I couldn't find a thread where I could ask my question, so I decided to start one. I figure this could be an all-encompassing place where we can discuss notable screenings of old films in theaters, etc.

As for my question - I'm going to a screening of 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70mm at the AFI Silver in September, and before it, Tron is playing in 70mm as well. Looking for some advice here since I've never seen the film and have absolutely zero nostalgia for it: Will it be worth it to see that too? Obviously wouldn't mind hearing what people here think of the film; but I'm also wondering if anyone's ever seen it in 70mm and if it's such a dazzling experience that I shouldn't pass it up, or it's just sort of a mess considering the special effects limitations of the film, quality of the 70mm cinematography, etc.

Any advice on what you think I should do would be appreciated!

The film uses its special effects in such a bizarre way that I imagine that 70mm would only add to the effect of being in a computer. As for the film itself I like it a lot though I wouldn't call it absolutely great.

Well, unlike most other 1980s films, large parts of Tron were originated in 65mm (like 2001), so there probably will be a noticeable visual improvement over a 35mm projection - normally, the main virtue of a 70mm print of a 70s/80s film is the multichannel soundtrack.

I think I may even have seen a 70mm print back in 1982 (I'm pretty sure I caught one of the showcase screenings in London's West End), but I can't remember much about it.

Don't expect anything but the rudiments of storytelling. The "real world" material is rushed (my perception at 19 when I saw it twice upon first release) and the time spent inside the game is only marginally better developed. I recall that there was studio-imposed re-editing and/or re-shooting involved which seems to be the case with every Disney live action feature from this period ("Watcher In The Woods", "Something Wicked This Way Comes"). All the same, the primitive 3D animation gave the film a sense of innovation and it was impressive for its time. I never saw this in 70mm, but would probably revisit it in that format if I had the chance.

Save the money you'd spend on TRON and get a large popcorn for the Kubrick...

Fritz The Cat will be playing at the Ottawa International Animation Film Festival, Thursday September 20th at 11 am, and Ralph Bakshi will be in attendance. I'm still trying to figure out a professional way of saying to my boss, "Sorry, I can't make it to that meeting with our clients; I have to go see an X-rated cartoon."

The solution is clearly to have the meeting at the Fritz the Cat screening.

That's genius. The Bytowne theatre even has pretty good coffee.

You sir, are hired.

Oh. my. god. I don't know if I've talked up Edward L. Cahn yet on this board, but he's quickly become one of my favorite unknown directors. And Laughter in Hell has been the holy grail title: a provocative, thought-lost prison drama from 1933 which purportedly wears its Pre-Code freedoms on its sleeve. (Not to mention the best Pre-Code title this side of Merrily We Go to Hell)

So how gobsmaked I was when I looked at the American Cinematheque schedule and saw this:This was made smacked dab in his early run of brilliant, no-holds-barred crime dramas - the pitch-black gangster film Afraid to Talk (talked up in the last 30s project), the unflinching early police procedural Radio Patrol, the brutal, stripped down Western Law and Order. I'm tempted to make a trip to Los Angeles for this, but I highly recommend this to anyone in the area, especially someone who can report back.

Damn, and I was up there just last week. How expensive are tickets usually? I don't have much cash now, but for a low price I could make the drive for such an event.

Around $10 if I recall. Standard film society prices.

For those of you who have seen those Edward Cahn movies, is it safe to say he is sort of a precursor to Sam Fuller? I did a little online research and a couple sites seem to tout him as such...which excites me even more!

I would disagree as there are a number of differences in style, dialogue, and outlook. There are some very broad genre similarities but that is it.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to call him a precursor. What I would say is, at least in those three films mentioned above, there's definitely 1) a very sensationalist tabloid urgency with which Cahn deals with crime, corruption and violence. 2) Like Fuller, his films have guts... even in the wild days of Pre-Code cinema, there are moments in those films where you really can't believe Cahn's taking things as far as he is.

Certainly, Fuller's stylistic flair is Fuller's: you're not going to see much like it in the 1930s. And most of the similarities are indeed broad... but I don't know, they seem like the sort of thing Fuller may have written had he been around during the era, although the finished films aren't necessarily the sort of thing he would've directed.

I guess this is the thread for this, but if you're curious and are around the DC area, the recent restoration of Journey to Italy played at the National Gallery of Art today at 4:30 and will play again tomorrow at 4:30.

Just got back from a screening of Creature From The Black Lagoon in 3-D and there was a trailer for Django, I think coming at the end of December as part of a late-night film screening series. Can't confirm as their next quarter's schedule still is not up.

Because this guy sounds interesting I thought I'd check Amazon UK (and some ... back channels) but the only stuff available to me are a selection of his 50s b-movies, which have some fantastic titles (IT! THE TERROR FROM BEYOND SPACE, THE FOUR SKULLS OF JONATHAN DRAKE, INVASION OF THE SAUCER MEN, DESTINATION MURDER, etc). Has anyone seen these: did he squander his talent or is there something special about them?

Although as far as squandering one's talent goes there are few better ways than spending the fifties making sci-fi horror! Either way I don't think I can resist a film like CREATURE WITH THE ATOM BRAIN,
"An ex-Nazi mad
scientist uses radio-controlled
atomic-powered zombies in his
quest to help an exiled American
gangster return to power."

It! The Terror Beyond Space is rightfully one of the most respected sci-fi films of the era and my personal favorite of that subset of the genre. The others you mentioned aren't as good, but I love The Four Skulls of Jonathan Drake it all of its strange glory and would highly recommend it. Really I'd recommend for a watch at the very least all of his films.

Well, he had an *ahem* interesting, and some might say downward, career trajectory... but that's partly what fascinates me: how someone can go roaring out the gate with the 1-2-3-4 punch of his first four films in Hollywood, which seemed filled with promise... and then before the decade's out, be stuck directing "Our Gang" shorts... and then make a "comeback" making hour-long programmers for the RKO b-department... then cranking out drive-in movies by the dozen a year... I feel it's a shame no one thought to take down an oral history from him.

And I wouldn't be surprised if those titles were thought up before the plot! Some of them are very good B's... you have to reconcile yourself to some of the unavoidably schlocky elements, and with his output there were going to be stinkers, but Cahn knew his business and some of his later films are worth singling out. And there's so many of them, I'm sure there's a few undiscovered gems lying in wait (I recently found a Noir of the Week entry highlighting When the Clock Strikes, which Cahn shot in his own home!).

Those titles actually aren't a bad selection... I'd also throw in Experiment Alcatraz (which precedes his drive-in days) and Guns, Girls, and Gangsters, two true B-noirs that deliver.

But those early films! I don't think any other early 30s director, save for William Wellman, had a year like that, and they've all been allowed to languish in obscurity. Makes you wonder what else is hiding in some studio/archive vault out there.

I thought I recognised it, but then wondered whether I wasn't confusing it with the also respected IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE. I'll check this one out for sure, and knowing my predilection for 50s schlock probably make my way around everything else I can find as well, given enough time.


Yeah, I hold a similar fascination for J Lee Thompson, who went from ICE COLD IN ALEX, GUNS OF NAVARONE and CAPE FEAR in the late fifties/early sixties to PLANET OF THE APES sequels to DEATH WISH 4. Unfortunately I've not found anything post-APES that could be considered 'good' but there are some surprisingly polished turds in there considering the scripts, budgets and stars he had to work with.


Amen to that.

Enter the Cimino

Actually, I'm probably more excited about seeing YEAR OF THE DRAGON the following day.

This coming Saturday, the Prince Charles Cinema in London is holding a Terrence Malick "Selectrospective", i.e. three films of his, which are shown separately but you can buy a ticket for all three. They are showing Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line and The Tree of Life and the first two are from 35mm prints.

They are also showing Michael Mann's The Keep in 35mm on Thursday evening (21st).

This cinema, which shows second runs, some repertory and event screenings, and has probably the least expensive tickets in the West End, are making a point of advertising when they are showing 35mm, for those who like to know these things. I just checked with a certain London cinema chain to ask if they are showing To the Wonder in 35mm (according to Launching Films, there are 35mm prints available) to be told that all the new releases they show are DCP (2K) these days, although most of their auditoria are still 35mm-enabled.

In case anyone from Los Angeles missed it the first time this played at the Cinefamily, now LACMA will be playing Phase IV with the original ending on a double bill with Silent Running. LACMA has the most poorly advertised film program in all of Los Angeles, so I'm not surprised it isn't sold out yet. Buy a ticket! I'm very happy to be seeing this a second time.

L.A.'s Cinefamily does it again: Trent Harris' RUBIN & ED and a 3-day run of the phenomenal TWICE UPON A TIME