For his initially reviled, now revered dark comedy Monsieur Verdoux, Charles Chaplin traded in his gentle Little Tramp persona to play a pragmatic (yet sympathetic) murderer who “liquidates” wealthy widows as a financial enterprise during the Great Depression. The tragicomic figure of Verdoux learns a valuable lesson: that a hypocritical society will be outraged by murder at the individual level, yet the same society will condone mass genocide when conducted by our warring nations. As Verdoux says, “Wars, conflicts—it’s all business.”
About half of the selections in the Dryden’s 19th Annual Rochester Labor Film Series, sponsored by the Rochester Labor Council, are morality fables like Verdoux, which depict the “pitfalls” (to borrow the title of one of the films) of big business, class conflict, and exploitation of workers. These titles include Edward Dmytryk’s stirring drama of immigrant construction laborers Christ in Concrete, made during Dmytryk’s brief exile in England and before he became a “friendly” witness to the House Committee on Un-American Activities; Hiroshi Teshigahara’s Pitfall, a classic ghost story set amidst the world of Japanese miners and migrant workers; Taxi! and Heroes for Sale, a double bill of fast-paced and progressive Warner Bros. features made during the notorious “pre-code” era; and George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, perhaps the most politically aware of the director’s celebrated cycle of flesh-eating ghoul movies.
The rest of the lineup contains documentaries and features that offer examples of inspirational leaders who teach by example that people have the right to work for fair wages and in safe conditions, as well as the right to speak out—or sing out—when not treated fairly. The series kicks off with Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, an engaging portrait of the folk icon who shares his belief in the power of music as both a social and political force. Inspired by the writings of historian Howard Zinn, John Gianvito’s Profit Motive and the Whispering Wind pays homage to many leaders of the American progressive movement who have been forgotten by popular history through moving images of cemeteries, plaques, and monuments. The Women of Brukman is a rousing work of nonfiction about the group of suit factory workers in Argentina who took over the means of production when their bosses abandoned the plant. Acclaimed German director Volker Schlöndorff’s Strike is the true story of an ordinary woman, a shipyard welder, who eventually helped lay the foundation for Poland’s Solidarity movement.
If it’s true, as Chaplin’s Verdoux declares, that “business is a ruthless business,” then these ten films collectively suggest that working men and women have the potential to defeat this ruthlessness.
Jim Healy, Assistant Curator, Exhibitions, Motion Picture
Department
Screenings:
Friday, September 5 | Rochester Premiere
PETE SEEGER: THE POWER OF SONG (Jim Brown, US 2007, 93 min.)
Friday, September 12 | John Gianvito in Person! |
Rochester Premiere
PROFIT MOTIVE AND THE WHISPERING WIND (John Gianvito, US 2007, 58 min., Digital Projection) preceded by THE INTERNATIONALE (Peter Miller, US 2000, 30 min., Digital Projection)
Friday, September 19
CHRIST IN CONCRETE (SALT TO THE DEVIL/GIVE US THIS DAY, Edward Dmytryk, UK 1949, 120 min.)
Friday, September 26 | 8 p.m. | New 35mm print!
Sunday, September 28 | 4:30 p.m.
MONSIEUR VERDOUX (Charles Chaplin, US 1947, 123 min.)
Friday, October 3
THE WOMEN OF BRUKMAN (LES FEMMES DE LA BRUKMAN, Isaac Isitan, Canada 2008, 90 min., Spanish/subtitles, Digital Projection)
Friday, October 10 | Rochester Premiere
STRIKE (STRAJK—DIE HELDIN VON DANZIG, Volker Schlöndorff, Germany/Poland 2006, 104 min., Polish/subtitles)
Friday, October 17
PITFALL (OTOSHIANA, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japan 1962, 97 min., Japanese/subtitles)
Friday, October 24 | Pre-Code Double Feature
7 p.m. HEROES FOR SALE (William Wellman, US 1933, 73 min.)
& 8:30 p.m. TAXI! (Roy Del Ruth, USA 1932, 69 min.)
Two films for one admission price.
Friday, October 31
LAND OF THE DEAD (George A. Romero, US 2005, 93 min.)
