Taking Inventory as of November 28

Cinema Japan Series at PFA

Enjo directed by Kon Ichikawa; Japanese with subtitles; (1958)
A Full-Up Train directed by Kon Ichikawa; Japanese with subtitles; (1957)
Ikiru starring Takashi Shimura; directed by Akira Kurosawa; Japanese with subtitles; (1952)
The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness directed by Yoji Yamada; Japanese with subtitles; (1977)
Vengeance is Mine directed by Shohei Imamura; Japanese with subtitles; (1979)

2008 San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival (Third I)

A Throw of Dice Silent with intertitles; (1929)
Maqbool Hindi with subtitles; (2003)
Om Shanti Om Hindi with subtitles; (2007)
Flow: For Love of Water; (2007)
The Glow of White Women; (2007)

2008 San Francisco Chinese American Film Festival

Shanghai Red with Vivian Wu; Mandarin with subtitles; (2006)
Sparrow directed by Johnny To; Cantonese with subtitles; (2008)
Gun of Mercy English and Mandarin without subtitles; (2007)

2008 Korean American Film Festival

Secret Sunshine Korean with subtitles; (2007)

2008 Annual American Indian Film Festival

The Exiles; (1961) - Official Website
Second Stories: Honour Thy Father; (2008) - Official Website
Darkness Calls in Gitxsan; (2008)
The Creation

Dirty Dozen: The Films of Robert Aldrich at PFA

Vera Cruz with Gary Cooper and Burt Lancaster; (1954)
The Last Sunset with Kirk Douglas and Rock Hudson; (1961)

The Phantom of the Opera with Lon Chaney; Silent with intertitles and live accompaniment; (1925/1929)
The Passion of Joan of Arc directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer; Silent with intertitles and live accompaniment; (1928)
Lola Montès directed by Max Ophüls; French, German & English with subtitles; (1955)
Slumdog Millionaire directed by Danny Boyle; Hindi & English with subtitles; (2008) - Official Website
The Times of Harvey Milk directed by Rob Epstein; (1984)
Appaloosa directed by and starring Ed Harris; costarring Viggo Mortensen; (2008) - Official Website

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Takashi Shimura (star of Ikiru) is best known for another Kurosawa film he made. He was the leader in The Seven Samurai (1954). He, Mifune and Kurosawa teamed up 1949 for Stray Dog which is a compelling police procedural/portrait of occupied Japan.

Maqbool is a retelling of Shakespeare's MacBeth with Muslim gangsters in Mumbai. The film stars Irfan Khan who has a supporting role as the police detective in Slumdog Millionaire. Maqbool co-stars the beautiful Tabu who has a cameo appearance in Om Shanti Om.

Maqbool, Slumdog Millionaire and The Glow of White Women deal with Indians of Muslim faith. The first two films are set in Mumbai; the latter (a documentary) in South Africa. Slumdog Millionaire has a scene depicting a race riot in the Bombay slums where Hindus attack Muslims.

Adell Aldrich (Robert Aldrich's daughter) introduced Vera Cruz and The Last Sunset. Adell Aldrich has several credits as a script supervisor including Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye, Pretty Woman and Wayne's World. She said her father would take the family on location for his films and she learned the industry that way.

Shanghai Red was written and directed by Cuban born director Oscar L. Costo who is Vivian Wu's husband.

The Yellow Handkerchief of Happiness was recently remade as The Yellow Handkerchief with William Hurt and Maria Bello. The setting was changed to post-Katrina, Cajun Louisiana. The Yellow Handkerchief played at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival. I hope I can catch it sometime to compare the two versions.

The Exiles prominently features Angels Flight on Bunker Hill in Los Angeles. Angels Flight was a well-known furnicular railway near downtown LA. It was shown in many films (typically noir films) set in LA during the 1940's and 50's. The Exiles is set on this block. I recall a scene in front of the liqour store in the lower right corner of the photo. The couple in The Exiles lived on the right side of the street, half way up the hill. The tunnel is Third St. and the cross street is Hill St.



Angels Flight was dismantled in 1969 but restored in 1996 to a nearby location on Hill St. betwen 3rd and 4th. The original gateway and trains were pulled from storage and used from 1996 to 2001. In 2001, there was an accident that caused a fatality. The cause of the accident was improper safety designs for the furnicular drive. Angels Flight has been closed since then. The gateway and rails still stand but there is no rail service.