Cecil B. DeMille’s “Madam Satan,” dance-dissected, March 15 5

Dance · Film
Delighted to announce my talk, “Theodore Kosloff & Cecil B. DeMille Meet Madam Satan” concerning the notorious early talkie-musical, co-sponsored by the American Cinematheque and the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. The “illustrated lecture” is slated for Saturday March 15, 2 pm, coupled with a screening of MADAM SATAN (MGM, 1930), at the Egyptian ...

Victor to Hedy: Let’s do brunch.

Film
Join Hollywood Heritage at the Hollywood Heritage Museum (the historic Lasky-DeMille Barn at 2100 N. Highland Ave.) for a catered brunch at 11:30 am at the birthplace of the Hollywood motion picture industry!  The brunch will be followed at 1:30 pm by a guided walking tour to the Egyptian Theatre and a screening of DeMille’s SAMSON ...

The 11th Commandment: Honor DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments” (1923)

Architecture & Design · Film
Tomorrow night, Wednesday December 4, 2013, a fantastic event: the 90th anniversary of Cecil B. DeMille’s THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, in a special screening accompanied by live music. The screening will commemorate the 15th anniversary of the grand re-opening of the Egyptian Theatre. Part of the Lasky-DeMille Centennial Celebration co-presented with Hollywood Heritage, with the support ...

Koehler on Cinema: Clips

Film
by 
African cinema is the most commonly overlooked in almost every corner of the world except France and Italy, where a combination of a tradition of cinephilia along with cultural and colonial ties make these movies a real presence. Here in the U.S., African movies are often treated as beyond exotic, which is ridiculous. The new ...

Marian the Librarian to tell all at CINECON 1

Film
We just learned that the lovely Academy-Award winning actress Shirley Jones will be honored at the 49th annual Labor Day-weekend event, Cinecon Classic Film Festival. The five-day foray into classic film-mania — with an accent on rarely seen movies and silent film — that hook or by crook rolls out annually at summer’s end for ...

Insanely great movies to sear Egyptian screen @ NOIR CITY

Film
Yes, it’s that time of year again. Film festival overload, otherwise known as April. The American Cinematheque and the Film Noir Foundation join forces for the 15th annual Festival of Film Noir. Shady dames and murderous mobsters converge for dark tales of jaded gumshoes, femmes fatale and menacing heavies in gloriously gritty black and white. ...

Ninety-year-old men in tights: “Robin Hood” at the Egyptian Theatre

Film
Ninety years ago, Douglas Fairbanks and wife Mary Pickford, joined by Charlie Chaplin, turned out for the premiere of Fairbanks’ swashbuckling adventure at their pal Sid Grauman’s new Hollywood movie palace. This evening went down in history as the very first Hollywood movie premiere. Fairbanks historian Tracy Goessel will introduce the film with live piano ...

Rarely viewed “The Great Gatsby” starring Alan Ladd opens film noir festival 4

Film
An unusual choice for the opening act of the Noir City film festival: The Great Gatsby (1949, Paramount) in a new 35 mm print. The festival, now on at the Egyptian Theatre, is co-produced by the Film Noir Foundation and the American Cinematheque. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great masterwork from 1925 is far from pulp fiction. ...

Noir City: 14th annual film noir festival opens soon @ Egyptian Theatre

Film
Fourteen years ago, the American Cinematheque launched its inaugural festival of film noir. Back in 1999 it was called “Side Streets and Back Alleys: A Festival of Film Noir,” and it featured dozens of forgotten films, retrieved from critical exile, that have since been recognized as unjustly neglected genre gems, with many returned to circulation ...

Happy birthday, Egyptian Theatre!

Film
Okay, doll, you’re 89 years old, but in this town that’s a drop in the bucket! In L.A., we like our ladies well preserved — jowls, cheekbones, and posteriors properly nipped and tucked. So hang on, Egyptian Theatre, you’re a great survivor. And a genuine happy birthday, as well, to the 30-year old American Cinematheque, ...