Restoration Pleasures

7/18/03 to 7/31/03

Casanova, July 31

Upcoming
Films
Upcoming
Events
Selected
Objects
Past
Films
Past
Events

Past Films

LA MAISON DU MYSTÈRE (EPISODES 1–3)
Friday, July 18 7:30
Joel Adlen on Piano. Enjoy this rediscovered, restored 1923 French serial with a fantastic cast, including Mosjoukine and Charles Vanel, ingeniously directed by Alexandre Volkoff from Jules Mary's novel. "Shot with panache and acted with burning intensity, La Maison du mystère is one hell of a house."-James Quandt. Continues July 19 and 24.
View Details
LA MAISON DU MYSTÈRE (EPISODES 4–7)
Saturday, July 19 7:00
Joel Adlen on Piano.
View Details
SUNRISE: A SONG OF TWO HUMANS
Sunday, July 20 5:30
F. W. Murnau brought German Expressionist aesthetics to Hollywood with this startlingly stylized tale of city and country, love and destiny. "A delicate balance of extremes, with deep melancholia giving way to visual comedy; celebrated for memorable, haunting images and subdued acting."-David Pierce, bfi. With Janet Gaynor and George O'Brien.
View Details
LA MAISON DU MYSTÈRE (EPISODES 8–10)
Thursday, July 24 7:30
Joel Adlen on Piano.
View Details
THE MAN ON THE EIFFEL TOWER
Friday, July 25 7:00
Introduced by Robert Gitt. Burgess Meredith directs Charles Laughton as Inspector Maigret, and himself at Maigret's prey, in a bizarrely menacing Parisian cat-and-mouse game.
View Details
THE BAREFOOT CONTESSA
Friday, July 25 9:20
Introduced by Robert Gitt. Restored to its Technicolor glory, Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ruthless Hollywood cautionary tale stars Ava Gardner as a Spanish waif and Humphrey Bogart as the cynical director who discovers her.
View Details
CHARLES LAUGHTON DIRECTS THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER: A PRESENTATION OF OUTTAKES FROM THE FILM
Saturday, July 26 7:00
Presented by Robert Gitt. Including over two hours of rare rushes, this program provides a new angle on a classic, revealing the creative process behind this unforgettable film. "A rare and glorious event."-Leonard Maltin. The restored print of The Night of the Hunter screens on Wednesday, July 30.
View Details
THE AWFUL TRUTH
Sunday, July 27 5:30
Introduced by Robert Gitt. Stars Cary Grant and Irene Dunne shine even brighter in this sparkling print of a screwball classic. Leo McCarey won an Oscar for his direction of the duo as warring, wisecracking ex-spouses embroiled in a bitter custody battle for Mr. Smith, their dog.
View Details
CASANOVA
Thursday, July 31 7:30
The Cinémathèque Française restoration of Alexandre Volkoff's lavish, lighthearted, and witty 1927 superproduction. Mosjoukine "plays Casanova like a Douglas Fairbanks adventurer, with more sophistication, irony, and cool sexual presence."-Richard Abel
View Details

Restoration Pleasures

7/18/03 to 7/31/03

One of the greatest pleasures we have as film programmers is to honor and share the work our colleagues at other film archives and studios are doing to restore individual films, and thus preserve cinema's heritage. Not just hand-tinted silents from the twenties, but also screwball comedies from the thirties, classic noirs from the forties, Technicolor gems from the fifties-anything in this beloved and fragile medium might require the skilled hand of the film preservationist in order to be shown in its original beauty. We hope you will accept our invitation to experience the rare treat of viewing classic films as they were meant to be seen.

A highlight of our weekend with UCLA Film and Television Archive Preservation Officer Robert Gitt is his critically acclaimed presentation “Charles Laughton Directs The Night of the Hunter,” in which we can see the creative process at work. And if you have never allowed yourself to become immersed in a silent film serial, La Maison du mystère will win you over as it did a skeptical, sophisticated reviewer for Cinémagazine in 1923, who wrote: “With La Maison du mystère, my conversion is complete.”

Less

We wish to thank the following organizations and individuals: Cinémathèque Française, Bernard Benoliel; UCLA Film and Television Archive, Robert Gitt and Todd Wiener; Twentieth Century Fox, Schawn Belston; the Academy Film Archive, Michael Pogorzelski; and bfi National Film and Television Archive, David Pierce.

Archival and restored prints and musical accompaniment for silent films are presented with support from the Packard Humanities Institute. Additional support is provided by the Consulate General of France in San Francisco.