The Cinematheque JULY+AUGUST 2013 | Film Noir

JULY + AUGUST 2013

Ray Harryhausen

Graceland

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1131 Howe Street . Vancouver . theCinematheque.ca

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DANSE LHASA DANSE

KRONOS AT 40 ROKIA TRAORÉ

SAMULNORI

WYNTON MARSALIS

A Sound Experience.

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ADM IN ISTRATIVE O F F I C E 200 – 1131 Howe Street Vancouver, BC V6Z 2L7 tel 604.688.8202 • fax 604.688.8204 Email: info@theCinematheque.ca Web: theCinematheque.ca STAFF Executive and Artistic Director: Jim Sinclair Managing Director: Amber Orchard Communications Manager: steve chow Education Manager: Liz Schulze Operations & Marketing: Kate Wilkins Venue Operations Manager: Heather Johnston Assistant Theatre Managers: Shaun Inouye, Kathryn Kirkpatrick, Jackie Hoffart, Amanda Thomson Head Projectionist: Al Reid Relief Projectionists: Peter Boyle, Stuart Carl, Ron Lacheur, Amanda Thomson

EXPERIENCE ESSENTIAL CINEMA

BOARD OF DIRECTO RS President: Mark Ostry Vice-President: Eleni Kassaris Secretary: Mark Tomek Treasurer: Wynford Owen Members: Jim Bindon, Elizabeth Collyer, Kim Guise, Moshe Mastai V O LUNTEERS Theatre Volunteers: Pouya Alagheband, Mark Beley, Eileen Brosnan, Jeremy Buhler, Nadia Chiu, Andrew Clark, Dylan Clark, Rob Danielson, Anh Dao, Ben Daswani, Steve Devereux, Bill Dovhey, Ryan Ermacora, Toni-Lynn Frederick, Kevin Frew, Shokei Green, Joe Haigh, Andrew Hallman, Jessica Johnson, Beng Khoo, Narada Kiondo, Michael Kling, Ray Lai, Cam Langford, Shannon Lentz, Claudette Lovencin, Tomas Mesen, Vit Mlcoch, Kelley Montgomery, Taylor Gray Moore, Cat Moore, Linton Murphy, Danuta Musial, Julia Patey, Kailash Ragupathy, Chahram Riazi, RJ Rudd, Hisayo Saito, Paloma Salas, Anthony Santiago, Derek Thomas, Stephen Tweedale, Diane Wood.

Distribution: Harry Wong, Scott Babakaiff, Michael Demers, Martin Lohmann, Hazel Ackner, John William, Lynn Martin, Sheila Adams, Anna Xijing, Devin Wells, Allan Kollins, Horacio Bach, Jeff Halladay, Roman Goldman

CONTENTS

JULY+AUGUST 2013

THE CINEMATHEQUE PROGRAM GUIDE, V36.6

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And a special thanks to all our spares!

T HE C IN E MATH E Q U E PR O G RAM G U I D E Art Direction + Graphic Design: steve chow Program Notes: Jim Sinclair Advertising + Additional Ad Design: Kate Wilkins Proofreading: Amber Orchard, Kate Wilkins

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The Cinematheqe is a not-for-profit arts society. We rely on financial support from public and private sources. Donations are gratefully accepted — a tax receipt will be issued for all donations of $30 or more. To make a donation or for more information, please call our administration office at 604.688.8202.

The Cinematheque gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the following agencies:

YANG BAN XI: THE EIGHT MODEL WORKS + Weegee’s New York Presented with Presentation House Gallery

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THE CINEMATHEQUE`S 2013 AUDIENCE SURVEY

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GRAND HOTELS Presented with the Vancouver Art Gallery

Death in Venice Lolita The Bellboy Stardust Memories

Published six times a year with a bi-monthly circulation of 15,000.

Printed by Van Press Printers.

ADVERTISIN G To advertise in this Program Guide or in our theatre before screenings, please call 604.688.8202.

A community film screening & dialogue Presented with the Canadian Institute of Planners

Office: Jo Bergstrand, Betty-Lou Phillips, Zac Cocciolo, Ratna Dhaliwal Education: Zac Cocciolo, Michael van den Bos

CINEMA VANCOUVER

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CINEMA SUNDAY

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GRACELAND HIGH AND LOW

The Last Starfighter E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial

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DYNAMATION!

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NOW PLAYING CALENDAR

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CASTLES IN THE SKY:

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FILM NOIR

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts: A Tribute to Ray Harryhausen

The Return of Studio Ghibli

+ FILM NOIR SPOTLIGHT

Burt Lancaster: A Centennial Celebration

$85.00 Hardcover 776 pages 978-1-55458-625-7 Film and Media Studies series

Cinema Vancouver A COMMUNITY FILM SCREENING AND DIALOGUE

Presented by the Canadian Institute of Planners in association with The Cinematheque’s Education Department

DADA, Surrealism, and the Cinematic Effect R. Bruce Elder “ This is that rare book that casts the early-twentiethcentury avant-garde in a very new light.”

– Rudolf Kuenzli, director, International Dada Archive, University of Iowa

$39.99 Paper 219 pages 978-1-55458-935-7 Film and Media Studies series

Two Bicycles: The Work of Jean-Luc Godard and Anne-Marie Miéville Jerry White Examines the work that Jean-Luc Godard did with Anne-Marie Miéville, spanning films, television series, and videos. Special attention is paid to the ways they used video equipment to explore a “workshop” idea for their production company, and the ways Swiss culture influenced their collective project.

$48.99 Paper 436 pages 8 b/w illus.

978-1-55458-905-0 Environmental Humanities series

Ecologies of the Moving Image: Cinema, Affect, Nature Adrian J. Ivakhiv This book presents an ecophilosophy of cinema: an account of the moving image in relation to the lived ecologies–material, social, and perceptual relations–within which movies are produced, consumed, and incorporated into cultural life.

WILFRID LAURIER UNIVERSITY PRESS Available from your favourite bookseller or call 1-800-565-9523 (UTP Distribution) www.wlupress.wlu.ca facebook.com/wlupress | twitter.com/wlupress

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Aimed at community planners, historians, cinephiles, and city-lovers of all stripes, “Cinema Vancouver” is intended as both a visual treat for the senses and a unique opportunity for dialogue around film, community planning, and historical representations of the city. Held in conjunction with Infuse Vancouver 2013 (www.infuse2013. ca), the national conference of the Canadian Institute of Planners (CIP), “Cinema Vancouver” will pay respect to the work of those who found value in turning their lenses upon the city and making Vancouver their subject. Using a series of short films and videos culled from local and national film archives and libraries, this screening will showcase some truly unique, and some seldom-seen, mid-20th-century representations of Vancouver.

The program will be introduced with a compilation of edited archival footage of Vancouver (Cinema Vancouverite | Vancouver Archives; compiled in 2013). We will then explore the city through its architectural patterns (City Patterns | CBC, 1962), re-visit notions of “blight” and “urban” renewal in the 1960s (To Build a Better City | NFB/ CMHC/City of Vancouver, 1964), walk along Robson Street when it was the epicentre of German-Canadian culture (Robson Street Stories | CBC, 1964), and set out on a contemplative journey through the city set to the accompaniment of dynamic spoken word and folk music (City Song | CBC, 1961).

The film/video program will be followed by a Q&A with special guest speakers, who will reflect upon the films presented and conduct a dialogue about changing representations of the city; different approaches to community planning; and the role of film and video in helping shape a sense of place and history. Facilitated audience discussion will also be encouraged.

GUEST SPEAKERS

John Atkin is a Vancouver civic historian. Shirley Chan grew up in Strathcona in the 1960s and was instrumental in organizing the community to stop the demolishing of Strathcona and the building of a freeway system in Vancouver.

HOST AND MODERATOR

Host: Mark Pickersgill, an artist/filmmaker, community planner, musician, and project director at Adjacent Media. Moderator: Diana Leung, a community artist/ filmmaker, story-gatherer, cultural planner and parent in Vancouver.

SUNDAY, JULY 7 - 7:15 PM

Ticket Price: $15 Cinematheque membership not required for this event.

This special free screening is presented in conjunction with two concurrent exhibitions running June 14 to July 26, 2013, at Presentation House Gallery.

Free Admission Presented by Presentation House Gallery in association with The Cinematheque

Model Opera features a suite of images by Chinese photographer Zhang Yaxin that vividly record the actors and scenery of the Communist Party-sanctioned “model operas” staged during the latter part of the Cultural Revolution. Yaxin was also chief photographer of China’s Communist leaders; his images were disseminated extensively in China on posters, stamps, and craftworks.

Facilitated by Helga Pakasaar.

Strangelove’s Weegee is an exhibition of photographs

by American tabloid photographer Weegee taken on the set of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove.

The exhibition, which also includes publicity stills, posters, lobby cards, and other Strangelove-related materials, explores Weegee’s tabloid aesthetics and Kubrick’s interest in them. Among the photos are scenes from the famous “pie fight” finale cut from the final version of the film.

Curated by John O’Brian.

Presentation House Gallery 333 Chesterfield Avenue North Vancouver, BC 604.986.1351 www.presentationhousegallery.org Gallery Hours: Wed-Sun, 12-5

Studio Stage

The Eight Model Works (Yang Ban Xi - de 8 modelwerken) Netherlands 2005. Director: Yan Ting Yuen

Yang Ban Xi: The Eight Model Works is a hybrid documentary, directed by Yan Ting Yuen, combining interviews with aspects of the musical and exploring a fascinating (and troubling) aspect of cultural history in China’s recent past. The documentary’s main focus is the series of Communist Party-approved “model operas” — yang ban xi — from which the film takes its name. During the Cultural Revolution, China banned traditional Chinese opera and permitted only these new revolutionary operas; more than a dozen were created during the period, but eight were the most popular and went into history as “the eight model works.” Filmed in bright Technicolor and ’Scope, and abounding in Communist kitsch and spectacle, they were the only kind of entertainment allowed on stage, television, and radio. Their influence was beyond measurement. The main performing characters became instant stars, revered in every household. Hong Kong-born director Yan Ting Yuen moved to Europe as a child; Yang Ban Xi: The Eight Model Works, her second film and first feature-length work, premiered at Sundance in 2005. Colour, 35mm, in Mandarin with English subtitles.

90 mins.

PRECEDED BY

Weegee’s New York USA 1948. Director: Weegee (Arthur Fellig)

Weegee was an Austrian immigrant who worked as a freelance news photographer in New York City in the 1930s and ’40s. In his early career, he specialized in graphic photos of grisly crime scenes and gawking onlookers, images leant a stark glare by the flash of his Speed Graphic 4x5 hand-held camera. He also produced photography books and films. Borrowed from the International Center for Photography’s film archive, Weegee’s New York presents a lyrical view of a single day in the city — albeit without the photographer/ director’s usual dose of murder and crime — and gives glimpses into Weegee’s interest in technical tricks of filmmaking that are not possible with still photography.

B&W and colour, DVD. 20 mins.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 17 – 7:00 PM

On Stage Now! • Reserved Seating Order Early for Best Selection 604-739-0559 • bardonthebeach.org

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2013 Audience Survey Complete and return this survey and be entered to win a 10 Double Bill Pass!

1. Age  Under 18  35-44

11. How would you rate these categories?

 18-24  45-64

2. Gender / Self-Identification  Male  Female

 25-34  65+

 Other _________

3. What are the first 3 digits of your postal code? _______ 4. Annual Household Income  Under $30K  $30K-$49K  $80K-$120K  Above $120K

 $50K-$79K

5. What is your level of education?  High School  Some College  Undergraduate  University/College  Post-Graduate  Trades  Other __________________ 6. What are the reasons you come to The Cinematheque?

Select all that apply.  Exclusive First-Run Films  Vancouver Premieres  Retrospectives  Special Events (Crispin Glover, Ben Hur, Open House)  Guest Speakers  35mm film projection  To support independent cinemas  To support Vancouver’s arts community  Concession  Other __________________ 7. How often do you attend Cinematheque events?

    

Weekly or more often Monthly 2 to 3 times a month 3 or 4 times a year Once or twice a year

8. How do you find out about Cinematheque events?

Select all that apply.  The Cinematheque’s Bi-Monthly Program Guide  Cinematheque Website  Cinemail E-newsletter  Posters  Facebook  Twitter  RSS  Google Calendar  24hr Film Info Line  Print Media Reviews/Features (Georgia Straight, etc.)  Print Advertisements (Georgia Straight, Shinpo, etc.)  Local Blogs (Vancouver is Awesome, Miss 604, Scout)  Cultural Group or Consulate  Television  Radio  Passing by  Referral/Word of Mouth 9. Which of the above influences you the most in your decision to attend screenings? _____________________________________________________ 10. How do you buy tickets to The Cinematheque?

Select all that apply  Online, via our website  In person, at our Box Office  Ten Double Bill Pass  Annual Pass  Redeem Gift Certificates

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Film Programming

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(Program Guide, Posters, T-shirts, Advertising, etc.)

Cinematheque Website

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12. Which of the above influences you most in your decision to attend screenings? _______________________________________________________________________________ 13. How do you watch movies outside of The Cinematheque? Select all that apply.  DVD/Blu-ray  Netflix  Legal Downloads (iTunes, GooglePlay)  Filesharing, Torrents, Warez  YouTube  Mobile Phone  Tablet/iPad  Independent Cinemas (Vancity Theatre, The Rio)  Chain Cinemas (Cineplex, Empire, Landmark) 14. Do you attend private events at The Cinematheque?  Often  Once or Twice

 Never

15. How do you typically get to The Cinematheque?  Bike  Walk  Drive  Public Transportation  Taxi 16. What other cultural events do you regularly enjoy, at least three times per year?

Select all that apply.

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Live Theatre Classical Music Concerts Opera World Music/Jazz Concerts Pop/Rock Concerts Punk/Indie/Underground Music Concerts Dance Visual Art Literature Talks and Events

17. Do you know that The Cinematheque has an Education Department?  Yes  No

19. Did you know that The Cinematheque is a registered charity, that ticket sales cover only 20% of our annual operating expenses, and that we rely on fundraising to cover our other expenses?  Yes  No 20. Have you ever donated to The Cinematheque?  Yes, I’m a current donor.  Yes, in the past.  No, never.

21. If you are currently not a Cinematheque donor, what incentive might change that? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 22. What films, genres, or directors would you like to see at The Cinematheque? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 23. What items would you like to see for sale at the concession? _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ 24. Any other comments or suggestions: _____________________________________________

18. If yes, which Education Department programs are you familiar with?

_____________________________________________

_______________________________________________

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OPTIONAL: To enter a draw for a 10 Double Bill Pass, provide your contact information.

NAME: _____________________________________________________________ Please mail or drop off this survey to The 6

EMAIL/PHONE: _____________________________________________________________

Cinematheque \ 1131 Howe Street \ Vancouver BC \ V6Z 2L7

I. Tainted Love Hotels: Death in Venice and Lolita

II. Hotel as Set: Stardust Memories and The Bellboy

A hiding place for love’s transgressions: Be it an ill-fated series of short stays at motels along a runaway route, or a long, luxurious unrequited crush at a grand hotel, love in a hotel takes its location as a vantage point from which the imagination of desire can lean whichever way it chooses. With such malleable characteristics of public and private sociability, these sites of refuge provide a location for the most intimate, difficult, and doomed concepts of love.

With a balance of public and private space for exchange and interaction, the hotel is a set where stories can naturally unfold.

Both Miami’s Fontainebleau Hotel (the setting of Jerry Lewis’s The Bellboy) and the Stardust (a fictionalized New Jersey hotel, in Woody Allen’s Stardust Memories, riffing off of the infamous one in Las Vegas) stand as adaptable microcosms for the larger social world. With various chambers and spaces for interaction, performance, and leisure, they set the stage, from lobby to bar to ballroom, for transition from room-to-room as the ideal place for comedic encounters.

Death in Venice (Morte a Venezia) Italy 1971. Director: Luchino Visconti Cast: Dirk Bogarde, Björn Andrésen, Silvana Mangano, Marisa Berenson, Romolo Valli

Presented by the Vancouver Art Gallery and The Cinematheque A four-film series in conjunction with the Vancouver Art Gallery’s exhibition Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life

Italian master Luchino Visconti’s most famous film, a lush, contemplative adaptation of Thomas Mann’s renowned novel, stars Dirk Bogarde as Gustav von Aschenbach, a sadly declining composer (a writer in Mann’s original, but a thinlydisguised Gustav Mahler in both book and film) making a final journey to fin-de-siècle Venice. There, at an elegant seaside hotel, he becomes aesthetically transfixed by — and carnally drawn to — Tadzio, an androgynous 14-year-old Polish boy who embodies the beauty and purity of the muse that no longer speaks to him. Death in Venice makes felicitous use of Mahler’s rapturous music on the soundtrack, and employs the decay and corruption of the decomposing city as an analogue for the central character’s own irreversible desiccation.

As the ageing aesthete Aschenbach — his ardour too-long repressed, its last flicker leaving him a pathetically rouged and powdered object of ridicule — Bogarde gives a career performance. The film was awarded the 1971 Cannes Film Festival’s special 25th Anniversary Prize. “The apotheosis of the old cinema, beautifully composed and photographed, this is a perfect evocation of period and atmosphere, an elegy of melancholy and remorse” (Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art). Colour, Bluray Disc. 128 mins.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 15 – 9:15 PM

Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life April 13 to September 15, 2013 Vancouver Art Gallery This film series is a collaboration between the Vancouver Art Gallery and The Cinematheque, programmed to coincide with the exhibition Grand Hotel: Redesigning Modern Life. Grand Hotel is a ground-breaking exhibition at the Vancouver Art Gallery exploring the impact of the hotel as one of the pre-eminent architectural and social structures of our time. The exhibition runs from April 13 to September 15, 2013.

Vancouver Art Gallery 750 Hornby Street Info 604.662.4719 Administration 604.662.4700 www.vanartgallery.bc.ca

Lolita Great Britain 1962. Director: Stanley Kubrick Cast: James Mason, Sue Lyon, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers, Marianne Stone

A series of dubious motels and hotels are pit-stops in the scandalous road trip embarked on by titular Lolita (Sue Lyon), the underage American “nymphet,” and lascivious Humbert Humbert (James Mason), the infatuated Euro academic who is her kidnapper/stepfather/suitor, in Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel. Kubrick, as demonstrated again in 1980’s The Shining, knew a thing or two about using hotels as cinematic space; he also knew a thing or two about comedy — dark, satirical comedy — as he reveals here for the very first time (and again in Dr. Strangelove, his follow-up). Made from a doubleentendre-filled (and Oscar-nominated) script by Nabokov himself, Kubrick’s road movie/comedy of manners/Old Worldmeets-New World satire/tale of erotic obsession also features quicksilver Peter Sellers (inspired!) as mad playwright Clare Quilty, and Shelly Winter as culture-vulture Charlotte Haze, Lolita’s mom. The film sought to avert some of the novel’s controversy by upping Lolita’s age from 12 to 14ish! “Wild, marvellously enjoyable comedy ... It’s the first new American comedy since those great days in the forties when Preston Sturges recreated comedy with verbal slapstick. Lolita is black slapstick and at times it’s so far out that you gasp as you laugh” (Pauline Kael). “A first-rate film with magnificent actors ... Kubrick was a great director” (Nabokov).

B&W, Blu-ray Disc. 153 mins.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14 – 9:00 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 15 – 6:30 PM

The Bellboy USA 1960. Director: Jerry Lewis Cast: Jerry Lewis, Alex Gerry, Bob Clayton, Sonny Sands, Eddie Shaeffer

Set in and around the famed Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami, Jerry Lewis’s giddy, gagfilled first film as director (he also produced, wrote, and starred) is “Lewis’s purest and most formally inventive feature, and probably his most experimental work” (Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader). “Walking too many dogs? Carrying too many suitcases? Too many phones a-ringin’? Well, join the club! The Bellboy was miraculously conceived, written, shot, and released in just six months as part of a promise to Paramount to deliver a summer film ... With no actual story, no real plot, a main character that utters only one line of dialogue, and a baggage cart full of highly surreal jokes, The Bellboy remains Lewis’s most experimental endeavour, and one of his most endearing to boot. A true testament to Lewis’s love of the great silent clowns (Stan Laurel in particular), the Miami hotels he played in his youth, and every schlub who could never get a word in edgewise (not even a ‘Hey, laaaady!’), The Bellboy is an eruption of cinematic talent that proved Lewis wasn’t just a comedian, but a total filmmaker” (The Cinefamily, Los Angeles). B&W, 35mm. 72 mins.

Archival 35mm print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – 8:15 PM

Stardust Memories USA 1980. Director: Woody Allen Cast: Woody Allen, Charlotte Rampling, Jessica Harper, Marie-Christine Barrault, Tony Roberts

Woody Allen spends a weekend at the Stardust Hotel — and is in strikingly venomous mode — in the highly autobiographic, savagely self-satirizing Stardust Memories, a film often referred to as Allen’s 8½. Allen’s movie is self-consciously modelled on — and pays tribute to, and parodies — Fellini’s great masterpiece; but, as with other Allen films of the era, in which the comedian-turned-director became more “serious” as an artist, there’s a fair bit of Bergman here too (particularly Wild Strawberries). Allen plays neurotic comedianturned-filmmaker Sandy Bates, who arrives at the Stardust Hotel in New Jersey for a weekend seminar and retrospective devoted to his work.

Suffering from creative block, and juggling the various women in his life, he is besieged by critics, studio executives, sycophants, and fans — many of them quite vocal about the fact they prefer his “earlier, funnier movies” to those he now makes. Shot in gorgeous black-and-white by Allen regular Gordon Willis, and full of the vintage jazz music Allen adores (including Louis Armstrong’s version of “Stardust”), Stardust Memories drips with acid humour, misanthropy, and a fair bit of self-indulgence and self-loathing. “Misunderstood and maligned ... The film remains one of Allen’s most complex and fascinating works” (Jeff Stafford, Turner Classic Movies). B&W, 35mm. 89 mins.

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 21 – 8:00 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 – 6:30 PM

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Many of us share childhood movie memories of a moment when the safe world of a family film transformed and started to seem dangerous! An image or a soundscape created an impressionistic, hazy sense of a character or a scene viscerally reminded us that life has its perils. These moments and memories have inspired Cinema Sunday 2013: Family Frights. We’ve assembled a year of family films sure to resurrect those childhood movie moments that haunt you still — films that walk the line between the happy universe of the kids’ movie and the nerve-wracking memories of childhood nightmares past. In the manner of Old World fairy tales, these stories prepare children for the hazardous transition into adolescence and the grown-up world. They’re not for the faintest of heart, but these creative, masterful stories give new meaning to the idea of the family film and family fun. We invite you and your kids to enjoy the artistry and magic of the some of the edgiest children’s films of the past.

Films will be introduced by Vancouver film history teacher, critic, and children’s movie enthusiast Michael van den Bos.

CHILDREN

&

YOUTHS ADULTS

The Last Starfighter USA 1984. Director: Nick Castle Cast: Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Catherine Mary Stewart, Dan O’Herlihy, Norman Snow

The fantasy of young video-gamers everywhere materialized on screen with The Last Starfighter, Nick Castle’s 1984 cult sci-fi hit. An average teenage boy, Alex (Lance Guest) spends all of his time at the local video arcade, and holds the highest score for his favourite game, Starfighter. Alex dreams of leaving his trailer-park life and going to college; just as those dreams appear to be dashed, Starfighter’s inventor, Centauri (Robert Preston), appears. Centauri reveals that Starfighter is not merely a game, it is also an actual interstellar conflict between two warring civilizations — and as the highest-scoring player, Alex is recruited to join the battle! Suddenly, Alex is plunged into a universe literally out-of-this-world, where he must risk his own life, piloting a real fighter spacecraft, to save the day. One of the first films to use computer-graphic special effects, The Last Starfighter astonished audiences upon its first release and has developed a cult following of sci-fi and video-game enthusiasts in the years since.

Taking the safe, entertaining world of video gaming and transforming it into a fantastical, dangerous “reality” where decisions have real consequences, The Last Starfighter challenged viewers to consider the ways they looked at on-screen entertainment. Colour, Bluray Disc. 101 mins.

CINEMATHEQUE MEMBERSHIP NOT REQUIRED

SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 1:00 PM

E.T.

The Extra-Terrestrial USA 1982. Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Dee Wallace, Henry Thomas, Peter Coyote, Robert MacNaughton, Drew Barrymore

Steven Spielberg’s classic 1982 sci-fi adventure captured the imagination of an entire generation; today, more than 30 years after its initial release, is still beloved by viewers of all ages. Nominated for nine Academy Awards and winning four, E.T. evokes the wonder and magic of childhood, when anything seems possible. Ten-year-old Elliot (Henry Thomas) is a lonely boy living with his single mom (Dee Wallace), brother Michael (Robert MacNaughton), and sister Gertie (Drew Barrymore). One day, he discovers a small alien creature, alone and afraid, in his backyard — mistakenly left behind by its spaceship! Elliot decides to care for the creature, whom he calls E.T., and to hide it from grown-ups, while also helping E.T. to “phone home.” A special friendship develops, but when the adult world discovers E.T.’s presence, government agents in hazmat suits are suddenly swarming the family house! Elliot must find a way to get E.T. home. One of Spielberg’s finest family adventures, E.T. mixes special effects and entertainment with real themes of family, divorce, and loneliness. Like the other films in our Family Frights series, it takes a familiar world — in this case, suburbia — and transforms it into a magical and at times frightening place, where aliens can become our best friends, and adults can become adversaries. It is this mix of reality, fear, and adventure that continues to delight audiences young and old. Colour, 35mm. 115 mins.

8

Restored 35mm Print!

This new 35mm print restores the original 1982 release version of the film.

SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 – 1:00PM

“Graceland is a nasty, frayed nerve of a film ... An impressive accomplishment ... This film stings.” CHUCK BOWEN, SLANT “Graceland has a ruthlessness rarely attempted by its North American counterparts.” ADAM NAYMAN, GLOBE AND MAIL “A tense and tough-minded family drama ... Director Morales steers the story in unexpected directions ... Even while embracing the breathless beats of the crime thriller, Graceland holds tight to its [social] concern.”

VANCOUVER PREMIERE

Philippines 2012. Director: Ron Morales Cast: Arnold Reyes, Menggie Cobarrubias, Dido De La Paz, Leon Miguel, Ella Guevara

天

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JEANNETTE CATSOULIS, NEW YORK TIMES

N MA THURSDAY, AUGUST 8 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 9 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 – 4:30 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 – 4:30 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 12 – 9:10 PM

獄

(Tengoku to jigoku) Japan 1963. Director: Akira Kurosawa Cast: Toshiro Mifune, Kyoko Kagawa, Tatsuya Nakadai, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Tatsuya Mihashi

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The mean streets of Manila are the setting for Filipino-American director Ron Morales’s powerful, unsettling Graceland, a tense, twisting, fast-paced noir thriller and social drama (and winner of an audience award at last year’s Tribeca festival, where it premiered). The ironic title, which has nothing do with Elvis, references a state from which virtually all of the film’s morally-compromised characters have fallen. The plot has distinct parallels with Akira Kurosawa’s masterful 1963 noir High and Low (which we’re also screening this week). Family man Marlon (Arnold Reyes), chauffeur to a corrupt Filipino politician (Menggie Cobarrubias), is ambushed by kidnappers seeking the boss’s young daughter. In the ensuing chaos, Marlon’s own daughter is taken by mistake.

Desperate to save his child, frantic Marlon must navigate his way between the ruthless kidnappers, his unscrupulous boss, and a brutal police detective (Dido De La Paz) who considers Marlon a prime suspect — all the while not revealing that the wrong girl is being held. “Morales dares to take viewers down the rabbit hole of Manila’s seedy underbelly, exposing a carnival of corruption, exploitation, and shady double-dealings ...

Both entertaining and disturbing, Graceland is a gritty and gripping crime thriller with weight, weaving plots of political corruption and human trafficking into a kidnapping-gonewrong narrative, making for one intense and unpredictable ride” (Tribeca Film Festival). Colour, Blu-ray Disc, in Tagalog with English subtitles. 84 mins.

AN OIR

One of a number of fine films noir in Akira Kurosawa’s filmography, the extraordinary High and Low — “the masterpiece of Kurosawa’s modern-day movies” (Elliott Stein, Village Voice) — is a morallycomplex thriller adapted from a novel by American crime writer Ed McBain. Gondo (Kurosawa regular Toshiro Mifune), a self-made tycoon risking financial ruin as he battles for control of his company, receives word that his young son has been kidnapped. Paying the ransom demand will clearly sink him — but when it is learned that the kidnapper has actually grabbed the chauffeur’s son by mistake, yet is still demanding the huge ransom, Gondo faces a terrible dilemma.

The first half unfolds mostly within the suspensefully static confines of a single room; the second half explodes into a frenetic police procedural. High and Low is one of Kurosawa’s most impressively formal works, with taut CinemaScope framing, marvellous deep-focus compositions, gripping set pieces, great use of mirrors and reflections, and ironic point-of-view interplay between high and low — or, as the Japanese title has it, heaven and hell! “Undoubtedly the most complex detective film of all ... It contains so many nuances of narrative, photographic technique, and acting, that it demands seeing far more than once” (William K. Everson). B&W, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 143 mins.

9

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad Jason and the Argonauts

A Tribute to

Ray Harryhausen (1920-2013)

The cinema lost one of its great magicians in May of this year with the death of visual-effects master and stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen. Harryhausen’s wondrous work is perhaps best represented by the fantastical, fondly-remembered adventures The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963), two iconic films mixing live-action actors and stop-motion models — of towering Cyclopes, giant two-headed birds, sword-fighting skeletons — in an intricate, inventive process Harryhausen called “Dynamation.” Both Sinbad and Jason are, for many, an indelible part of childhood movie memories; both were also important inspirations for many of the leading fantasy, science-fiction, and SFX filmmakers of the last forty years, from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas to J. J. Abrams and Brad Bird. Born in Los Angeles in 1920, Harryhausen was himself inspired to take up stop-motion animation by 1933’s King Kong. His first feature work was as an assistant to King Kong animator Willis O’Brien on Mighty Joe Young (1949). Harryhausen’s dazzling creature-feature wizardry contributed to many a classic movie fantasy, including First Men on the Moon (1964), One Million Years B.C. (1966), and Clash of the Titans (1981). We pay tribute to this master of Dynamation with the duo of exciting adventures for which we and many others best remember him.

10

ALL AGES

WELCOME

“Harryhausen has been an inspiration to us all ... Without Ray Harryhausen, there would have been no Star Wars.”

GEORGE LUCAS

“Harryhausen was, obviously, a genius, infinitely ahead of his time.

He inspired us all with his skill and imagination.”

J. J. ABRAMS

“Harryhausen stands alone as a technician, as an artist, and as a dreamer.”

Pure movie magic! Special-effects legend Ray Harryhausen is the real hero of this eye-popping fantasy adventure, directed

by Nathan Juran, and inspired by the Arabian Nights exploits of legendary hero Sinbad the Sailor. The colourful tale has Sinbad and his crew battling evil magician Sokurah over a magic lantern, imperilling beautiful Princess Parisa, Sinbad’s beloved, in the process. What truly sticks in the mind are the awe-inspiring creations of Harryhausen’s creature-feature imagination: the horned Cyclopes, cobra-woman, two-headed roc, skeleton warrior, firebreathing dragon, and much else besides. The top-notch score by legendary film composer Bernard Herrmann is notable too.

Harryhausen, as a child, was inspired to take up stopmotion animation by the 1933 classic King Kong. The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, like its close Harryhausen cousin Jason and the Argonauts, has itself dazzled and delighted generations of young moviewatchers and future movie-makers. “One of the greatest achievements in fantasy filmmaking since King Kong ... The film is an assault of the visually fantastic” (James Monaco, The Movie Guide). Colour, 35mm. 88 mins.

USA 1958. Director: Nathan Juran Cast: Kerwin Matthews, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, Torin Thatcher, Alec Mango

RAY BRADBURY

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 5 – 4:30 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 – 6:30 PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 – 8:30 PM

Is visual-effects wizard Ray Harryhausen’s signature achievement the sensational 7th Voyage of Sinbad? Or the jaw-dropping Jason and the Argonauts (directed by Don Chaffey)? Let’s call it a draw and agree that Harryhausen’s greatest creation is a marvellous two-headed colossus made up of both movies. Jason, the rousing tale of the mythic Greek hero, his relationship with the gods of Mount Olympus, and his quest for the legendary Golden Fleece, does contain what may be Harryhausen’s (or anyone else’s) most impressive feat of stop-motion animation: a painstaking sequence, requiring more than four months of single-handed effort

by Harryhausen, in which seven sword-fighting skeletons spring from the ground to do battle with Jason and two of his men. The unforgettable scene is prefigured by one in Sinbad involving but a single boney warrior. Jason, like Sinbad, also features a fine score by Bernard Herrmann. “Another Ray Harryhausen animated masterpiece. Only Sinbad has as many great scenes ... Jason encounters purplewinged harpies, Triton the merman, a seven-headed hydra whose teeth turn into amazing skeleton warriors, and the bronze giant Talos. A classic fantasy” (The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film). Colour, 35mm. 104 mins.

USA/Great Britain 1963. Director: Don Chaffey Cast: Todd Armstrong, Nancy Kovack, Gary Raymond, Laurence Naismith, Honor Blackman, Niall MacGinnis

SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 – 8:15 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 5 – 6:30 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 6 – 8:15 PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7 – 6:30 PM

11

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SINGLE BILL

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DOUBLE BILL

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10 DOUBLE BILL PASS

SINGLE BILL

14

DOUBLE BILL

108

10 DOUBLE BILL PASS

HOW TO BUY TICKETS

unless otherwise indicated

RESTRICTED $ 3 ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP REQUIRED

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Tickets go on sale at the Box Office 30 minutes before the first show of the evening. Advance tickets are available for credit card purchase at theCinematheque.ca. Events, times, and prices are subject to change without notice.

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The Film Arts Program: Jan - Aug 2014 www.langara.bc.ca/filmarts

SCREENWRITING

Write here.

SUNDAY

(p 11)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

6:30pm

RAY HARRYHAUSEN

Howl’s Moving Castle (p 18)

4:00pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

The Cat Returns (p 18)

8:40pm

Whisper of the Heart (p 18)

6:30pm

Ponyo (p 17)

4:30pm

4

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

23

(p 11)

Jason and the Argonauts

6:30pm

(p 11)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

4:30pm

(p 11)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

6:30pm

RAY HARRYHAUSEN

Whisper of the Heart (p 18)

Ponyo (p 17)

RAY HARRYHAUSEN

8:25pm

8:50pm

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

6

30

Porco Rosso (p 17)

5

29

Spirited Away (p 16)

8:35pm

My Neighbours the Yamadas (p 17)

Pom Poko (p 17)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

The Ocean Waves (p 16)

The Ocean Waves (p 16)

STUDIO GHIBLI

9:10pm

7:00pm

28

Princess Mononoke (p 16)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Spirited Away (p 16)

4:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

The Last Starfighter (p 8)

1:00pm

CINEMA SUNDAY

22

Kiki’s Delivery Service (p 16)

My Neighbour Totoro (p 15)

21

8:20pm

8:40pm

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

(p 11)

Jason and the Argonauts

6:30pm

RAY HARRYHAUSEN

Whisper of the Heart (p 18)

8:35pm

The Cat Returns (p 18)

7:00pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

7

1

6:30pm

GRACELAND (p 9)

Pom Poko (p 17)

8:25pm

8

From Up on Poppy Hill (p 18)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

31 AUGUST

My Neighbours the Yamadas (p 17)

My Neighbours the Yamadas (p 17)

Ponyo (p 17)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

6:30pm

GRACELAND (p 9)

9

From Up on Poppy Hill (p 18)

8:50pm

2

26

Howl’s Moving Castle (p 18)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Pom Poko (p 17)

8:25pm

Porco Rosso (p 17)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Spirited Away (p 16)

Princess Mononoke (p 16)

25

9:10pm

9:00pm

8:35pm

24

Princess Mononoke (p 16)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

19

My Neighbour Totoro (p 15)

8:40pm

5

12

Kiki’s Delivery Service (p 16)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (p 14)

Spirited Away (p 16)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

8:35pm

The Ocean Waves (p 16)

7:00pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

7:00pm

YANG BAN XI: THE EIGHT MODEL WORKS + WEEGEE’S NEW YORK (p 5)

PRESENTATION HOUSE GALLERY PRESENTS

Kiki’s Delivery Service (p 16)

Only Yesterday (p 15)

18

8:20pm

9:00pm

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (p 14)

My Neighbour Totoro (p 15)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Castle in the Sky (p 15)

17

11

8:50pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

10

Castle in the Sky (p 15)

8:50pm

9:00pm

Castle in the Sky (p 15)

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (p 14)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

6:30pm

4

FRIDAY

STUDIO GHIBLI

6:30pm

15

8

3

THURSDAY

Only Yesterday (p 15)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

My Neighbour Totoro (p 15)

14

7

8:20pm 8:40pm

LE PONT DU NORD

6:30pm

LE DIABLE PROBABLEMENT

6:30pm

WEDNESDAY

HOLY MOTORS

1

TUESDAY

LE DIABLE PROBABLEMENT

Kiki’s Delivery Service (p 16)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

7:15pm

CINEMA VANCOUVER: A COMMUNITY FILM SCREENING AND DIALOGUE (p 4)

CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF PLANNERS PRESENTS

For film descriptions, please consult the previous Program Guide magazine or visit our website: theCinematheque.ca

JULY

MONDAY

3

27

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

4:30pm

GRACELAND (p 9)

10

Howl’s Moving Castle (p 18)

8:25pm

From Up on Poppy Hill (p 18)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Porco Rosso (p 17)

8:35pm

Ponyo (p 17)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Princess Mononoke (p 16)

9:00pm

Spirited Away (p 16)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

20

Kiki’s Delivery Service (p 16)

8:20pm

6

13

My Neighbour Totoro (p 15)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

Castle in the Sky (p 15)

8:50pm

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (p 14)

6:30pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

SATURDAY

NOW PLAYING

JULY 1-3 SCREENINGS

JULY+AUG

1131 HOWE STREET

theC in emath equ e.ca

U P D AT E S & A D VA N C E T I C K E T S

Touch of Evil (p 21)

Touch of Evil (p 21)

19

ForceCINEMA of Evil (p 21) DIM

8:05pm 7:30pm Sorry, Wrong The Mirage of Number History (p(p8)22)

The Big Sleep (p 21)

8:40pm

Criss Cross (p 22) The Big Sleep (p 21)

8:05pm

Kiss the Blood off My Hands (p 22)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

Desert Fury (p 20)

27

13

29

22

15

Sweet Smell of Success (p 22)

8:15pm

Criss Cross (p 22)

Kiss the Blood off My Hands (p 22)

6:30pm

8:15pm

FILM NOIR

Sorry, Wrong Number (p 22)

6:30pm

The Bellboy (p 7)

Stardust Memories (p 7)

FILM NOIR

8:15pm

8:00pm

6:30pm

GRAND HOTELS

Death in Venice (p 7)

9:15pm

Lolita (p 7)

6:30pm

GRAND HOTELS

Stardust Memories (p 7)

28

21

14

8:15pm

HIGH AND LOW (p 9)

The Bellboy (p 7)

6:30pm

GRAND HOTELS

Lolita (p 7)

9:00pm

Death in Venice (p 7)

6:30pm

GRAND HOTELS

(p 11)

The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

8:30pm

DIM Cinema + Frames of Mind will resume in September.

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

26

FILM NOIR

6:30pm

6:30pm

8:25pm

25

FILM NOIR

Desert Fury (p 20)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (p 8)

1:00pm

CINEMA SUNDAY

The Killers (p 20)

9:10pm

8:30pm

GRACELAND (p 9)

8:15pm

6:30pm The Killers (p 20)

6:30pm

The Big Combo (p 20)

6:30pm

HIGH AND LOW (p 9)

12

(p 11)

Jason and the Argonauts

8:15pm

FILM NOIR

18

11

From Up on Poppy Hill (p 18)

8:35pm

STUDIO GHIBLI

FILM NOIR

4:30pm

GRACELAND (p 9)

(p 11)

Jason and the Argonauts

8:15pm

30

23

16

Sorry, Wrong Number (p 22)

8:25pm

Sweet Smell of Success (p 22)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

The Big Sleep (p 21)

8:05pm

Force of Evil (p 21)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

Touch of Evil (p 21)

8:15pm

The Big Combo (p 20)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

8:15pm

HIGH AND LOW (p 9)

24

17

www.vlaff.org

AUG 31- SEPT 8

VANCOUVER LATIN AMERICAN FILM FESTIVAL

Force of Evil (p 21)

8:25pm

31

Sweet Smell of Success (p 22)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

Desert Fury (p 20)

8:40pm

Touch of Evil (p 21)

6:30pm

FILM NOIR

The Big Combo (p 20)

8:30pm

The Killers (p 20)

CASTLES IN THE SKY: THE RETURN OF

STUDIO GHIBLI Ȯȴȭ ȟȭ ɋɟ © 1 98 4

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This major retrospective of the films of Studio Ghibli, the world-renowned anime studio founded in Tokyo in 1985 by animation directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata and producer Toshio Suzuki, was a positive sensation when we first presented it in December. In fact, it was our most popular large-scale series in years! By popular demand, we’re pleased to bring it back for a return engagement. And we’ve added two additional Ghibli features to the 14 we screened the first goround.

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Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (Kaze no tani no Naushika)

Japan 1984. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Sumi Shimamoto, Gorô Naya, Mahito Tsujimura, Hisako Kyôda, Ichirô Nagai

Often referred to as the Disney of Japan, Studio Ghibli (pronounced “jib-lee” or “gee-buh-lee”) is known for startlingly original animated feature films that combine dazzling visual virtuosity, vivid characterizations, and epic storytelling. These include some of the most magical, most beloved animated movies ever made, including Castle in the Sky, My Neighbour Totoro, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away, and Howl’s Moving Castle.

Ghibli’s warm, intelligent, poetic films, often full of great flights of fancy that borrow from fairytale, folklore, and science fiction, are always grounded in a deeply-felt humanism that embraces family and community and believes in essential human goodness (despite considerable evidence of human folly), and in a deep concern for the environment and our relationship with nature. They typically feature strong female protagonists. Ghibli films, it is also worth noting, are still primarily (and lovingly) crafted the traditional way, through the labour-intensive, hand-drawn, frame-by-frame technique of cel animation.

The program includes two rare titles — Only Yesterday and The Ocean Waves — never released in North America. It also features two films not included in The Cinematheque’s first presentation of the retrospective in December: popular Ponyo, a great favourite of children, and the recentlyreleased From Up on Poppy Hill, the latest wonder from Studio Ghibli.

Hayao Miyazaki’s second feature was his breakthrough: it was the first film over which he had complete artistic control, and its great success led to the founding of Studio Ghibli. Nausicaä is considered by many to be Miyazaki’s masterwork — and there are few films, animated or otherwise, of such sweeping scope and grandeur. Set in a devastated future world decimated by atmospheric poisons and swarming with gigantic insects, Nausicaä is the story of a young princess, both brave and innocent, whose love for all living things and passionate determination to understand the processes of nature lead her into terrible danger, sacrifice, and eventual triumph. Like most Studio Ghibli films, there is neither good nor evil, but conflicting viewpoints, weaknesses, and power struggles. Throughout the film, Miyazaki’s animation is awe-inspiring; the depiction of the poisoned forest in particular is a thing of transcendent beauty. Once the hallucinogenic strangeness of shape and color has been accepted, there is light, growth, and life everywhere. Huge dragonfly-like creatures are accompanied by wonderful, evocative sounds of flight and movement. The lethal fungus plants glow, shimmer, and shed spores like silent gleaming snowfalls. A film not to be missed. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 116 mins.

THURSDAY, JULY 4 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, JULY 5 – 9:00 PM SATURDAY, JULY 6 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, JULY 8 – 8:50 PM

All films, with the exception of The Ocean Waves, will be presented in recent 35mm prints struck for this touring retrospective. All films, with the exception of Ponyo, will screen in their original Japanese-language versions with English subtitles. Ponyo will screen in its English-voiced version.

M E D I A S P O N S O RS

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Only Yesterday

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(Omohide Poro Poro) Japan 1991. Director: Isao Takahata Voices: Miki Imai, Toshirô Yanagiba, Youko Honna, Masako Watanabe, Masahiro Ito

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Castle in the Sky (Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta) Japan 1986. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Mayumi Tanaka, Keiko Yokozawa, Kotoe Hatsui, Minori Terada, Fujio Tokita

Also known as Laputa: Castle in the Sky, the first film released under the Studio Ghibli banner remains one of Miyazaki’s most beautiful and exciting works. Sheeta, a young girl with a mysterious crystal pendant, falls out of the sky and into the arms and life of Pazu, a young mining engineer. Together they search for legendary Laputa, a floating island in the sky — and site of a long-dead civilization promising enormous wealth and power to those who can unlock its secrets. Castle in the Sky is an early masterpiece of storytelling and filmmaking whose imaginative and ornatelydetailed vision presaged later Miyazaki achievements such as Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away. “As exhilarating an eco fantasy as you’re likely to see ... Miyazaki’s first Studio Ghibli feature is a rollicking adventure in a world (or worlds) resolutely its own” (Time Out). “Castle in the Sky may be Miyazaki’s most purely enjoyable movie” (Film Comment). Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 124 mins.

THURSDAY, JULY 4 – 8:50 PM FRIDAY, JULY 5 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JULY 6 – 8:50 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 10 – 6:30 PM

RATINGS The Cinematheque welcomes all ages to this family-friendly presentation of the films of Studio Ghibli. All films in the series are rated G or PG (with the exception of Princess Mononoke and The Ocean Waves, which are 14A under 14 requires adult accompaniment). Remember that all films (except Ponyo) are in Japanese with English subtitles!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Cinematheque is grateful to Dave Jesteadt and GKIDS (New York) for assistance in making this presentation possible. Program notes by (or adapted from) GKIDS, except where otherwise noted.

Directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata and produced by Hayao Miyazaki, Only Yesterday is one of two films in our Studio Ghibli retrospective that were never released in North America on any format (the other is The Ocean Waves). Only Yesterday is a double period piece that beautifully evokes both the 1960s and 1980s; it is also a quintessential drama of Japanese school-day nostalgia. Bored twentysomething Taeko, realizing she’s at a crossroads in her life, heads for the countryside. The trip dredges up forgotten childhood memories which unfold in flashback: the first immature stirrings of romance; the onset of puberty; and the frustrations of math and boys. In lyrical switches between the present and the past, Taeko wonders if she has been true to the dreams of her childhood self. Studio Ghibli is known for its strong female heroines, from Nausicaä and Mononoke to Kiki to Ponyo — but this charming tale of self-discovery may delve deeper into the real emotional experiences of girls and women than perhaps any animated film before or since. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 118 mins.

MONDAY, JULY 8 – 6:30 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 10 – 9:00 PM

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My Neighbour Totoro (Tonari no Totoro) Japan 1988. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Noriko Hidaka, Chika Sakamoto, Shigesato Itoi, Sumi Shimamoto, Tanie Kitabayashi, Hitoshi Takagi

Miyazaki’s most endearing film (and most endearing character) is almost certainly My Neighbour Totoro; few films have enjoyed such a devoted following or had such cultural impact (it was instrumental in introducing the glories of anime — and Miyazaki — to the world). Totoro is the deceptively simple tale of two girls, Satsuki and Mei, who move with their father to a house in the country while their mother is in hospital. They soon discover that the surrounding forests are home to a family of Totoros, gentle but powerful creatures who live in an ancient camphor tree and are seen only by children. These magical beings take the girls on spinning-top rides through the tree tops, and introduce them to a furry, multi-pawed Catbus. The latter is a nod to Lewis Carroll’s Cheshire Cat; the Totoros, oversized panda-like creatures with bunny ears, are based on Miyazaki’s own childhood imaginings. Beneath the film’s playfulness and narrative simplicity lie depths of wisdom; My Neighbour Totoro is infused with an almost spiritual reverence for the power of nature (a philosophy tied to the ancient Shinto belief that every object in nature has a soul), and leaves viewers with a great sense of wonder at the beauty, mystery, and preciousness of the world around us. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 86 mins.

THURSDAY, JULY 11 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, JULY 12 – 8:40 PM SATURDAY, JULY 13 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, JULY 14 – 8:40 PM MONDAY, JULY 15 – 6:30 PM

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Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime)

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Kiki’s Delivery Service

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Japan 1997. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Yôji Matsuda, Yuriko Ishida, Yûko Tanaka, Kaoru Kobayashi, Sumi Shimamoto

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One of Hayao Miyazaki’s peak achievements, Princess Mononoke is a landmark of animation and a film of unsurpassed power and beauty. Telling an epic story of conflict between humans, gods, and nature, the film has been universally acclaimed by critics and broke box-office records upon its original release in Japan. Many have noted its powerful environmentalist message. While defending his village from a demonic boar-god, young warrior Ashitaka becomes afflicted with a curse that grants him superhuman power in battle but will eventually prove fatal. Traveling in search of a cure, he journeys deep into the sacred Great Forest, where he meets San, a young girl raised by wolf-gods. San is leader of the forest-gods in their battle against the humans of Iron Town; the townsfolk call her Princess Mononoke (“Monster”). In Miyazaki’s remarkable hands, she is a true force of nature — with blood smeared lips, riding bareback on a great white wolf, and warring with both gods and humans, she is as iconic a mythic figure as any from film, literature, or opera. “A great film ... one of the most visually inventive films I have ever seen” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times).

Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 134 mins.

(Majo no takkyûbin) Japan 1989. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Haruko Kato

Miyazaki’s lyrical, evocative coming-of-age tale is one of Studio Ghibli’s most beloved films. Resourceful Kiki is a young witchin-training; her best friend is Jiji, a chatty, wisecracking black cat. It is tradition that, upon turning 13, all apprentice witches leave family and home and set out into the wider world to find their path and learn their craft. When that time comes for Kiki, she and Jiji embark on flying broom, landing the next morning in a distant seaside city. There, Kiki uses her flying broom to establish a delivery service with a local baker, but self-doubt soon threatens both her aerial ability and her relationship with Jiji. Miyazaki’s art is brilliantly rendered in this delightfully imaginative film — a beautiful and timeless story of a young girl finding her way in the world. “A charmingly sweet fable ... It’s the director’s most emotionally naturalistic film, grounded in the adolescent rituals of finding one’s own feet in the world ... It’s also a visual joy, every frame a compositional delight” (Nick Bradshaw, Time Out). Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 102 mins.

THURSDAY, JULY 18 – 9:00 PM FRIDAY, JULY 19 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JULY 20 – 9:00 PM MONDAY, JULY 22 – 6:30 PM

THURSDAY, JULY 11 – 8:20 PM FRIDAY, JULY 12 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JULY 13 – 8:20 PM SUNDAY, JULY 14 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, JULY 15 – 8:20 PM

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The Ocean Waves

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Spirited Away

(Umi ga kikoeru) Japan 1993. Director: Tomomi Mochizuki Voices: Nobuo Tobita, Toshihiko Seki, Y�ko Sakamoto, Kae Araki, Yuri Amano, Jun’ichi Kanemaru

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THURSDAY, JULY 18 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, JULY 19 – 9:10 PM SATURDAY, JULY 20 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 4:30 PM TUESDAY, JULY 23 – 8:35 PM

Rarely seen outside of Japan — it was never released in North America theatrically or on any home viewing format — The Ocean Waves is a subtle, poignant, and wonderfully detailed story of adolescence and teenage isolation. Taku and best friend Yutaka are headed back to school for what looks like another uneventful year. They soon find their friendship tested by the arrival of beautiful Rikako, a new transfer student from Tokyo. Rikako is mercurial and manipulative, with a temperament that vacillates wildly, from flirty and flippant to melancholic. When Taku joins her on a trip to Tokyo, the school erupts with rumours, and all three friends are forced to come to terms with their changing relationships.

Originally made for Japanese TV, Ocean Waves was the first Studio Ghibli production directed by someone other than studio founders Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata; young director Tomomi Mochizuki headed a talented team of young Ghibli employees in creating this adaptation of Saeko Himuro’s best-selling novel.

Full of shots bathed in a palette of pleasingly soft pastel colors and rich in the unexpected visual details typical of Ghibli’s most revered works, Ocean Waves is an accomplished teenage drama and a true discovery. Colour, Digibeta video, in Japanese with English subtitles. 72 mins. © 19 93 S aek o H im

Voices: Rumi Hiiragi, Miyu Irino, Takashi Naitô, Yasuko Sawaguchi, Mari Natsuki

“A masterpiece, pure and simple” (Dave Kehr, New York Times), Hayao Miyazaki’s Academy Award-winning Spirited Away was the biggest box-office hit of all time in Japan and helped redefine the possibilities of animation for North American audiences and a generation of new filmmakers.

Wandering through an abandoned carnival site, 10-year-old Chihiro is separated from her parents. She stumbles into a dream-like spirit world, where a tyrannical witch puts her to work in a strange bathhouse for the gods. Encountering a vast menagerie of impossibly inventive characters — shape-shifting phantoms and spirits, some friendly, some less so — Chihiro must find the strength and smarts to escape her surroundings and return to her family. Combining Japanese mythology with Through the Looking-Glass-type whimsy, Spirited Away cemented Miyazaki’s reputation as an icon of inspired animation and wondrous, lyrical storytelling. In addition to its Oscar, it won the Golden Bear (top prize) at Berlin. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 125 mins.

RARE GHIBLI

SUNDAY, JULY 21 – 7:00 PM MONDAY, JULY 22 – 9:10 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 24 – 7:00 PM

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Japan 1992. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Shûichirô Moriyama, Tokiko Katô, Akio Ohtsuka, Akemi Okamura, Tsunehiko Kamijô

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My Neighbours the Yamadas (Hôhokekyo tonari no Yamada-kun) Japan 1999. Director: Isao Takahata Voices: Tôru Masuoka, Yukiji Asaoka, Masako Araki, Hayato Isohata, Naomi Uno

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This unsung, delightfully bizarre treasure from Hayao Miyazaki nestles a tale of morality and identity inside a soaring airborne adventure — a tribute to early aviation and the reckless flyboys whose home was the open sky.

Set between the World Wars in an Italy swept by Fascism, the film follows Marco, a world-weary flying ace who now plies his trade as a bounty hunter chasing air pirates above the Adriatic Sea. Somewhere in the past, a terrible curse gave Marco the head of a pig — a reflection, perhaps, of his loss of faith in humanity. Marco meets his polar G NN b ariki 2 Ni 1 99 © opposite in Fio, a innocent, energetic 17-year-old girl who aspires to be an airplane designer. The two are catapulted into high-flying conflict involving air pirates, the Italian army, and an egotistical American flying ace. Miyazaki fans will be familiar with the writerdirector’s fascination with flight; in Porco Rosso, Miyazaki indulges his passion to the fullest. An avid aviation buff, Miyazaki’s airplane designs conform scrupulously to the technology of the period. But most impressive are the exhilarating aerial scenes: sweeping panoramas of wind, cloud, smoke, and water and the breathtaking feeling of soaring though the air in an open cockpit. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 94 mins.

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FRIDAY, JULY 26 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JULY 27 – 8:35 PM TUESDAY, JULY 30 – 6:30 PM

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In a departure from the frequently mythical storytelling of Studio Ghibli, director Isao Takahata wryly tweaks the everyday activities of family life with his depiction of the irresponsible, slovenly, and lazy Yamada family and their unassuming way of life. With cartoonlike characters and visual design unlike anything else in the Ghibli canon, the film is illustrated in a series of rough sketches and outlines, which are then filled with soft colors that evoke watercolour painting. My Neighbours the Yamadas is based on a yonkoma (comic-strip) manga

by Hisaichi Ishii, and was the first Ghibli film to be created entirely on computers, an approach Takahata took in order to achieve its watercolour look. “A rarely-seen gem ... A delightfully offbeat example of Ghibli’s focus on the intricacies of human relationships and the intersections of past and present” (TIFF Cinematheque). Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 104 mins.

TUESDAY, JULY 23 – 6:30 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 24 – 8:35 PM THURSDAY, JULY 25 – 8:35 PM

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Ponyo

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Pom Poko

Japan 2008. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Cate Blanchett, Tina Fey, Matt Damon, Liam Neeson, Noah Cyrus, Betty White

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In this brilliant and often overlooked Studio Ghibli masterpiece directed by Isao Takahata, the forests are filled with groups of magical, mischievous tanuki — the raccoon dogs capable, according to Japanese folklore, of shape-shifting into practically any form. Pom Poko’s deceptively cuddly tanuki spend their days playing idly in the hillsides and squabbling over food. When the construction of a huge new Tokyo suburb clears a nearby forest and threatens their home and way of life, the tanuki rally to defend themselves. They embark on a guerrilla campaign to spook the construction workers into believing the site is haunted. It all culminates in a spectacular night-time spirit parade, with thousands of ghosts, dragons, and other magical creatures descending on the city — an abundance of fantastical characters that would not be matched on screen by Studio Ghibli until Spirited Away. “A rollicking mix of daffy cartoon hijinks and melancholy realism ... It’s also a eulogy to Japan’s rich folk culture, and a delightful celebration of the arts of play and transformation, animated or otherwise” (Nick Bradshaw, Time Out). Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 119 mins. us

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THURSDAY, JULY 25 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, JULY 27 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, JULY 28 – 4:30 PM MONDAY, JULY 29 – 8:50 PM

Japan 1994. Director: Isao Takahata Voices: Shinchô Kokontei, Makoto Nonomura, Takehiro Murata, Shigeru Izumiya, Nijiko Kiyokawa

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Perfect for audiences of all ages, Hayao Miyazaki’s enchanting Ponyo (screening here in its English-language version) offers a fantastic re-imagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. The film centers on the friendship between a five-year-old boy named Sosuke, son of a sailor, and a magical goldfish named Ponyo, young daughter of a sorcerer father and a sea-goddess mother. After their chance encounter, Ponyo yearns to become human so she can be with Sosuke. As one expects with Miyazaki, the film is awash in pure unbridled imagination and visual wonder — but it is the tender love, humour, and devotion exhibited

by Ponyo and Sosuke that form the emotional heart of the film. The original title of this marvel of traditional, hand-drawn cel animation was Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea. “Goosebumps start to form about 30 seconds in — we are, after all, in the hands of Miyazaki ... Who knows why it didn’t receive an Oscar nomination for Best Animation?” (David Jenkins, Time Out). “There is a word to describe Ponyo, and that word is magical. This poetic, visually breathtaking work by the greatest of all animators has such deep charm that adults and children will both be touched” (Roger Ebert). Colour, 35mm, English version. 101 mins.

(Heisei tanuki gassen pompoko)

FRIDAY, JULY 26 – 8:25 PM MONDAY, JULY 29 – 6:30 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 – 8:25 PM

17

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Whisper of the Heart (Mimi wo sumaseba)

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Japan 1995. Director: Yoshifumi Kondô Voices: Youko Honna, Kazuo Takahashi, Maiko Kayama, Yorie Yamashita, Takashi Tachibana

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A visually-stunning wonder about the awakening of creative talent, Whisper of the Heart, written by Hayao Miyazaki, was the sole feature directed by Miyazaki’s protégé Yoshifumi Kondô before his sudden death at age of 47; it was also the first Studio Ghibli theatrical feature directed by someone other than Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. (Ocean Waves, the 1993 Ghibli film directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, was made for television.) Aspiring writer Shizuku is spending her last summer vacation before high school reading as many books as she can and translating foreign music into Japanese.

Perusing the eclectic choices she has checked out from the library, her curiosity is piqued when she notices that the name Seiji appears before hers on the checkout card of each book. Through a series of unlikely and magical incidents, she comes to meet and establish a connection with Seiji, a boy who dreams of becoming a famous violin maker in Italy. As their life goals pull them in different directions, Shizuku and Seiji are determined to remain true to their feelings for one another.

A favourite of Terry Gilliam, Whisper of the Heart remains a classic of Japanese animation. The Baron, the film’s dapper, magical feline, appears again in The Cat Returns (also screening in this series), a spin-off. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 111 mins.

Japan 2011. Director: Goro Miyazaki Voices: Yuriko Ishida, Masami Nagasawa, Teruyuki Kagawa, Jun Fubuki, Takashi Naitô

Co-scripted by anime master Hayao Miyazaki and directed by his son Goro Miyazaki, the latest feature from Studio Ghibli is a poignant, nostalgic coming-of-age drama adapted from a 1980 manga. The setting is 1963 in Yokohama; the beautifully, lovingly hand-drawn film brings to life the bustling seaside town with it misty harbour, sun-drenched gardens, and busy shops and markets. The story tells of the budding romance between Umi and Shun, two high-school kids caught up in the changing times. Japan is picking itself up from the devastation of World War II and preparing to host the 1964 Olympics; the mood is one of both optimism and conflict as the young generation struggles to throw off the shackles of a troubled past. While the two teens work together to save a dilapidated, Meiji-era club house from demolition, their tentative relationship begins to blossom. But — in an unexpected twist that parallels what Japan itself is facing — a buried secret from their past emerges to cast a shadow on the future and pull them apart. “Its visual magic lies in painterly compositions ... Its emotional impact comes from the way everyday life is washed in the colours of memory” (A. O. Scott, New York Times). Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 91 mins.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 2 – 8:50 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 – 6:30 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 5 – 8:35 PM

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SUNDAY, JULY 28 – 6:30 PM TUESDAY, JULY 30 – 8:25 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 31 – 8:35 PM

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ɄțɠǬѷǍ؋ (Hauru no ugoku shiro) Japan 2004. Director: Hayao Miyazaki Voices: Chieko Baisho, Takuya Kimura, Akihiro Miwa, Haruko Kato, Tatsuya Gashûin

(Neko no Ongaeshi) Japan 2002. Director: Hiroyuki Morita Voices: Chizuru Ikewaki, Yoshihiko Hakamada, Aki Maeda, Hitomi Satô, Tetsu Watanabe

The great popular success of Studio Ghibli’s schoolgirl fantasy/romance Whisper of the Heart lead to this spinoff, which revived the suave, top-hatted cat character called The Baron and placed him in a wonderful new adventure also involving a Japanese schoolgirl. The film’s protagonist is awkward teen Haru; the plot pitches her into a fantastical feline world that will test all her strength. Walking home after a dreary day at school, Haru saves a cat about to be hit by a speeding truck. To her amazement, the creature gets up on its hind legs, brushes itself off, and thanks her very politely. This is strange behaviour indeed, but nothing compared to what happens later that evening, when the King of Cats shows up in a feline motorcade replete with vassals, maidens, and even Secret Service cats. In a show of gratitude for saving his son’s life, the king cat showers Haru with gifts — including a large supply of individually-wrapped live mice — and decrees that she shall marry the cat prince and come to live as a princess in the secret Kingdom of Cats. The Cat Returns was the first feature directed by second-generation Ghibli animator Hiroyuki Morita. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 75 mins.

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SUNDAY, JULY 28 – 8:40 PM WEDNESDAY, JULY 31 – 7:00 PM

Howl’s Moving Castle was the second Studio Ghibli film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature (Spirited Away had been nominated — and won — three years before). Loosely based on the young-adult fantasy novel by Diane Wynn Jones, the film follows Sophie, a shy teenage girl working in a hat shop. Her life is thrown into turmoil when she is literally swept off her feet by a handsome and mysterious wizard named Howl. This chance meeting arouses the jealousy of the vain, conniving Witch of the Waste, who transforms our young heroine into a 90-year-old woman! Embarking on an incredible adventure to lift this curse, Sophie finds refuge in Howl’s magical moving castle, and soon finds herself fighting to protect both the handsome wizard and herself from a dangerous, destructive war of sorcery that imperils their world. Howl’s Moving Castle became one of the most financially successful Japanese films ever made. Its deeplyfelt pacifism, Miyazaki has said, was inspired by his outrage over the U.S. war in Iraq. Colour, 35mm, in Japanese with English subtitles. 119 mins.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 3 – 8:25 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 4 – 4:00 PM

We know you missed it when it took a powder last year — because you busted our chops and made us feel real rotten! Well, fear not!

Actually, fear a lot! In fact, fall helplessly into a head-spinning, heartin-your-throat delirium of fear. And fatalism. And darkness, despair, and disillusionment. Crime, corruption and chaos. Venality and greed.

Double-crossing dames. Out-of-luck dupes. Yes, Film Noir, Vancouver’s most popular (and pessimistic) summer film series, is back!

Film Noir celebrates the stylish, seductive, cynical glories of one of the American cinema’s most aesthetically rich, influential, and angst-ridden genres. Join us in August for our almost annual excursion into this nasty, nihilistic netherworld, this pitiless urban nightmare of moral squalor, existential dread, postwar doubt, hard-as-nails dialogue, and eye-popping Expressionist style. And if that don’t sound like your thing, then you’re just a sucker! A cheap, two-bit sucker and a heel!

This year, on the occasion of the centenary of his birth, our Film Noir program shines a six-film spotlight on the late, great actor Burt Lancaster, one of noir’s leading on-screen icons.

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The Cinematheque joins several other leading film archives and film institutes — including the UCLA Film and Television Archive, the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the Harvard Film Archive — in celebrating this year’s centennial of the eminent American actor Burt Lancaster (born 1913 in New York City). A rugged, riveting, athletic performer of wide range, capable of great sensitivity and vulnerability as well as brooding intensity and unsettling menace, Lancaster’s illustrious screen career spanned decades, continents, and genres; included risktaking roles in films by some of cinema’s greatest directors; and saw him honoured with the Best Actor Oscar for Elmer Gantry (1960) and Oscar nominations for From Here to Eternity (1953), Birdman of Alcatraz (1962), and Atlantic City (1981). But it was in film noir that Lancaster began his screen career; in noir that he became a star; and — in 1957’s nasty, Broadway-set Sweet Smell of Success — in noir that he gave what may be his greatest performance. (Alas, one of Lancaster’s trademark physical features, his killer smile, seldom had occasion for display in noir’s dark, despairing, tough-as-nails world!) Our 2013 Film Noir summer season pays tribute to this Hollywood legend and film noir icon with a program loaded with Lancaster: of the ten vintage Hollywood classics screening in the series, six — The Killers (1946), Desert Fury (1947), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Kiss the Blood off My Hands (1948), Criss Cross (1949), and Sweet Smell of Success — star Lancaster. Lancaster died in Los Angeles in 1994 at the age of 80.

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“With the possible exception of Marlon Brando, no male star of his era radiated more raw magnetism than Burt Lancaster, whose centennial is being celebrated. Nowadays, macho preening too often passes for the kind of feral grace radiated by Lancaster in films like The Killers, the 1946 noir classic ... A former circus acrobat, Lancaster didn’t have to flex his biceps to convey dangerous masculine authority. He moved with stealth, his cunning gaze suggesting a beast taking the measure of its prey.”

STEPHEN HOLDEN, NEW YORK TIMES

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SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 – 8:15 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 – 6:30 PM

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One of noir’s essential works — it virtually defines the chaos, corruption, and cynicism of the genre’s universe; the moody, menacing Expressionism of its visual style; and the doomladen determinism of its thematic — The Killers is directed by noted noir meister Robert Siodmak (Criss Cross, Phantom Lady), and elaborates on a Hemingway short story about a man who offers no resistance when hired killers come to gun him down. Burt Lancaster, in his remarkable film debut, is destined-to-die Swede, a world-weary ex-boxer who passively accepts his murderous fate as the film opens. Edmond O’Brien (D.O.A.) is Jim Riordan, an insurance investigator seeking to discover why this man would simply allow himself to be killed.

His investigation unfolds as a series of Citizen Kane-style flashbacks, recounting Swede’s downfall at the hands of Kitty Collins, a double-crossing gangster’s dame who drew the hapless hero into an elaborate armoured-car robbery scheme.

Ava Gardner, as Kitty, creates one of noir’s great femme fatales, while Miklós Rózsa’s memorable score was later used in the Dragnet TV series. “A prime example of post-war pessimism and fatalism... If anyone still doesn’t know what is signified by the critical term film noir, then The Killers provides an exhaustive definition” (Tony Rayns, Time Out). B&W, 35mm.

105 mins.

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USA 1946. Director: Robert Siodmak Cast: Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, William Conrad, Albert Dekker

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The Big Combo USA 1955. Director: Joseph H. Lewis Cast: Cornel Wilde, Richard Conte, Jean Wallace, Brian Donlevy, Lee Van Cleef

The B-movie stylist Joseph H. Lewis is best known for the cult film and noir classic Gun Crazy; his My Name is Julia Ross has also screened in past Cinematheque noir seasons.

The Big Combo, from 1955, is an excellent — and exceptionally dark and violent — late noir demonstrating Lewis’s great flair for the genre. Cornel Wilde plays Leonard Diamond, a police detective obsessed with thwarting the relationship between sadistic crime boss Brown (Richard Conte) and young society woman Susan (Jean Wallace). When Diamond’s over-zealous, extra-legal methods finally push Brown too far, the mobster determines to exact revenge — and a savage, ever-escalating vendetta plays out to a deadly end. “A film structured by viciousness and pain ... A dark night of several souls perfectly visualized in John Alton’s extraordinary camerawork. Even better than Lewis’s earlier — and remarkable — Gun Crazy” (Tom Milne, Time Out). “There is a sense of fatalism and perverse sexuality found in The Big Combo that exists in few noir films” (Carl Macek, Film Noir: The Encyclopedia). “Possibly the best picture-maker in B-movies ... Lewis was the perfect noir director” (Tom Charity, The Rough Guide to Film). B&W, 35mm. 89 mins.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 10 – 8:30 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 11 – 6:30 PM FRIDAY, AUGUST 16 – 6:30 PM Preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funding provided by The Film Foundation.

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Desert Fury

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USA 1947. Director: Lewis Allen Cast: Burt Lancaster, Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak, Wendell Corey, Mary Astor

One of the rare films noir from the classic period that’s actually in colour, this ripe, racy Technicolor drama was actor Burt Lancaster’s first picture and would have been his screen debut but for delays in its release. (The Killers, also screening in this series, stands as Lancaster’s “official” debut.) Desert Fury is set in a small Nevada gambling town, where Paula (Lizabeth Scott) rebellious daughter of gambling-house proprietress Fritzi (The Maltese Falcon’s Mary Astor), takes up with shady racketeer Eddie (John Hodiak), who may be a former flame of her mom’s. Joining Fritzi is trying to douse the relationship are local lawman Tom (Lancaster), who caries a torch for Paula, and Eddie’s sidekick Johnny (Wendell Corey), who may carry a torch for Eddie — and, in another break with noir tradition, seems to be the film’s homme fatal. “Lizabeth Scott in Technicolor glory — swirls of yellow hair, emerald eyes, fire-engine red lips — is truly something to behold, but she’s only one of the over-the-top treats in this very strange crime drama ... Desert Fury is absolutely saturated — incredibly lush colours, fast and furious dialogue dripping with innuendo, double entendres, dark secrets, outraged face-slappings, overwrought Miklós Rózsa violins. This is Hollywood at its most gloriously berserk” (American Cinematheque). Colour, 35mm. 96 mins.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 13 – 8:30 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 – 8:40 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 – 6:30 PM

“The original noirs remain the most resonant school of movie to have ever emerged in America.”

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MICHAEL ATKINSON, TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES

The Big Sleep Touch of Evil USA 1958. Director: Orson Welles Cast: Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Joseph Calleia

A “Goya-like vision of an infected universe” (Peter Bogdanovich), Touch of Evil is often cited as the final film of the vintage noir period, and is generally regarded as one of Orson Welles’s five major masterpieces. The film is set in a seedy town on the American side of the California-Mexico border, and stars Charlton Heston as Vargas, a Mexican narcotics agent honeymooning with his American wife Susan (Janet Leigh). When the town boss is murdered in a spectacular explosion, Vargas is drawn into the investigation, and finds himself ferociously at odds with corner-cutting, corpulent Hank Quinlan (Orson Welles), the local American lawman, who is unshakably convinced of the guilt of a young Mexican suspect. Employing his characteristic baroque compositions, director Welles weaves a tour-deforce tapestry of the grotesque out of flea-bag motels, pot-smoking delinquents, butch bikers, and sweaty backwater hoodlums. Marlene Dietrich makes a brief appearance as the cigar-smoking madam of a Mexican bordello. The film opens with a stunning, swooning, three-minute, single-take sequence that “may be the greatest single shot ever put on film” (James Monaco).

“A marvellously garish thriller ... Terrific entertainment” (Pauline Kael). B&W, 35mm. 108 mins.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16 – 8:15 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 17 – 6:30 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 18 – 8:25 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 19 – 6:30 PM

USA 1946. Director: Howard Hawks Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, John Ridgely, Dorothy Malone

Force of Evil USA 1948. Director: Abraham Polonsky Cast: John Garfield, Beatrice Pearson, Thomas Gomez, Howland Chamberlain, Roy Roberts

Writer-director Abraham Polonsky’s dark, disturbing drama deserves its reputation as a high point of Hollywood noir and one of the most important American movies of the 1940s. John Garfield (The Postman Always Rings Twice) impresses as Joe Morse, a corrupt, ambitious New York lawyer working for a big-time gambling syndicate. When his monopoly-minded mobster bosses plot to rig the numbers racket on July 4th, thereby bankrupting all small independent operators, Joe finds his loyalties dangerously divided: the scheme, he knows, will ruin his kindly older brother Leo (Thomas Gomez), a small-time bookie who blames himself for Joe’s big-time corruption. What follows is a remarkably complex tale of moral conflict, Cain-and-Abel rivalry, and guilt — and, not incidentally, an incisive, Godfather-like indictment of amoral American capitalism run amok. Polonsky, here making his directorial debut (he had earlier scripted Robert Rossen’s Body and Soul, also starring Garfield) was one of the great casualties of Hollywood’s anti-Communist witch-hunts.

He wouldn’t direct another film until 1969.

“Poetic, terse, beautifully exact, and highly personal ... This is film noir at its best” (Don Druker, Chicago Reader). “One of the great films of the modern American cinema” (Andrew Sarris). B&W, 35mm. 78 mins.

The noir universe of crime, corruption, cynicism, and existential chaos gets the big-budget A-list treatment.

Classic Hollywood favourite The Big Sleep is glam noir with a big-time pedigree: a William Faulkner script, based on a Raymond Chandler novel, directed by Howard Hawks, with Bogart and Bacall in the leads — and, of course, the legendary convoluted plot that even director, novelist, and screenwriter professed themselves unable to follow.

Bogart is tough-talking private eye Philip Marlowe; Bacall is seductive socialite Vivian Sternwood, older sister of a mixed-up young woman Marlowe is hired to protect. The sexual attraction between Marlowe and Vivian sizzles, while the cynical, slangy, hard-boiled dialogue truly amazes. And, if the storyline’s too-intricate web of murder and intrigue veers deliriously off into incomprehensibility, “who cares when the sultry mood, the incredibly witty and memorable script, and the performances are all so impeccable” (Geoff Andrew, Time Out). “A witty, incredibly complicated thriller ... The film catches the lurid Chandler atmosphere. The characters are a collection of sophisticated monsters — blackmailers, pornographers, apathetic society girls, drug addicts, nymphomaniacs, murderers. All of them talk in innuendoes, as if that were a new stylization of the American language” (Pauline Kael).

B&W, 35mm. 114 mins.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 – 8:05 PM SUNDAY, AUGUST 25 – 6:30 PM TUESDAY, AUGUST 27 – 8:05 PM

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23 – 6:30 PM SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 – 8:25 PM MONDAY, AUGUST 26 – 6:30 PM Preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Preservation funding provided by The Film Foundation and the Archive Council.

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“Brave, vigorous, handsome, and an actor of great range, Lancaster never yielded in his immaculate splendour, proud to be a movie actor. He was one of great stars.

Perhaps the last.”

Sweet Smell of Success USA 1957. Director: Alexander Mackendrick Cast: Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis, Susan Harrison, Martin Milner, Sam Levene

DAVID THOMSON, THE NEW BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF FILM

“I love this dirty town.” Noir goes Broadway — and gets real nasty — in the sensationally scabrous Sweet Smell of Success, directed with impressive Orson Wellesian panache by Ealing comedy expert Alexander Mackendrick, in his American debut, and showcasing what may be career-best performances from both Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. Curtis is Sidney Falco, a slimy, sycophantic New York press agent willing to do anything to ingratiate himself with J.J. Hunsecker, the highly influential, monstrously manipulative gossip columnist played by Lancaster. When Hunsecker asks him to destroy the reputation of the clean-cut jazz musician dating Hunsecker’s sister, Falco concocts a vicious scheme to smear the innocent man as a marijuana-smoking Communist! What unfolds is a gloriously perverse, spiritedly cynical slice-of-sleaze in which power, corruption, and lies are the order of the day — rendered in suitably sinister cinematography by James Wong Howe, featuring wickedly pungent dialogue by Clifford Odets, and set to a superior jazz score by Elmer Bernstein. “Masterly ... Captures the sleazy allure of Manhattan like no other film ... A cross between a Weegee photo and an Edward Hopper canvas” (James Monaco, The Movie Guide). “Its pleasures are almost obscenely abundant” (A. O. Scott, New York Times). B&W, 35mm. 96 mins.

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Criss Cross USA 1949. Director: Robert Siodmak Cast: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, Richard Long

A first-rate, fatalistic urban nightmare, Criss Cross comes from noir stalwart and stylist Robert Siodmak (The Killers), one of the key contributors to the genre’s aesthetic. Burt Lancaster plays brooding armoured-car guard Steve Thompson, whose life has been on a drunken downward spiral since his divorce a year earlier from wife Anna (Yvonne De Carlo). A chance encounter with Anna in the hallucinatory haze of an old haunt leads to the discovery that she is about to marry no-good Slim Dundee (Dan Duryea), a gambler with mob connections. Slim can give Anna the lifestyle Steve never could — but, she hints, he isn’t nearly as satisfying in the sack as her ex-husband. Believing he can still win Anna back, Steve finds himself drawn into a daring robbery scheme.

Criss Cross opens with an aerial shot of Los Angeles teeming at night; most of its doom-laden, dangerously erotic plot unfolds in flashback. Steven Soderbergh’s The Underneath (1995) was a remake. “Wonderfully seedy ... As always with Siodmak, the suspense is maintained throughout by taut pacing, visual precision, and excellent characterisation” (Geoff Andrew, Time Out). “One of the most tragic and compelling of film noir” (Alain Silver, Film Noir: The Encyclopedia). B&W, 35mm. 87 mins.

Sorry, Wrong Number

“His brute male force matched against her female fury!” Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, both superb, are trapped in a dead-end marriage in the suspenseful and claustrophobic noir thriller Sorry, Wrong Number, originally a hugely-successful radio play starring Agnes Moorehead. Stanwyck, in a bravura (and Oscar-nominated) performance that is one of her most famous, is neurotic New York heiress and hypochondriac Leona Stevenson, bed-ridden by her ailments; her only contact with the outside world is via telephone.

Lancaster is her morose, milquetoast husband Henry, a businessman with troubles of his own. When Leona calls Henry at the office and the lines get crossed, she overhears two men plotting a murder. Hysteria sets in as Leona begins to realize who the intended victim is! Stylishly directed by European émigré Anatole Litvak, and fluidly shot by veteran cameraman Sol Polito (a key contributor to the visually-expressive Warner Brothers movies of the 1930s), the film employs real-time narrative (with some flashbacks), telephone calls, and a confined setting (Leona’s lavish bedroom, which becomes a virtual prison) to gripping, edge-of-yourseat effect. B&W, 35mm. 89 mins.

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USA 1948. Director: Anatole Litvak Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The Cinematheque is grateful to Joanna Lancaster; Greg Kachel; and Paul Malcolm and the UCLA Film and Television Archive for assistance with the preparation of our Burt Lancaster tribute.

Kiss the Blood off My Hands USA 1948. Director: Norman Foster Cast: Joan Fontaine, Burt Lancaster, Robert Newton, Lewis L. Russell, Aminta Dyne

“A hunted man. A love-haunted woman.” Sporting one of film noir’s most evocative titles, Kiss the Blood off My Hands stars noir icon Burt Lancaster and Hitchcock leading-lady Joan Fontaine (Rebecca, Suspicious) as ill-fated lost souls in the postwar ruins of London. Lancaster plays a deeply troubled Canadian ex-POW who kills a man in a pub fight. Fontaine is the kind-hearted nurse he takes hostage; she believes him when he says the killing was an accident. British character actor Robert Newton is the scheming black-marketer who blackmails Lancaster. The film is ably directed by journeyman Norman Foster (best-known as the credited director of Orson Welles’s 1943 noir spy thriller Journey into Fear), shot in evocative noir shadows by Russell Metty (the Douglas Sirk regular who also shot Welles’s Touch of Evil), and effectively scored by three-time Oscar-winner Miklós Rózsa (who wrote Oscar-nominated scores for Siodmak’s The Killers and Wilder’s Double Indemnity). Lancaster turned down the role of Stanley Kowalski in Elia Kazan’s A Streetcar Named Desire in order to be in this film.

(A young Marlon Brando got that part instead.) “Superior direction, first-rate acting ... An intensely moody melodrama” (Variety). B&W, 35mm. 79 mins.

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27 – 6:30 PM WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28 – 8:15 PM

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