Summer 2011

(Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) • A surprising departure from the regular horror-suspense work of the master himself, The Trouble With Harry is a playful comedy set in a sunny suburban neighborhood. A corpse appears one day on a hill, and the locales just don’t really know what to do with it. It soon becomes clear that the corpse is being used as a plot device to bring a couple together. That’s right, this could even be called a romantic comedy form the man who brought you Psycho. Of course, being Hitchcock, he can’t resist a little suspense, so come out and see what happens when someone thinks it’s a good idea to dig the body up. 35mm

(Don Murray, 1970) • This classic religious film stars the sun-drenched California pair of Pat Boone and Erik Estrada opposite one another within the urban grit of New York City. Boone seems tailor-made for the role of David Wilkerson, a pastor who embeds himself in his gang-filled, violent ministry and attempts to reach gang member Nicky Cruz (Estrada). Hokey and legendary, this film is reportedly viewed in over 500 community centers on any given day and by 50 million people world-wide. 35mm Print Courtesy of Rebecca Hall.

(Sergei Eisenstein, 1938) • Best known for the half-hour "Battle of the Ice" scene set to Prokofiev's evocative score, Alexander Nevsky is at once the heroic story of the titular 13th century Prince of Novgorod (played by Stalin-favorite Nikolay Cherkasov) who staved off the invading Teutonic Knights and an allegory for pre-WWII relations between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Come see this epic battle between good and evil, this near-perfect melding of image and sound, and then "go home and tell all in foreign lands that Russia lives." 16mm

(Benjamin Christensen, 1922) • After reading the Malleus Malleficarum, Christensen launched an obsessively in-depth study of superstition and witchcraft throughout history. The result is Haxan, a detailed, four-part account of cultural fears of the supernatural from the middle ages until the early 20th century. Meticulously researched by Christensen, Haxan mixes scholarly investigation with narrative, blurring the line between documentary and horror. The film presents a thesis that witch-hunts are frequently the product of society’s ignorance of mental illness. 16mm

(Robert J. Flaherty, 1922) • Long regarded a seminal documentary, today we would say docudrama, after 80 years this film still bifurcates audiences into fervent praise and skepticism. Capturing the difficult daily routine of the Inuit Nanook’s hunting and tending to his family and home, Flaherty provides a breathtaking (and, as he later admitted, often staged) portrayal of Inuit culture in the Canadian arctic. The ethical issues raised by Nanook – cinematic magnificence versus journalistic accuracy – have guided the evolution of the documentary format throughout the decades. It all started here. 16mm

(Frank Capra, 1943) • Assembled from newsreel footage by Frank Capra as part 4 of his 7-part propoganda series Why We Fight, this film depicts Britain’s fight for air superiority over the British isles in. The series, commissioned by the United States government, was shown to soldiers to educate them about the necessity of the U.S.’s involvement in WWII, and why the U.S. had chosen to ally with the Soviets. To speed the process, editor William Hornbeck sometimes spliced footage from Axis Powers’ propoganda films and re-contextualized it to the Allies’ cause. Animations, graphs, and maps were provided by Walt Disney Studios. 16mm

(Sergei Eistenstein, 1925) • Touted as an unrivaled cinematic masterpiece by many (including Nazi Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels), Eisenstein’s account of the mutiny aboard the titular ship and the resulting chaos is a revolutionary experiment in Soviet montage theory. The five-part films follows a group of mistreated sailors as they rebel against their oppressors, which inspires a similar revolt in the town of Odessa when they dock. Violence along with masterful editing, allowed Eisenstein to create an unprecedented work of propaganda which proved to be as popular internationally as it was with domestic audiences. 16mm DVD

(Robert Wiene, 1920) • This visually-stunning, silent masterpiece is considered to be the first true horror film and certainly among the first to feature a “twist” ending. The deranged Dr. Caligari (Werner Krauss) controls hypnotized carnival attraction Cesare (Conrad Veidt) who can answer any question. When a man foolishly asks how long he has to live, Cesare replies that the man will be dead before dawn. The prophesy is fulfilled, and an investigation begins. Although a clear inspiration for many filmmakers (most obviously, Tim Burton), you have never seen anything quite like this masterwork of German Expressionism. 16mm

(Michelangelo Antonioni, 1962) • In one of the best examples of the European Modern Cinema, traditional narrative is replaced by impressionistic experience of the moment. Characters are isolated and anxious, struggling to understand their world. A Mussolini-era tower, coincidentally the shape of a mushroom cloud, hints at nuclear fears and a boiling, seething change in European life. Monica Vitti leaves her fiance in disgust. African colonialism is ending. The Roman stock-market crashes, and Monica asks her new stockbroker boyfriend, “But if someone loses, where does the money go?” 16mm

(Greg Mottola, 2009) • It’s 1987, and James Brennan (Jesse Eisenberg) is an Oberlin College graduate whose only option for summer work is as a carnie at a trashy Pittsburgh amusement park. From smoking marijuana with mega-babe Lisa P to hanging out with his immature childhood friend Joel (Martin Starr) and zany carnival manager Bobby (Bill Hader), James slowly learns to consider his unappealing post-college job in a new light. Directed by Greg Mottola (Superbad) and featuring Kristen Stewart as Em Lewin, James’ love interest, Adventureland is a thoughtful tribute to 80’s suburban teen culture. 35mm