"Now Listen to Me..."
Just some thoughts on this month’s happenings:
Classic film screenings from around the world this June include:
"OUT OF THE 80s"
In New York City, New York, Film Forum is continuing its presentation of "OUT OF THE 80s" until Thursday, June 13. The programme reads as follows:
OVER 50 BODACIOUS, DECADE-DEFINING MOVIES
A four-week, 50-plus-film festival of 80s blockbusters and cult classics including BLUE VELVET, FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH, THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY, BRAZIL, DO THE RIGHT THING, DRESSED TO KILL, THE THING, STRANGER THAN PARADISE, WILD STYLE, and many more.
For more information on the “OUT OF THE 80s” series, click on the appropriate image above. For a complete calendar of all the films playing this month, click on the Film Forum banner.
In Auckland, New Zealand Academy Cinemas is presenting Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933) Sunday, June 2, Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) Sunday, June 2, Saturday, June 8, Tuesday, June 18 and Sunday June 23, Clash by Night (1952) Thursday, June 6, Saturday, June 15, Friday, June 21 and Tuesday, June 25, All About Eve (1950) Saturday, June 15, Children of Paradise aka Les enfants du paradis (1945) Sunday, June 16, Get Carter (1971, New 4k restoration) Monday, June 17, Network (1976) Monday, June 17 and Monday, June 24, and Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) on Wednesday, June 26.
* Note: Some of the above showtimes are matinees only.
To obtain more information specifically on each of these programmes, click on the corresponding image. To see the entire month of June’s programming, click on the Academy banner above.
In London, United Kingdom The Prince Charles Cinema will present Full Metal Jacket (1987, a 35mm print) Sunday, June 2 and Friday, June 21, Heat [Director’s Definitive Edition] (1995, a 4k presentation) Monday, June 3, Casablanca (1942, a 35mm print) Thursday, June 6, The Holy Mountain (1973) Saturday, June 8, Blade Runner [The Final Cut] (1982, a 4k presentation) Sunday, June 9 and Thursday, June 20, Amadeus [Director’s Cut] (1984, a 35mm print) Tuesday, June 11, Eraserhead (1977) Saturday June 15, 12 Angry Men (1957, a 35mm print) Sunday, June 23, and Network (1976) on Friday, June 28 and Sunday, June 30.
* Note: Some of the above showtimes are matinees only.
Click on the film’s respective image for more information. To see June’s complete programming, click on The Prince Charles Cinema banner above.
In theatres across the U.S., Fathom Events is presenting The Muppet Movie (1979, a 45th Anniversary screening) on Sunday, June 2 and Monday, June 3.
Click on the film’s poster image for more information. To see this month’s entire schedule, click on The Fathom Events banner above.
Come and See
Unforgiven
In Hollywood (part of greater Los Angeles) California, The American Cinematheque Egyptian Theatre will present Come and See (1985, as part of their ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 3’ series with an introduction by John Hillcoat) Sunday, June 2 at 1 pm only, and Unforgiven (1992, a 35mm print, as part of their ‘Bleak Week: Cinema of Despair – Year 3’ series with an introduction by Brandon Wilson) on Sunday, June 2 at 4 pm only.
For more information specifically on each of these programmes, click on the corresponding image. To see the entire month of June’s programming including other films showing at The Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, The Los Feliz 3 Theatre in Los Feliz (part of greater Los Angeles), and The Aero Theatre in Santa Monica (part of greater Los Angeles), click on the American Cinematheque banner.
Soldier Blue
Leave Her to Heaven
The Last Secuction
In Valencia, Spain, Culturarts Generalitat IVAC – La Filmoteca at the Edificio Rialto will be presenting Soldier Blue (1970, as part of their CONTEMPORARY WESTERN series) Tuesday, June 4, Leave Her to Heaven (1946, as part of their VALÈNCIA NEGRA: FEMMES FATALES series) Wednesday, June 5, and The Last Seduction (1994, as part of their VALÈNCIA NEGRA: FEMMES FATALES series) on Friday, June 7.
Click on the film’s image for more information on each screening. To discover more of June’s programming including other films playing in Valencia, Spain at the Edificio Rialto, Castelló, Spain at the Paranimf of the Universitat Jaume I, and Alicante Spain at the Arniches Theatre, click on the banner image above.
Network
Victim
In Bergen, Norway The Cinemateket i Bergen will present Network (1976) Thursday, June 6, and Victim (1961) on Thursday, June 20 and Wednesday, June 26.
For more information on either of these film’s showing, click on the corresponding movie image above. For further information on the other films being presented at The Cinemateket, click on the banner image above.
In Los Angeles, California The Beverly Cinema will present a double bill of A Night at the Opera (1935, a 35mm print) and Duck Soup (1933, a 35mm print) Friday, June 7, Saturday, June 8 and Sunday, June 9, and a double bill of White Heat (1949, a 35mm print) and The Public Enemy (1931, a 35mm print) on Tuesday, June 18 and Wednesday, June 19.
Click on the respective image for more information. To see the rest of June’s schedule, click on The Beverly Cinema banner above.
Viva Las Vegas
In Detroit, Michigan The Redford Theatre will present Viva Las Vegas (1964, a 60th Anniversary Screening) on Saturday, June 8 at 2 pm only.
Click on the top image for more information. To see the entire month’s programming, click on The Redford Theatre banner above.
Noir City will take place in Boston, Massachusetts from June 14 - 17. Highlights include a double bill of Across the Bridge (1957) with Zero Focus (1961) Saturday, June 15, a double bill of Black Tuesday (1954, a 35mm print) with Hardly a Criminal (1949, a New 35mm print) Saturday, June 15, and a double bill of Smog (1962) with City of Fear (1959, a 35mm print) on Sunday, June 16.
* Note: Some of the above showtimes are matinees only.
For more information including the complete schedule, click on the image above.
FOUR POSTWAR FILMS BY SHIMIZU HIROSHI
In Vancouver, British Columbia, The Cinematheque is presenting FOUR POSTWAR FILMS BY SHIMIZU HIROSHI from June 14 - June 23.
The Programme reads:
Japanese filmmaker Shimizu Hiroshi (1903–1966) continues to languish in the shadow of his much more famous contemporaries. A prolific studio director of the 1930s, he made some 163 films during his 35-year career, spanning silent to sound eras, studio to independent productions. He was held in high regard by friend and fellow Shochiku mainstay Ozu Yasujiro—Mizoguchi Kenji was also a noted admirer—and earned a reputation as a master of naturalistic gendai-geki (contemporary dramas) centred on travellers and children, his dual métier. (The welfare of children wasn’t merely a thematic concern: after WWII, Shimizu adopted war orphans and funded the creation of an orphanage.)
Here in North America, what little we know firsthand of his oeuvre stems largely from a 2009 Criterion Eclipse box set collecting just four of his prewar pictures. Despite the revelatory response elicited by that DVD edition (“buried treasure from Japanese vaults,” enthused The New York Times’s Dave Kehr), no further films have been released on home video or streaming, nor acquired for theatrical distribution. But perhaps change is in the air. In the last three years alone, the Cinémathèque française, Melbourne Cinémathèque, and New York’s Museum of Modern Art have all programmed Shimizu’s work in an apparent bid to course correct his protracted obscurity.
Our own modest attempt to shed light on the director falls between two significant American stops (New York and Berkeley) in a touring exhibition devoted to his body of work. Organized by curators at the indispensable Japan Society and Museum of the Moving Image in New York, the retrospective is easily the largest of its kind ever presented in North America. The Cinematheque has plucked four gems from the tour, each produced during Shimizu’s brilliant (and even more neglected) postwar career after he left Shochiku and formed his own independent studio, Hachinosu Eiga. The apex of that output, and the centrepiece to our series, is Children of the Beehive (1948). It screens here from an archival 35mm print, while Mr. Shosuke Ohara (1949), a favourite of Somai Shinji, receives a rare 16mm presentation. The two remaining films, Sound in the Mist (1956) and Image of a Mother (1959), mark Canadian premieres of new DCPs created expressly for this historic retrospective.
For more information about this series, click on the appropriate image. For all of the films scheduled this month at The Cinematheque, click on the theatre banner above.
In theatres across the U.S. Flashback Cinema is presenting Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) Saturday, June 15, Sunday, June 16 and Wednesday, June 19, and Jaws (1975) on Saturday, June 29, Sunday, June 30 and Wednesday, July 3.
Click on the poster image for more information. To see the entire month’s programming, click on The Flashback Cinema banner above.
In Melbourne, Australia The Astor Theatre is presenting Ben-Hur (1959, a 70mm print, a 65th Anniversary Screening) Sunday, June 16 at 2 pm only, and a double bill of A Matter of Life and Death (1946) and The Red Shoes (1948) on Sunday, June 16.
Click on either poster image for more information on this screening. To see the rest of June’s schedule, click on The Astor Theatre banner above.
Captain Blood
Fantasia
Jaws
In Culpeper Virginia, The Library of Congress at the Packard Campus Theater is presenting Captain Blood (1935, a 35mm print) Saturday, June 22 at 2 pm only, Fantasia (1941, a 35mm print) Saturday, June 29 at 2 pm only, and Jaws (1975, a 35mm print) on Saturday, June 29.
Click on the poster image for more information on each film’s screening. To see the rest of June’s schedule, click on the Packard Campus image above.
There are 27 recommended films to watch on Turner Classic Movies in the U.S. this month:
This first recommendation is one of film noir's finest, 1950’s Gun Crazy, previously reviewed here. Noir's most distinguishing feature, a focus on their criminal participants' psychology, marks a major shift regarding motive. In the earlier "gangster" films, money and power provided enough reason for the pursuit of illegal gains whereas in noir, the internal cause behind the action is paramount, and runs so much deeper... and darker. The dark deeds will ensue Saturday, June 1 at 6:45 pm PDT.
Does anyone notice anything peculiar in this shot considering the film was made during the Production Code?
Tomorrow Is Another Day (1951), previously reviewed here, may sound like some forgotten Douglas Sirk melodrama, but certainly has its fair share of film noir qualifications delivered with assuredness by director Felix Feist. A couple of hard cases, played by Steve Cochran and Ruth Roman who slowly soften up to one another, informs this film’s compelling nature. It’s the next stop in Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley: Tomorrow will arrive Saturday, June 1 at 9 pm PDT and again on Sunday, June 2 at 7 am PDT.
Steve Cochran, Ruth Roman
Out of Africa is another Academy Award Winning film from the ‘80s (1985 to be exact) that I have been rather critical of. My observations can be found here, in Part 2 of an article entitled “How Quentin Tarantino’s ‘One of the Worst Decades in Hollywood…’ Was Actually One of Its Greatest.” Out of Africa will be presented on Monday, June 3 at 5 pm PDT and again on Saturday, June 22 at 2 pm PDT.
Meryl Streep, Robert Redford
One of the first films to deal with homosexuality in a mature and sophisticated manner was the 1961 British suspense film Victim, reviewed here and showing on TCM Wednesday, June 5 at 9 am PDT.
Dirk Bogarde
Then there's John Ford's masterpiece The Searchers (1956) previously reviewed here. It is Top Ten Western #2 and is as likely as any film to provide one with a truly unforgettable, rich and rewarding movie-watching experience. The search will begin Wednesday, June 5 at 7 pm PDT.
Jeffrey Hunter, Natalie Wood
James Garner, Rod Taylor and Eva Marie Saint star in the intriguing “Mission Impossible” prototype espionage thriller 36 Hours (1964), previously reviewed here. The hour to watch will be Thursday, June 6 at 9 am PDT.
(From left) Rod Taylor, James Garner, Eva Marie Saint
Next up is Saving Private Ryan (1998) which I have a few words to bestow including its soundtrack here. Saving Private Ryan will occur Thursday, June 6 at 5 pm PDT.
(From left) Vin Diesel, Tom Sizemore, Tom Hanks
TCM will present Charlie Chaplin’s charming cinematic love letter 1931’s City Lights (previously reviewed here) Friday, June 7 at 7 am PDT.
RKO’s Tension at Table Rock is an obscure western from 1956, previously reviewed here and making a rare but welcome appearance on TCM Saturday, June 8 at 10:45 am PDT.
Richard Egan, Angie Dickinson
I’ve written a brief summary of my thoughts on 1986’s Academy Award Winning Platoon here. Oliver Stone’s most personal film will be shown Sunday, June 9 at (early morning) 12:45 am PDT.
Charlie Sheen
One of my past TCM recommendations, reviewed here, is 1945’s The Lost Weekend. Billy Wilder's portrayal of a struggling alcoholic contains a powerhouse performance by Ray Milland. The bottle can be found on TCM Sunday, June 9 at 5 pm PDT.
Cinematography by John F. Seitz
Otto Preminger’s directed classic, 1944’s Laura, is the exacting director’s slick and assured amalgamation of mystery (whodunnit) and film noir (obsessive desire, gruesome murder etc) elements. This film was briefly reviewed here. Included is a comparison between the detective played by Dana Andrews and James Stewart’s retired investigator in Vertigo. Laura will come to life on TCM Monday, June 10 at 3:30 pm PDT and again on Tuesday, June 18 at 9:30 pm PDT.
“The mattress is soft and there're hangers in the closet and stationary with ‘Bates' Motel’ printed on it in case you want to make your friends back home envious.”
Still another Hitchcock artistic triumph was, at the time (including throughout its primary creator’s career), the most audacious cinematic assault ever perpetrated on the movie going public or the Motion Picture Production Code for that matter. 1960's Psycho was previously reviewed here. The terror will begin Monday, June 10 at 5 pm PDT.
Many experts have claimed that this next TCM recommendation is the first identifiable film noir made in the U.S. and released during the category's classic time period (1940 - 1959): Boris Ingster's 1940 Stranger on the Third Floor. Viewers can glean just how many of noir's stylish traits are inherent in this film by reading my brief review here. If you're a noir fan and have never seen this little RKO gem, be a stranger no more Wednesday, June 12 at 6:30 am PDT.
Noir photographic artistry care of Nicholas Musuraca
The next TCM recommendation has been reviewed in Opening Up a Treasure: The Night of the Hunter. This highly expressionistic Grimm-like fable, released in 1955, appears as if conveyed from a child's point of view. The "hunter" will call Wednesday, June 12 at 9:45 am PDT.
Robert Mitchum
Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958) is loaded with multi-faceted insights and hidden rumination on human relationships providing viewers with much to ponder long after this tale of romantic obsession ends. This cinematic treasure was previously opened here and will unveil its visual and aural riches Saturday, June 15 at 11:15 pm PDT.
Titles Designed by Saul Bass
One of Alfred Hitchcock’s more uncustomary, yet distinguished, offerings is 1953’s I Confess previously reviewed here, featuring a fervent, introspective performance from Montgomery Clift. This highly engrossing confessional will take place Sunday, June 16 at 1:30 am PDT.
Anne Baxter, Montgomery Clift
One of David Lean's more ambitious projects may have turned out less artistically accomplished than its director intended. Still, it has many attributes making Doctor Zhivago (1965) well worth seeing. Afterwards, I'd be appreciative if readers had a look at my review here. This epic scale romance will begin Monday, June 17 at 10:30 am PDT.
Omar Sharif, Julie Christie
“What a story! Everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end.”
All About Eve (1950) is really all about the spoken word and is a prior TCM recommendation here. She will make her appearance Tuesday, June 18 at 7 pm PDT.
Gary Merrill, Anne Baxter, Bette Davis
Dustin Hoffman’s breakthrough role occurred in 1967’s The Graduate, reviewed as a previous Blu-ray recommendation here. This young man’s trials and tribulations can be observed Tuesday, June 18 at 11:15 pm PDT.
Dustin Hoffman
Fans of film noir who haven't seen John Brahm's 1946 The Locket do not want to miss the opportunity to experience this hypnotically mesmerising drama. A previous recommendation here, The Locket is a dream-like journey crying out to be discovered. The locket can be found in Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley Saturday, June 22 at 9:15 pm and again on Sunday, June 23 at 7 am PDT.
When affairs of the heart are so well integrated with thoughts of murder as they are in the Humphrey Bogart starrer Conflict (1945), we have the makings of an exceptional film noir. This is because the emotional cause behind the actions infuses motive into these types of films and thus absorbs the viewer on a deeper level. Conflict, previously reviewed here, and a former visitor to Eddie Muller's Noir Alley, will present itself Sunday, June 23 at (early morning) 1 am PDT.
Humphrey Bogart
The expression "Don't judge a book by its cover" certainly applies to the film Kind Lady, a previous TCM recommendation here. She may be as the title says but her nemesis and his ghastly gang of home invaders will dominate this tensely twisted thriller Sunday, June 23 at 8:45 am PDT.
(From left) Maurice Evans, Ethel Barrymore, Keenan Wynn, Angela Lansbury
In the mood for a Christmas noir? Prepare to receive Kiss of Death, previously reviewed here. This is a former film in Eddie Muller’s Noir Alley and will happen again on TCM Tuesday, June 25 at 9 pm PDT.
Many readers have taken me to task for my inclusion of Casablanca on a list of “All that Glitters…”: The Overrated. I would simply ask that they read what I wrote about this revered classic before judging me too harshly. There is much to praise about the film contained in my review and the weaknesses I've observed are, I feel, worthy of consideration. In any event, please indulge in this motion picture's magic and let me know if my criticisms have merit. The journey begins Friday, June 28 at 3:15 pm PDT.
Next is another film noir bonafide classic: 1952’s The Narrow Margin. This little firecracker is also a previous TCM recommendation here and is set to explode Saturday, June 29 at 1:45 pm PDT.
Western fans should check out the rock solid The Fastest Gun Alive, reviewed here, with a spectacular final showdown not to mention the tension-filled and expertly handled exposé leading up to it. The fastest gun will draw on TCM Saturday, June 29 at 3:15 pm PDT.
TCM's current monthly schedule can be confirmed by clicking on any of the above TCM related images. For those who live in parts of the U.S. other than the western region, the time zone can be adjusted in the upper right-hand corner of TCM's programme.
This month’s Happy Birthday shout-out goes to the lovely and talented actress June Lockhart who turns 99 on June 25th.
Her motion picture resume includes All This, and Heaven Too (1940), Sergeant York (1941), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), Son of Lassie (1945), Bury Me Dead (1947), T-Men (1947), Time Limit (1957), Lassie's Great Adventure (1963), Strange Invaders (1983) and Lost in Space (1998). She is best known, however, for her recurring TV roles as Ruth Martin in Lassie (1958 - 1964) and Maureen Robinson in Lost in Space (1965 - 1968) as well as numerous guest appearances.
The Soundtrack recommendation for the month is Miklós Rózsa's alternately gripping and feverishly fervent score to 1981's WWII espionage sensation Eye of the Needle.
This remarkable thriller, with more twists than a barrel of pretzels, stars the late Donald Sutherland (July 17, 1935 - June 20, 2024 R.I.P.) in a role tailor-made for his emotionally suggestive and complex performing mastery. He portrays undercover Nazi spy Heinrich Faber whose swift stiletto, used pretty much on anyone who stumbles upon his true identity, has earned him the nickname "The Needle." Faber is in Britain assigned to discover where the Allied Invasion of Europe will take place. It’s in watching the intelligent and charming but deadly decisive Faber carry out his task with infinite resourcefulness and smooth manoeuvrings where Eye of the Needle’s most captivating quality lies. There is also a strong female protagonist, Lucy Rose, played with an intense but sincere investiture of feeling by Kate Nelligan. Her story runs parallel to Faber’s until fate brings them together whereby, in a virtuoso turn of events, cloak and dagger fuses with heart and soul. Their scenes together portray a genuine yearning that hardly existed in 80s cinema. And when they do give in to their previously repressed desires, the culmination is an even rarer display of incandescent eroticism. The storytellers, however, don’t mush-out: Faber’s mission remains first and foremost and once again, his sinister nature returns to take on diabolical proportions producing Eye of the Needle’s most dramatically satisfying conclusion. Richard Marquand directed assuredly. The adapted screenplay by Stanley Mann was taken from Ken Follett’s novel. Alan Hume provided the sumptuous cinematography.
Beautifully bridging all of these divergent disclosures of heavy sentiments is Miklós Rózsa's magnificent music, harkening back to the Golden Age of Hollywood with unabashed themes of breathtaking suspense and romance. More information and pre-ordering on this soon to be available 2-Disc Special Edition from Varese Sarabande, care of their C.D. Club, can be obtained directly from the manufacturer by clicking on the image below.
June’s Blu-ray recommendation is to the above reviewed Eye of the Needle, released by Sandpiper Pictures and currently available at a discounted price from Amazon.com. Click on the image below for more information and ordering.
A.G.