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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Portlanders are in for one hell of a treat this oh, so rainy weekend. San Francisco's Noir City is headed to town for a special, weekend long festival of obscure thrillers from the 40s and 50s, none of which have ever been available on dvd. Best of all, this Noir City Portland event will be MC'ed by none other than N.C. founder Eddie Muller, author of "Dark City," "Tab Hunter Confidential," and many other film-obsessed tomes.
The Hollywood Theatre is proud to present Noir City Portland! Friday September 20 through the Sunday the 22nd, the full lineup of titles boasts the Film Noir Foundation’s latest preservation efforts, Try and Get Me! (1951), and High Tide (1947), along with an impeccable selection of vintage noir titles including Alias Nick Beal (1949), Street of Chance (1942), The Come On (1956), and more! Hosted by the Czar of Noir himself, Eddie Muller, Noir City Portland will present these films on beautiful 35mm prints! None of these films are available on DVD, so don’t miss this incredibly rare opportunity.
Here's a little bit about the films, most of which are obscure enough to not even have trailer available online! All synopses are sourced from AllMovie:
TRY AND GET ME aka THE SOUND OF FURY (dir. Cy Endfield, 1950):
The Sound of Fury is better known by its general release title, Try and Get Me. Based on Jo Pagano's novel The Condemned,
the film recreates a dismal chapter in American history. In 1933, the
otherwise peace-loving citizens of San Jose, CA, were stirred up by
blind hatred into forming a mob and lynching two accused kidnappers
(this same incident was fictionalized in the 1935 Fritz Lang film Fury). Frank Lovejoy and Lloyd Bridges
play a couple of down-and-outers who kidnap a wealthy youngster in
hopes of getting a huge ransom. Things go terribly wrong.
SLEEP, MY LOVE (dir. Douglas Sirk, 1948):
This noir mystery thriller was produced by Mary Pickford and her husband Buddy Rogers, and directed by Douglas Sirk. Claudette Colbert
stars as Alison Courtland, a wealthy New York socialite who awakens on a
Boston-bound train with no memory of how she got there. A kindly older
woman, Mrs. Tomlinson (Queenie Smith) helps Alison call her husband Richard (Don Ameche),
who informs her that she disappeared after threatening his life. While
traveling back to New York, Alison meets Bruce Elcott (Robert Cummings), who is immediately smitten with her.
THE GREAT GATSBY (dir. Elliott Nugent, 1949):
This second film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's definitive jazz-age novel The Great Gatsby stars Alan Ladd
in the title role. Jay Gatsby, formerly Jake Gatz, is a successful
bootlegger with aspirations of being accepted in the highest social
circles of Long Island. Once he's done this, Gatsby devotes his time to
winning back the love of his former lady friend Daisy (Betty Field), now married to boorish "old-money" millionaire Tom Buchanan (Barry Sullivan).
Gatsby's obsession with rekindling old flames results in
disillusionment and, ultimately, tragedy. Sidelines observer Nick
Carraway, the narrator of the original Fitzgerald novel, is expertly
played by MacDonald Carey, while Shelley Winters makes an excellent impression as Buchanan's slatternly mistress Myrtle Wilson. Cast as Myrtle's dour optometrist husband is Howard Da Silva, who essayed a minor role in the 1974 remake of Great Gatsby. That 1974 version has unfortunately kept the 1949 Gatsby from being released to television.
REPEAT PERFORMANCE (dir. Alfred L. Werker, 1947):
On New Year's Eve, Joan Leslie
runs desperately out of a penthouse apartment and into the Times Square
crowd. She has reason to flee--she has just shot and killed her
husband. Through a freakish wrinkle in time, Leslie
is transported back to the last New Year's and is allowed to relive the
past year all over again. This time she is forearmed with the knowledge
of the murder and does everything she can to avoid the deed--a task
made difficult by such antagonists as her nasty husband and her
emotionally disturbed brother (Richard Basehart,
in his film debut). Events lead inexorably to the murder...but will she
do it this time? Cleverly assembled, and with a more expensive cast and
budget than was usual for pinchpenny Eagle-Lion studios, Repeat Performance is a brisk and absorbing semi-fantasy. It was remade for television as Turn Back the Clock (89), with the original film's star Joan Leslie in a brief cameo role.
THE COME ON (dir. Russell Birdwell, 1956):
In this convoluted thriller a manipulative woman gets entangled in her
own web of deceit. The story is set in Mexico, where an unlucky wanderer
has come to fish. There he falls for a woman that he spied on the
beach. She begs the drifter to murder her domineering husband.
ALIAS NICK BEAL aka CONTACT MAN (dir. John Farrow, 1949):
This modern-day "Faust" variation benefits from a superb cast. Thomas Mitchell
plays Joseph Foster, an honest judge who wants to become governor.
Blocked by corrupt political forces, Foster would practically have to
make a deal with the Devil to reach his goal. Enter Nick Beal (Ray Milland),
a diabolically handsome gent with a slick line of patter and a smooth,
infallible method of getting things done. Failing to recognize his
benefactor's true identity (after all, Nick has no horns or cloven
hooves) Foster agrees to the deal when Nick assures him that the end
result is for the good of the people.
STREET OF CHANCE (dir. Jack Hively, 1942):
Based on Cornell Woolrich's novel The Black Curtain (later dramatized several times on the radio series Suspense), Street of Chance top-bills Burgess Meredith
as an amnesia victim. He awakens in the middle of the street, with nary
a clue of who he is or what he's done. Meredith comes to learn that his
past year of darkness has been a crowded one--and that he might be a
murderer! Louise Platt plays Meredith's wife, but it's total stranger Claire Trevor who seems most interested in probing Meredith's past. Street of Chance is worth spending 74 minutes with, even though the true identity of the killer becomes obvious halfway through.
HIGH TIDE (dir. John Reinhardt, 1947):
In this mystery, set within the newspaper industry, a detective is hired
to protect the editor who believes that someone is out to kill him.
Noir City Portland runs Friday, September 20th through Sunday, September 22nd at the Hollywood Theatre. More info available here.
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It's a rough world out there. And returning after a long absence is a difficult proposition. How appropriate is it that Phil Morrison's less than prompt follow-up to his 2005 indie hit Junebug concerns itself with a man attempting to find his bearings, both familial and internal, after having his life interrupted by a long stay in prison? In many ways, Dennis (Paul Giamatti), the protagonist of All is Bright suffers under far less steep expectations than Morrison does here. No one expects anything from Dennis; in fact, his wife, Therese (Amy Landecker), has completely written him off, telling their young daughter that he died, rather than bothering with the messy truth about his incarceration.
The film picks up shortly after Dennis is released from prison. What's his first move? He returns to his rural, French-Canadian home where he's swiftly informed both Therese's lie and her involvement with Dennis' former best friend and partner-in-crime Rene (Paul Rudd), who Therese plans to marry once Rene's wife grants him a divorce. With nowhere else to go, Dennis tracks down his romantic rival at a local bar, tries to beat him up, and (naturally?) ends up joining his Rene in an annual trek down to New York City to set up a seasonal Christmas tree selling business. Yeah, this IS a Christmas movie...bet you never saw that coming.
If the plot sounds convoluted, rest assured, this film, like Junebug, doesn't grind too heavily on plot mechanics. Instead, Morrison and screenwriter Melissa James Gibson treat these characters as people, albeit ones that sometime stray into situations just a smidge over the line separating the real from circumstances of a cartoonish nature. When All is Bright sticks with its primary motif of two losers holding a predictably bad hand, it's at its best, resembling at times a modern update on a flavor of male camaraderie rarely portrayed in film since Elaine May'sMikey and Nicky (a bromance, this is, thankfully, not). But, on the few occasions when the script pushes Dennis and Rene to act like people trapped in an indie comedy, the film stumbles, drops focus, and feels oddly flat.
All is Bright is unlikely to enjoy the same strong word of mouth leading to a slow-building success that Junebug did. It's just not a film designed to register with a broad audience. The characters aren't that likeable, nor is the action all that identifiable. But it is a movie that deserves a chance from fans of quietly observant, character-driven cinema because, for each slight misstep that it contains, there's a charming counterpoint hidden just around the corner.
All is Bright is currently available for viewing on VOD platforms such as Amazon Instant Video & iTunes. The film opens theatrically in October.
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Roberto Rossellini's The Solitude Trilogy has been screening over at my workplace all weekend. Today marks the only time during the run that all three films, Stromboli, Europa '51, & Voyage to Italy will be shown in a single day. I'm going to try to make it through all of 'em, though, if recent history has proven anything, I probably will give up before the day is done. Extra incentive to stay at least through the 2nd film: Europa '51 is rarely screened theatrically; in fact, it's a rare 16mm print borrowed from a private collector that's being projected today.
The following film synopses are lifted directly from the NW Film Center's listings:
Stromboli:
The film where Rossellini fatefully met Ingrid Bergman, STROMBOLI—like
their later VOYAGE TO ITALY—is a semi-autobiographical portrait of its
star’s stranger-in-a-strange-land predicament. Bergman plays a
Lithuanian war refugee who marries a fisherman on the remote Sicilian
island of Stromboli in order to escape an internment camp. Moving from
the environmental reality that characterized his earlier neo-realist
films to a psychological realism foreshadowing Antonioni’s L’AVENTURRA
(1960), Rossellini’s film contrasts the island’s desolate, volcanic
landscapes with its leading lady’s emotional turmoil. The barren,
sulfurous rock proves a formidable and unpredictable rival for Bergman’s
ferocious will. “An intensely moving exploration of sainthood and
spirituality.”—Martin Scorsese. (107 mins.)
Europa '51:
The second collaboration between Rossellini and Bergman chronicles the
life of a wealthy American woman living in Rome who is thrown into
turmoil when her young son commits suicide over what he perceived to be
her lack of affection for him. The woman’s grief leads her to the
realization that she has been living a shallow, bourgeois existence and
propels her to change her ways. As if on a spiritual quest, she begins
devoting her life to helping the less fortunate—a sick prostitute, an
unwed mother with numerous children, and a young boy—all of which
disturbs her husband in tragic reaction. While the film has been viewed
as Rossellini’s vision of the state of the world in all its confusion,
many also read it as an exploration of Ingrid Bergman’s personal
struggle. (113 mins.)
Voyage to Italy (aka Journey to Italy):
A reserved British couple (Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders) take a
break from the chaos of London and retreat to the rugged landscape of
Naples, only to find that outside of the structure of their everyday
lives, the tedium of their marriage begins to emerge. Under the
glistening surface of its minimal plot, Rossellini’s film amasses subtle
details and small moments that build towards one of postwar cinema’s
most enigmatically poignant conclusions. Again, Rossellini’s use of the
environment as a relevant character is a precursor to Antonioni’s bleak
industrial landscapes, serving as a link between neo-realism and the
subjective, psychological cinema of the 1960s. (97 mins.)
The Solitude Trilogy: Stromboli, Europa '51 & Voyage to Italy screens at the NW Film
Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum). Click here for more info.
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Offering a glimpse at what it is to fall out of the middle class, Joe & Harry Gantz'American Winter whispers a harsh truth into the ear of the viewer: it could happen to anyone. The eight Portland-based families to which it is happening in the film deal with it in a variety of ways, but most wear a look akin to PTSD as they struggle to stay afloat in a society with little safety to offer those who have fallen behind. Their stories are all similar; the primary breadwinner lost their job (or in one case, their life) and has been unable to find new means of support, leaving their entire family vulnerable in the midst of an economic crisis the likes of which most of us have never seen before.
The Gantz' efforts here ditch the more lurid, voyeuristic aspects of their work on television (Taxi Cab Confessions) for an honest inside view of families struggling for their lives. American Winter began as a profile of users of Portland's unique non-profit 211info, a resource hotline that connects people to emergency services based in "health, community, and social services." While the non-profit is still a part of the final piece, the filmmakers smartly chose to follow the experience of a small group of families seeking out 211's help. The result is a film that lives on the humanity and despair of these victims--ordinary folks like you and me--who are dealing with the biggest tragedy of their lives. Depressing? Yes, but also absolutely necessary; American Winter is a great piece of social filmmaking.
Highly recommended.
American Winter will
screen at the 36th Portland International Film Festival at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Sunday,
Feb. 17th at 3pm and at Cinemagic on Monday, Feb. 18th at 7:30pm.
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The Hollywood Theatre's monthly Kung Fu Theater series hosts Lau Kar Leung's 1984 Shaw Brothers' classic Invincible Pole Fighter (aka Eight Diagram Pole Fighter) for a one-night-only, rare 35mm screening on their big downstairs screen. If you're not already a rabid fan, all you really need to know about this one is that it's Kung Fu Theater major domo Dan Halsted's favorite kung fu flick of all time. 'Nuff said; the man knows his martial arts cinema. The rest of us? We're just here to learn.
Here's the lowdown on the event:
Kung Fu Theater presents an extremely rare 35mm print of the kung fu masterpiece Invincible Pole Fighter! Around here, we consider this the greatest kung fu movie of all time. Advance tickets are strongly recommended for this show.
Invincible Pole Fighter (1984) A family of fighters is ambushed by invaders in a fierce battle that leaves the family's father and four of six brothers dead. One of the remaining brothers (Gordon Liu) swears revenge, and forces his way into the Shaolin Temple to master his pole fighting skills. When his younger sister is kidnapped by the invaders, it's payback time. After numerous jaw-dropping fight scenes, there is a massive climactic battle that ranks among the greatest action scenes in movie history. This film is directed by martial arts master Lau Kar Leung (36th Chamber of Shaolin), stars Gordon Liu (36th Chamber, Kill Bill) and was a huge influence on the Wu Tang Clan. This is an all-out kung fu masterpiece.
Invincible Pole Fighter plays one-night-only at the Hollywood Theatre on Tuesday, February 12th at 7:30pm. More info available here.
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Some eight years after Somersault, Lore marks the return of Australian director Cate Shortland. Anyone worried that Shortland's abilities may have been dulled by the intervening years between features can rest easy. Her second feature is a complicated journey through a physical/psychological terrain scorched by the malignancy of the Third Reich. The film plays out like a dark dream, weighted down by a tragedy far too complex for its young characters to fully fathom. Essentially, Shortland has succeeded in fashioning a tale that supports (albeit in a conflicted sense) the notion that the children of the Nazi era were also victims of their country's madness.
Coming directly after the death of Hitler, teenaged Lore (Saskia Rosendahl) and her four siblings are left alone after their parents are imprisoned for war crimes. The kids are forced to flee to safety as the allied forces carve up Germany into territories. While on the long voyage to their grandmother's house, the meet up with Thomas (Kai-Peter Malina), a Jewish teenager who serves as both a protector and a painful reminder of the evil that motivates the journey. The six youngsters move through the war ravaged landscape in the only way they know how, clinging onto each other as they unsteadily make their advances.
With its trip to Grandma's house motif, Lore could easily have upped the dark fairy tale aspects that, while present, never overtake a matching sense of realism. What results is a magical realism (note: not exactly magic realism, but moving towards it at times) that treats images of death and decay in equal esteem as visions of light streaming through foliage. Sure, there's a bit of Red Riding Hood in there, but there's also a more than healthy nod to Nicholas Roeg'sWalkabout, too.
Highly recommended.
Lore will
screen at the 36th Portland International Film Festival at the NW Film
Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Sunday,
Feb. 10th at 7:30pm and at Regal Lloyd Center 10 on Monday, Feb. 11th at 5:45pm. More info available here.
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