THE DARK MIRROR (Siodmak, 1946)

This Oscar nominated screenplay penned by Nunnally Johnson and based on an original story by Victor Pozner stars Olivia de Havilland in the dual role of identical twins Terry and Ruth. In this psychological thriller, directed in 1946 by Robert Siodmak, a man is found dead and his girlfriend Terry is identified as the lead suspect.  However, the case is immediately made more complicated when it is revealed that Terry is an identical twin.  Unable to determine which of the twins committed the murder, police turn to a doctor specializing in research on the psychology of twins to help solve the case.

“What really makes it work, though, is Siodmak’s firm grasp of mood and suspense; the opening scene, in which the camera prowls a darkened room until it finds a corpse, sets the tone perfectly for the sense of uncertainty and chaos that follows.”
–Time Out

DATE: Thursday, January 26
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

LAFAYETTE ESCADRILLE (Wellman, 1958)

Lafayette Escadrille (Hell Bent for Glory, 1958) tells the story of American combat pilots fighting for France during World War I. Director William Wellman’s own relationship to this legendary unit makes this film an appropriate finale to his prolific directing career, with Bill Wellman Jr. playing his father, “Wild Bill” Wellman. Featuring early appearances from Clint Eastwood and David Janssen, the film stars Tab Hunter as the young rebel Thad Walker and Etchika Choureau as Renée Beaulie, the French woman he loves.  This beautiful 35mm print has been provided by the UCLA Film & Television Archive for our first screening of the New Year!  Please join us!

DATE: Thursday, January 12
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

A CHILD IS WAITING (Cassavetes, 1963)

A Child is Waiting (1963) is a seldom-discussed work in the celebrated career of director John Cassavetes. Only his second commercial feature, Cassavetes was brought to the project by producer Stanley Kramer and screenwriter Abby Mann, the team behind Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), to bring Mann’s drama of the enervating lives of teachers of mentally handicapped children to the screen. The script’s sensitive subject matter would ordinarily have been treated with an excess of sentimentality typical of the period, but Cassavetes brings a gritty realism to the film. A cast of forty special needs young actors holds their own with Burt Lancaster, Judy Garland and Gena Rowlands, who give energetic, taut performances. Kramer fired Cassavetes during the editing stage, leading the director to disavow the film later in his career, but Cassavetes’ style is visible in the tight tension-filled shots, histrionic pathos, and brilliant cuts of this strange, engrossing film. UCLA Film & Television Archive provides The Crank with a 35mm print that hasn’t been screened in 20 years, and this film is not on DVD – a chance to see A Child is Waiting under these high-quality conditions will not come again soon.  Please join us for our final screening of the quarter!

DATE: Thursday, December 1
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

35mm Shorts Program

La Cucaracha (Corrigan, 1934), Popular Science J1-2 (1941) and Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel With The World (Clarke, 1963)
In this program of 35mm shorts, the Crank will screen two films from the UCLA Film and TV Archive’s Technicolor Restoration program, along with Shirley Clarke’s 1963 Academy Award winning documentary on the poet Robert Frost.

Also an Academy Award winner (for Best Comedy Short Subject), La Cucaracha (1934) was the first live-action three-strip Technicolor short whose success led to the introduction of Technicolor as a viable and desirable medium for feature films. Its play with color, as well as its musical numbers, make La Cucaracha a delightful film.

Narrated by Gayne Whitman, Popular Science J1-2 (1941) is an episode from the “Popular Science Historic Film Series” that ran theatrically from 1934 to 1950 and was distributed by Paramount Pictures. It looks at various subjects, such as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the birth of the electron microscope, and parachuting fire fighters.

In Clarke’s Robert Frost: A Lover’s Quarrel with the World, we get the rare opportunity of viewing the poet through two perspectives: his public performance and his private thoughts. Especially intimate are moments of him alone in his home in Vermont, where we see the poet digging potatoes from the earth.

DATE: Thursday, November 10
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

STROMBOLI (Rossellini, 1950)

Part one of Roberto Rosselini’s so-called “human trilogy” (also known as the “Ingrid Trilogy”), Ingrid Bergman stars as Karin, a woman who marries a poor Italian fisherman as a way to get out of a displaced persons camp. After being taken to his home on the island of Stromboli, a harsh environment with violent winds and an active volcano, Karin finds it difficult to adjust to life there, resenting the poverty, the unfriendliness of the residents, and her loveless marriage. The American (RKO) version of the film includes an alternate ending, resulting in Rossellini disowning the cut and releasing an Italian version with his intended denouement.

“Stromboli is clearly a pivotal film in both Rossellini and Bergman’s careers, representing a unique fusion of the documentary form with Hollywood melodrama. The rugged landscape of the volcanic island provides a truly spectacular setting and the scene where Karin observes the fishermen catching tuna at sea is one of the most visually remarkable sequences in Italian cinema.”  Jeff Stafford, TCM.com.

DATE: Thursday, November 3
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

MINISTRY OF FEAR (Lang, 1944)

Based on a Graham Greene novel of the same name, and directed by Fritz Lang, Ministry of Fear (1944) tells the story of Stephen Neale (Ray Milland), a young man recently released from an asylum that, finding himself embroiled in a spy ring during his return to London, must face his own demons in order to uncover their plot. Following Hangmen Also Die! (1943), another Lang work that deals with Nazi fascism, Ministry of Fear explores incredibly dark territory in its investigation of the inner disturbance of Milland’s character as a reflection of the split personalities and roles of the spy ring itself. Shown on an ultra-rare, wonderful NITRATE print.

DATE: Thursday, October 27
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

SAPPHO (Buchowetzki, 1921)

SAPPHO, a sumptuously photographed German psychodrama from 1921, stars Pola Negri as a seductive Parisian socialite who ensnares hapless brothers Richard and Andreas de la Croix. Decadent boudoirs, bereft lovers’ deranged visions, and a shockingly tragic conclusion set during Carnivale make director Dmitri Buchowetzki’s brooding, rarely screened portrait of mad love must-see viewing. World renowned silent film accompanist Michael Mortilla will provide the evening’s music.

“The role is Sapphic. And as Mme. Negri plays it, it is graphic.” New York Times, March 5, 1923

DATE: Thursday, October 13
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

TONIGHT WE SING (Leisen, 1953)

TONIGHT WE SING (1953) is the story of real life impresario Sol Hurok (David Wayne), who would become renowned for bringing the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet to America during the Cuban Missile crisis. A lover of the arts, young immigrant Hurok despairs when he realizes he has no musical or artistic talents. Instead he turns his life to discovering and nurturing other performers and bringing them to Broadway. Among his more celebrated protégés are Russian opera-singer Feodor Chaliapin (Ezio Pinza) and violinist Eugene Ysaye (Isaac Stern). Other notable appearances include singers Jan Peerce and Roberta Peters, as well as ballerina Tamara Toumanova. Anne Bancroft co-stars as Hurok’s gentle, patient wife Emma. Based on the autobiography by Sol Horuk (co-written with Ruth Goode). Directed by Mitchell Leisen.

“The greatest treasure of entertainment in your lifetime!”
-TONIGHT WE SING’s Tagline

DATE: Thursday, October 6
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME (Harlan, 1957)

DIFFERENT FROM YOU AND ME (1957) [also known as THE THIRD SEX] was directed by Veit Harlan, notorious German director of anti-semitic Nazi propaganda films including JUD SÜß (1940).  Called a “reactionary melodrama” by Vito Russo, the film tells the story of Klaus Teichmann (Christian Wolff), an artistic young man whose very close relationship with his sensitive friend Manfred (Guenther Theil) and lack of interest in girls have his parents concerned.  Eventually Klaus begins visiting the house of the antique dealer Dr. Boris Winkler (Friedrich Joloff), where young men congregate to listen to avant-garde electronic music, discuss abstract art, and watch shirtless wrestlers grapple in the middle of the living room floor.  Klaus’ parents decide to take action, consulting a psychiatrist about their son’s “inclinations” and determining he can only be set straight by the love of a good woman – namely, their attractive young maid Gerda (Hilde Körber).  This odd and controversial film, in addition to its significance as a post-war Harlan film, is a fascinating document of conceptions of and attitudes towards male homosexuality in 1950s Germany.

Co-sponsored by the LGBT Studies program, the LGBT Campus Resource Center, and the Germanic Languages department.

DATE: Thursday, September 29
TIME: 5 PM
PLACE: The James Bridges Theater in Melnitz Hall
ALL CRANK SCREENINGS ARE FREE!

Fall 2011 Schedule