Screenings

The film of Davis Grubb’s novel The Night of the Hunter received scathing critical responses upon its first release. The film has, however, grown in stature since then and is now considered a classic with its expressionistic, dark, fairy tale evocation of the struggle of good against evil. The film’s star, Robert Mitchum, released from a gaol sentence for drug possession, was blacklisted by the studios till Charles Laughton brilliantly cast him as the murderous preacher. This film, Laughton’s only directorial production, is considered one of the archetypes of the Southern Gothic genre, and its haunting dreamlike imagery is unequalled.

The story goes that ace MGM producer Alan Freed approached Ira Gershwin seeking permission to use his late brother’s concert piece An American in Paris in a movie. When he came away, he had permission to make a movie full of George’s songs. The result was six Oscar®s: Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Music, Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, and a special citation for Gene Kelly. A demobbed WW2 American soldier returns to Paris to make his way as a painter. Of course, he spends more time dancing, singing, and romancing Leslie Caron and Nina Foch. A gloriously filmed, joyous musical.

This is an Australian thriller/drama, and is director Robert Connolly’s first film. The story starts in the 1970s and moves to the late ’90s and early 2000s. Set in Victoria, some scenes were filmed in the headquarters of a major bank in Melbourne. Jim Doyle (Wenham) is a brilliant mathematician who has designed a computer program to predict stock market direction. He is hired by Simon O’Reilly (LaPaglia), CEO of a large bank. The themes include: the loss of compassion in banking, genius, greed, corruption, intrigue, imagination, bankruptcy, suicide, court cases, and revenge.

Jacques Tati was born a little too late for the era of silent films, but he reinvented a version of them when he created the iconic character of Monsieur Hulot in the mid-1950s. There is room for debate as to which of the four Hulot films is the best; but this, the second, best defines the character: fully at home in his own world, hopelessly out of place in the chic, automated modern world which his relatives have taken to. But with misplaced confidence, they believe they can convert him to their way of life.

In 17th century Japan a destitute samurai arrives at the estate of a powerful clan requesting permission to commit ritual suicide. Expecting a bluff, the clan elders recount a recent case intended as a warning. As the man calmly insists on proceeding, his story unfolds, revealing a far more disturbing truth. Masaki Kobayashi’s Harakiri is a devastating critique of the samurai code and the cruelty hidden beneath rigid ideas of honour and obedience. Told through controlled performances, stark black-and-white cinematography, and an exacting narrative structure, the film strips away romantic myths to deliver one of the most powerful moral statements in Japanese cinema.

A beautifully acted and moving World War 2 film based on the 1950 novel of the same name by Nevil Shute, who was born in England but based in Australia after the war. The film tells the story of Jean Paget, exquisitely played by Virginia McKenna, a young English woman who becomes a prisoner of war in Malaya. Along the way, she is helped by an Australian soldier, played by the great actor Peter Finch. The book is also known as The Legacy, which refers to the heartfelt dreams they have for a world of peace following the war.

Dawson City, in the Yukon Territory, was a remote but flourishing gold mining town in the early years of the 20th century. As the entertainment hub for the region it also had several cinemas showing silent films, delivered there at great cost. The cost of return was unfeasible so many of the films were simply buried. During later construction work the films were unearthed, including many that were thought lost forever. This documentary explores the history of the town, the dangerously flammable nature of the nitrate film stock used, and the ultimate restoration of the films.

After a quarrel within the brass band in Brederwiede, Holland, the village finds itself with two brass bands. Each is determined to win an upcoming musical tournament; each is even more determined that the other should not win; and each approach the same composer to write a piece that will secure victory. Meanwhile, neither bandleader realises that their offspring have fallen in love with one another. Haanstra, the director, was most acclaimed for his short documentaries, but the mix of irreverence and affection he brought to those hit the right note in his first, and by far most successful, fictional work.