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The
Wednesday Evening Film Series
Spring 2008
The Historic Elsinore Theatre and
Chemeketa Community College
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Wednesday Film Series Sponsor: |
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Beginning with the
delightfully “scandalous,” romantic comedy,
Design For Living
on April 2nd, our spring Classic Series of
seven movies is entitled Images of Desire: Sin, Censorship,
and Pre-Code Hollywood.
For nearly 35 years, until
the current movie rating system replaced it in 1968, the
Production Code Administration governed not only behavior on
movie screens––sex, nudity, violence––but also what was
permissible speech and thought. It wasn’t always so. Hollywood
movies made during the few years just after sound was installed
in theaters––but before the censorship Code was strictly
enforced––comprise a brief, daring, celebrated period in
American filmmaking. This “pre-Code period,” 1929 to 1934, when
movies had just learned to talk, exhibited a lively expression
of adult concerns, sensuality, and a broader comprehension of
relationships and sexuality. While never explicit––certainly
not by today’s standards––movies during this period were allowed
a degree of frankness that was quite popular with audiences.
But voices of protest demanded censorship. After 1934, the Code
was strictly enforced to “family fare” standards, and movies
would not be the same.
Six famous pre-Code movies
will be presented in their original or restored versions––a
sampling of great films that played a part in provoking the
arrival of censorship and/or were later cut––or banned
outright––by the Code Administration. Additionally, we’re
presenting an example of how a clever director during the Code
era was able to slip forbidden subjects past the
censors––Preston Sturges’ madcap screwball comedy The
Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. Program notes offering
commentary on these movies and on the history of the censorship
Code will be provided at the Classic Series screenings.
Parallel to the Classic
Series is our Silent Series of four movie evenings,
beginning April 9 with Fritz Lang’s landmark thriller,
Spies.
Included are a silent-era pre-Code jewel, featuring famous
lovers Greta Garbo and John Gilbert, Flesh and the Devil;
a John Ford western, 3 Bad Men; and a Harold Lloyd
comedy, Speedy. The silent film presentations
will feature live accompaniment by Rick Parks at the “Mighty
Wurlitzer Organ.”
Please join us on Wednesday
nights for the opportunity to see great movies, with friends,
projected on the big screen as they were originally shown, in
one of America’s grand movie palaces, beautifully restored to
its original glory!
Tickets are $5 each and can
be purchased at the Historic Elsinore Theatre, at the website
www.elsinoretheatre.com and at all Tickets West locations.
Phone 503.375.3574 for information. Box office and doors open
at 6 pm, movies start at 7:00 pm.
Classic Series Coordinator:
Robert Bibler.
Silent Series Coordinator: Rick Parks.
Technical Sponsor:
Allied Video
Productions
May 7
7:00 pm Flesh and the Devil (Clarence Brown, USA,
1926)
Before Grand Hotel,
Greta Garbo had already established herself as a radiant,
legendary goddess of the silent screen. Flesh and the
Devil is the story of a dangerous triangle that develops
when two life-long friends, Leo and Ulrich (John Gilbert and
Lars Hanson) both fall in love with a temptress (Garbo).
Famous, luminous cinematography by William Daniels. 112
minutes.
“Garbo at her most
seductive . . . Pulsatingly romantic, beautifully filmed,
probably the best Garbo-Gilbert love match. But talk about
surprise endings!” ––Leonard Maltin
May 14
7:00 pm The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (Preston
Sturges, USA, 1944)
A patriotic young woman,
Trudy Kockenlocker, finds herself pregnant after sneaking out to
a drunken send-off party for “the boys” leaving on a WWII troop
train. Trudy can’t locate the marriage license or recall the
specific soldier or the Justice of the Peace. She enlists the
aid of her precocious, wise-cracking kid sister and a
high-strung, 4-F friend, Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), while
Trudy’s cranky suspicious father, the town cop (William
Demarest), tries to discover what’s going on. Unforgettable! A
wacky masterpiece of small town discombobulation, slipped past
the censors. With a pre-Code Betty Boop cartoon.
99 minutes.
“Preston Sturges’ supreme
achievement––a ribald retelling of the Nativity story”
––Dave Kehr, New York Times
“Frantic, hilarious
comedy [and] daring wartime farce.”
––Leonard Maltin
“The [Code
Administration] office has been raped in its sleep.”
––James Agee, The Nation, 1944
May 28
7:00 pm Gold Diggers of 1933 (Mervyn LeRoy, USA,
1933)
This famous Warner Bros.
Depression-era back-stage musical extravaganza put issues of
money, poverty, success, and breadlines front and center––along
with hungry chorines scouting out sugar daddies. Rich boy Dick
Powell defies his parents to write for Broadway and hook up with
chorus girl Ruby Keeler. Spectacular, hallucinatory Busby
Berkeley production numbers, great sets and songs, with a cast
that includes Ginger Rogers (singing “We’re in the Money”), Joan
Blondell, Warren William, Aline MacMahon, Ned Sparks, Guy Kibbee.
96 minutes.
“Delirious and
delightful.” ––Time Out
June 11
7:00 pm Trouble in Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, USA,
1932
Featuring another delicate
ménage a trois by Ernst Lubitsch (Design for Living)
and Paramount’s terrific Deco sets, this is a delightful
pre-Code comedy. Two lovers who are expert pickpockets and
jewel thieves, Lilly and Gaston (Miriam Hopkins and Herbert
Marshall), set their sights on a glamorous, bejeweled, Parisian
perfume executive, Marianne (Kay Francis). Gaston is hired as
the Marianne’s personal secretary. But Lily’s and Gaston’s
professional and romantic partnership is threatened when Gaston
becomes attracted to more than Marianne’s jewels. A brief on
screen introduction to Lubitsch by director Peter Bogdanovich
will precede the film. With Charles Ruggles, Edward Everett
Horton and C. Aubrey Smith. 82 minutes.
“A wonderful and
sophisticated tale in praise of immorality, money, and sex.”
––Time Out
“Four stars. Sparkling
Lubitsch confection.” ––Leonard
Maltin
June 18
7:00 pm 3 Bad Men (John Ford, USA, 1926)
John Ford’s dramatic filming
of a magnificently staged Dakota territory land rush––with
hundreds of wagons and riders–– forms the historic backdrop for
this story of three outlaws who come to the aid of a young
pioneer couple (George O’Brien and Olive Borden) traveling west
by wagon train. As in The Iron Horse, Ford blends
a personal story with an epic panorama of historical movement.
Location filming at Jackson Hole, Wyoming. 92 minutes.
“Beautiful mixture of
action, drama, comedy, and sentiment in one of Ford’s best
silents.” ––Leonard Maltin
June 25
7:00 pm Tarzan and His Mate
(Cedric Gibbons, USA, 1934)
Before Code censors demanded
more clothing and muted Jane’s independence and sexuality, the
first two Tarzan movies were exotic adventure films made for
adults. In this sequel, the second Tarzan feature, former
fiancé (Neil Hamilton) attempts to persuade Jane (Maureen
O’Sullivan) to leave her jungle bliss with Tarzan (Johnny
Weissmuller)––living in sin and in tree-house harmony with
nature––and return to civilization, while his ivory-hunting
partner plans to loot a sacred elephant graveyard. Censors cut
Jane’s nude swim scene, but it was restored in 1991. 105
minutes.
“Opulent, action-packed
entry, co-directed by MGM’s famed art director Gibbons, and
notable for pre-Code sexual candor and a distinct lack of
clothes.” ––Leonard Maltin
Would you like to receive
our posters and mailers at your door? Sign up on our mailing
list at the Theatre.
The Film Studies Program
at Chemeketa Community College offers courses in film
appreciation. See the College catalog or the quarterly Schedule
of Classes or contact Steve Slemenda at 503.399.6237 for further
information.
Historic Elsinore Theatre
170 High St SE, Salem OR 97301
503.375.3574 www.elsinoretheatre.com
All films at the Historic
Elsinore Theatre. Box office and doors open at 6 pm, movies
begin at 7 pm. Films subject to change. |
