is unknown, and the 1916 melodrama He Fell in Love with His Wife, directed by William Desmond Taylor. He Fell in Love with His Wife — about bigamist husbands and loveless marriages of convenience — is worth a look at the very least for historical reasons: Taylor was the victim of one of the most scandalous and as-yet unsolved murders in Hollywood history (though various theories abound).
Taylor’s murder, in fact, in addition to Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle’s trial for the death of minor actress Virginia Rappe would lead to the creation of the Production Code and an attempt to clean up Hollywood’s image. In other words, people could still do whatever the hell they pleased, as long as it never reached other people’s eyes and ears. Whoever said that Hollywood has ever been any different from any other American town?
On Monday, April 6, at 7:30 pm the Festival of Preservation presents the double feature Check and Double Check and Pointed Heels. The former is a "Amos ‘n Andy" vehicle that will most likely be cringe-inducing, but the film does feature veteran Irene Rich in a supporting role.
Pointed Heels is an early backstage musical — in 1929, every other film released seemed to be some sort of musical or other — and most of the ones I’ve seen are pretty dreary. However, they didn’t feature William Powell, Fay Wray, Phillips Holmes, and Helen Kane. For its cast alone, Pointed Heels can’t be missed.
Milt Kahl: The Animation Michelangelo, A Centennial Celebration
OCHBERG’S ORPHANS, THE RAPE OF EUROPA Screening
Federico Fellini’s 8½ Screening
MY FAIR LADY, THE GREAT RACE Screening
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule III: SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR
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Tags: Amos 'n Andy, Bigamy, Check and Double Check, Classic Movies, Fay Wray, Festival of Preservation, Film Festivals, Film Noir, Film Preservation, Fritz Lang, He Fell in Love with His Wife, Helen Kane, Irene Rich, Joan Bennett, Lena Rivers, Los Angeles Screenings, Michael Redgrave, Musicals, Phillips Holmes, Pointed Heels, Production Code, Secret Beyond the Door, Silent Films, Stanley Cortez, William Desmond Taylor, William Powell
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