(DAIGAKU WA DETA KEREDO, Yasujiro Ozu, Japan 1929, 11 min.)

(RAKUDAI WA SHITA KEREDO, Yasujiro Ozu, Japan 1930, 64 min.)

Only a fragment remains of I Graduated, But…, the first of these two silent films from renowned Japanese filmmaker Yasujiro Ozu. The title tells it all: a college graduate refuses a job that’s beneath him, but hides his unemployment from his family. I Flunked, But . . . is a pre-Animal House comic romp about college goof-offs who cheat on their exams that includes the first screen appearance of Ozu regular cast member Chishu Ryu. The great actress Kinuyo Tanaka, also known for her work with Kenji Mizoguchi as well, appears in both films.

(CIRANO DE BERGERAC, Augusto Genina, Italy 1925, 113 min.)

One of Italy’s most elaborate film productions during the 1920s was this elegant hand-colored and tinted version of Edmond Rostand’s romantic play. Pierre Magnier is Cyrano and Linda Moglia is Roxanne in this sincere and affecting adaptation, notable for its meticulous period detail. Director Genina would later direct Louise Brooks in Prix de Beauté (1930). Live piano by Philip C. Carli.

(Martin Scorsese, US 1990, 146 min.)

Scorsese’s mob epic and masterpiece is a tour de force of brutality, dark comedy, and great Italian cooking that charts the rise and fall of small-time mobster Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and his cohorts Jimmy the Gent (Robert DeNiro) and Shoeshine Tommy (Joe Pesci in an Oscar®-winning performance). Deftly gliding, propulsive camerawork and an evocative period pop soundtrack (Rolling Stones, Cream, Aretha Franklin) capture the allure, decadence, and the stress of day-to-day life as a Mafia hood.

(Buster Keaton & Jack Blystone, US 1923, 74 min.)

In one of his undisputed comic masterpieces, Buster Keaton is Willie McKay, the last survivor of his wealthy family, returning home to claim his inheritance. But the woman of his dreams, Virginia Canfield (Natalie Talmadge, the real-life Mrs. Keaton), comes from the family the MacKays are feuding with. The hair-raising, stunt-filled finale alone is worth the price of admission. Preceded by THE PLAY HOUSE (Buster Keaton, US 1921, 20 min.).

(Ernst Lubitsch, US 1924, 85 min.)

This silent and enormously rare masterwork by Ernst Lubitsch, one of the screen’s architects of sophisticated comedy, details the romantic affairs of one man and his three paramours—two of whom are mother and daughter. Live piano by Philip C. Carli.