Eat Drink Film at the Los Gatos Theater but Maybe Not at the Alamo Drafthouse

Former Balboa Theater operator Gary Meyer has started a new online magazine called Eat Drink Film.  The name is self-explanatory.  Subscription is free.

The latest issue already has provided me with information I can use.  Arthur Dong, whose film Hollywood Chinese I enjoyed, has written a book titled Forbidden City, USA: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970.  Again, the title tells you exactly what the book is about.  The book can be purchased with a 15% discount until May 31.

In conjunction, the San Francisco Main Public Library is having an exhibit also called Forbidden City, U.S.A.: Chinese American Nightclubs, 1936-1970.  The exhibit runs until July 6.

The book & exhibit look fascinating to me.

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In today's SF Weekly, Sherilyn Connelly reports that the long anticipated Alamo Drafthouse at the New Mission Theater may be delayed until 2015 if not cancelled.  The Alamo Drafthouse website is still stating that it is "slated to open during the third quarter of 2014."

After an impressive spurt of national expansion, the Alamo Drafthouse has seemed to retrench in the past year.  Plans for a Manhattan movie theater were cancelled last year.  Now the future of the SF Alamo venue is called into question.

I hope it opens here but I'm retaining a healthy skepticism.

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The Los Gatos Theater, also long delayed, has re-opened.  It's official re-opening was May 2 but it held a few events in the preceding days.

Formerly operated by Camera Cinemas, it appears as though the Los Gatos is now independent.  The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is presently screening there.  I am anxious to see the interior of the theater.

A Call to Action: The Films of Raoul Walsh

The PFA screened a Raoul Walsh retrospective in July and August.  I saw five of the films.

The Big Trail starring John Wayne & Marguerite Churchill; (1930)

They Died with Their Boots On starring Errol Flynn & Olivia de Havilland; (1942)

What Price Glory starring Victor McLaglen, Edmund Lowe & Dolores Del Rio; silent with intertiles; live accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg; (1926)

Wild Girl starring Joan Bennett; (1932)

Pursued starring Robert Mitchum; (1947)

All the films were directed by Walsh.

Prior to Wild Girl, Michael Fox interviewed film critic Dave Kehr.  Fox programs the Mechanics' Institute CinemaLit film series.  Dave Kehr writes a weekly column for the New York Times on recent DVD releases.  Kehr was autographing his latest book, When Movies Mattered.  He drew a large audience.  Former Balboa Theater operator and current Telluride Film Festival director Gary Meyer was present.  The audience had several comments and questions for him.

The previous paragraph reminds me of two items.  I've been a member of the Mechanics' Institute for several years and have yet to attend a CinemaLit screening.  Second, the Balboa's Kickstarter campaign for a digital projector in one of its auditoriums was successful...quite impressively too.  They met their goal with at least two weeks to go.  Other Kickstarter campaigns I follow reach their goals in the last days or hours of the their funding period.

Getting back to the films in the series - I'm not a big fan of Raoul Walsh's work.  He was extremely prolific so if you like films from Hollywood's Golden Age, you can likely find a Walsh film to like.  I've always had a soft spot for Gentleman Jim (1942) with Errol Flynn about heavyweight champion James J. Corbett.  Ward Bond is particularly memorable as John L. Sullivan.

At the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival in January 2009, I attended a lecture at the Castro Theater entitled Hollywood Speaks German by Stefan Droessler.  In a nutshell, at the dawn of the talkie era of films, technology hadn't advanced to allow dubbing or subtitling.  Knowing that their silent stars had built a worldwide fanbase, Hollywood decided to have their stars speak foreign languages in their films.  A film would have both an English language version and a foreign language version(s) with the actors speaking multiple languages.

For the biggest stars (such as Laurel and Hardy), you could not get by with different actors so the audience was treated to Laurel & Hardy speaking Spanish.  The less popular actors could be substituted with native language actors.  The Big Trail was one of these films.  Five versions were simultaneously filmed in English, Italian Spanish, German & French.  Walsh co-directed the German & Spanish versions.  The principal cast was completely different in each version.

I recalled that The Big Trail was a film with multiple casts although Kehr didn't mention this in his introduction.  He highlighted another production aspect which I was unaware of - two different film formats were used simultaneously.  35 mm and 70 mm cameras were used; frequently on the same take.  Since most movie theaters in 1930 did not have 70 mm projectors (same could be said every year since then), the 35 mm print was used for most screenings.  The two edits varied considerably.  The 35 mm edit was 108 minutes while the 70 mm edit was 122 minutes.  The PFA screened the 70 mm version although it was projected from a 35 mm print.

The Big Trail, typically referred to as a Western, does not comport with my image of a Western, particularly a John Wayne Western.  Likely set in the 1840s, Wayne plays Breck Coleman, a buckskinned clad trapper who agrees to lead a wagon train from Missouri to Oregon along the Oregon Trail.  He only agrees because he suspects the murderers of his friend are part of the wagon train.  He suspects Red (Tyrone Power, Sr.) and Lopez (Charles Stevens) of the murder.  Tyrone Power (the father of the actor most associated with that name) is quite memorable as the blustery Red Flack.  There is a riverboat gambler and girl who likes Breck but can't admit it due proprieties of the era.  There a multiple attempts on Breck's life before a slightly anti-climactic showdown filmed in the Giant Sequoias of Northern California.

As mentioned, there was a 70 mm camera which Walsh used extensively for exterior shots.  There are Conestoga wagons, a cattle herd and a great variety of landscapes as one would expect between Missouri and Oregon.  In the 70 mm version, Walsh clearly wanted to show the landscapes, dangers and difficulties encountered by the settlers.  I thought that got in the way of the story.  Of course, in 1930 the images must have been impressive.  In fact, in 2013 they are still impressive because you know they are CGI but I generally don't like films that allow the background to become the foreground no matter how impressive the background is.

John Wayne's performance was pretty wooden and awkward.  For those who criticize the Duke's acting ability, I would only that if you compare this film vs. his films from the 1950s, you see that his acting skills improved.

The Big Trail was an extremely expensive film to make due to the multiple cameras, multiple casts and multiple locations in five different states.  Considered a financial flop, the film nearly derailed Wayne's career.  It would be nine years of B films for him between The Big Trail and Stagecoach.

There is one rumor surrounding the filming of The Big Trail which I have long heard about and wished Kehr would have touched on (or that I had the courage to ask).  It's very scandalous.  The leading lady, Marguerite Churchill, was rumored to have been raped by Tyrone Power, Sr.  In a case of frontier justice, Walsh allegedly had Power beaten for the transgression.  Power would die about a year after The Big Trail was released.

From left to right:  Gaston Glass (La Piste des géants), Theo Shall (Die Große Fahrt), John Wayne (The Big Trail), Franco Corsaro (Il grande sentiero) and Jorge Lewis (La Gran jornada).

They Died With Their Boots On is a historically dubious biopic of George Armstrong Custer with Errol Flynn, a frequent leading man in Walsh's films.  Following Custer's army career from West Point to the Civil War to The Battle of Little Big Horn, TDWTBO is entertaining enough.  If it were a baseball game, it would be a 2-1 game with a bunch of singles but most men stranded on base.  Maybe that baseball analogy is too tortured but the sentiment I am trying to express is that I was underwhelmed by the film.  The most memorable part is the repeated use of the hard to dislike Garry Owen which according to the film, Custer adopted as the 7th Cavalry's regimental song.

What Price Glory (frequently listed as What Price Glory?) follows Sgts. Quirt (Edmund Lowe) and Flagg (Victor MacLagen), two US Marines.  They have a rivalry which stretches over many years and many continents (not to mention many films).  Frequently assigned to the same unit, they lock horns repeatedly over the same women.  As I recall, Lowe is the tough Marine while Flagg is more congenial, eventually getting a commission as an officer.

In WWI France, Quirt is assigned as the senior NCO in Flagg company.  Despite their differences in rank, they resume their hostilities over the control of the company and the affections of the innkeeper's daughter (Dolores del Rio).

The film is a standard issue "rivalry" comedy although there are some impressive battle scenes for 1926.  Like They Died With Their Boots On, What Price Glory was entertaining enough but leave a lasting impression on me.  Lowe & MacLagen would reprise their roles as Quirt and Flagg three more times in film (twice more directed by Walsh).  John Ford would remake What Price Glory with James Cagney and Dan Dailey in the lead roles.

Wild Girl was my favorite of the five Walsh films I saw.  Wild Girl was the first non-silent film adaptation of Bret Harte's Salomy Jane.  I think I recognized exterior locations in the woods which were used in The Big Trail.  Joan Bennett is the titular Wild Girl, a denim pant wearing tomboy whose beauty and curves are hard to overlook.  The audience knows it is in pre-Code territory due to Bennett swimming nude in a lake.  There are a lot of guys sniffing around Jane (including Ralph Bellamy) but frankly I can't remember the plot.  Jane rides around on a stage coach with a guy prone to bragging and making animal noise.  After a distasteful encounter, Jane enlists a stranger to town to kill the offender.  He almost gets lynched for his troubles.  Wild Girl is a showcase of Bennett's talent and beauty which is enough said.

In Pursued, Jeb (Robert Mitchum) is a young man who was orphaned at young age.  His parents' murder was so traumatic that he cannot remember witnessing it.  In fact, he cannot remember his life before coming into contact with his adoptive mother or foster parent.  Jeb has two step-siblings, brother Adam and sister Thor from whom more than sisterly affection is directed.  Eventually Jeb learns the truth about his past and those nightmares which have been dogging him.  Pursued is a film noir masquerading as a western - murder extramarital affairs, vaguely incestuous relationships, hot-heated men and women, etc.  Pursued has the atmosphere and psychological underpinnings of classic noir but the plot was too muddled for me enjoy this film.

 

King of Devil's Island

I remember when the Landmark Clay announced it was closing and the San Francisco Film Society entered into negotiations with Landmark and the owner of the building. The SFFS Executive Director at the time (the late Graham Leggat) mentioned in an interview or perhaps KQED panel discussion that SFFS was in a different position than Landmark Theaters. Being a non-profit, SFFS could count on alternate sources of revenue which Landmark cannot. At the time, it sounded to me like Leggat was essentially saying that even if SFFS lost money while operating the Clay, it would be ok because SFFS doesn't have a profit motive and could subsidize the operation of the Clay through charitable donations, government grants and tax write-offs. I remembered thinking it sounded as if they needed gimmickry to keep the single screen theater open.

Whatever happened to the planned closing of the Clay? Regardless, that formula of non-profit operation of single screen and/or small movie theaters has essentially been used or replicated at the Vogue, the Roxie and most recently, the Balboa. That reminds me of something else. When Gary Meyer announced he was stepping away from the Balboa, he mentioned his desire to spend more time working on the Telluride Film Festival which he described as his "paying gig." Since the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation announced it is taking over the Balboa, Meyer has seemed re-energized and doesn't seem eager to step away anymore.

The reason I bring any of this up is that whenever I go to the New People/Viz Theater for "regular programming," the audience is just as sparse as when it was operated by New People and programmed with primarily Japanese films. I define "regular programming" as the programming not associated with the SFFS fall festivals (Hong Kong Cinema, Taiwan Film Days, etc.). I keep thinking back to Leggat's comments (albeit he was speaking of the Clay) that SFFS's non-profit status gave it advantages in operating a single screen theater. I think his claim will be put to the test.

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My last venture to New People was to see King of Devil's Island.

King of Devil's Island starring Stellan Skarsgård, Benjamin Helstad & Trond Nilssen; directed by Marius Holst; Norwegian with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website

King of Devil's Island is a mediocre film elevated by strong performances and nice outdoor locations. It's essentially a prison film or more specifically a juvenile delinquency prison film. As such, there must be a child molester. Every film about a boy's reformatory has to have a pedophile, typically a guard. Based on true events and set in the early 1900s, King of Devil's Island is set on Bastoy Island, kind of an Norwegian Alcatraz for boys.

The ever reliable Stellan Skarsgård plays the warden - a no nonsense disciplinarian whose probity is compromised when he diverts funds to be used for the upkeep of the facility and its charges. The warden uses it to make life more comfortable for his new and younger bride who is terribly bored on the island and at other times, alarmed by the behavior and treatment of the boys.

The protagonist of the film is a boy-sailor named Erling (Benjamin Helstad). The boys are assigned prison numbers and Erling is referred to as "C-19" for the rest of the film. Sent to Bastoy for killing someone, Erling seems more of a loner and rebel than sociopath. He quickly deals with attempted bullying and begins to test the boundaries of his confinement. This puts him into conflict with the warden and his proxy, Olav or C-1 who is the trustee for his dormitory. Assigned with showing C-19 the ropes, C-1 fails miserably as the stubborn Erling is determined to escape the island.

Over the course of the film C-1 and C-19 form a friendship. As is de rigueur, they bond over shared, forced punishment. If I recall, it was chopping down trees in freezing cold weather. As the film progresses, C-1 loses respect for the warden as he is blackmailed into covering up the acts of his pedophile guard (nice performance by Kristoffer Joner who bears a resemblance to Tom Skerritt). This leads to the final confrontation between the boys and their overseers which plays out a little like Lord of the Flies.

Helstad is quite convincing as Erling but Trond Nilssen's turn as C-1 is the lynchpin of the film. His scenes with Helstad, Skarsgård and Joner show his character's evolution which is more powerful than C-19's restless frustrations. Magnus Langlete as C-5 also shines as the victim of the pedophile.

There were recurring scenes of a whale at sea which was a story C-1 and C-19 were writing together and also served as a metaphor for Erling. I thought it was a little contrived and the CGI images of the whale looked second rate. Otherwise, King of Devil's Island is serviceable JD film elevated by a strong cast.

Balboa Theater Fundraiser

I dropped by the fundraiser for the Balboa Theater last night.

A few tidbits I learned were:

The Balboa's facade is being refurbished starting today. The scaffolding should be up by the end of the day. The Balboa received a grant from the City to do the work but had to supplement it with donated funds.

Eddie Muller was there and announced that Angie Dickinson would be a guest at the upcoming Noir City (January 20 to 29). Tonight is the Noir City kickoff at the Castro featuring a Deanna Durbin double feature, the unveiling of the full film lineup and more.

The Balboa, stealing a page from the Stanford playbook, will screen It's a Wonderful Life on December 23 and 24.

It was confirmed that The Mostly British Film Festival will take place at the Vogue in February.

Gary Meyer confirmed that the annual Oscar telecast and Balboa birthday party will take place as usual. He even announced the silent film for the birthday party but I cannot recall it.

There are newly installed space heaters at the Balboa.

At the end of the evening, Gary praised the Roxie Theater for the courageousness of their film programming.

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As for the fundraiser, I would deem it a success. My estimate would put the total attendance at approximately 100 people. The fundraiser consisted of a $35 admission fee and the auctioning of several cinema and Sutro Baths related items. Most of the items were auctioned via silent auction but some of the big ticket items were auctioned Storage Wars style although no one was a boisterous as Dave Hester. The competition for a few items was intense. The live auction generated at least $4,000 as quadruple digit bids were accepted on a SF Giants tickets & autographed memorabilia package and private screenings at the Balboa or Vogue. For my part, I was the winner for three autographed books by Emily W. Leider - biographies of Myrna Loy, Mae West and Rudolph Valentino.

In addition, they screened a 12 minute documentary called "Then and Now" about old movie houses in SF. Gary emceed most of the evening but was assisted by some SF Neighborhood Theater Foundation Board members. After an intermission, Gary screened a short film which he thought would get a Academy Award nomination. I can't recall the name and walked in halfway through.

The evening ended with Gary Meyer discussing films and actors which he thought had strong chances to get Academy Award nominations. The Descendants, The Artist, My Week With Marilyn, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, We Need to Talk About Kevin and others were discussed and/or their trailer was shown. Meryl Streep's turn as Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady was among the strong field of potential Best Actress nominees.

Gary also talked up two soon-to-be-released features, The Flower of War, a Yimou Zhang film starring Christian Bale and A Separation, an Iranian film.

Although schedule for 7 to 9 PM, I didn't get out of there until after 9:45. I didn't realize how tired I was until I woke this morning. Jostling with the crowds in the lobby during the silent auction and trying to get to the open bar/buffet table was exhausting.

The crowd was a little different. It definitely didn't seem like a film festival crowd. A man sitting behind me had no idea what "film noir" meant. The crowd was largely white and older although the $1,000+ bids were submitted by younger looking audience members.

The audience treated Gary Meyer with a mixture of adulation and reverence. From the way Gary spoke, it seems like he is going to continue playing a significant role at the Balboa for the foreseeable future. I left the Balboa unclear as to how or if the Vogue and Balboa's operations would be combined or coordinated. The Balboa seemed very much like it was still Gary's baby except it is being operated under a nonprofit umbrella now. My guess is that fundraisers will become a routine event at the Balboa.

At the silent auction, there were three original Sutro Baths signs which I coveted. Quickly, bidding escalated to the point which I was hesitant to trump the bid. When they closed the silent auction, I was trying to work up enough courage to snipe the Grand Opening sign. I have a bit of remorse today that I didn't "pull the trigger."

Among the local cinematic luminaries in the crowd were Eddie Muller, Judy Wyler Sheldon and John Stanley. When I paid for my auction items, John Stanley was standing behind me in line so he could pay for his merchandise. The young lady processing the payments had no idea who John Stanley was; she even made him spell his name. It reminds me of the time I was at the Muni Museum on Spear. Some tourists came in and asked the cashier who Herb Caen is. The young man was befuddled by the question. After fumbling for an answer, he responded "Does he play for the 49ers?" I think Caen would have liked that story maybe even included it in the three dot lounge...

On the Brink?

As we enter the last days of September, I note Gary Meyer is still at the Balboa Theater. By the way, the Balboa has at least two URLs - www.balboamovies.com and www.balboasf.com.

When we last heard from Gary on the topic (doesn't that sound like an intro for a serial installment?), he wrote "I hope that the theater can stay open and I have extended my operation through September." As September closes, I know I'm curious as to whether the Balboa can stay open. I note that their website is advertising the opening of George Clooney's latest film - The Ides of March on October 7 and and Programming the Nation on October 28. The last time I was at the theater, I noticed a poster advertising the opening of Ben Stiller's next film, Tower Heist on November 4. It appears Meyer is programming for at least another month.

So as a small number of Bay Area film goers anxiously await the fate of the Balboa, I thank Meyer for his dedication and loyalty to the Balboa and its patrons. My favorite theater of all time was when he was programming rep house/art house at the Balboa a few years ago.

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Also interesting is that J. Moses Ceasar posted several back issues of newsletters after I wrote about it. My opinion after reading the latest newsletters is that things are not looking good for the New Parkway. He has broken off negotiations with the owners of the Parkway property. He seems to have given up on leasing a space as each space he has explored has issues.

I wasn't sure how to react to this paragraph in the August 16 newsletter.

Looking for an Angel—Keeping the religious theme going, in lieu of finding a landlord who’s willing to put some money into his or her building, I think that one of our best bets is to find a Parkway angel out there who’s got $2 million in a bank account—I know that this clearly doesn’t apply to most people on this distribution list—and would like to help get the Parkway back on its feet. We need this angel to buy a building (and we’ve found a good one) in the $1.5M range, pump another half million into it, and then we’ll arrange for the rest of the improvements and pay a fair rent for the next twenty or so years. Oakland gets its beloved theater back and the angel makes more money in rent than what he/she is getting from the bank, and we’ll even throw in a lifetime of free movies. Is there someone out there who can help salvage the Parkway? Anyone? Anyone?

Good luck trying to find someone willing to invest $2,000,000 in a single screen movie theater in Oakland. Also, he seems to indicate that the New Parkway would sign a "twenty or so year" lease. That is unusually long lease duration for commercial or retail real estate nowadays. To be frank, as much I love going to the movies, I would not invest in a single-screen theater anywhere much less Oakland.

Ceasar devoted part of one newsletter to debunking what he considers myths about the dangers of living in Oakland. As Mark Twain said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies and statistics." However true or not, Oakland suffers from an image problem - crime is out of control, laying off police officers, dysfunctional city government, school district under state receivership, etc. It's not the kind of community reputation that makes an investor confident.

Still, you have to admire Ceasar's boldness. If he can't find a suitable facility to lease then he thinks about buying one!

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It appears the futures of the Balboa and Parkway are uncertain so I wish Messrs. Meyer and Ceasar the best of luck in the current efforts.

People Who Never Get Old For The Wrong Reasons, New New People, Same Old Same Old, The Searchers, The Bowery Boys and King Kong

The passing of former San Francisco Film Society Executive Director Graham Leggat has put me in a contemplative mood. Only eight years older than me, I cringe when I see someone close in age pass away. Less than a month before, I read about a gathering at Tosca Cafe to honor Leggat. I read the article and thought it was a celebration of his accomplishments at SFFS tinged with the knowledge that his cancer was incurable. In hindsight, it appears as though Leggat presided over his own wake...it sounds like something out of a movie.

According to the SFFS press release, "In lieu of flowers, donations in Leggat's memory may be made to the San Francisco Film Society."

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Leggat's most immediate legacy at SFFS is the partnership with New People Cinema. SFFS will exhibit films at New People Cinema (aka Viz Cinema). The first five films to be exhibited are the latest from Jean-Luc Godard, an Argentinian film about a woman competing in jigsaw puzzle competitions, Aurora - a Romainian film which screened at this year's International, The Disappearance of McKinley Nolan and Shaolin which is scheduled to open three weeks earlier at the 4 Star. I can't fault the line-up except I wish it would retain some of the Japanese films which is New People's line of business. Doesn't it seem strange to exhibit international films at a building dedicated to J-Pop culture? I hope they can carve out a few days per month for Japanese films. This weekend, there is a J-Pop Summit at New People. Part of the festivities include Japanese film screenings. I wonder if they'll be able to do that next year.

Actually, as long as I'm complaining, the configuration of the Viz Cinema is not conducive to large crowds. The box office and theater are in the basement and queuing up may cause problems. At the SFIFF, they had people queue up on sidewalk outside the building with the box office/will call table in the street level atrium. I doubt that will be the everyday practice.

The SFFS programming kicks off on Friday, September 2 at New People with Godard's Film Socialisme.

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In this week's newsletter from the Balboa Theater, Gary Meyer writes "As I continue discussions with interested parties for taking over the Balboa I am heartened by the passion and loyalty many people have expressed for the theater. There are wonderful dreamers who think it would be fun but have no idea what is involved in running this kind of business. I love their enthusiasm but soon they become overwhelmed by all the aspects of staying afloat. I hope that the theater can stay open and I have extended my operation through September."

Previously, Meyer stated "The good news is that I think I have found an enthusiastic group of experienced theater lovers to carry on with our current staff remaining." I didn't read that sentence carefully. "Experienced theater lovers" doesn't necessarily mean the group has experience running a theater. It could mean they have experience loving theaters presumably movie theaters. Meyer's latest report sounds downbeat. It's not enough to have enthusiasm according to Meyer. Running a theater is a grind that can wear you out. I won't disagree as I've never worked at a movie theater. It is heartening that Meyer is extending his stay by a month and that he won't turn over operation to someone(s) who he believes will fail. It would be depressing to have someone come in and run the Balboa into ground or close up shop six months or a year from now.

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In similar news, I've been following off and on, the plight of the New Parkway Theater in Oakland. The Parkway shut down as part of the implosion of Catherine and Kyle Fischer's Speakeasy fiasco. I don't recall all the details. I believe the Cerrito Speakeasy theater soaked up all the money which left the Parkway Speakeasy impoverished; kind of a "rob Peter to pay Paul" situation.

Anyway, a group of investors led by J. Moses Ceaser, who is on the staff at Third I, has tried to reopen the Parkway. He has encountered many setbacks which you can read in their newsletters. In essence, Ceasar has chronicled his negotiations in the newsletter. That seems like an unorthodox and detrimental negotiating tactic but it makes for interesting reading. I used to check the website once a month to read three or four newsletters. As his various lease negotiations have stalled, Ceasar has published the newsletters less frequently. It's been 12 weeks and counting since his last newsletter.

The point is not to criticize Ceasar's public negotiations but to point out that re-opening a movie theater (or transferring ownership) appears to be a complex transaction as exampled by Meyer and Ceasar. I also infer that once a movie theater ceases operation, it is extremely difficult to restart which explains why Meyer is so picky about who he turns the reins over to.

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Now that I've opined on someone I didn't know very well and a business I know close to nothing about, I'll share my pearls of wisdom on The Searchers.

The Searchers was part of the Max Steiner series at the Castro. Generally considered John Wayne and John Ford's best film (collaboratively and individually), The Searchers is indeed impressive.

Foremost, Wayne's Ethan Edwards has a dubious character. Not roguish and certainly not heroic, it is implied that Edwards had an intimate relationship with his brother's wife, that he was a mercenary and made quite clear he has a hatred and prejudice against Indians (now politely referred to Native Americans). The hatred is rooted in the death of his mother who was killed by Indians years earlier.

Edwards arrives at his brother's ranch in Texas after a long absence. He is warmly greeted by his brother, his wife and their three children. Shortly thereafter, a posse of Texas Rangers arrive to report some cattle stolen from a neighboring ranch. Ethan resentfully joins the posse which turns out to be a ruse by Comanches. While the Rangers are chasing the cattle, Comanche raiders attack the Edwards ranch leaving Ethan's brother, sister-in-law and nephew dead. His two nieces have been kidnapped by the Comanches. Ethan, the Rangers, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), Ethan's adopted nephew and Ethan's elder niece's fiancé set out to retrieve the girls.

The rest of the film relates to the multi-year search for the two girls. The elder girl is found raped and murdered. One by one, the search party is reduced in numbers until only Ethan and Martin are left. Ethan's motivations are intense but unstated. I wondered if his younger niece is actually his secret daughter. Regardless, Ethan's promises to kill the girl once he discovers she has become a Comanche warrior's wife. The thought of his niece having relations with a Comanche is more than Ethan can bear...better dead than red. It's not just the sex part though. Ethan hates Indians and having lived amongst the Comanches for more than half her life, Debbie (Natalie Wood as a teenager and her sister Lana as a young girl) is more Indian than white; at least that is what Ethan is worried about.

Martin's motivation is less clear. He is being aggressively courted by a rancher's daughter (Vera Miles). He could easily drop out and get married. Ethan's latent hostility towards him would seem to be enough but Martin is extremely loyal to the Edwards family and fond of Debbie. Martin is also half-Cherokee and it instills an inferiority complex on his which he must disprove particularly as it relates to his uncle.

The grandeur of the The Searchers is that it plumbs the depths of Edward's soul and Ford makes optimum use of the Monument Valley landscape. I can't recall Wayne portraying such a conflicted character in any other film. Edwards is full of hatred and vengeance and it propels him for years as he searches for his nieces - the search to find his nieces destroys Edwards piece by piece. I'm certain the ending of The Searchers was dictated by the need to conform to the Production Code but I've gotten used to ignoring the ending of movies from the Code Era.

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I wanted to mention quickly that Angels with Dirty Faces was interesting. James Cagney played a gangster and Pat O'Brien played a priest so Angels could have been predictable. What set it apart was the presence of The Bowery Boys (credited as the Dead End Kids). I recall Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, et al. from a series of B pictures from the 1950s. They looked like middle-aged men. In Angels with Dirty Faces, they actually look young enough to be juvenile delinquents. Gorcey was 21 and Hall 19 when Angels with Dirty Faces was released. Although they got a few laughs, the Kids had some serious moments.

Angels with Dirty Faces is also remembered for the closing scene. Cagney has been sentenced to death. Before he is led off to the gas chamber (or maybe the electric chair), O'Brien asks him to pretend to be a coward before his death so as to be a deterrent for the Dead Kids; the ultimate Scared Straight. Cagney turns him down flat but from off screen, you hear him begging and pleading for his life. It's left ambiguous to whether he was really scared or whether he decided to the do the right thing before he died.

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The remaining film from the series was the original King Kong. There's not much to add to words written about this classic. My observations were: the stop motion animation for King Kong is still impressive but the head model of King Kong looks silly, I had forgotten about the T-Rex and Pterodactyl fight scenes, Fay Wray is sexier than I remember and the scenes with the natives are comically racist now.

Five in Transition

In the past month or so, major changes have been announced at various San Francisco film exhibition organizations.

1) The Red Vic made it official. They are closing on Monday, July 25 after the 9:15 PM screening of Harold and Maude. I stopped by last night to catch the 9:25 PM screening of The Last Waltz. It was sold out and I was turned away at the door. According to their website, the July 25th screenings of Harold and Maude are already sold out. Where were these crowds before? It appears that I will have to eat the final punch on my Red Vic discount card. C'est la vie et adieu Red Vic.

2) In this morning's San Francisco Chronicle, there was an article on Gary Meyer and the Balboa Theater. Meyer, the operator and sub-leasee of the Balboa, will be leaving the theater after this summer. Meyer cited the need for a $200,000 digital conversion and his duties as the director of the Telluride Film Festival as the main reasons for stepping away. In the near future, films will be distributed digitally rather than in 35 mm prints thus necessitating the digital conversion. Meyer said he's working to find someone to operate the theater. My guess is that the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation (which currently operates the Vogue) will attempt to operate the Balboa.

I don't go to the Balboa often anymore. When Meyer was programming repertory and international films, it was my favorite theater but for the past several years, my attendance has been spotty. It's anyone's guess as to what the future holds for the Balboa.

I will say that with the exception of the Mostly British Film Series, I have not gone to the Vogue except for a disastrous John Cazale double feature in April 2009. I much prefer Meyer's programming at the Balboa over the line-up of mostly mainstream films which have appeared at the Vogue over the past few years.

3) In early July, Graham Leggat, Executive Director of the San Francisco Film Society (which runs the San Francisco International Film Festival), announced he was immediately resigning from SFFS. The San Francisco Chronicle reported Leggat has been diagnosed with cancer. After treatment earlier this year, the cancer has metastasized to several organs and according to Leggat, "It is largely deemed incurable."

My mother died of cancer and her suffering was horrible. I don't wish that on anyone. I was never formally introduced to Leggat. He was a friendly type who would occasionally chat up festival goers. I've exchanged pleasantries with him but can't say I know him well. His successes at the SFFS and SFIFF are undisputed. Still, I've never been a huge fan of SFIFF as the crowds are too large for my taste. I prefer their smaller fall festivals more. Speaking of which, programmer Sean Uyehara announced at the 2011 SFIFF that they were planning a Hong Kong series in the fall. True to his word, the series will be held September 23 to 25.

I wish Graham Leggat the best. After my mother's passing, I have one wish in life - let me die peacefully in my sleep.

4) Just before Leggat's departure, SFFS announced an agreement with Viz Cinema. SFFS will program films, events and classes at the Viz on a daily basis beginning in September. Replacing a similar deal SFFS had with the Sundance Kabuki, the Film Society will have a venue dedicated to their programming needs.

I'm a little ambivalent about this announcement. The Viz is currently in the middle of a classic Japanese film series. Although their programming is sparse, the Viz's dedication to Japanese cinema is to my liking. I hope they can retain some of that programming when SFFS takes over. I don't believe I ever went to the SFFS screen at the Kabuki. I am not a fan of their reserved seating policy or vaguely off-putting environment. The $11 admission price plus sliding scale "amenity fee" hasn't help matters either.

5) Also in this morning's SF Chronicle was a Q&A with San Francisco Jewish Film Festival Executive Director Peter Stein. The 2011 San Francisco Jewish Film Festival runs from Today to August 8. Stein is resigning his position of 8 years after this year's festival closes. I wasn't aware of this but Stein started the documentary series on San Francisco neighborhoods which has aired on KQED for years. He personally wrote and produced the installments on the Castro and the Fillmore. He also co-hosts the Sunday Cinema Club with SFIFF programmer Rod Armstrong.

I've never spoken to Stein and probably wouldn't recognize him if he came up to me. I have enjoyed numerous screenings at the SFJFF over the years. Not being Jewish, it's hard for me to embrace the films that celebrate being Jewish. I have purchased tickets for four programs in this year's festival so I saw a few I liked. Two are documentaries on Adolf Eichmann and Bobby Fischer - a key Nazi figure in the Holocaust and the Jewish-born/anti-Semite chess champion. My interest is more historical curiosity than specific Jewish curiosity.

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As I mentioned, I was told that the Landmark Bridge is soon closing. Between the mice, sparse crowds and defection of Peaches Christ to larger venues, it doesn't surprise me. However, I can't find anything on-line to confirm it. The information was already third hand when it got to me so I won't state it as a certainty although it could very easily be fait accompli.

In this post, I pondered the fate of the Landmark Clay. The entry was posted a week before SFFS announced the deal with Viz. That leaves the Clay out in the cold as far as SFFS is concerned. Brian Darr commented that the Clay will take over midnight screenings of The Room from the Red Vic. It seems that Landmark decided it needed to close one of its single screen theaters in the City; if not the Clay, then the Bridge will do.

Irish Bangers, One-Eyed Fat Men and Nocturnal Tumescence

I wasn't able to get away from work during Christmas so I spent the first week of 2011 on vacation at my father's place in Las Vegas. He seemed particularly eager to see a few films...or maybe he was just more compliant with my desires.

The first three films I saw in 2011 were:

The Fighter starring Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo; directed by David O. Russell; (2010) - Official Website
True Grit starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon; directed by Ethan Coen & Joel Coen; (2010) - Official Website
Morning Glory starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton; (2010) - Official Website

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There is not much need to recap The Fighter or True Grit. Both films will likely be nominated for multiple Academy Awards.

Melissa Leo & Christian Bale deliver outstanding performances in The Fighter. Amy Adams and Mark Wahlberg are solid; Wahlberg always delivers a solid performance. Looking at her credits, I realize I've only seen one Amy Adams film - Psycho Beach Party (2000) in which she received 11th billing. As I recall, I mild about Psycho Beach Party which was a comedy.

Watching The Fighter, I was impressed with an actor who played Micky Ward's (Wahlberg) mentor and trainer who had a day job as a cop. He had a small role but he made the most of it. He looked like an Irish American cop that would spend time in boxing gym mentoring troubled youth. He wasn't a big, beefy guy who lay a beatdown on you but a small, middle-aged, roly-poly type that used earnest talk and a big heart to get through to you. As I watched the credits, I saw that the actor's name is Mickey O'Keefe. But wait, Mickey O'Keefe was also the name of the character. It turns out that Mickey O'Keefe played himself in the film and he served the same role for the real Micky Ward.

Character actor Jack McGee (Rescue Me & Crash) also deliverd a strong performance as Micky Ward's father. Of course, much has been written about the 24 actresses who play Micky Ward's sisters and I have to agree that their presence added to the film.

I enjoyed True Grit quite a bit but I have to admit that I was a fan of the original. Furthermore, I'm not a John Wayne hater. I don't think he was skilled actor but within his limited range, he delivered effective performances. What I liked about the original True Grit was that it was outside of Wayne's usual reperatory.

The 2010 version of True Grit had strong performances all around and stuck closer to the original novel by Charles Portis. The plot between the two films were largely the same but the Coen brothers used more Portis' dialogue which I have seen classifed as "hillbilly Shakespeare." It didn't distract me and I quickly grew to appreciate it. However, I caught portions of Portis' original dialogue in the 1969 version of True Grit.

If the question is which version I prefer, I'd be hard pressed to make a choice. A side-by-side comparison of the actors in their roles shows how close it is. My preferred performance is underlined.

Rooster Cogburn - John Wayne (1969) or Jeff Bridges (2010)
La Boeuf - Glen Campbell (1969) or Matt Damon (2010)
Mattie Ross - Kim Darby (1969) or Hailee Steinfeld (2010)
Ned Pepper - Robert Duvall (1969) or Barry Pepper (2010)

The 1969 version had more memorable actors in supporting roles including Dennis Hopper and the scene-stealing Strother Martin.

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Morning Glory is a film that never interested me enough to get to the theater to see it. It played at the Balboa for a few weeks but I passed on it.

I may have mentioned this before but Las Vegas still has a dollar theater. The Regency Tropicana Cinemas shows second run films. The general admission price is $1.50 and on Tuesdays, they lower it to $1.00. I wonder how a theater can survive with those prices in 2011. Even more incredible, the theater closed for business and reopened with this pricing structure.

Anyway, Morning Glory was playing there. I recall the Balboa's Gary Meyer lamenting the box office fate of Morning Glory as he announced he was contemplating changes in policy at the Balboa to increase attendance.

On more than one occasion, I've heard Meyer state the discount card price of $6.50 per admission was the cheapest in San Francisco. The Balboa has subsequently raised the price of the discount card so it averages out to $7.50 per admission. After enjoying Morning Glory, I felt a tinge of guilt as I thought I saw this film solely based on Meyer's recommendation. However, $1.50 beats $6.50 any day of the week so I can at least claim it was in my economic interest to see the film in Las Vegas.

The other piece of information I learned from Meyer's post was that he is not a fan of the title Morning Glory. Isn't that a flower? Meyer tipped us off that Roger Michell, the director of Morning Glory insisted on the title because it was British slang for nocturnal penile tumescence. Michell's next project is tentativley titled The Red Cotton Pony.

Now that I've spent five paragraphs setting up the film, I'll dispense with the plot summary. Rachel McAdams was adorable as the perky, hyper and plucky producer of a network morning news show. I wish she would have dialed down a tad but there's not much to complain. Harrison Ford nails his role as a grumpy "serious" newsman forced to do fluff (or at least work with fluff) in the mornings. The only complaint I have is that he delivered all his lines in a strange, soft, monotonic growl which became tedious. Diane Keaton rounds out the cast with a loopy performance as the put-upon and insecure co-host of the morning news show.

One of the criticisms I have read about Morning Glory was that it was too superficial. It didn't address any serious issue like previous news comedies such as Network or Broadcast News. The main point of contention in Morning Glory is "news vs. entertainment." As McAdams says to Ford in the film, "We already fought that battle and your side [news] lost." One look at your television schedule should confirm the truth in McAdams' statement.

Morning Glory is a lightweight comedy and a good one at that...and there is nothing wrong with that.

Sherlock Holmes and Russian Ark

The first film I saw in 2010 was Sherlock Holmes (2009). The film stars Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams. It was directed by Guy Ritchie. Given the popularity of the film, there is little point in sharing too many thoughts about the film except to say I was mildly entertained. There was certainly a chemistry between Downey & Law. In fact, this film's depiction of the relationship between Holmes and Watson had strong overtones of homosexuality. There was a scene where Holmes extends his spyglass (how's that for phallic imagery?) using Watson's chest to steady it for some reason. Holmes also does his best to break up Watson's pending wedding engagement.

Ritchie's film is set in a steampunk, action movie milieu. By no means am I a Holmes scholar but I don't recall Holmes fighting in a pit in a retro-revisionist UFC type competition. I could quibble but I'm not wedded to the image of Holmes in deerstalker cap and calabash pipe à la Basil Rathbone. A plot that was more coherent and less incredulous would have helped matters. Downey has shown, for a few decades, a fair amount of screen charisma and that is true in Sherlock Holmes. Jude Law was also well cast as Watson. McAdams was weaker as the femme fatale but still adequate.

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I hope my second film of 2010 will be Russian Ark at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. A few years back, Gary Meyer of the Balboa was the guest lecturer of a Jazz in Noir class. I chatted with him during a break about how much I enjoy tracking shots such as A Touch of Evil or the opening of Citizen Kane. He mentioned a Russian film where the entire film was a one continuous tracking shot set in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. I never looked up the name of the film.

I was looking at the Film on Film calendar and noticed Russian Ark at MOMA. When I read the synopsis, I realized this was the film that Meyer was referring to. The 2002 film was directed by Alexander Sokurov who also made The Sun (2005), a biopic about Emperor Hirohito, which I saw at the 2006 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Considered Sokurov's finest film, Russian Ark tells a three-hundred-year Russian history within the confines of the State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Renowned for being shot in one continuous, fluid take, the film also employed two thousand actors, thirty-three rooms in the museum, and three full orchestras.

Sokurov's The Sun was the third in a loose tetralogy of Hitler, Lenin, Hirohito and the fictional Faust. The other two films in the series were Moloch (1999) and Taurus (2001). Faust is scheduled for release later this year. Although it is lazy and obvious programming, I hope someone screens those four films as a series as I would like to see Moloch and Taurus.

Russian Ark screens at 7 PM on Thursday, January 7.

1 out of 8 Indie Films in SF and a Few Nazi and Stalin Era Films in Telluride

In the August 24 edition of the Pink Section, the Chronicle had an article titled 8 Best Indie Films That You Haven't Seen Yet.

I'm sad to say that I've only seen one film on the list. That would be Shotgun Stories, the opening night film at this year's IndieFest. I'm familiar with the other seven:

Baghead
Chop Shop
Frozen River
Garden Party
Son of Rambow
Teeth
War Inc.

Son of Rambow had a limited release in May. It looked kind of silly so I passed on it. I'm surprised that War Inc. made the list since the Little Man was asleep in his seat.

Baghead is the one I'm most familiar with and wish I saw. I believe it played at the Lumiere earlier this month. It's a thoughtful spoof of the "cabin in the woods" horror genre.

Frozen River is currently playing at the Opera Plaza.

Teeth is the perfect companion film to The Secret Life of Sarah Sheldon which I saw at last year's Dead Channels. Vagina Dentata meets The Penis Monster.

I would add a few more films to my list of "independent films" currently in release. I use the term loosely because I don't know what the financing arrangements for these films are. Actually, the Landmark Theaters film listing is a good indicator of independent films that have created a buzz and gotten some limited distribution. Speaking of Landmark, why don't they put their films in the SF Chronicle film listings?

The following films are playing at Landmark Theaters in SF:

A Jihad for Love
Roman de Gare
Transsiberian
Bottle Shock
Man on Wire

The Landmark Theaters in SF are the Lumiere, the Opera Plaza , the Clay, the Bridge and Embarcadero Center.

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I'd like to recognize Gary Meyer. Gary is the owner of the Balboa Theater in SF. For a few years, Gary tried to make the Balboa a modern day rep house. It was my favorite theater for a period of 1 to 2 years. I saw a great Samurai film festival there as well as a Boris Karloff Retrospective. In addition, Gary founded or co-founded Landmark Theaters although I believe he sold it to some corporate entity.

More recently, Gary was named the festival director at the Telluride Film Festival. The festival runs this weekend, August 29 to September 1. I've never been to Telluride. It's some skiing resort in the Colorado mountains. I associate it with hippies in the past and something akin to a poor man's Vail now. I have no idea if this is reality or my misconception.

I recall a series of television commercials in my youth somehow associating Coors Beer with Telluride. I recall there being some home movie type footage of guys sledding or something. What was the story with Coors Beer being outlawed in several states? Wasn't the premise of Smokey and the Bandit or Cannonball Run (or some ripoff film) smuggling Coors into a state which it was banned?

Rather than continuing to show my ignorance about Colorado history & demographics, I will say that perusing the Telluride Film Festival program makes me wish I has gone out there this weekend. I hope Gary can convince someone to screen a few of these in the Bay Area.

The Fall of Berlin - produced in the Soviet Union; (1949)
The Last Command - directed by Josef von Sternberg; (1928)
Lola Montès - directed by Max Ophüls; (1955)
The Great Sacrifice - "the supreme achievement of the Nazi melodrama;" (1944)
Waltz with Bashir - Israeli animation on Palestinian refugee camp atrocities; (2008)