<<< March 26-28, 2004 >>>

In our increasingly media-saturated, user-friendly age of Movies on Instant Demand, it’s comforting to know that there are still some treasures out there that can’t be rented (yet) at the local video store or purchased on Amazon.com. Yes, Virginia, to see these gems, you have to go the movie theatre!!

To put this series together, we went to the experts: managers and employees at local video stores, who shared with us their customers’ (and their own) personal want-lists of movies not legally, commercially available on video or DVD. The program runs the gamut of hard-to-see treasures, from 1930’s Howard Hawks films, to 1940’s film noir classics, to lost gems from the late 60’s and early 70’s.

Our enormous thanks to the following for helping to program this series: Meg Johnson at Vidiots and Hadrian Belove at Cinefile Video in Santa Monica; Jeff Miller at Rocket Video in Hollywood; Jerry Neeley at Jerry’s Video in Los Feliz.

Friday, March 26 – 7:00 PM

ACE IN THE HOLE, 1951, Paramount, 111 min. One of director Billy Wilder’s bleakest masterpieces, and the film that topped everyone’s Not On Video want-lists. Kirk Douglas is withering as the embittered, alcoholic reporter looking for his piece of the pie – when the story of a man trapped in a cave-in falls into his lap, something he exploits to the hilt. The supporting cast, including Jan Sterling, Ray Teal, Gene Evans and Bob Arthur, are all superb.

Friday, March 26 – 9:30 PM

Howard Hawks Double Bill:

THE CROWD ROARS, 1932, Warners, 85 min. Director Howard Hawks’ fast-moving, exhilarating action yarn with cantankerous James Cagney as bigger-than-life Joe Greer, a hard-drinking race-car driver who doesn’t want his younger brother (Eric Linden) entering the game and isn’t afraid of letting everyone within earshot know it. Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak, Frank McHugh and Roland Kibbee lend able support in one of Hawks’ earliest crowd-pleasers.

TIGER SHARK, 1932, Warners, 77 min. Dir. Howard Hawks. Edward G. Robinson is Mike, a tuna fisherman who lost his hand to a shark saving his comrade, Pipes (Richard Arlen). When Mike falls hopelessly in love with Quita (Zita Johann), whose father was lost at sea, she agrees to marry him, despite her lukewarm feelings. Before long, sparks fly between her and younger stud Pipes, and seeing-red Mike engineers a second meeting with a shark for Pipes on their next trip out. A rousing over-the-top melodrama in the best early-Warners tradition is punctuated with real, rugged tuna fishing footage, rare scenes where men grappled with the huge beasts before the advent of "long lines."

Saturday, March 27 – 5:00 PM

NIGHTMARE ALLEY, 1947, Fox (Criterion), 110 min. Dir. Edmund Goulding. Another film that scored high on the Not On Video want-lists – and one of the darkest and most audacious "A" pictures ever to emerge from Hollywood. Handsome heartthrob Tyrone Power is terrific as a carny roustabout who hits the big-time as a phony "mentalist," but gets caught between the longings of devilish Helen Walker and angelic Coleen Gray. Based on William Lindsay Gresham’s novel.

Saturday, March 27 – 7:30 PM

Rare Preminger and Cassavetes:

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING, 1967, Columbia (Sony), 107 min. Director Otto Preminger’s haunting, rarely-seen mystery thriller has become something of a cult legend since its initial release. Carol Lynley is an American in London whose daughter is kidnapped on the child’s first day at school. The only trouble is: no one else there has ever seen the girl, and before long some are wondering if she truly exists. Laurence Olivier is excellent as the police inspector who investigates, with support from Keir Dullea and Martita Hunt. Look for Noel Coward’s perversely funny cameo, along with a rare appearance by rock group The Zombies. Discussion between films with Carol Lynley (BUNNY LAKE) and Stella Stevens (TOO LATE BLUES).

TOO LATE BLUES, 1961, Paramount, 100 min. Director John Cassavetes’ follow-up to SHADOWS is a dark, jazz-influenced character study of a self-destructive musician, played with note-perfect authenticity by singer Bobby Darin. Stella Stevens turns in an especially fine performance as Darin’s melancholy love interest. With a typically strong score by the great David Raksin (LAURA).

Sunday, March 28 – 5:00 PM

Tuesday Weld/Anthony Perkins Double Bill:

PLAY IT AS IT LAYS, 1972, Universal, 99 min. Director Frank Perry (THE SWIMMER) delivered many edgy psychological classics, and none is more deserving of rediscovery than this long unseen adaptation of Joan Didion’s bestseller, with a screenplay by Didion and her late husband, John Gregory Dunne. Tuesday Weld is at her best as fiercely intelligent Maria, an ex-model on the verge of a nervous breakdown. In-the-closet producer Anthony Perkins is her only friend and Adam Roarke her estranged director husband trying to jumpstart his career out of the biker-film ghetto. A scathing portrait of Hollywood in the early 1970’s.

PRETTY POISON, 1968, Fox (Criterion), 89 min. Compulsive liar and former fire-bug Anthony Perkins is paroled to a small town factory job where his secret-agent fantasy life fuels romance with budding cheerleader (and closet sociopath) Tuesday Weld. Noel Black directs Lorenzo Semple, Jr.’s ferociously dark and funny script, a kind of thriller-cum-twisted love story that anticipates more recent films like ELECTION and TO DIE FOR by about, oh, 30 years. With Beverly Garland as Weld’s hilariously-uptight mother. Discussion following films with PRETTY POISON director Noel Black (schedule permitting).