One of the highlights of last winter's PFA program was the rediscovery of Mamoulian's Applause by a sparse but enthusiastic audience attending a series of early sound films. It was Rouben Mamoulian's genius that he retained the expressive freedom of the silent film in his earliest sound films, and the revolution he promoted with Applause - putting the entire camera booth on wheels, and using double-track sound - is chronicled in every history of cinema. Yet the fact that the film itself is so rarely shown is an inexplicable shame. For to watch Applause is to learn what cinematic language is all about. Mamoulian glides through the world he creates with his carefully chosen images like the cat that is his trademark. He uses sound, it is true, and brilliantly, but he speaks with the image. Moreover, Applause is one of the great mother-daughter stories, featuring Helen Morgan in a remarkably nuanced, intimate performance as an aging burlesque queen determined to prevent her daughter entering the sordid and oppressive world of striptease. We are glad to offer lovers of cinematic expression the chance to see Applause, in a beautiful 35mm Nitrate print, once again! (JB)