2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation I: A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE, A TALE OF TWO CITIES
Schedule and synopses from the UCLA Film & Television Archives press release:
Photos: Courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archives
Click on the photos to enlarge them.
Friday, March 13
7:30 p.m
Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and GUCCI
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE
(1974, John Cassavetes)
Over 30 years after its self-distributed release, screenwriter-director John Cassavetes’ masterpiece retains the power to shock and unnerve for its raw, often harrowing depiction of a blue-collar Los Angeles family on the rocks. At its trembling heart, Gena Rowlands’ performance as Mabel Longhetti, wife of everyman Nick (Peter Falk) and mother of three, stands as a virtually unmatched tour de force. As a woman struggling to reconcile who she thinks she should be—as wife, mother, lover—with the anarchic spirit she really is, Mabel is the kind of complex woman’s role that is still all too rare in Hollywood’s output.
Faces International Films, Inc. PROD: Sam Shaw. SCR: J. Cassavetes. CINE: Mitchell Breit. ED: David Armstrong, Sheila Viseltear, Beth Bergeron. CAST: Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes.
35mm, 155 min.
Saturday, March 14
7:30 p.m.
Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation
THE SALVATION HUNTERS
(1925, Josef von Sternberg)
Josef von Sternberg’s first film—shot for less than $4,800 on location in San Pedro, Chinatown and the San Fernando Valley—was possibly Hollywood’s first “independent” production. The gritty realism of its locations, the lack of artifice in its story and the lower depths of its characters shocked audiences and the industry alike. The film remains thoroughly modern. Sternberg’s images thrive on composition and stasis. His ending resolves nothing and yet everything is different. The Salvation Hunters made a star not only of Sternberg, but also of Georgia Hale, who would play opposite Chaplin in The Gold Rush (1925).
Academy Photoplays. PROD/SCR/ED: J. von Sternberg. CINE: Edward Gheller. CAST: George K. Arthur, Georgia Hale, Bruce Guerin, Otto Matiesen, Nellie Bly Baker.
35mm, silent, 72 min.
Feature preceded by:
Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation
OIL: A SYMPHONY IN MOTION
(1933, M.G. MacPherson)
Oil was produced by a Los Angeles collective of amateur filmmakers, called “Artkino,” who here attempted a lyric documentary from the point of view of the oil itself.
CINE: Jean Michelson.
35mm, silent, 8 min.
*Live musical accompaniment will be provided.
Sunday, March 15
7 p.m.
Preservation funded by Twentieth Century Fox
YOUNG AMERICA
(1932, Frank Borzage)
The typical Borzage film of the early ‘30s was characterized by pictorial lyricism and a tender portrayal of young lovers who found poetry and beauty in the midst of poverty.
In Young America, Borzage’s usual pair of lovers was replaced by two male school chums in their early teens, Art Simpson (Tommy Conlon) and Edward “Nutty” Beamish (Raymond Borzage, the director’s nephew). Borzage so invests their friendship with chaste ardor and transformative power that the young actors easily outshine stars Spencer Tracy and Doris Kenyon as a married couple who take responsibility for Art after a scrape with the law.
Fox Film Corp/Frank Borzage Production. SCR: William Conselman. CINE: George Schneiderman. ED: Margaret Clancy. CAST: Spencer Tracy, Doris Kenyon, Ralph Bellamy, Tommy Conlon, Raymond Borzage.
35mm, 71 min.
Preservation funded by Twentieth Century Fox
SONG O’ MY HEART
(1930, Frank Borzage)
The great Irish tenor John McCormack made his talking picture debut in this sentimental drama about a disconsolate concert singer who retires to a country village until the unexpected return of his former sweetheart and her two children inspires him to resume his career. In English-speaking countries, the film was released in an all-talking version, but a special version with additional songs and silent intertitles instead of spoken dialogue was prepared for international release. We will screen the talking version in its entirety, followed by excerpts from the international version.
Fox Film Corp. SCENE: Tom Barry, Sonya Levien. CINE: Al Brick. ED: Margaret V. Clancey. CAST: John McCormack, Alice Joyce, Maureen O’Sullivan, Tom Clifford, J. M. Kerrigan.
35mm, 85 min.
*IN PERSON: Robert Gitt, Preservation Officer, UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Wednesday, March 18
7:30 p.m.
Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation
THE FILM PARADE
(1934, J. Stuart Blackton)
Pioneer filmmaker J. Stuart Blackton was intrigued by the idea of a film about the history of the movies as early as 1915. He finally released a 52-minute feature called The Film Parade that was shown in New York and favorably reviewed by Variety in 1933. He continued tinkering with the film for the rest of the decade, and later filmmakers and distributors used Blackton’s footage for stock or to produce their own variously titled and truncated versions. The Archive has completed restoration of the original 1933 version in 35mm, with tinted sequences and Blackton’s heartfelt narration.
SCR: J.S. Blackton. CAST: Marian Blackton, Violet Blackton, Margerie Bonner, J. Stuart Blackton Jr., J. S. Blackton.
35mm, 70 min.
“VITAGRAPH TREASURES”
Years before he began work on his groundbreaking The Film Parade, J. Stuart Blackton
had previously etched his name in cinematic history as a founder of the Vitagraph
Company of America. The Archive has preserved a number of the surviving Vitagraph films, including the two titles selected for this program.
Preservation funded by the American Film Institute/National Endowment for the Arts Film Preservation Grants Program
HER CROWNING GLORY
(1911, Laurence Trimble)
An early entry in the series of John Bunny/Flora Finch comedy vehicles, Her Crowning Glory derives its plot from a facetious twist of the Samson and Delilah story.
Vitagraph. CAST: John Bunny, Flora Finch, Helene Costello, Mae Costello, Edith Halleran.
35mm, silent, 16 min.
Preservation funded by Cinema 89
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
(1911, William Humphrey)
A Tale of Two Cities (1911) was one of several pioneering efforts by the Vitagraph, a.k.a. “Big V,” to break away from the then industry-standard one-reeler to produce films of feature length. The studio successfully released the film in one-reel parts over the span of a week to test the public’s appetite for longer and more complex narrative fare. Critics of the day lauded their efforts and suggested to theatre owners that the three parts be shown together, spurring Vitagraph to release their next three-reel literary adaptation (Vanity Fair, 1911) as one contiguous feature film. A Tale of Two Cities stars Maurice Costello (whose daughter plays the mischievous little girl in Her Crowning Glory) and Florence Turner, and helped launch the careers of Norma Talmadge, James Morrison and Lillian Walker.
Vitagraph. SCR: Eugene Mullin. Based on the novel by Charles Dickens. CAST: Maurice Costello, Florence Turner, Leo Delaney, Charles Kent, William Humphrey.
35mm, silent, 53 min.
*Live musical accompaniment will be provided.
*IN PERSON: Robert Gitt, Preservation Officer, UCLA Film & Television Archive.
2009 UCLA Festival of Preservation Schedule II: THE PROWLER
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 wonder if this Tale of Two Cities is going to be nearly as good as the version with Ronald colman made in the 30s’.