2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation II: THE PROWLER, RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS 7
Evelyn Keyes, Van Heflin in The Prowler
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule I: A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
Photos: Courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archives
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Schedule and synopses from the UCLA Film & Television Archives press release.
Friday, March 20
7:30 p.m.
Preservation funded by the Film Noir Foundation and The Stanford Theatre Foundation
THE PROWLER
(1951, Joseph Losey)
Set in a shadowy post-war Los Angeles, The Prowler focuses on a wealthy but neglected housewife (Evelyn Keyes) who spends her evenings alone, with only her husband’s voice on the radio for company. When she’s spooked by a peeping tom, a calculating cop (Van Heflin) answers the call, turning her ordered life upside down. The Prowler was the third of five films Losey made in Hollywood, and the most critically and commercially successful. The following year Losey was officially blacklisted and soon embarked on a career abroad where he eventually earned a reputation as a European auteur.
Horizon Pictures, Inc. PROD: Sam Spiegel. SCR: Hugo Butler, Dalton Trumbo. From a story by Robert Thoeren and Hans Wilhelm. CINE: Arthur Miller. ED: Paul Weatherwax. CAST: Van Heflin, Evelyn Keyes, John Maxwell, Katharine Warren, Emerson Treacy.
35mm, 92 min.
Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation
THE HOODLUM
(1951, Max Nossek)
This briskly paced, low-budget, B film noir features quintessential tough guy, Lawrence Tierney, in a most fitting role as Vincent Lubeck, an angry, brooding, habitual criminal, who after five years in the joint is released on parole to live with his mother and brother Johnny (played by Tierney’s real life brother, Edward). Sent to work at the family gas station, Vincent grows bitter and restless, and begins plotting his escape from the menial labor of his humdrum life. Completely void of fear, pain and compassion, Vincent has no qualms about destroying everyone and everything in his path.
Jack Schwarz Productions, Inc./Eagle-Lion Classics, Inc. PROD: Maurice Kosloff. SCR: Sam Neuman, Nat Tanchuck. CINE: Clark Ramsey. ED: Jack Killifer. CAST: Lawrence Tierney, Allene Roberts, Marjorie Riordan, Lisa Golm, Edward Tierney.
35mm, 63 min.
*IN PERSON: author James Ellroy (“The Black Dahlia”), author Eddie Muller (“Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir”).
Saturday, March 21
7:30 p.m.
Preservation funded by Anarchists’ Convention
BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET
(1984, John Sayles)
For his fourth feature, John Sayles gave the well-worn sci-fi trope of the alien a revitalized punch with African American actor Joe Morton starring as a visitor from beyond the stars. After ditching his malfunctioning spaceship at Ellis Island, Morton’s mute newcomer, known only as “The Brother,” navigates the customs of Manhattan’s residents while searching for a place to call home. From his initial refuge in a Harlem bar, he encounters a cross section of earthlings who read him—and the world—through a puzzling prism of race, class and ethnicity, a scenario Sayles taps for both brilliant comedy and commentary.
A-Train Films/Cinecom Pictures. PROD: Peggy Rajski, Maggie Renzi. SCR/ED: J. Sayles. CINE: Ernest R. Dickerson. CAST: Joe Morton, Rosanna Carter, Ray Ramirez, Yves Rene, Peter Richardson.
35mm, 108 min.
Preservation funded by Anarchists’ Convention
RETURN OF THE SECAUCUS SEVEN
(1980, John Sayles)
Made several years before director Lawrence Kasdan’s better known The Big Chill (1983), John Sayles’ directorial debut is a sometimes funny, sometimes melancholy look at the lives of a group of formerly radical friends, who gather for a reunion in New Hampshire 10 years after they were arrested in Secaucus, New Jersey while driving to a demonstration in Washington, D.C. Sayles, in what has become his trademark style, underplays the drama of these rather ordinary lives, giving us a group portrait of persons settling uncomfortably into the middle class existences they once abhorred. Lacking Chill’s melodrama, what emerges is a film about a baby boomer generation growing old before its time.
Salsipuedes Productions. PROD: William Aydelot, Jeffrey Nelson. SCR/ED: J. Sayles. CINE: Austin de Besche. CAST: Bruce MacDonald, Maggie Renzi, Adam LeFevre, Maggie
Cousineau, Gordon Clapp.
35mm, 110 min.
Features preceded by:
Preservation funded by The Andrew J. Kuehn Jr. Foundation
PARTING GLANCES—TRAILER
(1986)
35mm, 2 min.
Sunday, March 22
7 p.m.
“A HAL ROACH SILENT SAMPLER”
Any discussion of early comedy will inevitably include Hal Roach. Whether directing, writing or producing, Roach enjoyed success with a number of leading comedians, such as Charley Chase. But for every household name, there were other less well-known players whose appeal also contributed to Roach’s success. Chase’s brother, James Parrott, for instance, starred in a number of Roach shorts, while names such as Glenn Tryon, Arthur Stone and Eddie Boland are overlooked because of the difficulty of seeing their films on screen. Accordingly, this program features the work of those unsung Roach comedians who deserve a second, if not a first, look.
Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation
AMONG THOSE PRESENT
(1921, Fred C. Newmeyer)
Lloyd’s familiar glasses character is found telling tall stories, and riding even taller in the saddle.
Hal Roach Studios. PROD: H. Roach. SCR: H. Roach, Sam Taylor. CAST: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, James Kelly.
35mm, approx. 30 min.
Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation
THE BOY FRIEND
(1928, Fred Guiol)
Max Davidson’s crazy behavior fails to scare away a potential suitor for his daughter but manages to open the floodgates for all to join him.
Hal Roach Studios. PROD: H. Roach. SCR: Leo McCarey. CINE: Len Powers. ED: Richard Currier. CAST: Max Davidson, Bill Elliot, Marion Byron, Edgar Kennedy.
35mm, approx. 20 min.
Preserved by The Stanford Theater Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive
CHARLEY MY BOY
(1926, Leo McCarey)
Charley Chase was one of the bigger stars for Roach, and continued making shorts like this one into the sound years.
Hal Roach Studios. PROD: H. Roach. CINE: Harry Gersted. ED: Richard Currier. CAST: Charley Chase, Katherine Grant.
35mm, approx. 25 min.
Funding provided by the American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Film Preservation Grants Program
JAILED AND BAILED
(1923, J.A. Howe)
For those who forget that the brother of Charley Chase, known here as James Parrott,
also starred in comedic shorts before permanently adopting the director’s role.
Hal Roach Studios. PROD: H. Roach. CAST: James Parrott, Jobyna Ralston, George Rowe.
35mm, approx. 11 min.
Preserved by The Stanford Theater Foundation and UCLA Film & Television Archive
JUST A GOOD GUY
(1924, Hampton Del Ruth)
Known primarily as a western sidekick in the sound years, Arthur Stone delivers a quintessential Roach performance which will remind modern audiences of Pee Wee Herman.
Hal Roach Studios. PROD: H. Roach. CINE: Frank Young. ED: T. J. Crizer. CAST: Arthur Stone, Olive Borden, Fay Wray, Kewpie Morgan.
35mm, approx. 25 min.
Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute and The Stanford Theatre Foundation
LONG PANTS
(1926, Fred Guiol)
Like James Parrott, Glenn Tryon would go on to direct in later years after serving his time in Hal Roach shorts.
Hal Roach Studios. PROD: H. Roach. CAST: Glenn Tryon, Blanche Mehaffey.
35mm, approx. 25 min.
*Total running time of films: approx. 136 min.
*Live musical accompaniment by Cliff Retallick.
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule I: A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule III: SECRET BEYOND THE DOOR
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule IV: BEHIND THE SCENES IN HOLLYWOOD
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule V: RUTHLESS
UCLA Festival of Preservation 2009 – Recommendations
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I enjoyed the film The Prowler but i ****hated***** the introduction by James Ellroy and that other person. Ellroy acted like a jerk thinking he was funny. He wasn’t and just spent too much time talking when we should be watching the movie.
I hope that ucla will have more interesting and more considerate presenters for the next films.