<<< May 13 - 15, 2005 >>>

From this series, only CISCO PIKE also screens at the Aero Theatre (May 13, 2005).

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

As a follow-up to our first "Movies Not On Video" series in March, 2004, we’ve tracked down another batch of lost classics, rarities, and what-were-they-thinking? oddities, kicking off with legendary auteur Sam Fuller’s unflinching WHITE DOG, about a canine who’s been trained to attack black people. The program includes a double-bill of two late 1930’s comedy gems by the great Jack Benny (BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN) and W.C. Fields (MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE), and a pair of excellent mid-1940’s noirs by the criminally-overlooked director John Brahm (THE LODGER and HANGOVER SQUARE). Plus an encore screening of the runaway hit from last year’s "Musicals of the 70’s & 80’s Series," the 1973 musical version of LOST HORIZON, a movie which must be seen to be believed (and even then you’re not sure what you’ve seen …!!)

Friday, May 13 – 7:30 PM

Sam Fuller’s Most Notorious Film!!

WHITE DOG, 1982, Paramount, 84 min. Dir. Sam Fuller. Is there a greater "lost" film than WHITE DOG? Virtually unseen outside of a few retrospective screenings, WHITE DOG is the story of a "four-legged time bomb," a powder-white German shepherd trained to attack black people. In a fit of inspired casting, teen queen Kristy McNichol stars as the dog’s owner – but the film belongs to the late, great Paul Winfield as an Ahab-like animal trainer obsessed with de-programming the dog. Music by Ennio Morricone.

An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!

Friday, May 13 – 9:30 PM

Director John Brahm – Film Noir Double Feature:

THE LODGER, 1944, 20^th Century Fox, 84 min. John Brahm (THE LOCKET) directed this phenomenally atmospheric Victorian chiller. Laird Cregar is stupendous as the tormented lodger of Sir Cedric Hardwicke's rooming house who may be Jack The Ripper. Merle Oberon is the stage actress beauty who becomes Cregar's obsession. With George Sanders as the Scotland Yard inspector searching for a solution to the horrific murders.

and HANGOVER SQUARE, 1945, 20^th Century Fox, 77 min. Dir. John Brahm. Perhaps the best 1940’s thriller that no one has ever seen. Laird Cregar is memorable as a Victorian-era composer beset with blackouts. Is he also a marauding murderer? His passion for luscious singer Linda Darnell inspires betrayal, revenge – and the climactic "Concerto Macabre," one of composer Bernard Herrmann’s most thrilling pieces of music.

An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!

Saturday, May 14 – 5:00 PM

Jack Benny + W.C. Fields Rarities -- Double Feature:

BUCK BENNY RIDES AGAIN, 1940, Paramount (Universal), 82 min. Dir. Mark Sandrich. Jack Benny adapts his radio show to the big screen bringing along nearly the whole cast, including Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, legendary scalawag bandleader Phil Harris, emcee Don Wilson, crooner/straight man Dennis Day et. al. In this wry spoof of radio westerns, Benny is coerced into heading out west from his comfy NYC digs after boasting about his rough 'n tumble (and non-existent) Nevada ranch. Joan Blackman (Ellen Drew), a feisty singer who's quarreled with Benny, ends up out there, too, and he has his work cut out for him as he hilariously tries to impress her with his cowboy ways.

MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE, 1935, Paramount (Universal), 65 min. Dir. Clyde Bruckman. W.C. Fields made several truly classic comedies, but Fields fans agree that this is the one that is equal to the brilliance and laugh quotient of his better known masterpiece, THE BANK DICK. Henpecked husband Ambrose Wolfinger (Fields) concocts a scheme to leave work early so he can go catch the exploits of his favorite wrestler, Kulabosh Mishabob, but is sabotaged at every turn by his oddball family, especially his domineering wife (Kathleen Howard) and moocher brother-in-law (Grady Sutton). Sidesplitting from beginning to end.

An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!

Saturday, May 14 – 8:15 PM

Double Feature – New Restored 35 mm. Prints!!

MODEL SHOP, 1969, Columbia, 95 min. Famed French New Wave director Jacques Demy (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG) and his LOLA star, the stunning Anouk Aimée, re-teamed for this dreamlike and very psychedelic portrait of Los Angeles in the late 1960’s. Aimée reprises her role as "Lola," with Gary Lockwood (2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY) as a young Angeleno who follows her tantalizing image across the city, until they finally meet at the enigmatic Model Shop. With a superb original score by Spirit. Only briefly seen on its original release, and impossible to find nowadays (it’s never been available on video), MODEL SHOP has been gloriously restored in a sparkling new 35 mm. print by Sony Pictures – don’t miss it!!

CISCO PIKE, 1972, Columbia, 94 min. Dir. Bill Norton. One of the greatest "lost" films of the 1970’s: has-been folk-rock star Kris Kristofferson tries to put his drug-dealing days behind him so he can get back to his music roots – but corrupt cop Gene Hackman blackmails him into selling a hundred stolen kilos of marijuana over one weekend. Both fast-moving modern noir and a perceptive look at a songwriter with integrity trying to survive on the pop mainstream fringe. With Harry Dean Stanton, Karen Black, Viva, and views of a since-disappeared L.A. you’ll never see again.

>> CISCO PIKE also playing at the Aero

Sunday, May 15 – 5:00 PM

Back By Popular Demand!

LOST HORIZON, 1973, Columbia, 138 min. Dir. Charles Jarrott. If you missed our screening last August of this wonderfully insane oddity (people were screaming in their seats), then run, swim or fly to see one of the most indescribably strange movies ever conceived. Sally Kellerman’s musical numbers – including a love duet with George Kennedy (!!) – are worth the price of admission alone. And then there are the jawdropping production numbers with James Shigeta and Bobby Van … This ill-fated musical adaptation of the James Hilton novel about a group of travelers who find answers to life’s greatest questions in the mystical Himalayan city of Shangri-La may have bombed at the box office, but just look at the talent involved: a cast including Peter Finch, Liv Ullmann, Michael York, Charles Boyer and John Gielgud; music by Burt Bacharach and lyrics by Hal David; script by Larry Kramer (of "The Normal Heart" and ACT UP fame); choreography by the legendary Hermes Pan; and costumes by Jean Louis (who dressed Rita Hayworth in GILDA) - !! Whether you’re amazed or aghast, we promise you’ll be entertained – and it’s NOT ON VIDEO, so this is your only chance to see it!

An Egyptian Theatre Exclusive!