More Screenings to be Aware of

As spring commences and summer approaches, the revival houses of Los Angeles have begun releasing schedules for their upcoming screenings. Both the New Beverly Theater near the Grove and the American Cinematheque's Egyptian and Aero theaters are producing series devoted to Orson Welles for his centennial birthday. The Egyptian and Aero are showing the usual suspects (Citizen Kane, Magnificent Ambersons, etc); the New Beverly is showing some of his more obscure stuff, like Treasure Island.

Meanwhile, the Academy continues their series devoted to the widescreen format with a rare screening of Max Ophüls' last completed film, Lola Montez at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. The screening is this Thursday, May 7th.

The Arclight Cinemas seem to now concentrate their revivals at their Hollywood theater. What few revivals they have are mostly films that came out a couple of years ago. I hate to call them revivals.

Cinespia, the folks behind the cemetery screenings at Hollywood Forever, have released their summer schedule. Nothing of great interest; mostly cult favorites such as the wretched Showgirls. I only went to a cemetery screening once and once was enough.

Cinefamily, the folks behind the Silent Movie Theater, continue to show a silent film only once per month. To their credit though, they tend to pick some interesting films. Saturday, May 16th they will be showing Frank Capra's Submarine. Otherwise, the rest of Cinefamily's calendar is devoted to a few Russ Meyer films and Al Pacino's "Special Project."

Then there is the Los Angeles Conservancy's Last Remaining Seats. Every summer, the LAC prys open the ancient doors of Downtown Los Angeles' great Motion Picture Palaces and hosts screenings. The series begins with Psycho at the Million Dollar Theatre on June 10th and concludes with the now sold out showing of Raiders of the Lost Ark at the Theatre at Ace Hotel on June 27. The selections this year are...disappointing. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Family and Raiders of the Lost Ark are shown constantly at revival houses, especially Wonka. Normally I would recommend How to Marry a Millionaire since--as a Cinemascope film--it would look impressive on the big screen. However, it's playing at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, not one of the best venues in Los Angeles. Lastly, we don't get to hear from the Mighty Wurlitzer this year since their silent selection this year, City Lights, has its own soundtrack. That being said, the film is being shown at the Los Angeles Theatre which is arguably the most ornate of the Motion Picture Palaces and its Chaplin's best feature film. The screening is already sold out though so you might have to beg your friends to "borrow" tickets.

UCLA is continuing their series devoted to the films of William Wellman. At the end of the month they will be showing one of my personal favorites of the director's, Beggars of Life. Also worth noting is a few television shows that will be screening on May 30th from the Television Archives, including an episode of This is Your Life where Edwards' subject of choice is Arries Ann Ward, a 95 year old woman who had been born into slavery in 1862.

Finally, down in El Segundo the Old Town Musical Hall is showing The Little Princess, the Technicolor Shirley Temple film. It's not one of her best films, but it's worth seeing since Technicolor is always worth seeing on the big screen.

As usual, there's a lot to see in this town.