(Patrick Cazals, France 2007, 63 min., English and French with subtitles, Digital Projection)
Armenian émigré Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987) became one of the most innovative directors of his time. Before directing such screen classics as Love Me Tonight, Blood and Sand, and Silk Stockings, Mamoulian directed operas at Rochester’s Eastman Theatre and eventually moved to Broadway where he directed the first incarnation of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess. This fascinating biography partially filmed in Rochester will be presented in person by filmmaker Patrick Cazals. A brief question and answer session will be followed at 8:30 p.m. by Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The documentary will be followed by a screening of Mamoulian’s
DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE
(Rouben Mamoulian, US 1931, 97 min., 35mm)
Still considered the finest adaptation of R.L. Stevenson’s tale of horror, Mamoulian’s version features an Oscar®-winning Fredric March in the title roles. George Eastman House’s preservation of the full-length, original release version will be shown. Two films for one admission price.
(Fred Zinnemann, US 1952, 84 min., 35mm)
Gary Gooper won an Oscar® for his portrayal of a beloved and admired small town lawman who is ultimately abandoned to fight four deadly outlaws. A landmark in Westerns for mature audiences, director Zinnemann and screenwriter Carl Foreman ingeniously develop characters while the action unfolds in real time. Grace Kelly, in her first major role, costars as Cooper’s supportive wife, and Tex Ritter croons the memorable title song: Do Not Foresake Me, Oh My Darlin’. A newly preserved 35mm print, with restored picture and audio, will be shown.
Program Notes
High Noon
~Michael T. Dennis, Department of Media Study, University at Buffalo
Among those films that make up the classic Westerns, none is perhaps as central to the genre’s history as Fred Zinnemann’s High Noon. Released in 1952, it challenged the conventions of what was, at the time, one of the most successful modes of Hollywood storytelling. While Westerns had previously been characterized by the presence of a gallant hero, High Noon instead presents Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper): friendless and full of doubt, but “a man of pride… the virtue that is the summation of most of the other virtues” (French 102). Awaiting the arrival of an old nemesis on the 12:00 train, the audience passes the time with Kane and his new bride, Ann Fowler (Grace Kelly) where it quickly becomes apparent that Zinnemann’s West is not the Technicolor Eden other directors sought to imagine onscreen. Owing much to Floyd Crosby’s newsreel-inspired cinematography, the events of High Noon occur in a stark world of black & white realism. With minimal action, the film becomes a study of anticipation and an indictment of the societies of weak-willed men.
For all of these reasons, High Noon met with mixed critical reception upon its release. Audiences were understandably surprised at seeing their beloved Western reach a new stage of maturity, and in fact the film’s producers harbored their own misgivings. Questions surrounded Zinnemann’s ability, as an Austrian Jew, to tell a decidedly American story. Gary Cooper’s star power was thought to be waning, and Grace Kelly had yet to distinguish herself from her lackluster television career. With a character-driven story meant to appeal to adults rather than cap pistol-toting kids, High Noon was made quickly for a paltry $740,000.
Hollywood responded favorably though, bestowing four Academy Awards (Best Actor for Cooper, Best Film Editing, and two awards for the film’s music). Where High Noon had been revolutionary, taking the Western beyond what directors John Ford and Howard Hawks ever envisioned, it would itself become a point of departure and influence for other Western filmmakers including revisionists Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah.
High Noon’s historical significance is underscored by its political subtext. A victim of the Hollywood blacklist, screenwriter Carl Foreman intended his story to parallel the situation in which he and his colleagues were forced to stand alone against the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Just as Marshal Kane finds the residents of Hadleyville unwilling to help him fight Frank Miller, Foreman felt deserted by friends who were themselves afraid of becoming targets of McCarthyism. This analogy did not sit well with some, famously inspiring right-winger John Wayne to note his dislike of the film which he and others felt “lied about what they conceived of as the frontier spirit” (Tuska 70).
Controversy aside, High Noon took its place in cinema history. Gary Cooper went on to star in Westerns for another decade while Grace Kelly graduated to acclaimed roles in the films of Alfred Hitchcock. Fred Zinnemann established himself as not only a competent director, but a master of suspenseful originality. The American Western was reborn.
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For Further Reading
French, Peter A. Cowboy Metaphysics: Ethics and Death in Westerns. Lanham: Rowman
and Littlefield, 1997.
Tuska, Jon. The American West in Film: Critical Approaches to the Western. Westport:
Greenwood Press, 1985.
A Bill of Divorcement
(George Cukor, US 1932, 70 min., 35mm)
In her very first movie, Katharine Hepburn stars as a young woman on the verge of marriage whose father (John Barrymore) returns home from 15 years in a mental institution. Clemence Dane’s popular Broadway play is sensitively handled by acclaimed director Cukor, who would later guide Hepburn in some of her most beloved movies (Holiday, The Philadelphia Story, Adam’s Rib).
A Woman Rebels
(Mark Sandrich, US 1936, 88 min., 35mm)
In one of her quintessential early roles, Hepburn stars as Pamela Thistlewaite, an independent young woman in Victorian England who attempts to avoid marriage, run a progressive feminist magazine, and raise a child without a father! A Woman Rebels will be shown in a newly preserved print from the Academy Film Archives. Two films for one admission price.
Please Note: the printed Dryden film calendar incorrectly lists this screening as 7 p.m., the correct start time is 8 p.m.. We apologize for any inconvenience.
(Christine Choy and Ku-Ling Siegel, US 2007, 55 min., Digital Projection)
This new biographical portrait focuses on the life and artistic growth of Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet and beloved University of Rochester professor Hyam Plutzik. The documentary juxtaposes interviews, lectures, and home movies to lead viewers through the life and legacy of an acclaimed artist, whose writing has been compared with Theodore Roethke and Wallace Stevens. Co-director Ku-Ling Siegel and literary researcher Edward Moran will discuss their project and answer questions following the screening.
Click here to read an article about Hyam Plutzik by Jack Garner in the Democrat & Chronicle.
Ramrod
(Andre de Toth, US 1947, 94 min., 35mm)
A tough female ranch owner (a surprisingly butch Veronica Lake) teams up with her foreman (Joel McCrea) to put her chief competitor—her father—out of business. Hungarian émigré de Toth (then husband to leading lady Lake) delivers a very entertaining and deeply Freudian Western, filled with phallic symbols…beginning with the title. Then at 8:45 p.m., Western Union…
Western Union
(Fritz Lang, US 1941, 94 min., 35mm)
In the first Western from German director Lang, Randolph Scott and Robert Young star as the men who laid the first coast-to-coast telegraph wire. Lang’s respect for the genre is evident in this handsomely mounted Technicolor™ adaptation of Zane Grey’s novel. Two films for one admission price.
