CBS morning show salutes MoMA film preservation effort
Mar
5
2016
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
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
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
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
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
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. ...