2009
January 8th * * * Special 7 PM start! The Dr. Christian Radio program, co-created by star Jean Hersholt, captivated audiences from 1937 to 1953 and spurred six independently produced motion pictures filled with gripping social issue melodrama interwoven with comedy and romance, often lensed by John Alton. Meet Dr. Christian (1939 / 68 minutes) The new mayor of River's End seeks to transform the sleepy town into a metropolitan suburb throbbing with commerce. The Courageous Dr. Christian (1940 / 67 minutes) A housing project for poor squatters breeds controversy. Written by Ring Lardner Jr. & Ian McLellan Hunter. Dr. Christian Meets the Women (1940 / 58 minutes) A fad weight loss program promises dangerously unrealistic results in a criminally short period of time. Remedy for Riches (1940 / 67 minutes) A get-rich-quick real estate scheme again proves that “when something seems too good to be true, it probably is.” Featuring Maude Eburne. Melody for Three (1941 / 66 minutes) Fay Wray is a divorced mother raising her violin protégé son alone. Directed by Erle C. Kenton. They Meet Again (1941 / 66 minutes) A lowly bank clerk is accused of purloining three thousand dollars.
February 12th I Was A Teenage Werewolf (1957 / 76 minutes)
Michael Landon stars as a juvenile delinquent going through puberty
whose unscrupulous psychiatrist unleashes his inner-monster. Pets (1974 / 103 minutes) Based on a play, Raphael Nussbaum’s kinky, rough trade odyssey follows Candice Rialson as drifter Bonnie, who comes to no good at the hands of a wealthy man in a world where people act like animals.
March 12th Herzog Blaubarts Burg aka, Duke Bluebeard’s Castle (1963 / 59 minutes) Michael Powell’s German language film of Bartok’s 1913/1918 Hungarian opera, finds a mysterious Duke (Norman Foster) bringing his new love Judith (Ana Racquel Satre) to his eerie castle.
April 9th Angela Lansbury's Positive Moves: A Personal Plan for
Fitness and Well-Being at Any Age (1988 / 50 minutes)
The incomparable Angela Lansbury stars in a sincere, empowering and
genuinely insightful exercise video. Jazz Warm Up To Traci Lords (1990 / 47
minutes) Fitness Video starring alluring media personality, Traci
Lords. Young at Heart: Body Conditioning with Estelle
(1993 / 53 minutes) Hilarious fitness video starring the late, great
Estelle Getty and cult movie persona, John Miranda. + Audience members are invited to wear gym gear and workout along with the videos!
June 11th
The Light Ahead (1939 / 94 minutes) Edgar
G. Ulmer’s Yiddish language movie about an avuncular bookseller
and a blind Jewish man who falls in love with a handicapped girl.
July 9th Point Blank (1967 / 92 minutes) Lee Marvin
is a syndicate hitman back from the grave, seeking money stolen from
him by his girlfriend and her secret lover. With Angie Dickinson and
Carroll O’Connor. Directed by John Boorman. Hit Man (1972 / 91 minutes) George Armitage’s
Los Angeles lensed revenge thriller, sporting a young Pam Grier. Midnight Heat (1983 / 67 minutes) Jamie Gillis is a contract killer holed up in a flop hotel reminiscing about the past which is quickly catching up to him. Directed by Richard Mahler (aka, Roger Michael Watkins).
August 13th HWY: An American Pastoral (1969 / 50 minutes)
Fragments from an experimental film. To quote star Jim Morrison: "Essentially,
there's no plot, no story in the traditional sense; a person, played
by me, comes down out of the mountains and hitchhikes his way through
the desert into a modern city, which happens to be L.A., and that's
where it ends.” Come Back To The Five and Dime Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982 / 109 minutes) Sandy Dennis, Cher, Karen Black and Kathy Bates star in Robert Altman’s movie of Ed Graczyk’s play about a reunion of members of the James Dean fan club twenty years after his untimely death.
September 10th Nightfall (1957 / 79 minutes) David Goodis’ story is brought to life by director Jacques Tourneur and a cast including Aldo Ray, Brian Keith and Anne Bancroft. Cinematography by Burnett Guffey.
October 8th Island of Lost Souls (1932 / 70 minutes)
“TERROR! Stalked the Brush-Choked Island... Where Men Who Were
Animals Sought the Girl Who Was All-Human!” Charles Laughton
is the fiendish, fey doctor in this feverous adaptation of the 1896
H.G. Wells’ classic about genetic experimentation. Directed
by Erle C. Kenton. The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996 / 99 minutes)
Marlon Brando is the mad doctor in this over-the-top and totally captivating
take on the Wells legend. Monstrosity (1989 / 89 minutes) Andy Milligan’s loopy punk mash-up of The Golem, Frankenstein and Dr. Moreau.
November 12th Larmar och gör sig till / In the Presence of a Clown
(1997 / 119 minutes) Borje Ahlstedt returns as Carl Akerblom (the
Uncle from Fanny and Alexander) who seeks to make a “living
talking picture” in Ingmar Bergman’s made-for-TV movie. Gigot (1962 / 104 minutes) Jackie Gleason stars as a Charlie Chaplin-like mute in Gene Kelly’s silent film.
December 10th The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover
(1989 / 123 minutes) Peter Greenaway’s dazzling revenge drama
about a kitchen consummated affair and its bloody outcome. With Helen
Mirren, Alan Howard, Michael Gambon and Tim Roth. Being There (1979 / 130 minutes) Peter Sellers is television obsessed man-child, Chance, the gardener in Hal Ashby’s warm film of Jerzy Kosinski’s satiric fable. Co-starring Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas and Jack Warden. |