Partially the result of the collapse of the American studio system and the rise of international coproductions, the influx of Yanks made for an interesting mix, ranging from Oscar-winning spectacles to independent agitprop.
Wednesday, June 17, 4:30; Saturday, June 20, 2:00. T1
Organized by Charles Silver, Curator, Department of Film. Thanks to Martin Scorsese. A Hard Day’s Night. 1964. Great Britain. Directed by Richard Lester. With John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Wilfrid Brambell. Philadelphia native Lester parlayed his experience in zany British television into an opportunity to make the film that, more than any other, captures the ethos of spiritual liberation that threatened—and still threatens—the established order of the Western world. Part Marx Brothers, part Jean-Luc Godard, and all Beatles, the film remains the most entertaining musical comedy this side of Ernst Lubitsch. 90 min.
Wednesday, June 17, 8:00; Monday, June 22, 4:30. T1
Good Times, Wonderful Times. 1966. Great Britain/USA. Directed and produced by Lionel Rogosin. Screenplay by Rogosin, James T. Vaughn, Tadeusz Makarczynski. New York documentarian Rogosin uses the frivolity of a London cocktail party to provide context for the rebellion of the Beatles and their multitudinous acolytes in a world gone mad. 70 min.
Thursday, June 18, 4:30; Saturday, June 20, 8:00. T1
The Servant. 1964. Great Britain. Directed by Joseph Losey. Screenplay by Harold Pinter, based on the novel by Robin Maugham. With Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles, James Fox. In his first of several collaborations with Pinter, the Wisconsin-born Losey skewers the corruption of the British class system. At the time Losey had been working in England for over a decade, following his blacklisting in Hollywood. With this film he established an international reputation that served him well over the next twenty years. 115 min.
Thursday, June 18, 8:00; Friday, June 19, 4:30. T1
Bunny Lake Is Missing. 1965. Great Britain. Directed by Otto Preminger. Screenplay by John Mortimer, Penelope Mortimer, based on the novel by Evelyn Piper. With Keir Dullea, Carol Lynley, Noel Coward, Martita Hunt, Laurence Olivier. While the Viennese-born Preminger was not a native-born Yank, few directors had so successfully negotiated the American moviemaking system. In keeping with Preminger’s peripatetic reputation, this film shows him to be a master at extracting extraordinary performances from a wide range of British acting talent. Although Bunny Lake anticipates Clint Eastwood’s The Changeling, it is first and foremost a reminder of Preminger’s brilliant noir period at Twentieth Century-Fox. 107 min.
Friday, June 19, 8:00; Sunday, June 21, 2:30. T1
A Man for All Seasons. 1966. Great Britain. Directed by Fred Zinnemann. Screenplay by Robert Bolt, based on his play. With Paul Scofield, Wendy Hiller, Leo McKern, Robert Shaw, Orson Welles. Although the film won six Oscars, Zinnemann (who, like Otto Preminger, was from Vienna) was not able to make another film for seven years. Scofield’s brilliant Sir Thomas More clearly makes the case that cynicism and corruption were nothing new under the British sun. 120 min.
Saturday, June 20, 5:00; Monday, June 22, 8:00. T1
Lolita. 1962. Great Britain. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay by Vladimir Nabokov, based on his novel. With James Mason, Sue Lyon, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers. The ever-mysterious Kubrick deserted Hollywood (if not its financing) following the trials of Spartacus, although he did return to Albany for some location shooting on this film. Still, this bleak and scathing view of America, made in Britain by refugees from Russia and the Bronx, today seems ever more timely. 148 min.
Sunday, June 21, 5:30; Wednesday, June 24, 8:00. T1
Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. 1964. Great Britain. Directed by Stanley Kubrick. Screenplay by Terry Southern, based on Peter George’s novel Red Alert. With Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn. Kubrick continues his satirical thrust at his native land (although one of the Sellers characters is a Brit). Though the subject matter could not be more serious, this is arguably the last Kubrick film to employ a light touch. 93 min. -- www.moma.org
Posted June 15th, 2009 by ruzik_tuzik
