CBS morning show salutes MoMA film preservation effort
Mar
5
2016
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A wonderful segment of CBS This Morning, devoted to the assiduous efforts by film curators, technicians, and other professionals of The Museum of Modern Art, toiling to restore gone-missing movies, scanning and cleaning cans of crumbling celluloid to pristine, viewable condition. Curators Raj Roy and Dave Kehr, interviewed at MoMA’s off-site film facility in eastern ...
Merry Christmas, Adolf! ~ love, TCM 3
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Achtung, baby! Righteous programming, this Christmas night, from Turner Classic Movies: choreographer/director Alan Johnson’s TO BE OR NOT TO BE (1984), a remake of the Lubitsch political satire, well selected on this day of off-the-grid distribution of North Korea spoof, “The Interview.” Johnson and the great Mel Brooks collaborated on this promotional video for the ...
Happy birthday, Egyptian Theatre!
Oct
18
2011
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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, ...
Wicked comedy by Lubitsch at LACMA 1
Jul
16
2011
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It was pure pleasure, in the waning days of the LACMA weekend classic film series, as curator Ian Birnie trotted out yet another sublime film pairing, this time a comedy duo: the first film, Preston Sturges’ social commentary/classic, “Sullivan’s Travels,” topped by Ernst Lubitsch’s insane, zany, perfectly scripted, outrageous and brilliant “To Be or Not ...
Travis Banton undresses Miriam Hopkins
Jul
19
2010
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We’re midway through Ian Birnie’s weekend film retrospective of the American-made comedies of Ernst Lubitsch at LACMA. Last weekend, we levitated in pleasure under the spell of “Design for Living“ (1933), the sophisticated German-born film director’s version of the Noel Coward play. Two Americans sharing a flat in Paris, playwright Tom Chambers (Frederic March) and ...
Ernst Lubitsch’s 90-minute tour of paradise
Jul
9
2010
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Tonight at LACMA — the launch of Ian Birnie’s 16-film retrospective of the American-made comedies of Ernst Lubitsch. Both films run a dreamy 90 minutes long! Let’ s see how much great entertainment the German expat could pack into 1.5 hours. Nicola Lubitsch, the director’s daughter, will be in the house for a curtain talk. ...