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calendar programmed by
New York, NY 10014
FEBRUARY 6 – MARCH 5 4 WEEKS!
BRUCE GOLDSTEIN
Box Office: (212) 727-8110
Depression
& Champagne
movies
Pre-Code • Social Consciousness
PROGRAMMED BY BRUCE GOLDSTEIN
MY MAN GODFREY
(1936, Gregory La Cava) Dizzy heiress Carole Lombard wins
the scavenger hunt by producing bum William Powell as
a “forgotten man” — then hires him as her butler, joining
air-headed mom Alice Brady’s
menagerie of acidulous relatives
and hangers-on.
1:00, 4:35, 8:20
FEBRUARY 6 FRI
I’M NO ANGEL & Selected Short Subjects!
(1933, Wesley Ruggles) Mae West tames a den of lions, an
all-male jury, and socialite Cary Grant, in the supremely
Pre-Code picture that scandalized
the Legion of Decency.
Plus vintage trailers, cartoon,
and Hearst Metrotone News!
Complete program at
1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00
POST-INAUGURATION SPECIAL:
ALL SEATS 35¢ • Film Forum members: 25¢
FAST TRACK FOR FILM FORUM MEMBERS!
See our website for details.
c
Opening
DAY!
GABRIEL OVER THE WHITE HOUSE
(1933, Gregory La Cava) Mysteriously “possessed” by a
heavenly spirit, party hack chief exec Walter Huston is
suddenly transformed into a Super-President, single-handedly
wiping out crime, unemployment, mortgage payments (!)
— and Congress itself.
1:00, 4:20, 7:40
(1932, Frank Capra) Bank president Walter Huston insists
on lending on “character,” despite an almost-cheating wife,
embezzling cashier, and spectacular bank run. “One of
the most beautifully assembled, lighted and photographed
pictures of the 30s.” – Elliott Stein.
Sat/Sun 2:35, 5:40, 8:45 Mon 2:35
FEBRUARY 17 TUE (2 Films for 1 Admission)
NIGHT NURSE
Employees Entrance
(1931, William Wellman) Barbara Stanwyck and Joan Blondell,
quick-changing between uniforms and deshabillé, breezily
battle bootleggers, drunken mothers, corrupt doctors, and
a tawdry child abuse case master-minded by menacing
chauffeur Clark Gable. “Pre-Code with a vengeance.” –
William K. Everson. 2:45, 6:00, 9:30
FEBRUARY 9 MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
OUR DAILY BREAD
(1934, King Vidor) The ultimate expression of the Depression’s
collective spirit, as a young couple (including future
blacklistee Karen Morley) and assorted jobless drifters team
up to work a drought-threatened farm. “Brimming with hope
and enthusiasm.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum. 7:30 only
STAND UP AND CHEER
EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE
(1933, Roy Del Ruth) Relentlessly paced shop girl’s 42nd Street,
as Warren William’s department store manager (“the caddish
personification of ruthless capitalism” – J. Hoberman) drives
himself and everyone else to the limit to stay in business, en
route seducing Loretta Young, both before and after marriage
to nice guy Wallace Ford. 1:00, 4:35, 8:10*
*BANK NITE DRAWING! (6:00 & 7:30 ticketholders only)
FEBRUARY 18 WED (2 Films for 1 Admission)
J
BANK
NITE!
BLACK LEGION
(1936, Archie Mayo) Factory worker Humphrey Bogart, sore
at losing promotion to a “foreigner,” joins a Klan-like secret
society, but then it’s a few short steps to murder and that look
on wife Ann Sheridan’s face. 1:00, 4:30, 8:00
BLACK FURY
(1935, Michael Curtiz) Despite union opposition, Polish miner
Paul Muni is schnookered by rabble-rousers into leading
a wildcat strike in the Pennsylvania coalfields. “The most
powerful strike picture that has yet been made, and I am
aware of the better-known Soviet jobs in the field.” – Otis
Ferguson. 2:40, 6:10, 9:40
SKYSCRAPER SOULS
(1932, Edgar Selwyn) Over-sexed Warren William as the
Donald Trump of his day, in Pre-Code paean to the modern
(and Deco) office building. Habituees of this Gotham Grand
Hotel include Hedda Hopper, Verree Teasdale, Anita Page,
and Maureen O’Sullivan — on the receiving end of a shocking
seduction. 2:35, 6:10, 9:45
(1931, Frank Capra) Smart-talking newspaperman Robert
Williams breaks the heart of reporter chum Loretta Young
when he weds eponymous socialite Jean Harlow — a classcrossing that gets him tagged “Cinderella Man” (a moniker
inherited by Longfellow Deeds: see Feb. 7). Screenplay by
Robert Riskin. 2:40, 6:05, 9:30
Two Seconds
FEBRUARY 19 THU (2 Films for 1 Admission)
HALLELUJAH, I’M A BUM
THREE-CORNERED
MOON
(1933, Lewis Milestone) Al Jolson, as the “mayor” of Central
Park, and his homeless constituents (“30s versions of
beatniks” – Pauline Kael) come to the aid of amnesiac
Madge Evans in one-of-a-kind Rodgers & Hart musical,
complete with “rhythmic dialogue,” Soviet cutting, and
Bolshevik Harry Langdon. 3:30, 7:10
(1933, Elliott Nugent) When those
mining stocks prove worthless,
the Rimplegar family — mom Mary
Boland, daughter Claudette Colbert, and her three hapless
brothers — are forced to (gasp) work. 1:00, 4:25, 7:50
VITAPHONE VARIETIES OF 2009
FEBRUARY 12 THU – SPECIAL EVENT!
HEROES FOR SALE
(1933, William Wellman) Richard Barthelmess’ trip to Calvary,
from the trenches of WWI to the breadlines and railroad ties
of 1933, encountering communism, welfare capitalism, drug
addiction, Red Squads, police brutality and riots along the
way. “One of the very few Depression films not to cop out.”
– William K. Everson. 1:30, 4:40, 7:50
WILD BOYS OF THE ROAD
(1933, William Wellman) Instead of burdening their penniless
families, Frankie Darro, Edwin Phillips, and Dorothy Coonan
(soon to be Mrs. Wellman) decide to ride the rails, dodging
train detectives in search of jobs and shelter. “Has a claim to
greatness.” – Todd McCarthy. 3:15, 6:25, 9:35
LINCOLN’S
BIRTHDAY!
More rare Vitaphone sound shorts from the late 20s and early
30s, all restored by the UCLA Film Archive. Tonight’s program
includes a prologue from “czar of all the rushes” Will Hays;
banjo ace Roy Smeck; Gus Arnheim’s band, featuring Crosby/
Vallee rival Russ Columbo; and vaudevillians Shaw & Lee,
Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy, and Bert Lahr, all topped
by Jolson’s pre-Jazz Singer “Plantation Act.” Introduced
by Ron Hutchinson of The
Vitaphone Project.
1:30, 5:10, 8:50
FEBRUARY 20 FRI (2 Films for 1 Admission)
DEAD END
(1937, William Wyler) Along the East River, ritzy apartments
bump up against crummy tenements, as unemployed
architect Joel McCrea yearns for a stuck-up socialite, while
slum-raised Sylvia Sidney yearns for him and the Dead End
Kids idolize local-boy-made-hood Humphrey Bogart.
1:30, 4:40, 7:50*
THREE ON A MATCH
(1932, Mervyn LeRoy) At a slum girls’ reunion, steno Bette Davis,
socialite Ann Dvorak and showgirl Joan Blondell light up — and
then it’s change partners and dance as one power dives to
the skids, courtesy of angel dust. With young Humphrey Bogart
already in form as a kidnapper. 3:20, 6:30, 9:45
*Amy Lehr, granddaughter of director William Wyler,
will introduce the 7:50 show
HEROES FOR SALE
1:10, 3:20, 5:30, 7:40, 9:50
ÎA
OSCAR
SUNDAY!
ACADEMY AWARD
Best Foreign Film, 1969
BEST FILM OF THE YEAR, 1969
L
“AN EXTRAORDINARY THRILLER! ONE OF
THE FASTEST, MOST EXCITING MELODRAMAS
EVER MADE!” – Pauline Kael
“UNBEARABLY EXCITING!
A BRILLIANT Suspense THRILLER!”
– Roger Ebert
Costa-Gavras’
MARCH 2 MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
SPOILER
ALERT!
BANK
NITE!
ME AND MY GAL
(1932, Raoul Walsh) Cop Spencer Tracy’s slanging matches
with hash-slinger Joan Bennett, spiced with a hilarious
parody of O’Neill’s Strange Interlude, are interrupted when
director Walsh’s brother George blasts his way into a bank.
“The quintessential gum-chewing,
fast-talking romance comedy of
the period.” – Elliott Stein.
2:15, 5:15, 8:15
CENTRAL PARK
Baby Face
FEBRUARY 24 TUE (3 Films for 1 Admission)
FEMALE
(1933, Michael Curtiz) Tycoon Ruth Chatterton runs her auto
company by day and dips into the junior executive pool by
night, until George Brent shows who’s wearing the pants.
“Startlingly bold in its sexual
themes.” – Dave Kehr, NY Times.
2:20, 6:15, 10:20
EX-LADY
(1933, Robert Florey) Bohemian
artist Bette Davis shacks up with
Gene Raymond, but after their
“oh, why not?” marriage, things go sour. Daring scenes in a
High Deco boudoir kept censors steaming. 1:00, 4:55, 9:00
MILLS OF THE GODS New 35mm Print!
(1934, Roy William Neill) With the family plow factory on the
verge of going belly up, matriarch May Robson finds her trust
fund kids just don’t give a darn, but as rioting workers battle
police, granddaughter Fay Wray finds solidarity and love with
union leader Victor Jory. 3:35, 7:30*
J
BANK
NITE!
(1932, John G. Adolfi) Equally
unemployed Joan Blondell and
Wallace Ford “meet cute” over stolen hot dogs, then contend
with crooked cops, a going-blind park policeman, an insane
zoo keeper, an escaped lion, and a shootout during a beauty
contest — in other words, just another day in the park.
“Exhibits [the park] as a battlefield of crime and dissipation...
Thoroughly diverting.” – Time. 1:00, 4:00, 7:00, 10:00
MARCH 3 TUE (3 Films for 1 Admission)
TAXI!
(1932, Roy Del Ruth) Amid city sounds in lieu of music, cocky
Yiddish redndiker cabby Jimmy Cagney (“a deese, dem and
dose on-the-make example of young America” – Variety)
can’t keep his hands off bride Loretta Young at their wedding
supper, then bucks a rival taxi outfit in two-fisted union war.
1:00, 5:25, 10:05
LAWYER MAN
(1932, William Dieterle) Fast-talking William Powell, with everloyal secretary Joan Blondell in tow, moves from schlmiely
Second Ave. mouthpiece to natty Park Ave. assistant D.A. “Its
active libido is resolutely Pre-Code.” – William K. Everson.
2:25, 6:50*
BLONDE CRAZY
(1931, Roy Del Ruth) Hustling bellboy James Cagney moves
from gin procurement to the shakedown racket, aided and
abetted by chambermaid Joan Blondell. 3:50, 8:30
*BANK NITE DRAWING! (5:25 & 6:50 ticketholders only)
NO GREATER GLORY
Blonde Crazy
MARCH 4 WED (2 Films for 1 Admission)
COUNSELLOR AT LAW
(1934, Frank Borzage) Two groups of Budapest boys, imitating
their elders’ hero worship of militarism, go to literal — and
eventually mortal — battle over a lumber yard, in this powerful,
rarely-seen anti-war allegory, adapted from Ferenc (Lilliom/
Carousel) Molnár’s The Boys of Saint Paul. 1:30, 4:40, 7:50
THIS DAY AND AGE
THE MOUTHPIECE
FEBRUARY 27 FRI (2 Films for 1 Admission)
MR. DEEDS GOES TO TOWN
(1932, Elliott Nugent & James Flood) Assistant D.A. Warren
William, devastated by his railroading of an innocent man,
decides to go for the buck as a gangland front man, with
dazzling success. “One of the most immoral of these many
moral tales.” – David Shipman. 1:20, 4:35, 8:00
*Catherine Wyler, daughter of the director,
will introduce the 6:15 show
MARCH 5 THU (2 Films for 1 Admission)
(1936, Frank Capra) Gary Cooper’s greeting-card-versifying
Vermonter Longfellow Deeds inherits 20 million from
an uncle he’s never known — and then he’s whisked to
Park Avenue before he
knows what hit him. With
Jean Arthur as a cynical
newsgal. “A comedy
quite unmatched on
the screen.” – Graham
Greene. 3:25, 7:30
(1934, Roy Del Ruth) Double trouble for millionaire Warren
William: beating two murder raps, and choosing between
friendly chorus girl Ginger Rogers and neglectful wife Mary
Astor. Based on a story by Ben Hecht. “American Tragedy
in reverse. A surprisingly
mature
sex
drama.”
– William K. Everson.
1:00, 3:55, 6:50, 9:50
THEODORA GOES WILD
NIGHT WORLD
New 35mm Print!
(1936, Richard Boleslawski) When smalltown librarian Irene
Dunne (in her first screwball role, pre-The Awful Truth)
is exposed as a racy bestseller’s author, she escapes to
Manhattan, where urban sophisticate Melvyn Douglas falls
for her. “The best light comedy since Mr. Deeds.” – Graham
Greene. 1:30, 5:35, 9:40
Starring Yves
Montand
Jean-Louis Trintignant
NEW 35mm PRINT!
“At the same time a political cry of rage and a brilliant suspense
thriller.” – Roger Ebert. “Almost intolerably exciting. An extraordinary
thriller — one of the fastest, most exciting melodramas ever made...
Costa-Gavras has made something very unusual in European films—
a political film with a purpose and, at the same time, a thoroughly
commercial film... It derives not from the traditions of the French
film but from American gangster movies and prison pictures and
anti-Fascist melodramas of the forties... Coutard’s searching, active
[camera] style doesn’t allow you to get away. Remember when
the movie ads used to say ‘It will knock you out of your seat?’ Well,
Z damn near does.” – Pauline Kael.
2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE
19112008
“Dassin’s shocking specialty:
a kind of stifled violence that one fears will explode!” – Pauline Kael
(1933, William Wyler) Posh lawyer John Barrymore finds that,
as his personal and professional crises loom, he can’t escape
his Lower East Side background. Wyler directs this adaptation
of Elmer Rice’s play at vintage 30s breakneck pace. “One of
the first cinematic intimations of melting pot politics and antiSemitic snobbery.” – Andrew Sarris. 3:00, 6:15*, 9:40
(1933, Cecil B. DeMille) A vigilante fantasy — some say an
incitement to fascism — with schoolboys finding new ways to rid
their town of rampant gangsterism, including grilling mobster
Charles Bickford over a pit of rats. 3:00, 6:10, 9:20
BANK
NITE!
MARCH 27-APRIL 7 12 DAYS!
TWO SECONDS
FEBRUARY 26 THU (2 Films for 1 Admission)
J
(1969) Police general Pierre Dux (later head of the Comédie Française)
lectures sunglassed-indoors cohorts on ideological mildew — “isms”
— now “infecting” society; then, as Manos Hadjidakis’ music throbs,
Dux’s helmeted and truncheoned police studiously look elsewhere as
a raging, chanting mob fills the city square awaiting the emergence
of charismatic deputy Yves Montand from his SRO ban-the-bomb
address — but what are those two punks doing careening in on that
three-wheeled kamikaze? “Just an accident” exhales legal honcho
François Périer as he leaves it to tinted-eyeglassed magistrate JeanLouis Trintignant (Best Actor, Cannes) to wrap things up nicely. But
the crowds are painting big white Z’s in the street... Too much of a hot
potato for French producers, Greek expat Costa-Gavras’s adaptation
of Vassili Vassilikos’s novel of the real-life Lambrakos case was
skillfully filmed on a shoestring in Algeria (doubling for Greece), and
utilizing a pulsating score pieced together from previous Hadjidakis
works (with the composer’s blessing: he was under house arrest in
Greece) and an incredible cast including Renato Salvatori (Rocco
and his Brothers) and Marcel Bozzuffi
(soon to be the shot-in-the-back poster
boy for The French Connection) as the
two punks; and the iconic Irene Papas,
the only actual Greek in the cast, who’s
told “He’s gone” by New Wave camera
legend Raoul Coutard, cameoing in a
break from his breakneck documentarystyle shooting. All of which, combined
with Costa-Gavras’ bullet-quick editing,
gave Z an immediacy, authenticity, and
excitement, that, along with perfect
timing — premiering so soon after the
right-wing colonels’ takeover in Greece
— made it a worldwide smash and the
winner of both the Cannes Jury Prize
(awarded unanimously) and the Best
Foreign Film Oscar (it was the official
entry from Algeria).
JULES DASSIN
(1931, Mervyn LeRoy) “Mother of Mercy, is this the end
of Rico?” moans Edward G. Robinson at the climax of his
star-making incarnation of an Al Capone type’s rise and fall.
Adapted from the hard-boiled classic by W.R. Burnett.
1:30, 4:40, 7:50
(1932, Mervyn LeRoy) That’s how long it takes Edward G.
Robinson to die once they turn on the juice, with flashbacks
to a drunken marriage, death on the high iron, and murder.
“Luridly expressionist. A tawdry gem.” – J. Hoberman.
3:15, 6:25, 9:35
l
PRIZE
LJURY
CANNES FILM FESTIVALl
New York Film Critics Circle
National Society of Film Critics
(1933, Lloyd Bacon) Busbyberkeleython climaxed by three
of his most elaborate numbers: Jimmy Cagney’s highsteppin’ search through the opium dens for “Shanghai
Lil” Ruby Keeler, aquatic ballet “By a Waterfall” (“truly
delirious” – David Thomson), and a stop at the hot and horny
Honeymoon Hotel. “One of the greatest of the Depression
era musicals.” – Elliott Stein. 3:30, 7:30
FEBRUARY 23 MON (Evening Only) – SPECIAL EVENT!
J
MARCH 13-26 TWO WEEKS!
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933
FOOTLIGHT PARADE
(1933, Victor Fleming) Jean
Harlow’s Lola Burns — the
infamous If Girl — supports
sponging
family,
endless
entourage and a major Hollywood studio, while fending off
stop-at-nothing press agent Lee Tracy and romantic con
artist Franchot Tone. “A masterpiece of comic engineering.”
– Michael Sragow. Sun 3:30, 7:20 mon 1:00, 4:50
(see reverse)
MARCH 1 SUN (2 Films for 1 Admission)
(1933, Mervyn LeRoy) Coin-clad Ginger Rogers warbles “We’re In
The Money,” while Ruby Keeler and Joan Blondell pursue rich
admirers Warren William and Dick Powell. The Pre-Code Busby
Berkeley musical features the wrenching Depression anthem
“Remember My Forgotten Man” and the downright smutty
“Pettin’ in the Park” number. “Sums up what is meant by the
phrase ‘pure thirties’.” – The New Yorker. 1:30, 5:30, 9:30
BOMBSHELL
AN EVENING WITH MARNI NIXON
A CRITERION PICTURES RELEASE OF A TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX FILM
Footlight Parade
LITTLE CAESAR
PLATINUM BLONDE New 35mm Print
FEBRUARY 13 FRI (2 Films for 1 Admission)
PRESIDENT’S
DAY!
(1934, Frank Capra) Following a memorable New York-bound
Greyhound bus ride, only the “walls of Jericho” separate storyhungry newshound Clark Gable from bratty runaway heiress
Claudette Colbert, in the first picture to sweep the major
Oscars. “Made audiences happy in a way only a few films in
each era can do... the Annie Hall of its day.” – Pauline Kael.
Sun 1:30, 5:20, 9:10
mon 2:50
FEBRUARY 25 WED (2 Films for 1 Admission)
FEBRUARY 11 WED (2 Films for 1 Admission)
(see reverse)
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT
*BANK NITE DRAWING! (6:15 & 7:30 ticketholders only)
*BANK NITE DRAWING! (6:10 & 8:10 ticketholders only)
LINCOLN BICENTENNIAL DOUBLE FEATURE
FEBRUARY 22/23 SUN/MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
HOLD YOUR MAN
(1933, Sam Wood) Sent to a reformatory after con man Clark
Gable gets her “in trouble,” tough cookie Jean Harlow slugs it out
with drunken Dorothy Burgess and warbles “Onward Christian
Soldiers” while plotting her getaway. 1:00, 4:15, 7:30*
(1945) Always elegantly coiffed Gene Tierney (in Oscar-nominated role and fresh from her starring role in Preminger’s Laura) and
best-selling author Cornel Wilde meet cute — she’s reading his latest book — in a super-luxurious railroad car lounge and, despite
her engagement ring, it’s instant attraction. And next thing Wilde knows, he’s on horseback watching as she strews her father’s
ashes on a New Mexico mountaintop — as Alfred Newman’s score thunders — and suddenly, he’s the new fiancé of someone with
a very possessive passion. Big Mistake? A drowning coldly watched from behind the screen’s most menacing pair of sunglasses, a
miscarriage via intentional staircase fall, a death by poison, and a murder trial with a very surprising defendant getting hammered
by relentless DA/spurned lover Vincent Price ensue, amid splendiferous settings, all viewed via sumptuous, Oscar-winning
photography by Fox Technicolor specialist Leon Shamroy. Screenplay by Jo Swerling (Man’s Castle and other Depression films
at left), with a colorful cast including Jeanne Crain, Ray Collins (Citizen Kane, Perry Mason), and Darryl Hickman. “So lurid that
it seems to exist on another plane of reality... 40s color adds yet another
level of abstraction — the actors seem enameled against the backgrounds.”
– Dave Kehr. “Proto-Sirkian melodramatist extraordinaire Stahl creates this
most propulsive tale of daddy-complex jealousy... Has any woman ever looked
more awfully gorgeous than when Tierney casts her father’s ashes across
her chest in that luridly empurpled and incestuous consecration?” – Guy Maddin.
“A hallucination dominated by Gene Tierney’s face, a mask of perfect
composure hiding these dark and very deep emotions. The drama of the
obsession and the color reinforce each other to create something very special.”
– Martin Scorsese. Restored by the Academy Film Archive in cooperation with
Twentieth Century Fox, with funding provided by The Film Foundation.
(1933, Rowland Brown) Bailbondsman George Bancroft dallies
with thrill-seeking heiress Frances Dee, despite his longtime
mistress (debuting-Dame-to-be Judith Anderson), but then
finds himself holding the bag after a half-mill bank robbery.
Condemned by censors because it “would incite law-abiding
citizens to crime.” 1:30, 4:50, 8:10
WASHINGTON
MERRY-GOROUND
(1932, James Cruze) Pre-Mr.
Smith Goes to Washington,
as fast-talking Lee Tracy’s
Congressman “Button Gwinnett Brown” teams up with the
Bonus Army to expose an influence peddler/murderer.
Plus Betty Boop for President! 2:40, 6:00, 9:30
New 35mm Restoration!
BLOOD MONEY
FEBRUARY 16 MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
AMERICAN MADNESS New 35mm Print!
FEBRUARY 10 TUE (2 Films for 1 Admission)
(1932, Howard Hawks) X marks the corpses, as they drop in
garages, lunch rooms, and bowling alleys: Paul Muni’s Capone
prototype wastes his boss and takes over his moll, aided by
coin-flipping cohort George Raft, but his — extremely possessive
— heart belongs to sister Ann Dvorak. 2:50, 6:10, 9:30
(1932, Roy Del Ruth) The apotheosis of Lee Tracy, inventor
of the fast-talking newspaperman, here machine-gunning
his way through a raucous send-up of Walter Winchell, and
attaining utter delirium when he talks Allen Jenkins through
his own imagined electrocution. 1:00, 4:05, 7:10, 10:15
(1933, Frank Borzage) Dead-broke Spencer Tracy and homeless
teenager Loretta Young find each other in a ramshackle East
River Hooverville. Grounded in the grittiest realities of the day,
but still among the most romantic of Borzage’s many romantic
fables. “A neglected masterpiece.” – Dave Kehr. Plus Disney’s
The Three Little Pigs (1933) trill “Who’s afraid of the big, bad
wolf?” — could this be a Depression allegory?
Sat/Sun 1:00, 4:05, 7:10, 10:15 Mon 1:00, 4:05
(1934, Hamilton MacFadden) The President names Broadway
producer Warner Baxter “Secretary of Amusement,” a
new cabinet post created to “put smiles” on the faces of
Depression-plagued Americans, but it’s toddler Shirley Temple
who steals the show with “Baby, Take a Bow.” 6:00, 9:00
SCARFACE
BLESSED EVENT
MAN’S CASTLE & The Three Little Pigs
ils.
(1933, Lloyd Bacon) “A New Deal in Entertainment!”
Landmark paean to “The Deuce,” as running-on-nerves
director Warner Baxter gives the pep talk to understudy Ruby
Keeler after temperamental star Bebe Daniels breaks that
ankle. Three must-be-seen-to-be-believed Busby Berkeley
numbers provide the finale. 1:00, 4:40, 8:25
FEBRUARY 21 SAT (2 Films for 1 Admission)
(1933, Alfred E. Green) Barbara Stanwyck (“the ultimate
Pre-Code hottie” – J. Hoberman) turns tricks out of her
dad’s dreary Erie, Pa., speakeasy, then sleeps her way up
the corporate ladder. The Citizen Kane of Pre-Code movies
became even racier with the discovery of five more sordid
minutes in 2005. 2:35, 5:40, 8:45
FEBRUARY 7/8/9 SAT/SUN/MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
for deta
42ND STREET
BABY FACE THE UNCENSORED VERSION
Leave Her
to Heaven
NITE!
(1933, Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack)
“Bring-’em-back-alive” filmmaker Robert
Armstrong, with scream queen (and Film
Forum member) Fay Wray in tow, sets out in search of the
Ultimate Attraction: The Greatest Ape of Them All. Released
the week of FDR’s bank holiday, the Mighty Kong still
smashed box office records. 2:45, 6:25, 10:10
SCARFACE
FEBRUARY 15 SUN (2 Films for 1 Admission)
G
Tuesday is BANK
KING KONG
VALENTINE’S
DAY!
(1937, Mitchell Leisen) Working
girl Jean Arthur is mistaken for a
Wall St. lion’s mistress, but finds love in the Automat with
Ray Milland, in Preston Sturges’ most famed pre-directorial
screwball comedy. “If you paired it with My Man Godfrey, you’d
have a beautiful portrait of money in New York — and a happy
audience.” – David Thomson. 2:50, 6:25, 10:10
John Stahl’s
FEBRUARY 28 SAT (2 Films for 1 Admission)
EASY LIVING
Man’s Castle
– Martin Scorsese
Drawings Tues
days, Februa
at selected sh ry 10-March 3,
ows (*).
See our
website
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k
“JUICY ENTERTAINMENT!” – Pauline Kael
“MESMERIZING! A VERY SPECIAL FILM! A GLORIOUS RESTORATION!”
& Screwball Comedies
ALL 35mm Prints!
Special thanks to Mike Mashon, Rob Stone (Library of Congress); Jared Sapolin, Grover Crisp (Sony Pictures); Marilee Womack (Warner Bros.); Paul Ginsburg, Bob O’Neil (NBC Universal); Todd Wiener (UCLA Film & Television Archive);
Caitlin Robertson, Schawn Belston (20th Century Fox); Mary Tallungan, Scott Kelly (The Walt Disney Company); Anne Morra, Mary Keene (Museum of Modern Art); J. Hoberman; Greg Ford; Clive Hirschhorn; and Rick Scheckman.
FEBRUARY 14 SAT (2 Films for 1 Admission)
MARCH 6 -12 ONE WEEK!
UPPERWORLD
(1932, Hobart Henley)
Grand Hotel in a seedy
night club, complete with
Busby Berkeley number,
as boozing playboy Lew Ayres and dancer Mae Clarke
(Cagney’s grapefruit recipient) are befriended by surprisingly
sympathetic owner Boris Karloff. 2:30, 5:25, 8:25
Special thanks to Schawn Belston,
Caitlin Robertson (20th Century Fox);
Ross Klein (MGM); Barry Allen,
Melanie Valera (Paramount Pictures);
Marilee Womack (Warner Bros.);
Eric Di Bernardo, Adrienne Halpern
(Rialto Pictures); Issa Clubb
(The Criterion Collection); Pauline
Tzeiranis (Melina Mercouri Foundation,
Athens); Anne Morra, Mary Keene
(Museum of Modern Art); Andrew
Garroni (Upcoast Film Consultants);
and Ricky Dassin.
MARCH 30 MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
REUNION IN FRANCE
(1942) Tray Parisian socialite Joan Crawford
is irked when Philip Dorn won’t accompany
her on a South of France holiday — what’s this
about a war anyway? But under the Occupation,
while Dorn makes nice with the Nazis, Crawford
shelters downed RAF pilot John Wayne (!) — but
who really is working for whom? 3:30, 7:30
NAZI AGENT
MARCH 27/28 FRI/SAT
NIGHT AND THE CITY
(1950) “You’re a dead man, Harry Fabian,
a dead man.” Richard Widmark is a sleazy
Yank con man on the lam from wrestling mogul
Herbert Lom through the shadowy streets of
Soho — London, that is — in what’s practically
a British Sweet Smell of Success. With Gene
Tierney (Laura, Leave Her to Heaven; see above).
“May well be the definitive Film Noir.” – Foster
Hirsch. 1:30, 3:30, 5:40, 7:50, 9:50
Jules Dassin
MARCH 29 SUN (2 Films for 1 Admission)
THE NAKED CITY
(1948) The seminal all-location Noir. Following
a young woman’s murder on W. 83rd St., cops
Barry Fitzgerald and Don Taylor track down
leads from Stillman’s Gym to the Roxy Theater to
the City Morgue to Roosevelt Hospital, with final
showdown on the Williamsburg Bridge. Oscarwinning camerawork
from former Garbo
photographer William
Daniels. 3:20, 7:00
THIEVES’
HIGHWAY
NIGHT AND THE CITY
(1942) In Dassin’s first feature, German-American
bookstore owner Conrad Veidt gets a surprise visit
from his long-estranged brother, German consul
Conrad Veidt (again) with a little espionage offer
that Veidt #1 can’t refuse. Plus Dassin’s short
debut, The Tell-Tale Heart (1941), with Joseph
Schildkraut. 1:30, 5:30, 9:30
UP TIGHT
MARCH 31 TUE
UP TIGHT
(1949) An asphalt On
the Waterfront, as exG.I. Richard Conte finds the apple-trucking biz
ain’t all applesauce, especially when up against
racket kingpin Lee J. Cobb. Screenplay by A.I.
Bezzerides. “Unjustly neglected and one of the
best Noirs ever made by anyone.” – Jonathan
Rosenbaum. 1:30, 5:10, 9:00
(1968) In the wake of the King assassination,
unemployed Julian Mayfield is too stinko to aid
Black militant buddies in a raid on a Cleveland
ammo depot, but after his ensuing rejection
by the organization, and depressing visit with
his hooker-by-necessity girlfriend, that $1000
reward for info starts to look good. Black Power
remake of John Ford’s The Informer.
1:30, 3:35, 5:40, 7:45, 9:50
JULES DASSIN
series continues on reverse
JULES
DASSIN
continues
through APRIL 7
1911-2008
APRIL 1/2 WED/THU
HE WHO MUST DIE
(1958) In a 1920s Greek village under Turkish rule,
it’s time for the traditional Passion Play, with Pierre
Vaneck’s stuttering shepherd slated for the Christ role
and prostitute Melina Mercouri (in her first film with
husband-to-be Dassin) as Mary Magdalene. But when
refugees led by Rififi’s Jean Servais flood in, those roles
start to become real. Adapted from The Greek Passion
by Nikos Kazantzakis (Last Temptation of Christ).
Wed 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
Thu 2:00, 4:30, 9:30
APRIL 3/4 FRI/SAT
(1955) Back from the pen,
homme dur Jean Servais
rejoins his cronies and
freshly imported safecracker
“César the Milanese” (Dassin
himself, billed as “Perlo Vita”)
for a little jewel store smashand-grab job — but Servais wants the whole works!
The central heist is an edge-of-your-seat 30-minute
sequence sans dialogue or music, so detailed that
it provided a usable blueprint for real-life pros.
“For the French, Rififi had Hollywood pizzazz; for
Americans, it had continental sophistication. For both,
it seemed to possess an authoritative naturalism.”
– J. Hoberman. 2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
APRIL 5 SUN (2 Films for 1 Admission)
TOPKAPI
(1964) Melina Mercouri and lover Maximilian Schell
find their carefully laid plans to heist emeralds from
Istanbul’s Topkapi Museum laid low by the bumblings
of hanger-on Peter Ustinov — in an Oscar-winning
performance. The high-tech heist has been ripped off by
everyone from De Palma to Wallace & Gromit! “Remains
unsurpassed for breathless suspense.” – Terrence
McNally, New York Times.
2:55, 7:00
BRUTE FORCE
APRIL 2 THU (Separate Admission)
BRUTE FORCE
(1947) In a prison so brutal that top guard Hume Cronyn
conducts his seemingly routine prisoner beatings
shirtless with Wagner on the turntable, rebellious Burt
Lancaster is itching to make that big breakout, even as
he has to deal with the obligatory psychopath, railroaded
honest guy, squealer, etc.; but one of Hollywood’s
grimmest climaxes looms ahead. 7:30 ONLY
APRIL 17-23 ONE WEEK! NEW 35mm PRINT!
APRIL 6 MON (2 Films for 1 Admission)
RIFIFI
10:30 PM SUMMER
(1966) Melina Mercouri hits the bottle hard when she
realizes hubby Peter Finch is dallying with traveling
companion Romy Schneider, then decides to help out
a local Spaniard on the run,
in brooding adaptation of
the Marguerite Duras novel.
1:00, 4:30, 8:00
THE
REHEARSAL
(1974) Laurence Olivier, Maximilian Schell, Arthur
Miller, Olympia Dukakis, Lillian Hellman, Melina Mercouri
and director Dassin rehearse their reenactment of
a famous atrocity under the colonels’ regime: the
November ’73 massacre of students at Athens
Polytechnic. Powerful play-within-a-film agitprop —
unreleased for the best of reasons: the Greek junta fell
days before its intended opening. 2:40, 6:10, 9:45
FROM THE DIRECTOR OF ARMY OF SHADOWS,
LE DOULOS & LE SAMOURAI!
PHAEDRA
APRIL 7 TUE (2 Films for 1 Admission)
Jean-Pierre Melville’s
LÉON MORIN, PRIEST
starring
PHAEDRA
Jean-Paul Belmondo
(1962) Grand, doomed passion among the jet-setters,
as shipping tycoon Raf Vallone sends second wife
Melina Mercouri (“luminous with fervor and honesty”
– NY Times) to drag alienated son Anthony Perkins
back from Parisian exile. Dassin teamed with avantgarde writer Liberaki to update Euripides.
1:20, 5:30, 9:50
NEVER ON
SUNDAY
(1961) “Religion is the opiate of the people,” begins the confession of Communist widow Emmanuelle Riva (Hiroshima, mon
amour), provocative just to get some fun in the drab little village where she‘s been relocated during the Occupation. But when
her confessor dryly replies “Pas exactement,” she begins a seemingly inexorable turn towards God — or is towards her handsome
confessor, Père Jean-Paul Belmondo (in “an erotically charged performance” – BFI)? Fed up with being “an auteur maudit known
only to a handful of crazy film buffs,” Jewish atheist Jean-Pierre Melville accepted an offer of real stars and an actual budget to
adapt Beatrix Beck’s autobiographical novel, a book he already considered “the most accurate picture I have read of life under
the Occupation,” then had to talk an initially reluctant Belmondo — hot from his star-making role in Breathless (in which Melville
cameoed) — into taking the title role. Melville created a kind of fresco of the Occupation — play-it-safe baptisms of Communist
and Jewish children; awakenings in the night by the sounds of shooting; parades of Alpine-hatted Italian Bersaglieri and
marching band Nazis; arguments with pro-Petain and anti-Semitic co-workers; a Jewish colleague getting a shave, name change,
and a ticket out; platonic same-sex crushes in a man-less world — but its center is Riva’s confusing, fascinating, tantalizing
encounter with God and his servant Belmondo (successfully intellectual, sincere, and ultimately enigmatic in a definitely changeof-pace role), their mutual underplaying making even theological discussions subtly throbbing with emotional undertones. Shot
by the great Henri Decaë (The 400 Blows, Elevator to the Gallows, Bob Le Flambeur). “Melville’s extraordinary excursion into
Bressonian territory... With an extreme emotional intensity, he forges links between the disparate themes of the Occupation,
profane love, and spiritual quest.”– Time Out (London). “Melville’s casting of Belmondo was a piece of counterintuitive genius;
having established himself as a supremely ironical performer in Godard’s Breathless, here he is asked to portray a paragon of
sincerity. It’s a remarkable performance.” – Glenn Kenny. “Expresses the genuine eye of the visionary… Apart from Bresson, it is
hard to think of anyone else now who can give the physical world such a charge.” – Penelope Gilliatt, The Observer.
A DREAM OF PASSION
(1960) In the Athens
seaport
of
Piraeus,
hopelessly idealistic and
naïve American Homer
Thrace (Dassin himself, in a rare co-starring role)
— fired up by a little ouzo — gets divested of that darn
idealism and Puritanism by Melina Mercouri’s funloving hooker Ilya (Cannes Best Actress award and
Oscar nomination). 1:10, 5:10, 9:15
TOPKAPI
(1978) Persona/Medea in Greece, as famous actress
Mercouri is berated during rehearsals for Euripides’
play by temperamental director Andreas Voutsinas
(“Carmen Ghia” of Mel Brooks’ The Producers!); while
a TV camera crew looks on. News of Ellen Burstyn’s
murder of her children spurs a speedy prison visit,
which turns into mutual therapy sessions as Melina
looks for artistic inspiration. 3:30, 7:40
APRIL 8-16 9 DAYS!
K BY
BACU
LAR
POP AND!
M
DE
Masaki Kobayashi’s
1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00 A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE
“MIRACULOUS CINEMA, even for heretics!” – Time Out (London)
THE HUMAN CONDITION
Starring
Tatsuya Nakadai
(1959-1961) Manchuria, WWII: well-meaning labor boss Tatsuya Nakadai tentatively tries humane methods in a raging barbed wire world
of oppressed workers, cruel Army superiors, and starved Chinese POWs; then experiences the jaw-breaking brutality of Imperial Army life
and must pit rifle fire against Russian tanks. Scathing, three-part exposé of the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, with a breakthrough
performance from Nakadai in “one of the most physically and emotionally grueling roles any actor has ever had to endure” (Terrence Rafferty,
NY Times), as he moves from indecisive would-be liberal to rock-hard leader of men. Once listed in Guinness as the longest movie ever
made, with dazzling b&w Scope photography and an enormous supporting cast that’s practically a Japanese movie Who’s Who, The Human
Condition was the dream project and masterpiece of Japan’s titan of socially critical cinema, Masaki Kobayashi (Harakiri, Kwaidan, Samurai
Rebellion). And, it is, thanks to his narrative expertise, tremendously absorbing — every minute of its almost-10-hour
running time. “An epic, or the word has no meaning... awesome in ambition and achievement” – David Shipman.
“Amazingly powerful in its emotional sweep and the depth of its historical insight. A sprawling epic of love, war,
heroism, and cruelty, but also, and most memorably, an intimately scaled chronicle of individual experience...
a work of large-scale realism like Satyajit Ray’s Apu trilogy and Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers.”
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times. “Film Forum allows audiences the rare opportunity of getting
lost within the polarized world of power and powerlessness... filled
with astonishing performances from some of the most renowned
Japanese actors. But it is Nakadai who so delicately lays out one
of the most inspired, engaging, and essential performances
ever captured on film.” – S. James Snyder, The New York
Sun. “An extraordinary achievement by any standard...
Nakadai’s transformation from idealist to leader,
protector, killer and finally, a haggard ghost of a
man offers a powerful example of humanity being
slowly, painfully stamped out.” – David Fear,
Time Out New York.
A JANUS FILMS RELEASE
A
“MONUMENTAL...
– A.O. Scott, The New York Times
“AN EXTRAOrDINARY
ACHIEVEMENT!”
– David Fear, Time Out New York
THE HUMAN CONDITION will be presented in three
parts, with a separate admission for each part (marathon
screenings on Saturday, Sunday, and the final Thursday).
Tickets for all three parts available online beginning
Wednesday, March 25.
PART I NO GREATER LOVE
(3 hours, 28 min., plus intermission)
PART II ROAD TO ETERNITY
(3 hours, 3 min., plus intermission)
PART III A SOLDIER’S PRAYER
(3 hours, 16 min., plus intermission)
2:00, 7:30
1:00, 4:40, 8:20
2:00, 7:30
12:00
All 3
Parts in
4:00
One Day
7:40
12:00
All 3
Parts in
4:00
One Day
7:40
2:00, 7:30
1:00, 4:40, 8:20
2:00, 7:30
12:00
All 3
Parts in
4:00
One Day
7:40
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Film Forum thanks these
film descriptions
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Bruce Goldstein
Michael Jeck
director of repertory
programming
Bruce Goldstein
board of directors
VIVIAN BOWER
GRAY COLEMAN, chairman
KAREN COOPER
LAVINIA CURRIER
NANCY DINE
RICHARD EADDY
RICHARD GARVEY
DAVID GRUBIN
WAYNE S. KABAK
ALAN KLEIN
JAN KRUKOWSKI
SUSAN LACY
NISHA GUPTA MCGREEVY
PATRICK MONTGOMERY
JOHN MORNING
VIVIAN OSTROVSKY
Adam Rich
JOHN ROCHE
PAIGE ROYER
JANE SCOVELL
JOHN SLOSS
MICHAEL STERNBERG
SUSAN TALBOT
JOHN TURTURRO
SHELLEY WANGER
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writing to:
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Film Forum, a publication
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is published 7 times a year.
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(1969) “You boys don’t look like you’re from this part of the country,” says hungover lawyer Jack Nicholson to leathergarbed, star-spangled Peter Fonda’s “Captain America” (“like a combination of Clint Eastwood and James Dean” – Village Voice)
and Dennis Hopper’s hirsute, fringed buckskin-clad Billy. After a big Mexican cocaine haul, the bikers cash in with wealthy
Mod-attired buyer Phil Spector (the legendary record producer and later murder defendant himself), then hit the open road to
do their own thing in their own time en route to New Orleans, Mardi Gras and Florida retirement, along the way encountering
a real live hippie commune, Nicholson’s football-helmeted ACLU lawyer, hippie-hating rednecks (the diner sneerers were small
town Louisianans freely improvising), French Quarter working girls Toni Basil and Karen Black, and the screen’s baddest acid
trip ever. From its sensational 1969 world premiere at Cannes — where it garnered Hopper a special award — Easy
Rider seemed to feel the pulse of a “non-silent” other America, becoming “the movie that changed Hollywood
forever” — when you gross $50 million on a $375,000 budget, people notice — introducing to mainstream
moviemaking a New Wave-inspired editing style and the first significant all-rock score, including sensational
tracks by Steppenwolf, The Byrds, The Band, and Jimi Hendrix. Not the least, it also kick-started the 32-yearold Jack Nicholson to super-stardom — he was just on the verge of calling acting quits. “Filled with beautifully
controlled little surprises that are usually on the anxious edge of going out of control. The impact of the
movie is terrifying, its effect on audiences seems to be catatonic catharsis. Most people come out saying
‘I’ve got to see that again.’” – The Village Voice. “Like other films directed to — and by — youth, Easy Rider
could have settled for catcalls and rebellion. Instead it has refurbished the classic romantic gospel of the
outcast wanderer. Walt Whitman might not have recognized the bikes—but he would have understood
the message.” – TIME.
FEBRUARY 6
- may 7
& Champagne
director
09
Revivals &
Repertory
E
Luis
Buñuel’s
Dennis Hopper’s
winter/spring 20
E
40th ANNIVERSARY!
MAY 1-7 ONE WEEK!
Skyscraper Souls, February 10 ::
1:00, 2:50, 4:40, 6:30, 8:20, 10:10
A JANUS FILMS RELEASE
New York, NY
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
R
(1961) As ordered, ultra-pious, aboutto-be-cloistered nun Sylvia Pinal goes
for a last visit to the reclusive uncle she
hardly knows, Buñuel regular and French
Connection heavy Fernando Rey, solely
as a mission of mercy — but there’s a
perfectly fitting wedding dress and a
crucifix/switchblade in store. Rey’s own
neglected illegit son Francisco Rabal,
despite a utilitarian view of women and
offensive — even for the time — smoking
habits, frees a little dog from cruelty only
for another one to trot past in the same
plight. And Pinal’s attempt to take a bevy of pitiful beggars under her wing
ends with … And a penitential crown of thorns flames up next to an outdoor
bonfire while a child’s jump rope is involved in death and attempted rape.
Apparently altruism doesn’t pay — but that’s just the beginning of the
provocations in Buñuel’s classic of anti-clericalism, his triumphant return to
filmmaking in Franco’s Spain — where censors actually approved the script,
but then “a reproduction of Da Vinci’s Last Supper” was its sole description
of the most notorious scene. Mexican movie superstar Pinal provided the
backing, via her wealthy furniture dealer husband, in order to make a
picture with Buñuel — his inspiration was a painting of the very obscure
Saint Viridiana kneeling on the floor before a crucifix and crown of thorns.
Viridiana was screened on the final day of the 1961 Cannes Film Festival,
creating an immediate sensation; it promptly shared the festival’s top prize,
the Palme d’Or — to Franco’s acute embarrassment. All prints were burned
and it was banned until the dictator’s death in 1977. Wondered Buñuel,
“What is it that people take exception to? My heroine is more virginal at the
end than she was in the beginning.” “One of the great feelbad movies of
all time… Sequence after sequence of this extraordinary film show Buñuel
as a master filmmaker, telling a story that is simultaneously simple and
sophisticated.” – Derek Malcolm, The Guardian. “What makes it fascinating
is Buñuel’s melodramatically graphic camera, which continually goads us,
and his rhythmic sense which, for example,
builds the orgy like a bolero. He is a master
technician with the outlook of a collegiate
idealist who has just discovered venality and
lust…a logical extension of the career of a
man who began by slitting a girl’s eyeball with
a razor.” – Stanley Kauffmann.
AMAZINGLY POWERFUL!”
Part 1
APRIL 8 WED
APRIL 9 THU
Part II
APRIL 10 FRI Part III
Part 1
APRIL 11 SAT Part II
Part III
Part 1
Part II
APRIL 12 SUN Part III
Part 1
APRIL 13 MON APRIL 14 TUE Part II
APRIL 15 WED Part III
Part 1
Part II
APRIL 16 THU Part III
P
LINCOLN’S 20
FEBRUARY 12 THU (2 Films for 1 Admission)
YOUNG MISTER LINCOLN
0th
BIRTHDAY!
NEW 35mm PRINT!
(1939, John Ford) Henry Fonda’s Abraham Lincoln loves and loses Ann Rutledge, studies law, runs his first
political race, meets Mary Todd and Stephen A. Douglas, and takes on a climactic murder trial at the behest
of family friend Alice Brady — with its solution found in a farmer’s almanac. “Ford’s mythologizing has
seldom seemed stronger or more subtle.” – Dave Kehr. “Explodes in the histrionic splendor and ‘excess’ of
the celebrated final sequence.” – Time Out (London). “A masterpiece of concision, yet it breathes an air of
casual improvisation.” – Geoffrey O’Brien. 1:00, 4:35, 8:05
THE TALL TARGET
(1951, Anthony Mann) On board Lincoln’s inauguration-bound
train, freelancing NYC cop Dick Powell (character name: John
Kennedy!) teams up with Union officer Adolphe Menjou to foil an
assassination plot—or does he? “A Noir mini-masterpiece. Sinewy
camera movement, elegantly modulated rhythms, and arresting
paranoia.” – Fernando F. Croce, Slant. 3:00, 6:30, 10:00
Special thanks to Schawn Belston, Caitlin Robertson (Twentieth Century Fox); and Charles Barcellona.
FEBRUARY 23 MON
An Evening with Marni Nixon
Question: what do these three great movie musical roles have in common? Deborah
Kerr’s Anna in The King and I, Natalie Wood’s Maria in West Side Story, and Audrey
Hepburn’s Eliza in My Fair Lady. Answer: the glorious singing voice of Marni Nixon,
who dubbed the vocals for each of these musically-demanding parts and, despite
the absence of screen credit, soon became
famous as “the ghostess with the mostest,”
as Time dubbed her. But, on top of those
three legendary roles, she also dubbed the
singing voices of Margaret O’Brien (twice —
once in Hindi!) and Jeanne Crain, hummed
for Janet Leigh, and even touched up the high
notes for Marilyn Monroe. (She also sang
on screen as Sister Sophia in The Sound
of Music). But Marni’s life as a “ghost” is
only a small part of an extraordinary career
that stretches back to her L.A. childhood. A
favorite on the concert and opera stages, she
has worked side by side with such legends
as Igor Stravinsky, Leonard Bernstein, Aaron
Copland, Pierre Boulez, Charles Ives, and
Arnold Schoenberg (not to mention Victor
Borge, Liberace, and Lawrence Welk!), while
maintaining a parallel career on the musical stage. In recent years, Marni has appeared
on Broadway in James Joyce’s The Dead, Follies, and Nine and has long been a much
sought-after vocal teacher. Tonight, Marni Nixon will appear in person for an onstage
interview with Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein and award-winning musical theater writer
Stephen Cole, co-author (or “ghost writer”) of Marni’s frank autobiography, I Could Have
Sung All Night, which will be available for sale at Film Forum.
Admission: $20, $10 for Film Forum members. 7:30