Calendar | UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television

Film & Television Archive: "Phantom Love"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Wed Mar 7 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Nina Menkes: Cinema as Sorcery."
"Phantom Love" (2007)
Directed by Nina Menkes

"Phantom Love" presents Lulu, an alienated woman who works in a casino in Los Angeles' Koreatown; a cacophonous space offering escape from an abusive relationship and a toxic brew of family traumas. As demands on Lulu are increased and complicated, she realizes the importance and possibility of psychic escape, as a succession of enigmatic symbols (writhing snakes and squids, galloping horses) suggest the power that lies within.

Producer: Kevin Ragsdale.
Cinematographer: Chris Soos.
Editor: Nina Menkes.
Cast: Marina Shoif, Juliette Marquis, Yelena Apartseva, Lena Bubenechik, Adi Specktor.

35mm, b/w, 87 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/phantomlove/

Film & Television Archive: "Kino-Week, Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 21-25"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sat Mar 3 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov."
"Kino-Week, Nos. 1, 3, 4, 5, 21-25" (1918)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

The 43 issues of "Kino-Week" made between May 1918 and June 1919 are a priceless record of daily life during a period of civil war and violent upheaval that brought about famine, peasant mutinies and the Soviet government's "Red Terror" policy. Included in this program are images of Lenin and Trotsky reviewing the Red Army in Red Square and the wildly triumphant commemoration of the centenary of Karl Marx's birth.

35mm, b/w, silent w/ Russian and Norwegian intertitles presented with live English translation, 16 fps, 72 min.

Preceded by "Vertov Filmed in Person" (1922-'30)

A compilation of outtakes and excerpts from films in which Vertov appears. Kino-Pravda Nos. 8 and 17 are among the sources.

Editor: Elizaveta Svilova.

35mm, b/w, silent, 20 fps, 1 min.

Followed by "Vertov Interviews" (post-1935)

A compilation of documentary shots featuring Vertov, possibly edited by Elizaveta Svilova, including an interview that was probably conducted at the 1935 Moscow Film Festival.

35mm, b/w, silent, 20 fps, 1 min.

IN-PERSON: Margarita Nafpaktitis, PhD, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/kinoweek125/

Film & Television Archive: "Kino-Week, Nos. 31-35"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Fri Mar 9 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov."
"Kino-Week, Nos. 31-35" (1919)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

In this program, we see workers forced by the Russian government to clear the streets and sidewalks of Moscow after a heavy snowfall, the funerals of field commanders and a demonstration in Kiev protesting the murder of Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg in Germany. As Yuri Tsivian writes, "(the protesters seem) ready to invade Germany to help Communists there."

35mm, b/w, silent w/ Russian and Norwegian intertitles presented with live English translation, 16 fps, 45 min.

Followed by "The Eleventh Year" (Odinnadtsatyi) (1928) (Pictured)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

Dziga Vertov, cinematographer Mikhail Kaufman, and editor Elizaveta Svilova worked in perfect harmony to create this visually and rhythmically spectacular film. Made to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the revolutionÄîbut only completed in "the eleventh year" the film charts the excavation of a future riverbed for the construction of a giant hydroelectric power station.

Cinematographer: Mikhail Kaufman. Editor: Elizaveta Svilova.

35mm, b/w, silent w/ Russian intertitles and live English translation, 20 fps, 53 min.

Musical accompaniment provided by Cliff Retallick.

IN-PERSON: Margarita Nafpaktitis, PhD, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/kinoweek3135/

Film & Television Archive: "Kino-Pravda, Nos. 18, 20-22"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sat Mar 10 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov."
"Kino-Pravda, Nos. 18, 20-22" (1924-'25)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

More newsreels from the foreground of the cinematic revolution, including the famous No. 21, "Film Poem about Lenin," commemorating the first anniversary of Lenin's death through a Hegelian-Marxist dialectical triad of thesis-antithesis-synthesis, and No. 22, the "Peasant Kino-Pravda," made as part of the smychka campaign to unite workers and peasants, and to demonstrate that "Lenin is Alive in the Heart of the Peasant" and oppressed Asians and Africans.

Cinematographer: Mikhail Kaufman. Editor: Elizaveta Svilova.

35mm, b/w, silent w/ Russian intertitles and live English translation, 18 fps, 81 min.

Musical accompaniment provided by Cliff Retallick.

IN-PERSON: Margarita Nafpaktitis, PhD, Librarian for Slavic and East European Studies.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/kinopravda18/

Film & Television Archive: "Three Songs of Lenin"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sat Mar 17 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov."
"Three Songs of Lenin" (Tri pesni o Lenine) (1935/'38)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

In 1938, Vertov was instructed to reedit his most celebrated film to remove any references to "enemies of the people" who had since become victims of Stalin's purges. This sound version features images of Stalin removed from yet-another edit in 1970. The film, structured in three parts, glorifies Lenin's life and legacy through folkloric songs and tales. H.G. Wells called it "One of the greatest and most beautiful films I have ever seen."

Screenwriter: Dziga Vertov.
Cinematographer: Dmitrii Surensky, Mark Magidson, Bentsion Monastyrsky.

35mm, b/w, in Russian w/ English subtitles, 67 min.

Followed by "Lullaby" (Kolybel'naja) (1937)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

Commissioned to make a documentary on the State's network of maternity homes, nurseries and kindergartens, Vertov produced "Lullaby," with its approximately six hundred shots of different women symbolizing Woman and Motherhood all shown to love and worship Joseph Stalin. The film was shelved as soon as it was finished; rumor has it that Stalin was unhappy with the interminable images of him being smothered by all these women.

35mm, b/w, in Russian w/ English subtitles, 67 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/threesongsoflenin/

Film & Television Archive: "Three Heroines"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sat Mar 24 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov."
"Three Heroines" (1938)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

Vertov the filmmaker had two passions: women and planes. These two passions came together in "Three Heroines" (1938), which follows the legendary female pilots Raskova, Osipenko and Grisodubova in their failed but magnificent attempt to make the first nonstop trans Siberian flight. The film's unspoken irony: a good crash and a successful rescue make a better story than a mission accomplished.

Cinematographer: S. Semenov.

35mm, b/w, in Russian w/ English subtitles, 54 min.

Followed by "For You, Front!" (For the Front!/Tebe, Front!) (1943)
Directed by Dziga Vertov and Elizaveta Svilova

From the start, Vertov announced himself an enemy of "acted films" but at the peak of World War II, such lofty principles proved impractical. "For You, Front!" is a poetic and patriotic fiction film. In a letter to his fiancee, Dzhamil, a soldier on the front, tells her what he needs most: lead, that most precious metal, used to make bullets to kill the enemies of "our beloved country."

Cinematographer: B. Pumpyansky.

35mm, b/w, in Russian w/ English subtitles, 45 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/threeheronies/

Film & Television Archive: "Kino-Eye (Kino-Glaz/Life Off-Guard)"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sat Mar 31 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive presents "Kino-Eye: The Revolutionary Cinema of Dziga Vertov."
"Kino-Eye (Kino-Glaz/Life Off-Guard)" (1924)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

"Kino-Eye" is also a brilliant demonstration of Vertov's radical film theories: his rejection of narrative structure, his sense of ordinary life as the stuff of cinematic art. Vertov and his cameraman, brother Mikhail Kaufman, employed every shooting method then known, from ultra-high speed to microcinematography and multiple exposure to create this fascinating look at life in the young Soviet state.

Cinematographer: Mikhail Kaufman.

35mm, b/w, silent w/ Russian intertitles and live English translation, 20 fps, 78 mins.

Preceded by: "Kino-Pravda No. 23 (Radio Pravda)" (1925)
Directed by Dziga Vertov

Though only a third of this final issue of "Kino-Pravda" seems to survive, we are nonetheless treated to Aleksandr Bushkin's time-lapse animation and his brilliant sequence in which, as Yuri Tsivian describes, "a cross-section of a photographically correct izba (Russian peasant's log hut) is penetrated by schematically charted radio waves," a testament to the magical properties and propagandistic uses of radio in reaching out to Russia's distant peasantry. 35mm, b/w, silent w/ Russian intertitles and live English translation, 18 fps, 23 min.

Musical accompaniment provided by Robert Israel.

IN-PERSON: Janet Bergstrom, professor, Cinema & Media Studies, UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/kinoeye/

Film & Television Archive: "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sun Mar 4 at 11:00 AM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum present "Family Flicks."
"Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" (1972)
Directed by William Sterling

The perennial children's classic comes to vivid life in a rare, live-action, British film adaptation. Stellar performances by renowned comedic and musical talents, inventive production design and costumes, as well as original songs, grace this production, which frames Alice's adventure as a journey of self-discovery through a strange and wonderful world.

Recommended for ages 6+

Screenwriter: W. Sterling. Based on the novel by Lewis Carroll.
Cast: Fiona Fullerton, Peter Sellers, Dudley Moore, Robert Helpmann, Michael Crawford.

35mm, color, 101 min.

FREE Admission!

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/alicesadventures/

Film & Television Archive: "Captain Courageous" & "Boys Town"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sun Mar 4 at 7:00 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present "Spencer Tracy: That Natural Thing."
"Captain Courageous" (1937)
Directed by Victor Fleming

Tracy's first Academy Award came for his portrayal of "Manuel," a Portuguese fisherman acting as father figure to young prig, Freddie Bartholomew, aboard a ship full of rugged men. Tracy famously disliked the makeup, hairstyling and accent required for the role. His performance, however, is a stirring and ultimately heartbreaking triumph, convincingly invested with the vigor and generosity that are his gifts to "little fish" Bartholomew.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Lewis D. Lighton.
Based on the novel by Rudyard Kipling.
Screenwriter: John Lee Mahin, Marc Connelly, Dale Van Every.
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson.
Editor: Elmo Veron.
Cast: Freddie Bartholomew, Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Charley Grapewin, Mickey Rooney.

35mm, b/w, 118 min.

Followed by: "Boys Town" (1938)
Directed by Norman Taurog

A second Best Actor OscarÄîearned one year after the firstÄîcrowned Tracy's performance as crusading Father Flanagan, founder of the titular, renowned boarding school for delinquent boys. Tracy's rock steady presence opposite unruly Mickey Rooney, sounded a note that would reverberate for the rest of his career: that of the reassuring, long-suffering morally centered man with strength enough to spare for others.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: John W. Considine, Jr.
Screenwriter: John Meehan, Dore Schary.
Cinematographer: Sidney Wagner. Editor: Elmo Veron.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull, Leslie Fenton, Gene Reynolds.

35mm, b/w, 93 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/captaincourageous/

Film & Television Archive: "Keeper of the Flame" & "Adam's Rib"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sun Mar 11 at 7:00 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present "Spencer Tracy: That Natural Thing."
"Keeper of the Flame" (1942)
Directed by George Cukor

Tracy is an author seeking a commission to write the biography of a recently deceased philanthropist. The subject's widow, Katharine Hepburn, warms to the idea but is clearly hiding something. The principled stands and mutual respect that the two display as they draw closer together typify the relationship of equals that Tracy and Hepburn enacted in their nine films together.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Victor Saville.
Based on the novel by I. A. R. Wylie. Screenwriter: Donald Ogden Stewart.
Cinematographer: William Daniels. Editor: James E. Newcom.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Richard Whorf, Margaret Wycherly, Darryl Hickman.

16mm, b/w, 100 min.

Followed by: "Adam's Rib" (1949) (Pictured)
Directed by George Cukor

George Cukor's high-spirited comedy, pitting married lawyers against one another in the case of a wife who shot her husband, tests the limits of high-minded equality between the sexes, positing a jungle where it's every woman for herself. Vis-a-vis Tracy, the whimsical open struggle between "Adam" and "Amanda" again puts modern man's (exasperated) inner life on display, for which Tracy, the actor, was by now perfectly equipped.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Lawrence Weingarten.
Screenwriter: Ruth Gordon, Garson Kanin.
Cinematographer: George Folsey.
Editor: George Boemler.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell, David Wayne.

35mm, b/w, 101 min.

IN-PERSON: actor Darryl Hickman.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/adamsrib/

Film & Television Archive: "Father of the Bride"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Fri Mar 16 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present "Spencer Tracy: That Natural Thing."
"Father of the Bride" (1950)
Directed by Vincente Minnelli

As the harried father of a beautiful, betrothed daughter, fretting over her coming marriage and burgeoning wedding plans, Tracy trades on his hard-earned credibility as a man of emotional depth. Where previously he stood as a monument of masculinity, here he plays the patriarch as object of fun. The role of "Daddy" became a Tracy staple in the second half of his career.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Pandro S. Berman.
Based on the novel by Edward Streeter. Screenwriter: Frances Goodrich.
Cinematographer: John Alton. Editor: Ferris Webster.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke.

35mm, b/w, 93 min.

Followed by: "The Actress" (1953)
Directed by George Cukor

Adapted from the autobiographical play by Ruth Gordon (a close friend of Tracy's) the film regards Tracy as Gordon's father, yielding to his daughter's strong desire to make her way as an actress. Parsing his own lost dreams as a former fisherman now working in a factory, the father's difficulty is evident, as is Tracy's sensitivity to the emotions of both characters, as a lifelong actor who had struggled early in his career.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Lawrence Weingarten.
Based on a play by Ruth Gordon. Screenwriter: R. Gordon.
Cinematographer: Harold Rosson. Editor: George Boemler.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Jean Simmons, Teresa Wright, Anthony Perkins, Ian Wolfe.

16mm, b/w, 90 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/fatherofthebride/

Film & Television Archive: "The Seventh Cross"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Sun Mar 18 at 7:00 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present "Spencer Tracy: That Natural Thing."
"The Seventh Cross" (1944)
Directed by Fred Zinnemann

An unusual European subject for Tracy, this film tells the story of anti-Fascist George Heisler, who escapes a Nazi Concentration camp and must carefully plot escape from Germany. The role demanded much of Tracy for large sections of the film during which his traumatized character must keep silent while communicating dread and determination to the audience, ultimately finding escape and hope for human nature.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Pandro S. Berman.
Based on the novel by Anna Seghers. Screenwriter: Helen Deutsch.
Cinematographer: Karl Freund. Editor: Thomas Richards.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Signe Hasso, Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, Agnes Moorehead.

35mm, b/w, 113 min.

Followed by: "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955)
Directed by John Sturges

In 1945, after World War II, a one-armed mystery man named "Macreedy" (Tracy) steps off a train into a tiny Western town ruled by political boss Robert Ryan...and uncovers a monstrous crime in his search for a local farmer named Komoko. In its depiction of brute power run amok, the film fashions Tracy as a model of moral authority in a postwar America still riddled with racism.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Corp. Producer: Dore Schary.
Based on a novel by Howard Breslin. Screenwriter: Millard Kaufman.
Cinematographer: William C. Mellor. Editor: Newell P. Kimlin.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger, Walter Brennan.

35mm, color, 81 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/seventhcross/

Film & Television Archive: "The Last Hurrah"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Wed Mar 21 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present "Spencer Tracy: That Natural Thing."
"The Last Hurrah" (1958)
Directed by John Ford

In this moving, autumnal work, Tracy and John Ford (who collaborated on "Up The River," 1930) ennoble the image of the dogged fighter in this portrait of an aging mayor running for re-election, deploying high-minded principle and dirty politics with equal fervor. Tracy's unapologetic Frank Skeffington seems reconciled to both his cynicism and public virtues, allowing for a complex picture of leadership as a hardscrabble game.

Columbia Pictures Corp. Producer: John Ford.
Based on the novel by Edwin O'Connor. Screenwriter: Frank Nugent. Cinematographer: Charles Lawton, Jr. Editor: Jack Murray.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Jeffrey Hunter, Diane Foster, Pat OÄôBrien, Basil Rathbone.

35mm, b/w, 122 min.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/lasthurrah/

Film & Television Archive: "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Fri Mar 30 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hugh M. Hefner Classic American Film Program present "Spencer Tracy: That Natural Thing."
"Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1967)
Directed by Stanley Kramer

Tracy's swan song, a felicitous final pairing with Katharine Hepburn, forces two liberal, white parents to test their own principles when their daughter presents her fiance, a young black doctor, and asks for their blessing. Tracy's character arc, a struggle to fuse public and private morality, is a brilliant summation of his life and career, as is the benediction he gives in the film's final act.

Columbia Pictures. Producer: Stanley Kramer.
Screenwriter: William Rose.
Cinematographer: Sam Leavitt.
Editor: Robert C. Jones.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Houghton, Cecil Kellaway.

35mm, color, 108 min.

IN-PERSON: Karen Kramer.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/guesswhoscoming/

Film & Television Archive: "The Fly"

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:00:00 -0800

Times: Wed Mar 7 at 7:30 PM

UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Million Dollar Theater present "UCLA Film & Television Archive on Broadway."
"The Fly" (1958)
Directed by Kurt Neumann

The original still packs a punch. An enterprising scientist experimenting with transporting matter has a little accidentÄ¶to say the least.

35mm, color, 94 min.

Followed by: "Curse of the Fly" (1965)
Directed by Don Sharp

Descendants of the crackpot scientist try to improve on his experiments. Guess what happens?

35mm, b/w, 86 min.

PLEASE NOTE: All films in this series are being screened at the Million Dollar Theater, 307 South Broadway Avenue. Tickets for Archive screenings at the Million Dollar Theater are $10 general and $9 students/seniors. (UCLA student free ticket policy does not apply.) Tickets are available at the Million Dollar Theater box office only. Theater box office opens an hour before program start time on the day of the show.

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http://www.tft.ucla.edu/calendar/screening/fly/