This summer the Chicago Film Society will be presenting eighteen great features and numerous shorts in every gauge from 16mm to 70mm. The films include: a pre-Rivette dose of feminist piracy in Jacque Tourneur's Anne of the Indies, a great western from one-eyed wonder Andre de Toth called Last of the Comanches, arty entries from Tsai Ming-liang (The River) and Mashiro Shinoda (Pale Flower), a lost classic from pioneering Dorothy Arzner (Working Girls), and two terrific films from Robert Altman as you've never seen them before--gonzo musical masterpiece Popeye in a one-of-a-kind 35mm print from the Robert Altman Collection at UCLA Film & Television Archive and Short Cuts screened in 70mm, the only format grand enough to contain all of Altman's free-floating fin de siècle anxieties.
Also showing are plenty of films from uncelebrated artists. Somehow The Match King reached the screen thanks to not one but two directors you've never heard of--William Keighley and Howard Bretherton. The abbreviated feature careers of Claudia Weill and Alan Arkin get excavated in Girlfriends and Little Murders, two weary dispatches from '70s New York. And in keeping with the grand tradition of W.C. Fields comedies being directed by journeyman hucksters, William Beaudine, the non-auteur responsible for keeping The Old Fashioned Way in focus, also helmed the notorious sex hygiene pic Mom and Dad, countless Bowery Boys movies, and over three hundred other films!
THE SCHEDULE IN BRIEF
Wed May 3 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
THUNDER ROAD
Directed by Arthur Ripley • 1958 • 35mm from private collection
Sleepy-eyed hot rod auteur Robert Mitchum delivers an authentic backwoods drive-in classic. "The law they swore they'd get him, but the devil got him first."
Tues May 16 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
LINDA
Directed by Dorothy Davenport • 1929 • 35mm from Library of Congress
A recently rediscovered social melodrama directed by "Mrs. Wallace Reid," the queen of evangelizing exploitation. With live organ accompaniment by Jay Warren! Not available on home video
Mon May 22 / 7:15 PM / Music Box
POPEYE
Directed by Robert Altman • 1980 • 35mm from UCLA Film & Television Archive
Eat your spinach and join Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall in a widescreen fable based on our favorite cartoons, with songs by Harry Nilsson and Van Dyke Parks. Co-sponsored by CHIRP - Chicago Independent Radio Project.
Tues May 30 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
THE RIVER
Directed by Tsai Ming-liang • 1997 • 35mm from Leisure Time Features
A masterpiece from the tail end of Tsai's comparatively loquacious phase, this tale of environmental illness indulges the director's penchant for free-floating, quietly tumultuous, queer desire. In Mandarin with English subtitles
Mon June 12 / 7:00 PM / Music Box
PALE FLOWER
Directed by Masahiro Shinoda • 1964 • 35mm from Janus Films
The yakuza film by which all others in the genre should be measured, Shinoda's dose of baroque action uses every inch of the Shochiku Grandscope frame. In Japanese with English subtitles
Wed June 14 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
CLUNY BROWN
Directed by Ernst Lubitsch • 1946 • 35mm from Criterion Pictures, USA
The final completed film from one of our favorite directors will make you see romance and plumbing in a new whole new light. Featuring a terrific performance by Charles Boyer and the ultimate vindication of Jennifer Jones's unique talent. Not available on home video in America.
Wed June 21 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
WORKING GIRLS
Directed by Dorothy Arzner • 1931 • 35mm from Universal
A rare slice of sisterhood and social critique from Dorothy Arzner, the first woman admitted into the Director's Guild. Not available on home video.
Tues June 27 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
CAR WASH
Directed by Michael Schultz • 1976 • 35mm from Universal
An ode to summertime, automobiles, and the chill camaraderie of the minimum wage milieu. Featuring a kick-ass funkadelic soundtrack from Rose Royce.
Wed July 5 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
ANNE OF THE INDIES
Directed by Jacques Tourneur • 1951 • 35mm from Fox Library Services
Feminism on the high seas as Blackbeard disciple Captain Anne Providence (Jean Peters) navigates the occupational hazards of pirate life in blazing Technicolor. Not available on home video in America.
Sun July 9 / 8:00 PM / Music Box
SHORT CUTS
Directed by Robert Altman • 1993 • 70mm from CFS Collection
An epic of sociological ennui from the master of the form, Short Cuts uses the work of Raymond Carver to explore the workaday frustrations of chauffeurs, birthday clowns, motorcycle cops, waitresses, pool cleaners, phone sex operators, and assorted ne'er-do-wells in suburban L.A. Featuring Lily Tomlin, Robert Downey, Jr., Frances McDormand, Jack Lemmon, Julianne Moore, Tom Waits, Andie MacDowell, Tim Robbins, and fourteen more! Not available in 70mm six-track Dolby Stereo in your Netflix queue; get off the damn couch, bruh!
Wed July 12 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
IT HAPPENED HERE
Directed by Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo • 1964 • 35mm from Milestone Film
Well, it did happen here last November, so it's an opportune time to revisit film preservationist Kevin Brownlow's alternative history of European fascism. Check it out before catching up with Chris Nolan's Dunkirk.
Wed July 19 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
GIRLFRIENDS
Directed by Claudia Weill • 1978 • 35mm from Warner Bros.
Before Girls and Frances Ha, there was Girlfriends, the hilariously humane debut feature from Claudia Weill that the patriarchy doesn't want you to see!
Wed July 26 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
THE MATCH KING
Directed by Howard Bretherton and William Keighley • 1932 • 35mm from Library of Congress
Warren William, the pre-Code scoundrel's scoundrel, goes from cleaning up trash for the Chicago Cubs to cleaning out the treasuries of western Europe. Who knew matchbooks could be so lucrative--and deadly?
Wed August 2 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
MELVIN AND HOWARD
Directed by Jonathan Demme • 1980 • 35mm from Universal
Before The Aviator and Rules Don't Apply, Jonathan Demme applied his characteristic humanism to that most inhuman (and American) of subjects, Howard Hughes. Winner of two Academy Awards: Best Original Screenplay (Bo Goldman) and Best Supporting Actress (Mary Steenburgen).
Tues August 8 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
THE OLD FASHIONED WAY
Directed by William Beaudine • 1934 • 35mm from Universal
The Great McGonigle juggles his hatred of rival Baby LeRoy and his earnest textual fidelity to creaky mellerdrama The Drunkard in this hilarious work of unconscious postmodernism.
Wed August 16 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
LITTLE MURDERS
Directed by Alan Arkin • 1971 • 35mm from 20th Century Fox
A tar-black comedy from the depths of Mayor Lindsay's decaying NYC, Little Murders features Elliot Gould at his most apathetic and Donald Sutherland as a priest preaching misery.
Wed August 23 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
LAST OF THE COMANCHES
Directed by Andre de Toth • 1953 • 35mm from Sony Pictures Repertory
A superb siege western from de Toth, the "Hungarian-born, one-eyed American cowboy from Texas." Featuring Broderick Crawford, Barbara Hale, and Lloyd Bridges. Not available on home video.
Wed August 30 / 7:30 PM / NEIU
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1935
Directed by Busby Berkeley • 1935 • 35mm from CFS Collections
There's probably a story in here somewhere, but we remember it mainly for the show-stopping "Lullaby of Broadway" number, widely recognized as Berkeley's testament.
ABOUT THE CHICAGO FILM SOCIETY
The (formerly Northwest) Chicago Film Society makes rare and classic films available to local audiences in their original forms--on 35mm and 16mm motion picture film. Our screenings spotlight the restoration efforts of archives, studios, and private collectors, as well as the experience of seeing films projected in a theater with an audience. Through an array of program notes, extended blog entries, and introductory remarks before each screening, the Chicago Film Society endeavors to bring new notions of the cultural and material history of cinema to the public. TheChicago Film Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. It was established by Julian Antos, Becca Hall, and Kyle Westphal in 2011.
ABOUT NORTHEASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY
Founded in 1867, Northeastern has a rich tradition of educational innovation and prides itself on preparing teachers and administrators who make a difference in Chicago. That tradition continues to this day and has expanded to include an array of academic disciplines, allowing the University to embrace fully the community in which it resides. Northeastern is regarded as the most diverse public comprehensive university in the Midwest and is designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution. Diversity is an important factor in the character of Northeastern and in the social fabric of its student body. The University has an enrollment of more than 10,000 students; African American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American students represent nearly 60 percent of the student body. Located on 67 acres in an attractive residential area on the Northwest Side of Chicago, the University offers more than 80 undergraduate and graduate programs in the arts, sciences, education, and business.