Revisiting movie “classics” that aren’t 4

Film
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It’s almost a dare. A film festival, in this case TCM Classic Film Festival 2014, which virtually took over Hollywood Boulevard for five days this past May, declares, in its title, its focus on movie “classics.” Nothing but “classics.” Really? Consider that perhaps a few of those “classics” are overrated. Then consider that some are ...

TCM Fest: The rise and rise of digital restoration 1

Film
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Last weekend’s unveiling of seven digital restorations (five of them world premieres) at the fifth annual TCM Classic Film Festival came at an interesting moment. I saw four of them, and had previously seen a fifth, Hitchcock’s half-silent/half-sound 1929 “The Lodger,” at LACMA’s “Hitchcock 9” program. It was impossible to see all of them due ...

The challenge of “‘Tis Pity” … a chat w/ CAP UCLA’s Kristy Edmunds

Theater
Reading up on the 17th century play, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore, I broke into a sweat. The work is about incest, tough stuff. Cheek by Jowl Theater, the celebrated troupe of British actors, brings playwright John Ford’s tragic drama about carnal knowledge between a brother and sister to UCLA’s Freud Playhouse for a five-performance ...