Yeah, I spent an unreasonable amount of my weekend peering up at The Hollywood Theatre's screen during Noir City Portland. Do I regret it at all? Of course not; if I have any regrets, it's that I missed 3 of the 8 features, but sometimes a guy has things he's gotta do, y'know. Even so, those other priorities haven't kept me from spending a good deal of time thinking about and craving more noir and film noir related highs. For instance, after skipping out on the third feature on Saturday night, I still ended up streaming Gun Crazy at home on the Warner Archive Instant service.
DEADLY IS THE FEMALE aka GUN CRAZY
I was also pleased to stumble across the film noir episode of the fairly great 1995 PBS series American Cinema on YouTube. I hadn't viewed the series since it first aired on public television, so it was great to take another look at a series that, at the time of its release, had a strong influence in reinforcing my obsession with old films.
Not much to say here, but, damn, doesn't Noir City look amazing on The Hollywood Theatre's newly restored marquee? Anyone who came out to Friday's festivities already knows what a blast this mini-festival has been so far. Host Eddie Muller presented beautiful 35mm prints of two obscure gems (Try and Get Me! & Sleep, My Love) to the enthusiastic crowd while offering up illuminating and entertaining pre-show banter before each film.
If you missed out last night, there's still plenty of Noir City Portland magic to take part in beginning today with the 1949 version of The Great Gatsby, followed by an additional two, rarely-screened films (Repeat Performance & The Come On). And tomorrow brings yet another opportunity for a triple feature. Anyone else planning on spending their weekend at Noir City?
Noir City Portland runs Friday, September 20th through Sunday, September 22nd at the Hollywood Theatre. More info available here.
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While buying a copy of Black Narcissus on blu-ray a few years ago, a couple of snarky clerks working the Barnes & Noble Criterion sale started cracking jokes about nunsploitation. I doubt they were referring specifically to Noribumi Suzuki's 1974 film Convent of the Sacred Beast (aka School of the Holy Beast), but there's really not a title out there that more fully inhabits that descriptor. It's a film that piles up such nunsploitation/exploitation traits as s&m (lots o' whipping, sometimes with thorns!), lesbian nuns, dirty old bishops, and various perversions based in Catholic imagery. So, of course, it was only a matter of time before it showed up at the Hollywood Theatre's monthly Grindhouse Film Festival event.
Here's what the Grindhouse folks have to say about Tuesday night's presentation:
The Grindhouse Film Festival presents the only known 35mm print of the Japanese nunsploitation film Convent of the Sacred Beast.
Convent of the Sacred Beast (aka School of the Holy Beast) (1974) A young woman enters a convent to investigate the mysterious death of her mother. The convent turns out to be a steaming hotbed of immorality, and the woman must deal with a lesbian mother superior, a sleazy archbishop, and nuns who submit to S&M punishments for their sins. Filled with sex and violence, and filmed with beautiful cinematography, this is an erotic mix of giallo and sexploitation. This is one of a kind, and not to be missed.
35mm sexploitation trailers before the movie
Convent of the Sacred Beast plays one-night-only at the Hollywood Theatre on Tuesday, January 29th at 7:30pm. More info available here.
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Where was I when ladies wrestling was a regular fixture on broadcast television? Brett Whitcomb's new documentary GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling paints a picture of massive fame, if not fortune, experienced by these very 1980s ladies, plucked out of obscurity and placed in a televised ring of glory. The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (go ahead, try the link--you'll be amazed) filled the screen on Saturday mornings for years, offering an alternative, but no less campy, option to the testosterone fueled WWF (now WWE) of the time. Partly due to the program's day and time slot, the fan base that developed around GLOW was primarily made up of children, although, as one of the film's subjects points out, hung-over frat boys were a big part of that crowd, too.
As a film, GLOW has a lot of the essential elements in place. There's the undeniably oddball story of a Vegas-financed, all-female wrestling team, made up of mostly non-wrestlers who had to learn their trade on the job. Whitcomb has access to all the colorfully named personalities on hand: Mt. Fiji, Little Egypt, Matilda the Hun, Jailbait, and Big Bad Mama, to name just a few. And since we're talking about a television show, there's a ton of archival footage on hand, too, including one nasty looking injury and a large slathering of posturing in line with what we think of when we think of televised wrestling. If there's one thing missing from the story, it's the perspective of the fans; the size of GLOW's following is mentioned often, yet there's never any insight offered up from the rabid audience that developed around these Gorgeous Ladies.
Still, Whitcomb offers up a deep look into a forgotten moment from our not so distant pop culture past. A doc like GLOW promises on the surface to supply viewers with something to laugh at--and there's certainly more than enough ridiculous stuff to giggle about here--but, surprisingly, the film digs below the surface, unearthing a more emotional perspective than one expects from a documentary about ladies' wrestling. If you're not moved by the story of Mt. Fiji, you're not human. Even if you find wrestling exceedingly dull, the excitement that GLOW generates will spare you the sleeper hold.
GLOW: The Story of the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling plays two-nights-only at the Hollywood Theatre beginning on Saturday, January 5th at 7pm. More info available here.
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What better way to soothe your post-New Year's Eve noggin' than with a round of exploitation, grindhouse, and kung fu shot straight into your visual cortex via the Hollywood Theatre's 35mm projector? Co-presented by the Grindhouse Film Festival and Kung Fu Theatre (both the creation of Hollywood head programmer Dan Halsted), there's a mysterious trio of cinematic treats awaiting all who assemble within the Hollywood's large downstairs auditorium--the New Year's Day Grindhouse Secret Movie Marathon! 3 films, 6 hours, a ton of old trailers, and there's absolutely no word in advance of what will be screening tomorrow. But the mystery is all part of the fun. Trust me, local movie nerds will be talking about this for months.
Here's what up, according to the folks behind the event:
The Grindhouse Film Festival and Kung Fu Theater present the New Year’s Day Grindhouse Secret Movie Marathon! Come spend your hangover with a triple feature of mind-blowing 70's cinema! We’re not telling anyone what’s playing, but it will all be from extremely rare 35mm prints.
We’ll give a couple of clues: First up will be a movie with giant monsters battling and tearing the planet apart! The second movie is a gritty crime film that is one of the most underrated movies of the 1970's. The last movie will be an extremely rare kung fu film.
Plenty of 35mm exploitation trailers before each movie too (blaxploitation trailers, horror trailers, kung fu trailers and more). There will also be a giveaway for one free pass to all Grindhouse Film Festival and Kung Fu Theater screenings in 2013! In order to win, you must watch all three movies. Tickets are only $10 for all three movies. The movies start at 3:00, 5:00 and 7:15.
The six-hour long Grindhouse Secret Movie Marathon happens on New Year's Day at the Hollywood Theatre beginning at 3pm. More info available here.
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