L.A. is the greatest place on earth to watch movies. Here are this week’s best picks.
1) Sweet Smell of Success at the Billy Wilder Theater (FRIDAY 3/5, 7:30PM)
Renowned for stark, noir cinematography (by James Wong Howe) and scathing one-liners (“I’d hate to take a bit outta you. You’re a cookie filled with arsenic.”), Sweet Smell of Success is screening in a brand new 35mm print this Friday. Presented by the UCLA Film & Television Archive as part of a tribute to Burt Lancaster, this film was co-produced by Lancaster and he stars as feared gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker opposite Tony Curtis as Hunsecker’s right-hand man/frenemy Sidney Falco. Both a prescient and incendiary indictment of celebrity/gossip culture and a bleak, cynical film noir featuring indelible performances, Sweet Smell of Success is a diabolically entertaining film that’s not to be missed. Buy your tickets here.
2) April Fools Night at the Egyptian (SATURDAY 3/6, 7:30PM)
Screened as a part of RetroFormat Films on 8mm, this selection of silent comedies is a two hour block of entertainment unlike any other. Featuring live piano accompaniment, the program includes shorts from Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy, Charlie Chaplin, Harold Lloyd, Fatty Arbuckle & Mabel Normand and more. Presented in the smaller Spielberg Theater at the Egyptian, this April Fools celebration is sure to brighten even the lowest of weeks. Buy your tickets here.
3) The Ladies Man at the Cinefamily (SUNDAY 3/7, 5:15PM)
Film critics often cite The Ladies Man as proof positive of Jerry Lewis’ comic genius, and it’s hard to argue after seeing this film. Reminiscent of Jacques Tati’s epic Tativille in Playtime, Lewis built a giant, four-story, sixty-room dollhouse in which to stage all his girl-catching shenanigans. The epic prop recalls the physical comedy and engineering acumen of Buster Keaton. Catch the comedy at the Cinefamily this Sunday night. The program starts early at 4pm with the final part of Robert Benayoun’s six part documentary on Jerry Lewis’ career, Bonjour, Mr. Lewis. Buy your tickets here.
4) House by the River/Secret Beyond the Door at the Egyptian (WEDNESDAY 3/10, 7:30PM)
This double feature of rarely screened Fritz Lang flicks is part of Noir City: Hollywood, 15th Annual Festival of Film Noir at the American Cinematheque. House by the River concerns a psycho writer who enlists his brother to cover up a murder he committed, only to watch as his brother becomes the prime suspect. Secret Beyond the Door is a a deeply Freudian melodrama about a naive young woman who marries a mysterious stranger only to discover his house is holds murderous secrets–like what’s beyond the door…A twist on the Bluebeard tale, this Gothic noir features deep, dark, shadowy cinematography and stars Joan Bennett and Michael Redgrave. Both films screened in 35mm and presented in association with the Film Noir Foundation. Buy your tickets here.
5) Rear Window/Rope at the New Beverly (THURSDAY 3/11, 7:30)
Two of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films screen this Wednesday and Thursday night at the New Bev. Both set entirely in cramped apartments, Rear Window and Rope share a conspiratorial vibe amongst its various leads, and both feature dead bodies very prominently. (Hey, this is Hitchcock, after all). James Stewart stars in both pictures, giving two very different performances: one, a crippled peeper; one an aloof professor to a pair of homosexual murderers. Now that’s range. Buy your tickets here.
If you make it out to any of these screenings, let us know how it went in the comments section. Happy viewing, Los Angeles!
