November 6th 2013. Pick Of The Day.
New York City's premiere resource for classic film screenings in the metropolitan area. Offering reviews, recommendations, venues and a host of links keeping classic film and the silver screens alive.
The Knicks are 1-3, New York elected a new mayor on Guy Fawkes day, and Brian De Palma's latest flick was released on BluRay. All these events occured yesterday. You decide which of the three is most ominous.
A lite bill of fare again today on the cinematic rep circuit, but though scant it's cherce. The menu;
Film Forum
NOSFERATU (1979) Dir; Werner Herzog
MoMA
THE LEOPARD (1963) Dir; Luchino Visconti
THE SOUND OF FURY (1950) Dir; Cy Endfield
IT'S A GIFT (1934) Dir; Norman McLeod
Nitehawk Cinema
ALPHABET CITY (1984) Dir; Amos Poe
Today's Pick? It's no contest. Not many films or movie stars can top the great William Claude Dunkenfield even on their best day. So let's not pretend.
The sublime comic talent that would become W. C. Fields first undertook a career in public performance by mastering the art of juggling. In his later years as a star of the screen audiences would routinely marvel at his older, rounder incarnation's physical grace and dexterity, not knowing he'd initially honed his craft in this manner. As Vaudeville gave way to more legit theater and ultimately Hollywood, Fields' gradually, carefully concocted persona, equal parts ace charlatain and constant victim of Murphy's Law (and marriage), bedevilled boozehound flop and ultimately vindicated individualist, earned him his greatest success once the sound era changed the game, as his now audible snarky pseudo-intellectual witticisms tied the whole already appealing package off with a neat bow. Initially enjoying great popularity at Paramount Studios in supporting roles and as star of a series of shorts, he graduated to leading man in 1933 with Francis Martin's TILLIE AND GUS. And then the real fun began.
Preserving for all time his Vaudeville routines "The Picnic", "A Joyride" and the Carl LaFong immortalizing "The Back Porch", Fields created his first full-length masterpiece in 1934 in collaboration with director Norman McLeod, who'd previously presided over the controlled anarchy of the Marx Brothers' MONKEY BUSINESS and HORSE FEATHERS, and was probably grateful for the relatively serene misrule this film offered. The tale of a shopkeeper's dreams of owning an orange grove, and the subsequent odyssey he embarks on in that dream's pursuit, is simple in premise but loaded with indelible comic moments. The aforementioned Vaudeville routines thankfully preserved for all time were joined by the incomparable "Mr. Muckle" sequence and the brilliantly choreographed shaving scene, and the Fields persona that would carry through the remainder of his CV was finally fully formed. I would make this my Pick any day of the week and twice on Sunday were the esteemed author E. L. Doctorow not in attendance to introduce the screening, but I can't pretend that doesn't enhance the whole shebang. Here's hoping he knows a lot about oranges.
Norman McLeod's IT'S A GIFT unspools in glorious 35mm at MoMA tonight as part of their slowly winding down To Save and Project series. You really owe it to yourself to attend. And be sure to open the door for Mr. yeah I'm not gonna say it.
For more on these and all NYC's classic screenings in November '13 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter! Back tomorrow with more of the goods, til then look both ways 'fore ya cross the street and make sure the other kids do the same.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. As the weather dips it's worth mentioning that some of our fellow NY'ers are still waiting to be made whole in the wake of last year's hurricane. Should ya feel like helping check in the with folks over at Occupy Sandy to see what you can do. As Billy Wilder put it, be a mensch! A mensch! You know what a mensch is??? A HUMAN BEING!!!
