Exciting Film Line-up
We will be announcing films for Cincon 44 shortly. Until then please take a look at some of the films we screened at our last show.
Cinecon is highly regarded among film fans for screening the rare and unusual films of the silent and early sound era—films that rarely get seen on a big screen. Cinecon combs the major film archives and Hollywood studio vaults to select often forgotten gems that deserve a fresh look and reappraisal. At Cinecon there is something for everyone—comedy, drama, musicals, Westerns. We show the latest restorations—and some one-of-a-kind rarities.
All films will be shown at Grauman's Egyptian Theater at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard, most in 35mm. Silent films feature live musical accompaniment.
Here are some of the films that we showed at Cinecon 43.
As always films are listed here pending final clearence and are subject to change.
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HER WILD OAT (First National, 1927)
Colleen Moore was one of the most popular stars of the silent era, but few of her best films survive, that’s why this recent restoration of HER WILD OAT by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Film Archive is a special treat. Directed by Marshall Neilan, HER WILD OAT offers an unusual opportunity to see Colleen Moore in her prime. | |
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THE GILDED LILY (Paramount, 1935)
After appearing in films like THE BIG POND (1930) and Cecil B. DeMille’s THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932), Claudette Colbert hit her comic stride on loan out to Columbia with Frank Capra’s Oscar winning film IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934). Paramount was quick to capitalize on Colbert’s hitherto untapped talent for getting laughs with films like THE BRIDE COMES HOME (1935), MIDNIGHT (1938) and this lovely gem, THE GILDED LILY, which co-stars Fred MacMurray and Ray Milland near the beginning of their own starring careers. |
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BRANDING BROADWAY (Artcraft, 1918)
William S. Hart heads east to become a bodyguard for a wealthy dude in this change of pace comic Western, recently restored by the Museum of Modern Art. Written by C. Gardner Sullivan and directed by Hart, much of the film’s action was shot in New York.
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A MAN BETRAYED (Republic, 1941)
“Stalking his prey in a stronghold of corruption . . . Daring death for the woman he loves!” To honor John Wayne’s 100th birthday of we offer this offbeat mystery with Wayne falling for the daughter of his chief suspect. Still under contract to Republic after his 1939 breakthrough film, STAGECOACH, Wayne continued to toil in “B” pictures between larger budget efforts, but A MAN BETRAYED (also known by its reissue title, WHEEL OF FORTUNE) is a respectable effort and also features past Cinecon guest Frances Dee.
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THE PATENT LEATHER KID (First National, 1927)
Everyone’s seen the Silents Please cut-down of this Richard Barthelmess film, but the complete version is rarely screened. Adapted from a story by Rupert Hughes by Adela Rogers St. Johns, THE PATENT LEATHER KID is a tale of a self-possessed boxer who is forced to come off his high horse in no man’s land during the Great War. This was one of the big pictures of the late silent era and earned a best actor Oscar nomination for Barthelmess.
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| |  | | HOW’S ABOUT IT? (Universal, 1943)
Another one of those Universal “B” musicals that torment critics and delight audiences. Robert Paige and Grace McDonald carry the love interest, the Andrews Sisters supply the songs, and that underrated comic genius, Shemp Howard, is on hand for the laughs all wrapped up in a neat 61 minute package directed by Erle C. Kenton.
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| |  | | THE RIDER OF DEATH VALLEY (Universal, 1932)
This was cowboy star Tom Mix’s second talking picture, and it clearly transcended the “B” Western genre with its top notch location work and its 78 minute running time. Directed by Al Rogell and featuring Lois Wilson, the film is based in part on Mix’s 1926 Fox silent, NO MAN’S GOLD.
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WAKE UP AND LIVE (20th Century-Fox, 1937)
A great Fox musical starring past Cinecon honoree Alice Faye and Jack (Tinman) Haley. WAKE UP AND LIVE pokes fun at radio and the supposed real-life on-air feud between columnist/radio announcer Walter Winchell and band leader Ben Bernie. Patsy Kelly, Ned Sparks, Walter Catlett and Joan Davis supply the laughs, with songs by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel.
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| |  | | TRAIL OF THE VIGILANTES (Universal, 1940)
Director Allan Dwan and screen writer Harold Shumate turned out a comic Western gem that rivals 1939’s DESTRY RIDES AGAIN. Franchot Tone plays a dude from the east who falls in with town terror Broderick Crawford to bring the corrupt Warren William to heel. Andy Divine and Mischa Auer round out the cast of this forgotten classic.
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| |  | | MAN, WOMAN AND WIFE (Universal, 1929)
Here’s a rare one! In 1948 Universal junked it’s silent films to free up vault space--but a few titles escaped, largely because they had accompanying sound tracks. MAN, WOMAN and WIFE was produced in late 1928 and released with a recorded Movietone score. It stars Norman Kerry, Pauline Starke, Marion Nixon and Kenneth Harlan and is part social drama, gangster picture, war story and prison drama all rolled up in one, with solid performances, beautiful photography by Ben Reynolds, ASC, and top-notch direction by Edward Laemmle.
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Here's a few more.
THE SHOWDOWN (1928)
Evelyn Brent, George Bancroft and Neil Hamilton star in this silent adaptation of Houston Branch's play, Wildcat. Directed by Victor Schertzinger
ONLY YESTERDAY (1933)
Ostensibly based on Frederick Lewis Allen's history of the 1920s by the same name, this also borrows from Stefan Zweig's Letter From an Unknown Woman. Margaret Sullavan (in her film debut) stars with John Boles in this rarely screened gem directed by John M. Stahl.
GIRLS CAN PLAY (1937)
Softball, murder and Rita Hayworth in an early day A League of Their Own. Jacqueline Wells (Julie Bishop) and Charles Quigley are also featured.
WHILE NEW YORK SLEEPS (1920)
Three Manhattan stories, directed by Charles Brabin. With Estelle Taylor and Marc McDermott.
CAFE METROPOLE (1937)
An elegant screwball comedy featuring Tyrone Power as an American ex-patriot in debt to cafe owner Gregory Ratoff who agrees to become a gigolo to grab off a piece of hot heiress Loretta Young's inheritance to settle his accounts. Adolphe Menjou also stars. Directed by the under-rated Edward H. Griffith.
INTERFERENCE (1928)
Paramount's first 100% All Talking picture features William Powell, Evelyn Brent, Clive Brook and Doris Kenyon in a surprisingly effective experiment in sound picture making by co-directors J. Roy Pomeroy and Lothar Mendes.
WOMEN OF ALL NATIONS (1931)
Flagg (Victor McLaglen) and Quirt (Edmund Lowe) are at it again in this hilarious follow-up to WHAT PRICE GLORY?.
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And the spice of the program . . .
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| | In addition to the feature film line up, Cinecon will present an array of selected one and two-reel short subjects , including the cartoon, SCRAPPY’S ADDED ATTRACTION (Columbia, 1939), RUNNING HOLLYWOOD (Universal, 1932) an all-star concoction with a John Wayne cameo, THIS WAY OUT (Vim, 1916) with Pokes & Jabbs and Oliver Hardy, MIND DOESN’T MATTER (Columbia, 1932) a rare two-reeler starring those crowd pleasers from the Vitaphone program, Shaw and Lee, BILLY McGRATH ON BROADWAY with John Steppling & Augustus Carney (1913) and VERSUS SLEDGE HAMMERS with Margaret Joslin, Harry Todd, Victor Potel and Ben Turpin (1915)--two recent restorations by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum; and, of course, more chapters in the ongoing saga of THE IRON CLAW (Columbia, 1941)! | |
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We're ready for take off with a special added program | |
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