13 Nights of Shocktober: Haxan: Witchcraft Through The Ages

by A.J.

This is my favorite time of year, second only to Christmas. Autumn has arrived, the weather is cooling down, and, October becomes the month long celebration of scary movies called Shocktober. There are a lot of horror movies out there, but as a genre, horror is still looked down upon by some mainstream critics and moviegoers. It doesn’t help that, admittedly, there are so few quality horror movies made but, like comedy, it’s a very difficult and subjective genre. So, in the days leading up Halloween I’ll be posting some recommendations for scary movies to help you celebrate Shocktober.

Night 1: “There are witch confessions that are totally insane.” Haxan: Witchcraft Through the Ages

I first saw Haxan late one night on TCM. It’s one of those movies that you’ll want to watch with someone so there’s another witness to the crazy, bizarre, spooky, and oddly funny scenes that make up this silent movie. Haxan is a truly unique film: part documentary, part history lesson, part folklore study, part “reenactment” of witchcraft confessions, and part social commentary.

There are 7 chapters to the film, each showcasing a particular time period or aspect of the era of witchcraft. The first shows us pages of old books with macabre drawings of devils and witches and explains the belief system of the medieval period (the Earth was the center of the universe, surrounded by the planets, then spheres of angels with God in the 10^th sphere and Hell at the center of the earth). We see how the beliefs of the time let people draw the wrong conclusions to things they could not explain. For example, a pair of medieval doctors rob a grave to use the corpse to study anatomy. A peasant sees this and assumes they must be witches. Why else would someone cut open a corpse? From there the imagery only gets more bizarre and more macabre. There are witches flying through the air and devils and demons that look just like the grotesque, monstrous paintings of the medieval period, dancing and coercing people to do evil things. 

Chapter 4 has some of the craziest, goofiest, most disturbing, and creepiest things ever put on film. A woman is accused of being a witch and tortured until she gives a confession. What she confesses is in line with what we learned of common notions of witchcraft from the first chapter. The movie shows us what she confesses. We see a Witches’ Sabbath with devils and “witches” (medieval peasant women) dancing and writhing around together and witches lining up to kiss Satan’s behind to show respect. Chapter 6 shows us the instruments of torture used to get such outlandish confessions. None of the devices are actually used, but it is still unnerving to see a real hand or foot in a torture device and see how it is supposed to work. Chapter 7 is an interesting examination of how the modern era (of the 1920s) treats the behavior that used to be seen as a symptom of or caused by witchcraft.

Most scenes of Haxan are filtered either in red or blue which was not uncommon for silent films but works especially well for the eerie and creepy scenes of this movie. The creepiest part of the movie is easily Satan himself, done up in full body makeup like medieval portrayals with horns and long claws for fingers. It doesn’t help that he gesticulates and flicks his tongue wildly, either. In one scene he churns butter. In another, he clubs a nun over the head. Each scene is as bizarre and ridiculous as you might imagine. All of this is set to a score that fluctuates between being ominous and whimsical. The whimsy of the score and absurd nature of the scenes witchcraft and devils make this an unusually funny movie.  

Silent films usually get overlooked when people are searching for scary movies for October, but there are a lot of great ones, and Haxan is a spooky and interesting movie to start with.

Classic Movie Picks: October 2014

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

10/3: Bogie in Africa

8 PM - The African Queen (1951)
10 PM - Sahara (1943)
12 AM - Beat the Devil (1953)
2 AM - Casablanca (1942)
TCM's Friday Night Spotlight this month shines on films set in Africa, with one night's lineup devoted to films starring Humphrey Bogart. Surely, I don't have to vouch for Casablanca, as I expect most film fans have seen it at least once. If it's been a while since you last visited Rick's Cafe Americain, perhaps you should take this opportunity. I find that no matter how many times I watch, the dialogue still sparkles and the performances still captivate. 
Before I saw The African Queen for the first time, I wasn't really interested in it -- so it's a couple of grumpy old people arguing on a boat, who cares? (Apparently, producer Alexander Korda shared my skepticism.) But I have to say, the film proved to be an entertaining adventure with far more action than I expected. I'm looking forward to going downriver with Bogie and Katharine Hepburn again.
I've not seen Sahara yet, but it comes highly recommended by my father, himself a war movie connoisseur. In this film, Bogart plays a WWII tank commander leading American and British troops through the Libyan desert in search of an oasis. Essentially stranded at a remote outpost, they must defend what little water they have from a thirsty German battalion.
The wild card for me tonight is Beat the Devil; however, I'm intrigued by the story involving a group of con men using various means of subterfuge to get their hands on an African uranium mine. Alongside Bogart are ace character actors Peter Lorre and Robert Morley; Jennifer Jones (this time a blonde!) and Gina Lollobrigida provide the romantic complications. The script by Truman Capote is said to be a sharp spoof of conventional detective stories and noir -- sounds worth a look! 

10/16: Ghost...Smashers?
8 PM - The Ghost Breakers (1940)
2:15 AM - Ghost Chasers (1951)
3:30 AM - The Spook Busters (1946)
Long before Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd strapped on their proton packs as Ghostbusters, the likes of Bob Hope and the Bowery Boys were busting, breaking, and chasing unruly spirits for the sake of comedy. It seems that movie makers have run through almost every permutation of how to describe those that bust ghosts, and tonight's lineup includes some head scratchers...how does one "break" a ghost, anyway? With a hammer? Intense interrogation techniques?
Ghost Breakers pits Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard against ghosts, zombies, and other assorted shady characters inside a haunted castle. The other two films star the Bowery Boys, employing slapstick humor to expose phony spiritualists in Ghost Chasers and to rid a spooky mansion of ghosts in Spook Busters.

10/17, 12:15 AM - Mountains of the Moon (1990)
As a fan of Game of Thrones, I'm curious to see a young Iain Glen (aka Ser Jorah from the HBO series) in an early role that received critical praise. Glen and Patrick Bergin portray two real life British explorers searching for the source of the Nile in the 1800s. This adventure epic was a passion project for director Bob Rafelson, better known for contemporary dramas like Five Easy Pieces. The film was also shot by legendary cinematographer Roger Deakins and includes Fiona Shaw, Richard E. Grant, and Delroy Lindo in the supporting cast. Sounds like a winner -- we'll see!
(For the Downtown Abbey fans, you may recognize Glen as Sir Richard Carlisle.)

BONUS PICK: 10/24, 10:45 PM - Gorillas in the Mist (1988)
Another early film role for Iain Glen, but the main attraction here is Sigourney Weaver as naturalist Dian Fossey, who risked her life to study & protect gorillas in their natural habitat. The beautiful footage of real gorillas (some of the shots in the film use stuntmen in gorilla costumes designed by makeup artist Rick Baker) was shot in the Rwanda at Fossey's Karisoke Research Centre.

10/28: Horror Anthologies
8 PM - Dead of Night (1945)
10 PM - Twice Told Tales (1963)
12:15 AM - Kwaidan (1965)
3 AM - The House That Dripped Blood (1971)
5 AM - Torture Garden (1967)
Get in the Halloween mood with five anthology films featuring spooky stories to tell in the dark. The films range from the relatively classy Dead of Night to the more lurid House That Dripped Blood  and Torture Garden (the titles really say it all, don't they?). Twice Told Tales features three adaptations of Nathaniel Hawthorne stories, all starring horror stalwart Vincent Price, whom I regard as a national treasure for his ability to do things like shoot at skeletons or urge people to "scream for their lives" with utter believability and commitment. However, the creepiest film of the bunch may be Kwaidan which features four Japanese stories about encounters with the supernatural.

Classic Movie Picks: September 2014

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

Star of the Month: Melvyn Douglas
I always enjoy it when Melvyn Douglas appears in a film, whether he's a suave continental in Ninotchka (9/10, 8 PM), the sardonic best friend in Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (9/3, 10:15 PM), or a wily, but ailing, politico in Being There (9/3, 8 PM) -- a role for which he won an Oscar. His parts in these great films, as well as his other Oscar-winning turn as a tough rancher in Hud (9/24, 9:45 PM), are the Douglas roles I know best;  watch any of these films and you'll soon be a Melvyn Douglas fan. But the Star of the Month tribute also presents the chance to catch Douglas in other roles and displays his incredible range as an actor. The whole schedule looks strong, but I'm especially interested in the pre-code horror of The Vampire Bat (9/10, 3:15 AM), the jewel caper Arsene Lupin Returns (9/11, 7:45 AM), and the screwball comedy She Married Her Boss (9/10, 1:45 AM).

9/4: Rick's Picks
8 PM - Some Came Running (1958)
10:30 PM - The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
12:45 AM - Fanny and Alexander (1982)
Writer-director Richard Linklater is one of my favorite filmmakers working today and for his stint as a Guest Programmer, he's chosen films by three iconic directors of classic cinema: Vincente Minnelli, John Huston, and Ingmar Bergman. It's no surprise that Linklater is a student of classic cinema -- as a co-founder and artistic director of the Austin Film Society, he actively champions the appreciation of classic, arthouse, and independent films. His own varied filmography -- from high school comedy Dazed and Confused, to experimental animated dramas Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, to the close examination of romance & relationships in the Before trilogy -- suggests a filmmaker interested in taking risks and not being pigeonholed into a single genre, something that could also be said for Minnelli, Huston, and Bergman. 
(If Linklater's latest film Boyhood is playing in your area, it is well-worth seeing -- a beautiful and groundbreaking film!)

9/22: Belle Brigitte 
8 PM - And God Created Woman (1956)
9:45 PM - Une Parisienne (1957)
11:30 PM - En Effeuillant la Marguerite (1956)
1:30 AM - The Night Heaven Fell (1958)
3:15 AM - Contempt (1963)
Tonight TCM has programmed five films starring the woman for whom the term "sex kitten" was invented: French actress Brigitte Bardot. The plots of most of her films generally revolve around Mme. Bardot beguiling every man who crosses her path, just by virtue of Bardot being Bardot. That's certainly true of the films directed or written by Roger Vadim, the director who discovered and married Bardot when she was still a teenager. Both Vadim and Bardot gained international fame with their film And God Created Woman. While the thinly plotted film is mostly concerned with presenting Brigitte in various provocative outfits, the uninhibited sexuality of Bardot's character was something notable and new; an example of postwar filmmakers testing the boundaries of what was permissible to show onscreen after decades hampered by the restrictive Hays Code. Bardot's status as an international movie icon is undeniable and for this reason, her  films remain relevant, a chance to experience the sex symbol who once captivated the world.

9/28: Whit Stillman Double Feature 
8 PM - Metropolitan (1990)
10 PM - Barcelona (1994)
Whit Stillman is another of my favorite contemporary filmmakers, so of course, I was delighted to see that he would be appearing on TCM to introduce two of his films, including one of my all-time favorites, Barcelona. Stillman makes comedies of manners, chronicling the social and romantic misadventures of young, bourgeois WASPs with a satirical eye, sharp wit, and obvious affection. His films have a sense of authenticity and specificity, probably because his stories are inspired by personal experience;  Metropolitan draws upon his season attending NYC debutante balls, while Barcelona is informed by time spent living & working in Spain in the 1980s, in the wake of a sexual revolution and during a period of anti-American politics. 

Classic Movie Picks: August 2014

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

I haven't done this in a few years, but this month, in honor of TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" programming which devotes an entire day's line-up to one actor or actress, I'm picking one film for each day of the month. Most of these picks are films that I haven't seen before, but that is one of the things I love about Summer Under the Stars -- the chance to discover new films from favorite actors and actresses. If you don't agree with my choice for your favorite star, just tune in any time during the 24 hour mini-marathon and catch another great film!

8/1: Jane Fonda
5:45 PM - The China Syndrome (1979)
This tense drama features Fonda, during a peak period in her career, as a TV reporter who witnesses a meltdown at a nuclear power plant.

8/2: David Niven
10 PM - Around the World in 80 Days (1956)
Niven stars as Phileas Fogg in this adaptation of Jules Verne's classic novel. The extensive cast, exotic locations, and lavish sets and costumes make it feast for the eyes.

8/3: Walter Pidgeon
3:30 PM - Scandal at Scourie (1953)
This one may seem like an odd choice, but I find it so interesting to watch films from the past that deal with social issues which are virtually irrelevant for modern audiences. In this case, Pidgeon and frequent co-star Greer Garson play a Protestant couple who adopt a Catholic orphan, thus causing a scandal and threatening Pidgeon's political career. 

8/4: Judy Garland
6 PM - Summer Stock (1950)
In this delightful musical, Garland plays a farmer (!) whose younger sister allows a theatre troupe, led by Gene Kelly, to take over the family barn. Of course, when the show needs a new leading lady, Kelly discovers that the lady farmer also happens to be a pro at singing and dancing...naturally.

8/5: Barbara Stanwyck
10 PM - Night Nurse (1931)
Stanwyck plays the title character in this pre-Code melodrama, as a nurse looking after two young children who are being abused by their neglectful mother and her violent chauffeur. 

8/6: Paul Muni
9:30 PM - Scarface (1932)
Muni stars as the original Scarface (a character unofficially based on Al Capone) in a film which shocked audiences at the time for its violence and vulgarity. How does it hold up against modern gangster films?

8/7: James Stewart

11:15 AM - No Time for Comedy (1940)
This farce set in the theatre world was the only co-starring vehicle for Stewart and Rosalind Russell. Russell plays a successful Broadway actress and Stewart is the naive Minnesota playwright who charms her into a marriage.

8/8: Jeanne Moreau
10:15 PM - Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
In this French thriller, Moreau and her lover plan the seemingly "perfect murder," but their plan goes awry with unpredictable results.

8/9: William Powell
11:45 PM - Crossroads (1942)
I had never heard of this whodunit drama in which a diplomat is blackmailed for crimes he can't remember, but I love William Powell in just about everything. Co-stars Hedy Lamarr and Basil Rathbone just sweeten the pot.

8/10: Carole Lombard
10 PM - True Confession (1937)
Lombard is in her element here as a pathological liar who ends up confessing to a murder she didn't commit. Fred MacMurray plays her straitlaced husband and defense lawyer.

8/11: Marlon Brando
8:30 AM - The Young Lions (1958)
This World War II film tells stories of soldiers on both sides. Brando stars as a Nazi officer and Montgomery Clift and Dean Martin play American soldiers.

8/12: Alexis Smith
9 AM - One Last Fling (1949)
In this light, husband-wife comedy Smith plays a wife who ran the family business during the war. Now that her husband has returned, she finds life as a housewife boring and jumps at a chance to go back to work at their store -- and keep tabs on husband Zachary Scott. 

8/13: Cary Grant
9:30 PM - Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948)
The dashing Cary Grant is in total goofball mode here as the increasingly frustrated Mr. Blandings, yearning for the simple life with wife Myrna Loy and family in the Connecticut countryside, but thwarted at every turn.

8/14: Charles Chaplin
9 PM - A Dog's Life (1918)
9:45 PM - The Kid (1921)
These silent films directed by and starring Chaplin are both under 1 hour each, so why not watch both? Chaplin shares the screen with two adorable co-stars, the adorable dog Mutt and young Jackie Coogan (possibly the cutest kid to ever act on film).

8/15: Faye Dunaway
8 PM - The Three Musketeers (1973)
Dunaway plays the duplicitous Milady de Winter in this comedic take on the Musketeers story, which stands out from other adaptations for its combination of slapstick and swashbuckle.

8/16: Herbert Marshall
10:15 PM - Murder! (1930)
This Alfred Hitchcock mystery was Herbert Marshall's first "talkie." He plays a juror who, unconvinced of the jury's guilty verdict, sets out to solve the murder and prove the condemned woman innocent. 

8/17: John Hodiak
12 AM - The Harvey Girls (1946)
Hodiak gets to sing and dance alongside Judy Garland in this musical about a battle of wills on the American frontier between the upstanding Harvey House waitresses and the denizens of the town saloon. 

8/18: Claudette Colbert
10 PM - Skylark (1941)
Ray Milland's neglect of wife Colbert drives her into the arms of handsome lawyer Brian Aherne to form the love triangle at the heart of this marital comedy.

8/19: Paul Newman
6 AM - The Rack (1956)
This military courtroom drama is a showcase for Newman's talent in one of his earliest film roles, He plays a Korean war veteran accused of breaking under torture and put on trial for treason.

8/20: Thelma Ritter
11:30 PM - The Model and the Marriage Broker (1951)
With wisecracking character actress Thelma Ritter starring as a marriage broker-for-hire who interferes in the love life of model Jeanne Crain, this film doesn't look like your average romantic comedy.

8/21: Lee Tracy
6:30 PM - Turn Back the Clock (1933)
In this film Tracy plays a middle-aged man who gets the chance to go back in time and live his life over again. Look for the Three Stooges (before they were the Stooges) in cameos as wedding singers.

8/22: Audrey Hepburn
9:30 AM - Secret People (1952)
I've seen just about every Audrey Hepburn movie, so I was excited to see this unfamiliar title in today's line up. Hepburn plays a supporting role as the younger of two refugee sisters who become connected to an assassination plot.

8/23: Ernest Borgnine
11:45 PM - The Badlanders (1958)
This western remake of heist classic The Asphalt Jungle stars Borgnine alongside Alan Ladd and future wife Katy Jurado.

8/24: Gladys George
10 PM - Madame X (1937)
Character actress Gladys George takes center stage here as a woman who abandoned her family and is reunited years later with her son when he must defend her in a murder trial.

8/25: Dick Powell
2:45 PM - Hard to Get (1938)
Powell plays a gas station owner who sparks with a spoiled heiress played by Olivia deHavilland -- sure it's an old story, but it works. And I love to hear Dick Powell sing, so I'm happy that he gets at least one musical number in this film: "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby" written by Johnny Mercer.

8/26: Sophia Loren
12:15 AM - Arabesque (1966)
Loren plays an exotic spy opposite Gregory Peck's straitlaced professor in this fun spy caper directed by Stanley Donen.

8/27: Edmond O'Brien
8 PM - D.O.A. (1950)
In this inventive noir O'Brien plays a victim of a slow-acting poison who sets out to solve his own murder before the poison kills him.

8/28: Arlene Dahl
10:30 PM - Wicked as They Come (1956)
Dishy bad girl Dahl uses seduction to manipulate a series of men and move higher up the food chain. The tag line says it all: "What she wanted out of life...she got out of men!"

8/29: Joseph Cotten
9:45 PM - Duel in the Sun (1946)
Cotten plays the honorable Jesse McCanles caught in a love triangle with his amoral half brother Lewt (Gregory  Peck) and the fiery Pearl (Jennifer Jones) in this epic western.

8/30: Betty Grable
10 PM - Down Argentine Way (1940)
Grable is at her charming, likeable best as an American girl who falls in love with an Argentinian horse breeder (the also charming Don Ameche). Look for outlandish costumes and vivacious musical numbers featuring Carmen Miranda and the Nicholas Brothers. 

8/31: Alan Ladd
11 AM - The Man in the Net (1959)
Finish off the month with this little-known drama directed by Michael Curtiz in which Ladd plays a reclusive artist falsely accused of murdering his wife. In an interesting twist, it's the children of the town who come to his aid to clear his name.

Classic Movie Picks: July 2014

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

7/6: Good help is hard to find...
2 AM - The Housemaid (1960)
4 AM - Diary of a Chambermaid (1964)
I'm intrigued by this late night double feature of foreign films featuring maids who disrupt the lives of their employers. Korean director Kim Ki-yong's psychological drama The Housemaid was unreleased in America until 2013, with assistance from Martin Scorcese's World Cinema Project. Diary of a Chambermaid was made in French by Spanish director Luis Buñuel, here downplaying his usual surrealism, and stars Jean Moreau. 

7/7: Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
8 PM - Show Boat (1951)
10 PM - Carousel (1956)
Tonight's line-up honors lyricist Oscar Hammerstein II with film adaptations of his stage musicals. Show Boat was a collaboration with composer Jerome Kern and depicts the personal dramas among entertainers aboard a riverboat. Carousel is perhaps the darkest work produced by Hammerstein and composer Richard Rodgers, his most successful and sustained collaboration. It tells the story of an ill-fated romance between an innocent mill-worker and a rough, self-centered carousel barker. Though they may seem old-fashioned now, both shows represented an evolution in musical theatre from revue-style shows to ones in which the songs and dances arose from and furthered the plot. It seems that with Broadway's current slew of "jukebox" musicals, we may be moving backwards, but that's a discussion for another blog...

7/10: Great American Docs
8 PM - Salesman (1969)
9:45 PM - The Times of Harvey Milk (1984)
11:30 PM - Harlan County U.S.A. (1976)
These three documentaries offer authentic and revealing portraits of American life. Salesman, directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin, focuses on four door-to-door Bible salesman on the East Coast. While selling door-to-door is mostly a thing a of the past, the struggles of the salesmen still resonate today. 
Director Robert Epstein began filming a short film in 1978 about San Francisco politician Harvey Milk's campaign against the Briggs Initiative, which would have banned gays and lesbians from working in California public schools. Three weeks after the initiative was defeated, Milk was assassinated, and Epstein chose to re-focus his film on the life of Milk and his message of inclusiveness for the LGBT community. The Times of Harvey Milk won the Best Documentary Academy Award in 1984.
Barbara Kopple also won the Best Documentary Oscar for her film Harlan County U.S.A. It chronicles a contentious miners strike in Kentucky as the miners push to unionize and are met with frequently violent resistance from the mine owners, Duke Power.

7/27, 12:15 AM - Pandora's Box (1928)

In this silent film by German director G.W. Pabst, Louise Brooks is Lulu, a hedonistic dancer whose sexual magnetism causes the weak men around her to self-destruct. She isn't a traditional femme fatale; she suffers along with the men and as a result of their recklessness. (And she doesn't just beguile men -- the film contains what may be cinema's first lesbian in the character of the Countess, who shares a dance with Lulu.) Even if you've never seen this film, you'll probably recognize Brooks's hairdo. Her severe, squared-off bob became an iconic look of the 20s and it pops up often in later films which want to reference the era, from Cyd Charisse in 1952's Singin' in the Rain to the title character in 2012's Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

Classic Movie Picks: June 2014

by Lani

Each month, I scour the Turner Classic Movies schedule for upcoming films that I can't miss. The highlights are posted here for your reading and viewing pleasure! (All listed times are Eastern Standard, check your local listings or TCM.com for actual air times in your area. Each day's schedule begins at 6:00 a.m.; if a film airs between midnight and 6 a.m. it is listed on the previous day's programming schedule.)

Posting a bit late this month due to a much needed vacation; however, this month is packed with interesting films, particularly ones with French roots, starting tonight with...

6/8, 4 AM - Orpheus (1949)
Many artists have been inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus, a musician who travels to the underworld to retrieve his dead wife Eurydice; Orpheus is able to win her freedom on the condition that he not look back as the two return to the world of mortals (if you think he doesn't look back, then you may not want to hear the story of Lot and his wife, either). French director Jean Cocteau moves the story to post-WWII France and casts Orpheus as a successful poet disdained by the Left Bank intellectuals. Despite the magical elements of the story, Cocteau wanted the film to have a directness, so that what appeared on screen felt real and not like sets & special effects. Scenes of the journey to the underworld take place among the eerie ruins of Saint-Cyr military school, which had been destroyed during the war. Only practical effects were used, no camera tricks -- so, for example, when Orpheus reaches through a mirror which turns to liquid, the actor is actually sticking his hands into a pool of mercury. Cocteau's films are always visually stunning and surprising; they truly epitomize the idea of "movie magic."

BONUS PICK: 6/8, 2 AM - Black Orpheus (1959)
This adaptation of the Orpheus & Eurydice myth takes place in the favelas of Rio during Carnaval. The striking images and exuberant music are sure to make an impression. The film's originality and unexpected setting has made it a favorite among film lovers and critics.

6/15, 2 AM - Purple Noon (1960)
I am a fan of Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley and ever since that film came out in 1999, I've wanted to see the earlier French adaptation of the same Patricia Highsmith story. In Purple Noon, Alain Delon plays Tom Ripley, the resourceful mimic and forger who becomes obsessed with his callow playboy friend. Highsmith's stories prove that sometimes villains can be more compelling than heroes.

6/18: Directed by Rene Clair
8 PM - Under the Roofs of Paris (1930)
9:45 PM - July 14th (1933)
11:30 PM - A Nous la Liberte (1931)
1 AM - Le Million (1931)
2:30 AM - The Grand Maneuver (1955)
Rene Clair is considered France's first great comedy director, known for strong visuals and impish wit. His work was a source of inspiration for such greats as Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers. His French-language films of the 1930s, four of which are showing tonight, are from what's considered his most creatively successful period. Though he was initially wary of incorporating sound into film, he was able to introduce sound without losing the sophisticated visual language developed during the silent era. Later, Clair also found success in Hollywood in the 40s with films like I Married a Witch starring Fredric March and Veronica Lake. 1955's The Grand Maneuver was his first film in color and one of his last films. As the New Wave began to dominate the French film scene, Clair's more traditional style of movie making fell out of fashion among critics. However, with the advantage of hindsight, Clair's achievements and influence are recognized today.

BONUS PICK: 6/18, 4:30 AM - Gigi (1949)
Most classic movie fans are familiar with the 1958 musical version of Gigi, based on a short story by French author Colette about a teenage courtesan-in-training in trun of the century Paris. However, this 1948 French romantic comedy was the first film version of that story and it remains truer to the source material than the later Hollywood film. Explicit mentions of Gigi's intention of becoming a rich man's mistress, as well as the fact that the women in her family never married, were too scandalous to pass the American Production Code.

6/22: Blue, White, and Red
2 AM - Blue (1993)
3:45 AM - White (1993)
5:30 AM - Red (1994)
Polish Director Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors Trilogy was shot over a period of nine months in France and hailed as a masterpiece almost immediately following its release; each of the films received international accolades on their own. Each film tells stories of very personal connections, set against a backdrop of the political changes affecting Europe at the end of the Cold War. 
In Blue, the tragedy of the group, Juliette Binoche plays Julie, a woman grappling with the grief of losing her husband and child in a car accident. Her husband, Patrice, was a composer whose final concerto was written to celebrate the unification of Europe. As Patrice's assistant struggles to finish the concerto, Julie learns of secrets in her husband's past.
White is a black comedy about a Polish hairdresser living in Paris who decides to return to Poland after his French wife, played by Julie Delpy, leaves him. He finds his homeland in transition from communism to democracy and shrewdly begins to grab any opportunity to get ahead. After transforming to a savvy businessman from his pitiful and penniless former self, he becomes determined to win back his wife.
Red depicts an unlikely friendship between a young model, played by Irene Jacob, and a retired judge, played by Jean-Louis Trintignant. The judge eavesdrops on his neighbors in an attempt to sort out their messy lives; however, the ultimate message of the film is that life, and love, cannot be controlled.

6/30, 2 AM - $ [a.k.a. Dollars] (1971)
I am always interested in a heist movie; watching them is a bit like eating a midnight snack -- just as when you sneak down to the kitchen for a treat, there's an illicit pleasure to be had in watching the crime unfold. I've never seen this movie starring Warren Beatty and Goldie Hawn as would-be bank robbers; however, a daring caper in a far-flung locale (this time Hamburg, Germany) should make for a light, but tasty late night snack. (And I had to pick something without subtitles this month!)