March 8th 2103. Pick Of The Day.

Film Forum waves goodbye to the year 1933, which saw the institution of a Motion Picture Production Code, and welcomes the French New Wave, which pretty much destroyed it. Jean Luc Godard's LE PETIT SOLDAT gets a weeklong hug from the rep palace of West Houston. Never seen and I hate the director. So, y'know, things might change, but not my Pick today.

MOMA's ongoing Auteurist History of Film series screens THE ACTRESS for the last of its three day run. Jean Simmons plays Ruth Gordon, because Ruth Gordon wrote the script. Spencer Tracy and Anthony Perkins contribute to the hijinks, but not my Pick.

BAM's excellent tribute to Isabelle Adjani kicks off with tonight's screening of THE BRONTE SISTERS, which teams the screen beaut with Isabele Huppert and Marie-France Pisler as the eponymous original Goth chicks. Tempting? Not my Pick.

The Rubin Museum's Cabaret Cinema series treads the oft-trod ground cinematic by screening ROSEMARY'S BABY. The difference? You don't have to sneak a beer in. They MAKE ya buy one to get into the screening. Proof positive once more that the RM's screening lounge is the most civilized on the island of Manhattan. Tempts. Not my Pick.

Midnight at IFC Center offers competing screenings of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK, ALIENS and THE EXORCIST. Midnight at Nitehawk lures with twin unspoolings of HEAVY METAL and CANDYMAN. All worthy and all tempting, but I abstain. Must take a pretty impressive flick to edge out all these screenings today, you might proffer? Yeah, I answer, it does.

Four lads from Liverpool found overnight success during a time when "guitar bands" were "out", and as a result of their music chart dominance the film world, and their manager, sought to cash in with a big screen effort. Richard Lester was an American ex-pat working with The Goon Squad, one of the more anarchic comedy troupes the UK had to offer in the unfolding chaos of 60's culture. You know the story, one met the other and a beautiful babby was birthed. Why is it still important? Because it was the first modern music film, not to be confused as modern musical. It was the first time the rabid fan base paid to watch their idols frolic while the songs they could play at home served as soundtrack to the onscreen antics. It was a melting pot of Dali &Bunuel, the Marx Brothers, revue cinema of the 30's, Kenneth Anger and Britain's Angry Young Man movement. So many different artists and their respective styles would inform this flick, and in turn it would serve as textbook for all future fusion between industries cinematic and musical. Unthinkable without this movie? Everything from THE MONKEES TV show to music video to MTV to your YouTube subscriptions. Yep, it's that huge. And it was devised by everyone involved as a lark they hoped would net a lotta dough for its participants before it disapperaed into obscurity's folds. When was anyone ever this gloriously wrong?

The Beatles star in Lester's A HARD DAY'S NIGHT screening at Anthology Film Archives tonight at 9pm! My Pick Of The Day! Both film and band are as dynamic now as they were almost 50 years ago. Lay down yer iWhatever for two hours and bask in the glow of musical brilliance the movie camera would rarely capture this perfectly. Did I mention I'm old?

Follow me on Twitter @NitrateStock!

Like the page at Facebook.com/NitrateStock!

Check with the good folks of Occupy Sandy to donate/volunteer to the ongoing relief effort.

Be safe and sound and make sure the next guy is too, Stockahz! See ya manana with the new day's Pick! Excelsior!

-Joe Walsh