209 WEST HOUSTON STREET NEW YORK, NY 10014

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$10.50 NON-MEMBERS / $5.50 MEMBERS
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DIVA
209 WEST HOUSTON STREET
{ see reverse }
NEW YORK, NY 10014
41 Parallelo
MiBAC DG Cinema
AND THE SUPPORT OF
Cineteca dell'Aquila Lanterna Magica, Janus Films and Sub-Ti
Un Maledetto imbroglio (1959) As police inspector
Germi investigates first a robbery, and then a
succeeding murder at the same Roman apartment
building, just about everyone starts to look guilty,
including a very young Claudia Cardinale (“She acts
even with the corners of her eyes” – Pasolini). Unique
combination of brooding mystery, rich character
comedy, and an amazingly faithful adaptation of Carlo
Emilio Gadda’s complex, Joycean novel. “On much the
same high commercial level as Divorce, Italian Style.
The script is detailed, ingenious and consistently
gripping.” – Monthly Film Bulletin. 3:00, 7:10
NOVEMBER 7 WED (SEPARATE ADMISSION)
PIETRO GERMI (1914-1974) never became a Brand Name. Acclaimed internationally for late-career satires
so corrosive as to etch lead, he had already stormed box offices with stories so tragic they triggered the
waterworks of theater employees(!), while controversially moving neo-realism into the world of genre (the Western, the
heist film, the mystery). And although he acted in several of his own films and was an outsized personality himself (he
hated answering the telephone or the doorbell, detested being called dottore, was uncomfortable in public places other
than movie theaters and trattorie, didn’t pay taxes because he “owned nothing,” and was an outspoken left-leaning
anti-Communist in a radical artistic world), he never achieved a high personal profile. As technically assured as any of
his legendary peers, and perhaps more restlessly questing in subject matter, Pietro Germi was, ultimately, a loner.
ALFREDO, ALFREDO
SPECIAL THANKS TO DAVIDE AZZOLINI (41 PARALLELO); AMELIA CARPENITO (ITALIAN CULTURAL INSTITUTE);
PETER BECKER, SARAH FINKLEA, KIM HENDRICKSON, FUMIKO TAKAGI (JANUS FILMS); ANTONIO MONDA;
AND FEDERICO SPOLETTI, LILIA PINO BLOUIN, DAVIDE LUSSETTI (SUB-TI).
T H E FA C T S O F M U R D E R
(1972) Shy, timid bank clerk Dustin Hoffman should be
so lucky, ending up married to knockout Stefania
Sandrelli — only problems are: her possessiveness,
her frustration at not getting pregnant, and then there’s
those embarrassing blood-curdling screams during sex.
Even dubbed, Hoffman’s performance is nerdiness
supreme, as the crusade for divorce legalization and
towering Carla Gravina start to look good — but will
either solve anything? 1:00, 5:10, 9:20
NOVEMBER 6 TUE
THE RAILROAD MAN
NOVEMBER 2/3/4 FRI/SAT/SUN
SEDUCED AND ABANDONED
Il ferroviere (1956) Railroad engineer Germi (acting
again after nearly 20 years, although with voice
dubbed), after being relieved from driving after a man
commits suicide in front of his engine, goes to pieces,
powerdiving into the bottle as his family falls apart
around him. But when death looms, things start to
change. An enormous hit, but not with intellectual
critics and big cities (less than 10% of its box office
came from downtown), reportedly reducing even
theater ushers (?!) to tears. “Germi plays the express
driver with something of the stature of a gentler Kirk
Douglas, beautifully inter weaving violence and
melancholy.” – Raymond Durgnat. 1:00, 5:25, 9:50
NEW 35mm PRINT!
Sedotta e abbandonata (1963) Bad enough that sleazy
civil service aspirant Aldo Puglisi adamantly refuses
marriage to delectably protectable Stefania Sandrelli;
worse is his reason: she’s not the virgin bride he has
a right to. Only trouble is, he’s the one who seduced
her while he was engaged to her somnolent sister!
Oh well, marriage will make that rape charge go away
— but what if she doesn’t . . . ? Kidnapping in broad
daylight; a sweaty-palmed attempted murder of an altar
boy; interrupting gap-toothed aristocrat Leopoldo
Trieste’s latest suicide attempt — Germi regular
Saro Urzì as Sandrelli’s
dad frenzied his way
to a Cannes Best
Actor Award as he left
no stone unturned
(including his own
tombstone) to preserve
that darn “family honor.”
“Sandrelli’s young
provincial woman is
one of the glories of
modern Italian cinema.”
– Andrew Sarris.
2:00, 4:30, 7:00, 9:30
THE RAILROAD MAN
NOVEMBER 6 TUE (SEPARATE ADMISSION)
NOVEMBER 5 MON
THE WAY OF HOPE
THE STRAW MAN
Il Cammino della speranza (1950) When even an
underground sitdown strike can’t keep those Sicilian
sulfur mines open, the ex-workers, led by Raf Vallone,
are willing to listen to people smuggler Saro Urzì,
who offers them a job-packed Promised
Land — France! And so begins a trek, by
train, bus, and foot, broken by a shootout
in a Rome station, a labor confrontation in
Lombardy, and climaxing in a knife fight in
Alpine snows. “The most lyrical film I’ve
ever seen.” – Nicholas Ray. 3:10, 7:00
L’uomo di paglia (1958) Braced for loneliness, timid
middle-aged factory worker/summer bachelor Germi
sees his wife and son off to the seaside — but then
he meets younger Franca Bettoja, and . . . A classic
triangle, with tragic consequences —
but not what one might suppose — and
then, there’s still two more acts. “I
have always felt a lifelong attachment
to this character. Such deep, true parts
for women didn’t exist in Italian cinema
back then.” – Bettoja. 3:10, 7:35
STARRING
2 WEEKS!
SEMBENE
NOVEMBER 30/DECEMBER 1 FRI/SAT
XALA
The Curse (1974) Animal Farm in Africa, as fiftyish fat
cat El Hadji Abdoukadr Beye enjoys a flourishing import
business, two wives (traditional and Westernized), and
a white Mercedes — and now he’s appointed to the
Chamber of Commerce. Time to add that third wife; but
on the wedding night he fails to rise to the occasion —
could he be the victim of a xala? Savagely funny satire
of the new post-independence ruling class that, despite
government censorship, broke Senegalese box office
records and hit its targets where they lived. “The actors
are wonderful, especially the women who play the first
two wives — ladies of magisterial personality, social
shrewdness and sexual pride. The wedding sequence
makes the one in The Godfather look like a wedding
party at McDonald’s.” – Newsweek. “A hilarious attack
on the self-inflicted shame of Africans trying to be
Europeans.” – Scott Foundas. 2:00, 4:20, 7:00, 9:20
ALFREDO, ALFREDO
IN THE NAME OF THE LAW
In nome della legge (1949) Nobody — including the
barone and Mafia kingpin Charles Vanel (Diabolique, The
Wages of Fear) — wants to know about the latest
robbery and murder in a sun-baked Sicilian town — but
then lone magistrate Massimo Girotti (Ossessione) gets
off the train. Ford and Eisenstein-influenced Sicilian
Western, with the Mafia, as though they were Apaches,
both depicted as savages and monumentalized visually.
Critical controversy ensued from unusual melding of neorealism and genre, with acting awards to Girotti and Saro
Urzì as local cop. “Apart from Divorce Italian Style, this
is Germi’s best film, and a good example of neo-realism
in the 1948-1952 period.” – Georges Sadoul.
1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30
– STUART KLAWANS
“A COMIC-SATIRIC
MASTERPIECE.”
– ANDREW SARRIS
NEW 35mm PRINT!
NOVEMBER 16-25
Divorzio all’italiana (1961) Problem: cigarette
planted in holder, facial tic regularly kicking in,
hair slicked back, his mustache as rounded off
as a society lady’s eyebrows, his eyelids
perpetually at half mast, down at the heels
baron Marcello Mastroianni, fed up with plump,
fuzzy-lipped wife Daniela Rocca, has eyes only
for his passionate teenage cousin Stefania
Sandrelli, smoldering away just across the
cour tyard. Solution: while divorce is an
embarrassing impossibility in Sicilian society,
and outright murder gets you twenty to life,
crimes of “honor” garner a three-to-seven slap
on the wrist and admiration from your peers. So
obviously it’s time to invite Rocca’s old flame
Leopoldo Trieste in for a little fresco touchup,
and who knows what else? — even as
Mastroianni gets out the concealed
microphones and tape recorder. Germi’s
hilarious satire of Sicilian mores was a smash
around the world, cementing Mastroianni’s stardom by highlighting his comedy prowess after the
impact of Fellinian angst, winning a Best Comedy award at Cannes, and an Oscar for the
Original Screenplay by Germi and the legendary writing team “Age-Scarpelli” (The Good, The
Bad and The Ugly ; Seduced and Abandoned ; Mafioso, etc., etc.), plus two other nominations,
for Germi’s directing and Mastroianni’s acting. All the more ironic that Mastroianni was not on
the original eleven-name wish list for the baron; the first private showing, to film people like
Visconti and Francesco Rosi, didn’t get a single laugh; and the story was originally conceived as
intense drama — which, sometimes, is not really so far from farce. “With Divorce, Italian Style,
Germi gave a new impetus to Italian comedy: he nudged the genre from farce to satire, from the
comedy of hysterical overplaying to the wit of underreaction. It remains a terrific entertainment,
a European corollary to Preston Sturges.” – Dave Kehr. A JANUS FILMS RELEASE.
XALA
(MATINEES
ONLY
NOVEMBER 23-25)
Albert Lamorisse’s
NEW
35mm
(2005) In a remote Burkina Faso village, the impending
mass ceremony of female circumcision goes wrong as
this year’s class of young girls jump down wells or head
for the home of Colle, herself a holdout against
tradition, and her red thread of sanctuary, the
Moolaadé. Intense treatment of a burning issue, but
embedded within a three-dimensional treatment of
village life — with a final outburst of courage coming
from the least likely source. “As politically sophisticated
a film as those of John Ford and Kenji Mizoguchi and
makes plain the material necessities that underlie local
ways. Yet the rousing finish exalts another element of
the will to freedom: the power of romantic love to
loosen the bonds of indifferent institutions.” – Richard
Brody, The New Yorker. 2:00, 4:25, 6:50, 9:15
DECEMBER 4 TUE
WHITE MANE
LWinner, Palme d’Or, Cannes Film Festivall
®
(1956) Six-year old petit garçon Pascal Lamorisse (son of the director) and the biggest, shiniest ballon rouge ever
— 25,000 were used during shooting — share near dialogue-less adventures tagging after each other through the
old Belleville section of Paris. Perhaps the most acclaimed short film of all time, Red Balloon won the Palme d’Or
for court métrage at Cannes and the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, making it the only short ever
given an Oscar for a feature category and beating out such contenders as The Ladykillers and La Strada! Taiwanese
director Hou Hsiao-hsien’s new film Flight of the Red Balloon is an homage to Lamorisse’s masterpiece. “An utterly
charming, tender, and humorous drama of the ingeniousness of a child.” – Bosley Crowther, The New York Times. “Cinematographer
Edmond Séchan’s color photography of the Parisian streets is truly revelatory — as luminous as Eugène Atget’s old daguerreotypes —
and the film itself is both sophisticated and naive, childlike and artistically mature. It’s an unalloyed joy.” – The Isthmus.
“As pretty a time as may be had in the cinema.” – David Shipman. “A fairy tale without fairies.” – Jean Cocteau.
and
WHITE MANE
(1952, ALBERT LAMORISSE) In the rugged Camargue region of Provence, French cowboys hunt the wild
horses, but the one that they can’t master is their leader, White Mane. Maybe young fisherman
Alain Emery can . . . But if he does, where can they go? Dazzling black and white photography, hairraising stunts and action, leading to a mythic/tragic climax. Winner of the Cannes Grand Prix for
short film. “One of the most beautiful films ever made” – Pauline Kael.
BOTH RELEASED BY JANUS FILMS.
Complete program (White Mane and The Red Balloon):
NOVEMBER 16-22: 1:00, 2:40, 4:20, 6:00, 7:40 NOVEMBER 23-25: 1:00, 2:40
Total running time: approx. 72 min.
Yes, just who is Norman Lloyd?
NOVEMBER 23-29 ONE WEEK!
(2 F I L M S
You may know him as Dr. Auschlander on TV’s St.
Elsewhere, but if ever someone should be a
household name but isn’t, he’s the guy. Born in Jersey
City 93 years ago and raised in Brooklyn (guess those
elocution lessons paid off), Lloyd is undoubtedly the
only person, living or dead, who can claim to have
worked with Hitchcock, Renoir, Chaplin, and Orson
Welles . . . not to mention Elia Kazan, Jules Dassin,
Bertolt Brecht, and Martin Scorsese. Oh, and Cameron
Diaz. And it wasn’t just a Zelig-like “brush with
greatness” either. In this new documentary, we see the
amazingly vigorous nonagenarian moving from his twice-aweek tennis match at home in L.A. to spinning yarns at his
installation as a life member of Manhattan’s Players Club.
But then there’s: acting in the theater during the
Depression with Kazan; arguing with Welles about the role
of Cinna the poet in the 1937 Mercury Theatre production
of Julius Caesar ; a tennis friendship with Chaplin and a part
in Limelight ; and a long association with Hitchcock beginning
with Lloyd’s film debut as the Saboteur (he’s the guy on the
Statue of Liberty) — Hitchcock later rescued Lloyd from the
blacklist by making him associate producer and sometime
director of his weekly TV series (he directed nineteen episodes
and appeared in five of them). And the career continues:
teases pal Karl Malden, “The bastard’s as old as I am and still
at it.” Lloyd's more-than-70-years-in-show-business saga is told
through films clips, archival photos, on-set documentar y
footage, and inter views including Malden, Ray Bradbur y,
Cameron Diaz, Peggy Lloyd (Norman’s wife of 71 years), plus the
elegant raconteuring of the man himself. Directed by Matthew
Sussman. Produced by Joseph Scarpinito and Michael Badalucco.
“Captures the essence of this renaissance man. What a treat to
spend time in his company.” – Leonard Maltin.
FRI/SAT/SUN 4:35, 8:15 MON 1:00, 4:35, 10:35
TUE/WED/THU 1:00, 4:35, 8:15
FO R
1 ADMISSION)
Plus!
ALFRED
HITCHCOCK’S
SABOTEUR
(1942) Rehearsal for North by
Northwest, as Robert Cummings,
framed with a phony sabotage
rap, uncovers the real culprits,
with Norman Lloyd, screendebuting in the title role, as the principal in spectacular Statue
of Liberty climax. Among touches by co-scripter Dorothy
Parker: the caravan of circus freaks. Echt Hitchcock touch:
Lloyd’s smirking glance out of cab window establishing
responsibility for the sinking of the Normandie — a scene
added right after news of the disaster hit. “The Hitchcock
film par excellence.” – David Shipman.
A UNIVERSAL PICTURES RELEASE.
FRI/SAT/SUN 6:10, 9:45 MON 2:30, 6:10
TUE/WED/THU 2:30, 6:10, 9:45
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26
SPECIAL EVENT!
AN EVENING WITH
NORMAN LLOYD
Now that you know who he is,
here’s your chance to see this legend of theater,
movies and television in action — in person. Mr. Lloyd
(“raconteur extraordinaire” – Leonard Maltin) will
appear in person to recount an extraordinary
career that began over 70 years ago.
TICKETS
Hosted by Film Forum’s Bruce Goldstein
and John Martello, Executive Director of AVAILABLE
ONLINE
The Players, with surprise guests! 8:15
BLACK GIRL &
Borom Sarret
La Noire de . . . (1966) Diouana finds her pleasant
babysitting chores for a French family in Dakar topped
by an invitation to accompany them back to France;
but once there, she finds she’s just “the black girl.”
Based on an actual event, Sembene’s first feature
combines the semi-doc technique of neo-realism with
the simple, freewheeling style of the early New Wave
in an unsparing attack on neo-colonial exploitation
that put African cinema on the map. With Sembene
himself as a schoolteacher. “Remains a remarkably
economical portrait of colonial displacement.” – J.
Hoberman. Plus Borom Sarret (1964), Sembene’s
first film, a day in the life of a poor cart driver.
1:00, 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, 8:00, 9:45
(1977) In a 19th-century village, a princess is
kidnapped, and a Muslim imam struggles against a
Catholic priest for religious and political control, while
the ceddo (“ched-doe”), or common people, try to hold
on to their traditional ways. Banned in Senegal —
ostensibly over the “European” spelling of the title, but
more likely for its criticism of Islam, the country’s
dominant religion — Sembene’s historical epic
condenses two centuries of African history into a
thriller of oppression and intolerance. “Achieves an
operatic orchestration of raw forces similar to
Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky or Kurosawa’s Seven
Samurai.” – The Village Voice. 2:00, 4:20, 6:40, 9:00
G U E LWA A R
(1993) Bad enough that political activist Guelwaar
(“the noble one”) has just died mysteriously, right
after a mesmerizing opening speech — but where’s
the body? Misidentified and buried in a Muslim
cemetery? — but he was a Catholic! The solution is
obvious — but the family’s disinterment plans rapidly
derail as a bitingly comic firestorm of red tape, intrafamily disputes, and religious turf wars threaten to
escalate into mayhem. “Has a remarkable richness,
at once lyrical and satirical, intimate and analytical.”
– Dave Kehr. 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00
3 ACADEMY
AWARDS!
(2000) Amid a bustling modern Dakar, single mother
Faat-Kiné is one joyously tough cookie, shrugging off
her father’s attempt to immolate her after the birth of
one out-of-wedlock child, and the father of the other
scampering off with all her money. But now she’s the
successful manager of a gas station and happy house
and car owner. But as family and friends turn out for her
childrens’ exam-passing party, guess who else shows
up? “Unquestionably one of the spryest, nimblest films
constructed by a near octogenarian.” – Scott Foundas.
“Combines a youngster’s giddy enthusiasm with an
elder’s wise tranquility.” – J. Hoberman.
1:30, 3:30, 5:30, 7:30, 9:30
DECEMBER 12 WED
CAMP DE THIAROYE
(CO-DIRECTED BY THIERNO FATY SOW, 1987) “A magisterial
critique of the colonial mentality” (J. Hoberman), based
on an actual historical incident. In 1944, African
infantrymen, back from slugging it out with the Nazis
and liberating Paris, relax in a transit camp in Senegal;
but as they gag on inedible food and wonder what
happened to that back pay, they realize “transit” should
read “prison”, and “war heroes” should read “uppity
natives.” And then things get worse. Special Jury Prize,
Venice. “His most haunting work, featuring the glorious
actor Ibrahima Sane revealing his regal bearing and lowkeyed intensity.” – World Film Directors. “Sembene
deeply personalizes it with heroic-flawed characters,
lyrical frame-within-frame compositions and intimateepic scope.” – Scott Foundas. “An epic of David Lean
dimensions.” – Stuart Klawans. 1:30, 4:30, 7:30
CAMP DE THIAROYE
DECEMBER 13 THU
EMITAI
BLACK GIRL
The Money Order (1968) Illiterate, unemployed, fiftyish
Ibrahima Deng suddenly gets a windfall: a money order
from his streetsweeper nephew in France for 20,000
francs (roughly $100). But as friends, relations, and
debtors close in, he finds he can’t cash it without an
identity card, which requires a proof of birth, which . . .
Sembene’s first color film is a darkly humorous satire
of Kafkaesque bureaucracy and corruption, as Deng
concludes “honesty is a sin in this country.” “A richly
comic and multi-textual first cousin to The Bicycle
Thief.” – J. Hoberman. “A razory satire that recounts in
almost Sturges-like mania.” – Scott Foundas.
1:00, 2:50, 4:40, 6:30, 8:20, 10:10
(1986) “I had a great evening. It was like the
Nuremberg Trials.” It’s a warm, happy mob scene
at the annual Thanksgiving dinner that omnicompetent Hannah (Mia Farrow) puts together
practically solo, the first of three that mark two years
in the lives of Hannah, recently triumphant in her
return to the stage in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; and her
sisters: drifting AA member Barbara Hershey, who
lives with misanthropic artist Max von Sydow, and excoke sniffer, insecure actress/caterer/writer
wannabe Dianne Wiest (Oscar, Best Supporting
Actress). Yes, Hannah’s got it all, except that her
second husband, financial consultant Michael Caine
(Oscar, Best Supporting Actor), can’t stop thinking
about sister-in-law Hershey, who’s getting restless
with the older von Sydow; Wiest engages catering
partner Carrie Fisher in a who’ll-get-dropped-off-last
duel after a ride around town with available widower
Sam Waterston; and parents Maureen O’Sullivan
(Farrow’s actual mom) and Lloyd Nolan constantly
bickering about drinking and decades-old infidelities.
Oh, and ex-husband TV producer Woody Allen battles
hypochondria and existential angst so severe he
contemplates Catholicism, Hare Krishnaism, Wonder
Bread, and a rifle in his desperate search for answers to the ultimate questions. Arguably
Woody’s richest work, with enough material for half-a-dozen films; one of his most formally
experimental — the lengthy voiceovers and interior monologues often contradicting the action
on screen; and his romantic ode in color to New York, with the camera endlessly tracking
beside and ahead of walkers and runners through the most picturesque of neighborhoods—
with, startlingly, his most positive ending ever. (“I don’t see it as optimistic. I see it as vaguely
hopeful” – Woody.) “The penthouses have been replaced by SoHo lofts, West Side labyrinths,
but the preoccupations are pretty much the same as those faced by romantic New Yorkers from
Fred and Ginger to Kate and Cary. . . There is the invigorating lilt of spring in the air, and love
and the Chrysler Building are just around every corner.” – Richard Corliss, Time. “It’s apparent
that Mr. Allen has become the urban poet of our anxious age — skeptical, guiltily bourgeois,
longing for answers to impossible questions, but not yet willing to chuck a universe that can
produce The Marx Brothers.” – Vincent Canby, The New York Times.
AN MGM RELEASE. 1:25, 3:30, 5:35, 7:40, 9:45
DECEMBER 14-24
11 DAYS!
FAAT-KINÉ
GUELWAAR
MANDABI
MOOLAADÉ
FA AT - K I N É
DECEMBER 11 TUE
DECEMBER 9/10 SUN/MON
DECEMBER 7/8 FRI/SAT
WINNER OF
Winner, Academy Award®, Best Original Screenplay
THE FILMS OF OUSMANE SEMBENE ARE RELEASED BY NEW YORKER FILMS.
CEDDO
NEW 35mm PRINT!
!
ATIONS
RESTOR
Africa’s foremost filmmaker, Ousmane Sembene
(1923-2007) directed not only the first African
feature film, but also the continent’s first color
movie and the first shot in an indigenous
language. Booted out of school in Senegal in his
early teens, Sembene joined the Senegalese
sharpshooters of the Free French for a four-year
stint of fighting across Africa, France, and
Germany. Demobilized, he joined a mammoth
West African railroad strike, became a shipyard
union activist in Marseilles, began to write and,
by the early 60s, was recognized as a major
African novelist. But pushing forty, and realizing
that literature had a limited audience in Africa,
he went back to (film) school, with his efforts
winning awards at festivals around the world and
bringing international attention to sub-Saharan African cinema. In his nine features he was not
only a sharp critic of the internal problems of modern Africa, but also a passionate advocate of
African pride and autonomy. “Sembene’s films unflinchingly — yet playfully — examine the reality
of contemporary Africa.” – Berenice Reynaud, New York Times. “His films seem to coast into view
and before you know it you’re hooked . . . he is a far more adroit and elegant storyteller than many
may be accustomed to seeing.” – Elvis Mitchell, New York Times.
DECEMBER 5/6 WED/THU
MOOLAADÉ
NOVEMBER 9-15: 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00 NOVEMBER 16-22: 9:20
10 DAYS!
– J. Hoberman
DECEMBER 2/3 SUN/MON
MARCELLO MASTROIANNI STEFANIA SANDRELLI
“A PERFECT MOVIE.”
“ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE
ARTISTS IN THE WORLD” – Jack Kroll, Newsweek
“THE DEAN OF AFRICAN FILMMAKERS”
NOVEMBER 8 THU
NOVEMBER 9-22 TWO WEEKS! (LATE SHOWS ONLY NOVEMBER 16-22)
PIETRO GERMI’S
NOVEMBER 30DECEMBER 13
MANDABI
God of Thunder (1971) “I dedicate this film to all
militants of the African cause.” When, during WWII,
French troops come to a Diola village to conscript the men
and confiscate the rice, the women hide the crop and the
elders consult with the gods, but events slowly escalate to
tragedy. Based on an actual
incident, filming on location in
the village of Dimbering took
about seven weeks spread
over a year (Sembene had to
work around the planting
seasons) and entailed the
director learning the Diola
language as well. The film’s
final horrific image was
blacked out by the French.
1:30, 3:30, 5:30,
7:30, 9:30
WOODY ALLEN’S
HANNAH AND
HER SISTERS
DECEMBER 25-JANUARY 1 EIGHT DAYS!
(1931) Chaplin on talkies, 1929: “I loathe them.” As stuffy orators intone at the unveiling of a monstrous group
of civic statuary, the speech-less soundtrack imitates kazoos and chickens, even as the Little Tramp is revealed
asleep in the arms of the matronly allegorical statue. And so, for the world of fans who had waited four years
for Chaplin’s response to the talkie revolution, the answer was — except for a recorded music track, with sound
effects like gunshots, clanging bells, and that whistle — a silent movie... and a masterpiece. But this time
channeled through the double tracks of parallel plots: the suicidal zillionaire who, saved from drowning by
Charlie, becomes his bosom buddy... until that darned sobriety returns; and Virginia Cherrill’s beautiful blind
flower girl, who in offering the shabby Tramp a boutonnière, mistakes him for a swell stepping
out from his limo. (Cherrill, a socialite and film neophyte, disliked Chaplin, and vice
versa — he tried to fire her once and cast her only because she could avoid
grotesquerie when faking blindness. Soon after, she became the first Mrs.
Cary Grant.) En route, Charlie mistakes cheese for soap and confetti for
spaghetti, gets stuck streetcleaning behind an elephant, interrupts a
society soloist with whistle-augmented hiccups, continually
unknowingly teeters on the brink as a street elevator up-and-downs
behind his to-and-froing before a naked statue in shop window;
and turns a safely-fixed-but-now-it-dangerously-isn’t prize fight into
a hilariously synchronized pas de trois; all, ultimately for love of
Cherrill, culminating in the legendary scene of recognitions: the
final close-up (emulated by Giulietta Masina in Nights of Cabiria
and Woody Allen in Manhattan) was later proclaimed by James
Agee as “the greatest piece of acting and the highest moment
in movies.” Christmas Day is the 30th Anniversary of
Chaplin’s death. “If only one of Chaplin’s
films could be preserved, City Lights
would come the closest to
representing all the different notes of
his genius. It contains the slapstick,
the pathos, the pantomime, the
effortless physical coordination, the
melodrama, the bawdiness, the grace, and, of
course, the Little Tramp — the character said at one time to be the
most famous image on earth.” – Roger Ebert.
les
Char ’s
lin
p
a
h
C
m
Il Brigante di Tacca del Lupo (1952) Amid the turmoil of
the post-Risorgimento in the South, bersaglieri captain
Amedeo Nazzari (the film star in Nights of Cabiria) gets
his assignment from Naples HQ: capture notorious
brigand Raffa Raffa. But en route to a bullet-riddled final
showdown, there are encounters with limp corpses
strung up from baroque arches, a woman kidnapped
and dishonored by the bandit leader, and whose-side-ishe-on-policeman Saro Urzì. Co-written by Fellini, his last
script for somebody else. 1:20, 5:10, 9:00
35
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NOVEMBER 7 WED
A KINO INTERNATIONAL RELEASE.
1:30, 3:25, 5:20, 7:15, 9:10
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NOVEMBER 5 MON (SEPARATE ADMISSION)
THE BRIGAND OF TACCA DEL LUPO THE FACTS OF MURDER
m
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JANUARY 8 TUE
JANUARY 12 SAT
ANATOMY OF A MURDER NEW 35mm RESTORATION!
IN HARM’S WAY
ADVISE & CONSENT
(1959) Courtroom drama at its peak, with both emotional
pyrotechnics and nervous comedy relief, as smalltown exProsecutor James Stewar t (in a subtly ambiguous
performance) defends Ben Gazzara for the murder of wife Lee
Remick’s rapist — with lace-trimmed panties the key. With
George C. Scott (in his first major role) as the prosecutor,
McCarthy silencer Joseph N. Welch as the judge, Eve Arden
as Stewart’s knowing gal Friday, and a Duke Ellington
(onscreen as “Pie-Eye”) score. “Preminger’s best and most
personal film, with undiminished power and astonishing
freshness.” – Peter Bogdanovich. 1:30, 4:30, 7:30*
*7:30 SHOW ON FRIDAY INTRODUCED BY FOSTER HIRSCH
(1965) Preminger-style war in the
Pacific starts with Pearl Harbor
— then builds to superb surface
battles done with 60-foot models
— as Bull Halsey-type John
Wayne romances Patricia Neal and pounds the Japanese amid
a monstrous cast including Henry Fonda as “Nimitz” and Kirk
Douglas as a rapist/hero. 1:00, 4:30, 8:00
(1962) Notorious for the first depiction of a gay bar in an
American film — and one of Preminger’s greatest works. Henry
Fonda and Burgess Meredith re-create Alger Hiss and Whittaker
Chambers, amid lengthy single-take shots, most notably with
President Franchot Tone on a destroyer. With George Grizzard
as a conniving blackmailer and Charles Laughton’s last great
performance, as an impeccably-accented Southern senator.
“Still grips like a vice thanks to Preminger’s stunning mise-enscène.” – Tom Milne. Restored by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Sciences with the support of the Andrew J.
Kuehn Foundation. 1:20, 4:00, 6:40, 9:20
JANUARY 9 WED (2 FILMS
FOR
1 ADMISSION)
BONJOUR TRISTESSE
NEW 35mm RESTORATION!
(1958) Swinging widower David Niven’s daughter Jean Seberg
can’t complain when he gets serious about Deborah Kerr, but
when Kerr starts acting like a mom, it’s time to bring back a
Niven ex-mistress to restore the balance of power, with tragic
results. With Geoffrey Horne. Based on the bestseller de
scandal by teenage novelist Françoise Sagan. “When Seberg is
on the screen, you can’t look at anything else . . . It is
Preminger’s love poem to her.” – François Truffaut. 3:35, 7:30
THE FAN
(1949) Epigram meets Epigram, as Dorothy Parker co-adapts
Oscar Wilde’s classic comedy of manners, Lady
Windermere’s Fan. With Madeleine Carroll, George Sanders
as the acidulous Lord Darlington, Jeanne Crain as Lady W.
“Preminger’s most underrated film, richly
deserving of reassessment.” – Hirsch.
TUE 3:35, 7:30* WED 3:35
SAINT JOAN
JANUARY 2-17 16 DAYS!
A N AT O M Y O F A M U R D E R
PREMINGER
JANUARY 6 SUN (2 FILMS
FOR
1 ADMISSION)
(1957) Graham Greene’s screen version of Shaw’s classic
martyr play features an all-star cast — Richard Widmark,
Anton Walbrook, Richard Todd, John Gielgud, et al. — in
support of debuting 18-year old Jean Seberg, chosen after a
casting hunt rivaling Scarlett O’Hara’s. Seberg was almost
burned at the stake — for real. 1:30, 5:25, 9:20
JANUARY 2/3 WED/THU
(2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)
(1945) Drifter Dana Andrews
chases waitress Linda Darnell
but marries heiress Alice Faye
(in a rare dramatic role just
before retirement) — then
must shake cop Charles
Bickford when one of the ladies
turns up dead. Vintage Noir
features Preminger’s longestever takes. “Treats melodrama
with an extraordinary lack of hysteria.” – David Shipman.
“‘Elegant’ seems a feeble word to describe Preminger’s visual
mastery in this film.” – Dave Kehr. “Preminger’s command of
Noir’s visual idiom is apparent...The narrative is riddled with
suggestions of pathology.” – Hirsch. 1:00, 4:35, 8:10
(1944) “I shall never forget the weekend Laura died.”
Clifton Webb’s elitist critic Waldo Lydecker acidly narrates, as
detective Dana Andrews, on the brink of necrophilia, falls in
love with portrait of murdered Manhattan smart-setter Gene
Tierney, in the classic romantic Noir. “Ripe with perverse
sexual undertones.” – Foster Hirsch. “Introduced a gallery of
perverse types, as well as the most hauntingly romantic
theme of the decade.” – J. Hoberman. “Preminger’s Citizen
Kane.” – Andrew Sarris. 2:55, 6:30, 10:05
DAISY KENYON
(1947) Eternal triangle time: designer Joan Crawford messes
up two marriages as only she can, with super-laid-back exSergeant Henry Fonda waiting out her tormented affair with
married Dana Andrews. “The camera style is implacably
objective, observant of such detail, that even Crawford is
made touching.” – David Shipman. “A stately soap opera with
some of the ambience of a Film Noir.” – Jonathan
Rosenbaum. “Preminger and his first-rate cinematographer
(Leon Shamroy) give the romantic melodrama a moody Film
Noir undertow.” – Hirsch. 1:00, 4:35, 8:10
PREMINGER AT
POSTERITATI To coincide
with the Film Forum series,
an exhibition of Preminger
film posters, spotlighting the
innovative graphics of Saul
Bass, will run at Posteritati
(239 Centre Street; 212226-2207), January 2-31.
JANUARY 7 MON (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN ARM
(1955) The eternal quadrangle: ex-addict, jazz drummer and
card sharp Frankie Machine (Frank Sinatra) is torn between love
for girlfriend Kim Novak, loyalty to crippled wife Eleanor Parker
and desperation for the wares of sleazy dealer Darren McGavin.
Preminger boldly broke the Production Code for the second time
(see below) with this first American film about drug addiction.
With two other memorable firsts: Elmer Bernstein’s moody jazz
score and Saul Bass’s seductive opening titles. Restored by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in 2004 with the
support of the Film Foundation. 3:10, 7:20
THE MOON IS BLUE
SPECIAL THANKS TO
FOSTER HIRSCH; SCHAWN
BELSTON, CAITLIN ROBERTSON (20TH CENTURY FOX); VICKY
WILSON (KNOPF); SUZANNE LEROY, GROVER CRISP (SONY
PICTURES); MIKE POGORZELSKI, BRIAN MEACHAM (ACADEMY OF
MOTION PICTURE ARTS & SCIENCES); MELANIE VALERA, BARRY
ALLEN (PARAMOUNT); ROSS KLEIN (MGM); MARILEE WOMACK
(WARNER BROS.); MARTIN SCORSESE, MARK MCELHATTEN
(SIKELIA PRODUCTIONS); HOPE AND VICKY PREMINGER.
(1960) The birth of Israel, as refugees aboard the Exodus
determine to break the British embargo. Filmed on location in
Israel, with the celebrated breakout from the Acre prison shot at
the actual site. The enormous cast includes Paul Newman, Eva
Marie Saint, Ralph Richardson, Lee J. Cobb, Sal Mineo, et al. The
screenplay credit for Dalton Trumbo, one of the Hollywood Ten,
was the first to break the blacklist. “As good a modern epic movie
as has ever been made.” – Peter Bogdanovich. 2:00*, 7:00
*2:00 SHOW INTRODUCED BY FOSTER HIRSCH
FALLEN ANGEL
LAURA
OTTO PREMINGER: THE
MAN WHO WOULD BE
KING, Foster Hirsch’s new
biography of the director,
is published by Alfred A.
Knopf. For sale at our
concession during the
run of the series.
ADVISE & CONSENT
EXODUS
(1952) The Postman Always Rings Twice meets The Case of the
Deadly Gearshift as chauffeur Robert Mitchum fends off
murderous heiress Jean Simmons (“loaded with venom
underneath a lacquered surface, one of the most poisonous
femmes fatales in Noir.” – Hirsch) until late-arriving mouthpiece
Leon Ames steals the show. Jean-Luc Godard listed it as one of
the top 10 sound films of all time. “The one lyrical nightmare in
the cinema.” – Ian Cameron. “One of the masterpieces of the
American cinéma maudit.”
–Hirsch. 2:50, 6:25, 10:00
Beyond his colorfully accented public persona, through
appearances as Stroheim-like Nazis, Batman’s Mr. Freeze, and
himself, Jewish Viennese expatriate Otto Preminger (19051986) was Hollywood’s first truly independent producer/
director, breaking the censorship of the MPAA Production Code,
the Legion of Decency and the blacklist. With the objectivity of his
close-up-less long take camera, Preminger examined issues as
daring and different as drug addiction, virginity, homosexuality,
and Washington corruption,
but in his long career also
created some of Hollywood’s
most enduring Noirs and the
undeniably entertaining pop
classics of his later years.
FOREVER AMBER
JANUARY 13 SUN
ANGEL FACE
CARMEN JONES
(1953) William Holden romances actress Maggie McNamara
with interruptions by her fiancée and super-suave David
Niven. Preminger’s first independent production caused a
major furor (it was banned from theaters and widely
condemned) because he dared to use the words “mistress”
and “virgin” in the script. Restored by the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts & Sciences in 2006 with the support of the
Andrew J. Kuehn Foundation. 1:15, 5:25, 9:35
DAISY KENYON
BONJOUR TRISTESSE
JANUARY 10 THU
BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING NEW 35mm RESTORATION!
EXODUS
(1943) Uncle Miltie meets the Nazis. New York cop Moe
Finkelstein’s (Milton Berle) plum assignment: protect the
German consul. Preminger’s return to filmmaking after a fiveyear hiatus; asked to repeat the villain’s role in his Broadway
success, he refused unless he could direct. 3:40, 7:50
IN THE MEANTIME, DARLING
WINNER,
1961 VENICE
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W H E R E T H E S I D E WA L K E N D S
T WO W E E K S! ~
Last Year At
Marienbad
– Jonathan Rosenbaum
-08
(1949) Klepto Gene Tierney seeks cure from hypnotist José
Ferrer, then unwittingly provides the setup for the Ultimate
Unshakable Alibi en route to a memorably haywire bloodsoaked finale. Pseudonymously written by Ben Hecht. “A
sleek thriller. . . gilded with many visual pleasures.” – Hirsch.
1:00, 4:40, 8:20
ALAIN RESNAIS’
“HIGHLY SEDUCTIVE . . .
A MASTERPIECE OF
MASTERPIECES!”
FALL/WINTER 2007
(1950) Tough NYC cop Dana Andrews, on the trail of kingpin
Gary Merrill, escalates from police brutality to manslaughter,
with Gene Tierney as the victim’s widow and cameo by her thenhubby Oleg Cassini, the pic’s costume designer. Screenplay by
Ben Hecht. “Preminger transforms Times Square into a setting
twitching with menace, something of a dress rehearsal for
Sweet Smell of Success, a neon playground of frenetic
movement.” – Hirsch. 2:50, 6:30, 10:10
~ JA N UA RY 1 8 - 3 1
– The New York Times
filmforum.org
1 ADMISSION)
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GOLDEN LION
Permit #3
(1963) Fictionalized Spellman bio — decried by its subject —
as Tom Tryon rises through the hierarchy, while contending with
religious doubts, mixed marriages, abortions, the KKK, Nazis,
Romy Schneider and tough mentor John Huston, in a
sensational full-fledged acting debut. Preminger’s browbeating
turned Tryon from acting to bestsellerdom. 7:45
(1944) Finally allowed to marry her Army boyfriend when offbase housing opens up, Jeanne Crain finds, when she gets
the stars out of her eyes, she’s stuck in a crummy hotel —
or is she just a soreheaded rich kid who can’t get with the
program? 2:15, 6:25, 10:35
(1936) Boy, opera star Lawrence Tibbett can’t get any peace:
even holed up in a remote cabin in flight from manager
Gregory Ratoff’s screwy publicity stunts, he gets an airborne
visit from socialite Wendy Barrie, still burning about her
private party gig he’s blown off, as temperamental outbursts,
songs, and romance ensue. 1:00, 5:10, 9:20
L
THE CARDINAL
WHIRLPOOL
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(1954) In Preminger’s only Western and his first picture in
Scope, Rober t Mitchum contends with gambler Ror y
Calhoun, son Tommy (Lassie) Rettig, hostile Indians, rafting
through rapids and undressing Marilyn Monroe. “One of the
first films to discover the potential of CinemaScope.” – Dave
Kehr. 3:00, 6:45, 10:30
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MARGIN FOR ERROR
(1954) Oscar Hammerstein’s allBlack, down-South version of the
Bizet classic, with Dorothy
Dandridge (“fiery and petulant, with whiplash hips in a hot
pink skirt” – Pauline Kael) giving an electrifying performance
that earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination (the first for
a person of color), with Marilyn Horne’s equally-electrifying
singing voice incarnating her character. With Harry Belafonte
acting (and Le Vern Hutcherson singing) “Don José/Joe.”
“Dandridge brings the African-American woman into the
modern age.” – Donald Bogle. 1:00, 4:45, 8:30
JANUARY 16 WED (SEPARATE ADMISSION)
WHERE THE SIDEWALK ENDS
JANUARY 14 MON (3 FILMS
CARMEN JONES
(1947) Slut’s progress, as peasant girl Linda
Darnell advances from highwayman to lord
to George Sanders’ Charles II. Somewhat
bowdlerized version of one of the hottest
books of the decade. “Confirms Preminger
as a maestro of mise-en-scène . . . he
assembled a procession of images that have the rhetorical
power of master paintings. His Old World formality is exactly
what the material needs — his direction achieves genuine epic
sweep.” – Hirsch. TUE 1:00, 5:10, 9:05 WED 1:00, 5:10
*7:30 SHOW INTRODUCED BY FOSTER HIRSCH
JANUARY 17 THU (2 FILMS
(1965) Carol Lynley’s suspenseful search for her missing
daughter — but does she exist? — aided by doubting brother
Keir Dullea and inspector Laurence Olivier (in perhaps his last
non-character part). London location shooting and a memorable
study-in-perversion cameo by Noel Coward — and The Zombies!
“The cast alone is worth the price
of admission.” – Leslie Halliwell.
1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30*, 10:00
*KEIR DULLEA IN PERSON
AT 7:30 SHOW
JANUARY 11 FRI
(2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)
FOREVER AMBER
JANUARY 15/16 TUE/WED
(2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)
(1961) As ominous organ music
resounds, the Scope camera tracks
through the seemingly endless halls of a
baroque grand hotel — alternately
thronged with tuxedoes and gowns or
echoingly deserted — as Giorgio Albertazzi tries to persuade an initially
disbelieving Delphine Seyrig (in gowns by Chanel — Coco herself!) that they’d
met the year before, even as the sepulchral Sacha Pitoëff (her husband?)
hovers about, continually beating all comers in a kind of pick-up-sticks game.
Simple enough, right? But as Albertazzi continues to repeat “Last year. . . ”
each encounter takes place in different locations, in different costumes, the
alterations not just coming from scene to scene but from shot to shot — at one
point Seyrig seemingly steps forward in a perfect match cut despite spanning
completely different sets — with his remembrances becoming more and more
detailed and personal, amid actually mounting suspense, until the question
becomes not only did it happen, but was it seduction or. . . ? All this as their
fellow guests alternate among relatively realistic crowd scenes, poses frozen in
place as the principals walk past them, and a de Chirico-like composition amid
the lavish grounds where the people cast extremely long shadows but the
shrubbery casts none. Perhaps the ultimate puzzle film, with dizzying time shifts
and flashbacks, real or imagined—or are they shifts into the subjunctive?
Possible solutions have included the Orpheus-Eurydice myth; a visualization of
the process of psychoanalysis; or the whole as a kind of stream-ofconsciousness of a single mind, encompassing truth, lies, and visualized whatifs. But the list could go on, and usually does, as vehement post-film
discussions. Technically, however, it’s easy to agree that Marienbad is a tourde-force, with Sacha Vierny’s lusciously velvet black and white photography of
the incredibly lavish interior of — mainly — Nymphenburg castle in Bavaria;
with the debuting Seyrig’s feathery peignoir probably an homage to Evelyn Brent
in von Sternberg’s Underworld; and the horror film-worthy organ score by
Seyrig’s brother Francis. With Oscar-nominated screenplay by nouveau roman
titan Alain Robbe-Grillet, who now sits in the Académie Française. “I was not
prepared for the voluptuous quality of Marienbad, its command of tone and
mood, its hypnotic way of drawing us into its puzzle, its austere visual beauty.”
– Roger Ebert. “The overall tone is poker-faced parody of lush Hollywood
melodrama . . . Yet the film’s dreamlike
cadences, frozen tableaux, and distilled
surrealist poetry are too eerie, too terrifying
even, to be shaken off as camp. For all its
notoriety,
this
masterpiece
among
masterpieces has never really received its
due.” – Jonathan Rosenbaum. “I can’t
remember a film of more sustained visual
delight. It is the Finnegans Wake of the
movies.” – Dwight Macdonald.
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FF LIMITED-EDITION ART
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( AS
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SPRING MOVIE BRUNCH
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TWO WEEKS & FIVE DAYS!
NEW
“TERRIFIC! One of the most persistently entertaining, absorbing
and scary thrillers I’ve seen in a long time!” – ROGER EBERT
35mm
PRINT!
“DIVINE MADNESS! A thriller with a new way of looking
at the world — through a glass, brightly” - MICHAEL SRAGOW
“If Diva is about anything, it is about the joy of making movies.
EVERY SHOT SEEMS DESIGNED TO DELIGHT THE AUDIENCE.”
- PAULINE KAEL
GUEST PRIVILEGE MEMBERSHIP CARD
Save $10 on 2 tickets
(APT #)
FF’S OWN MERCHANDISE 20% discount
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NOVEMBER 2-20
THEATER SEAT PLAQUE
Expiration Date
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OPENING ON OUR THIRD SCREEN!
TAPE BORROWING PRIVILEGES
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MEMBERSHIP LEVELS
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Jean-Jacques Beineix’s
DIVA
A RIALTO PICTURES RELEASE. 1:00, 3:15, 5:30, 7:45, 10:00