Sponsors:






 

The Wednesday Evening Film Series
Spring 2008

The Historic Elsinore Theatre and
Chemeketa Community College

Wednesday Film Series Sponsor: 

The Historic Elsinore Theatre in partnership with the Chemeketa Community College Humanities Department and Film Studies Program presents a program of silent and classic movies.

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


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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.

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