Friday, July 31, 2009

For Our Far-Flung Followers

Not the Metro.

No doubt there are legions of fanatics that follow the minutest goings-on at Metro Classics who unfortunately live in locales far from the temperate climes of the Pacific Northwest. These poor souls undoubtedly sit alone at their laptops pining for the opportunity to experience great repertory film, the Metro Classics way. We feel your collective pain.

Well, until that day when we can stream our entire cavalcade of cinematic confection directly into your cerebral cortex, those in our displaced dominion will have to make do with the repertory programs currently cranking out in your neck of the woods. Luckily many parts of the world host programs of classic films that gallantly approach Metro Classics in popularity and gravitas. Coincidentally two of these esteemed movie palaces have inadvertently scheduled titles that sync up perfectly with this week's screening of Charade.

How's this for serendipity:

First up, the majestic Stanford Theatre located in the heart of downtown Palo Alto, CA is playing Roman Holiday starring Charade co-star Audrey Hepburn. It will be playing through this weekend as a double feature with the 1939 Claudette Colbert vehicle Midnight.

Speaking of holidays, 2,935 miles due east of the Stanford Theatre the BAM Rose Cinemas in Brooklyn, NY are screening the classic Holiday starring Ms. Hepburn's Charade co-star Cary Grant, on the very same day that we unleash our new series. The film is part of an entire month dedicated to Grant's work in film. A more worthwhile month I cannot think of. Unless of course you live in or around Seattle.

If you happen to be in either of the non-Seattle cities, please stop by and check out these great films. Hell, if you happen to be within a hundred miles of any building hosting repertory film, please give them a glance. The thing that unites all of these humble enterprises is that they are less business ventures than labors of love.

3 comments:

Sean Gilman said...

Midnight is really good as well, and a fine double feature with Roman Holiday. Colbert plays a penniless woman who impersonates nobility while Hepburn plays a princess who impersonates a tourist.

Sean Gilman said...

It's not really related to us, but Anthology Film Archives in new York has this awesome idea for a series this August:

"August 14-23 This summer, Anthology draws attention to a mysterious phenomenon that we feel has been neglected by film- and conspiracy-theorists alike – the remarkable proliferation in Hollywood’s heyday of one-eyed auteurs. As any statistician can tell you, two or even three active one-eyed masters might just constitute a coincidence – but five? We think not. But five there were in the middle decades of the 20th century. And not just any five, but several of the period’s towering masters: Fritz Lang, John Ford, Nicholas Ray, Raoul Walsh, and Andre de Toth (the last, famously, the great practitioner of 3-D cinema!). Though the circumstances surrounding their loss of depth perception vary (only Ray could lay claim to losing his sight in the line of duty, during the decade-long production of his final completed film, the student-collaboration WE CAN’T GO HOME AGAIN), this mysteriously shared affliction suggests the existence of some sort of cabal or secret society. While refraining from further speculation, Anthology nevertheless offers up a pair of films from each of these filmmakers, a tribute to a period in Hollywood history when eye-patches were de rigeur."


http://www.anthologyfilmarchives.org/schedule/search/search-result/?program=ONE-EYED%20AUTEURS

Mikey said...

That is so awesome.