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9.5.08 - 10.26.08
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the UCLA Film & Television Archive present:
OUT OF THE PAST: FILM RESTORATION TODAY Please note: Some programs in this series will screen at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA Campus.
Film restoration and preservation are at the core of UCLA Film & Television Archive activities, and essential to conserving our motion picture heritage. Restorations also play an increasingly vital role in making old films accessible to modern audiences, whether through public screenings or DVD distribution. But what constitutes restoration? What do moving image preservationists do? The present series proposes to answer these questions, while discussing ethical issues, such as the status of the original and how digitality might change our perception of historic material. Each evening of this 10-week program will be a behind-the-scenes look into contemporary restoration techniques and concerns, with introductions by leading film preservationists.
“Out of the Past” is held in conjunction with a graduate seminar in restoration and preservation offered by UCLA's Moving Image Archive Studies (MIAS) program and the Student Chapter of the Association of Moving Image Archivists and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation. For more information about UCLA's program in archival studies, please consult www.mias.ucla.edu
The Archive is grateful for the generous support of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences which made this series possible. 
Admission to this program is free.
Please note: Some programs in this series will screen at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA Campus. Monday September 29 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the James Bridges Theater DECLARITIVE MODE
(1976) Directed by Paul Sharits Produced with a grant from the NEA to celebrate America’s bicentennial, Declarative Mode is Paul Sharits’ intense reflection on Thomas Jefferson and the state of the union. This double-screen version was performed on occasion by Sharits and offers a breathtaking variation on one of his most transcendent films. BLONDE COBRA
Directed by Ken Jacobs  Blonde Cobra is Ken Jacob’s meditation on life on New York’s Lower East Side in the early 1960s and one of the masterpieces of New American Cinema.
Blonde Cobra has been restored by Anthology Film Archives, with funding
provided by The Film Foundation.
MARIE MENKEN SHORTS
Several newly discovered and preserved shorts by Marie Menken round out the program. TRT: 100 min.
In person: Andrew Lampert, Film Curator, Anthology Film Archives
Please note: This screening will be held at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus. Monday October 6 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the James Bridges Theater A WALK IN THE SUN
(1945) Directed by Lewis Milestone 
One of the most realistic combat films to come out of Hollywood during the war years, A Walk in the Sun follows an ordinary American platoon from the beach at Palermo to a farm house they must capture six miles inland. These infantrymen walk, sit, talk, get bored, walk and sometimes fight and die with none of the heroics common to the genre, thanks to veteran Milestone’s no-nonsense direction. The stellar cast includes a host of young actors who would go on to long careers, including Dana Andrews, Richard Conte and Lloyd Bridges.
In person: Jere Guldin, Senior Preservationist, UCLA Film & Television Archive.
A Walk in the Sun has been restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Film Foundation
Please note: This screening will be held at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus. Monday October 13 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the James Bridges Theater LOVE AFFAIR
(1932) Directed by Thornton Freeland  Humphrey Bogart plays an aviator/inventor trying to build a new type of plane engine, who falls in love with a socialite, whose financial advisor is sleeping with the aviator’s sister, who is simultaneously trying to keep her pimp happy. The plot only gets more complicated. This racy pre-Code Columbia melodrama also features some amazing stunt flying.
In person: Tom Zaczyk, Executive Director, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Asset Management.
Please note: This screening will be held at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus. Based on the short story by Ursula Parrott. Cast: Dorothy Mackaill, Humphrey Bogart. 35mm, 68 min. Monday October 20 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the James Bridges Theater THE RIGHT TO LOVE
(1930) Directed by Richard Wallace 
Ruth Chatterton stars in a dual role in this pre-Code Paramount film about a young woman who is torn between her romantically inclined mother and her Bible-thumping father. The new Dunning process allowed Chatterton to play mother and daughter in the same shot. The UCLA Film & Television Archive contributed material to the restoration by Universal Studios of this long unavailable film.
In person: Bob O’Neill, Vice President, Image Assets & Preservation, and Tom Regal, Director Audio Restoration and Preservation, Universal Studios.
Please note: This screening will be held at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus. Screenplay: Zoë Akins. Cast: Ruth Chatterton, Paul Lukas. 35mm, 79 min. Monday October 27 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the James Bridges Theater THE RAVEN
(1915) Directed by Charles J. Brabin  An early bio-pic, The Raven stars Henry B. Walthall (Griffith’s "Little Colonel" from The Birth of a Nation) as Edgar Allen Poe. The film visualizes scenes from Poe’s life, as well as his most famous poem. All three films in this program survived only in 28mm which--before the invention of 16mm safety stock in 1924--was the gauge of choice for the non-theatrical and amateur film market. Based on a novel by George Cochrane Hazelton. Screenwriter: Charles J. Brabin. Cast: Henry B. Walthall, Wanda Howard. 35mm, 57 min. COLONEL HEEZA LIAR - NATURALIST
(1914) Directed by John Randolph Bray An animated short featuring the character Colonel Heeza Liar, a visual parody of Teddy Roosevelt. Preceded by...
IN THE SHADOW OF THE PYRAMIDS
(1915) Directed by Unknown A travelogue of the environs surrounding the ancient pyramids is lighthearted in its tone and breathtaking in its imagery. IN PERSON: Ed Stratmann, Associate Curator, George Eastman House.
Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla.
Please note: This screening will be held at the James Bridges Theater on the UCLA campus. Monday November 3 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the Billy Wilder Theater ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST
(C'era una volta il West)
(1968, Italy/United States) Directed by Sergio Leone 
Paramount's Barry Allen will discuss the restoration of Italian Spaghetti Western maestro Sergio Leone's magnum opus. Famous for its more than 10-minute credit sequence, this film gave new meaning to the term "horse opera." Indeed, Leone's epic narrative, his baroque compositions, Morricone's Wagnerian score and the mythic screen power of his stars, including Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Jr. and Claudia Cardinale, make this a summary of all other Hollywood Westerns. Unavailable for years, except in the butchered American version, this new restoration replicates Leone's authorized European version.
b>In person: Barry Allen, Executive Director of Film Preservation and Archival Resources, Paramount Pictures.
The restoration of Once Upon A Time in the West was made
possible with funding from The Film Foundation and The Rome Film
Festival, in association with Sergio Leone Productions and Paramount
Pictures. Monday November 10 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the Billy Wilder Theater THE SAVAGE EYE
(1960) Directed by Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, and Joseph Strick  Directed by Sidney Meyers from a script by Ben Maddow, with camerawork by renowned photographer Helen Levitt and Haskell Wexler, and produced by Joseph Strick, The Savage Eye is one of the quintessential independent Los Angeles films. In the film, a woman goes to Los Angeles to wait out her divorce and must confront the loneliness of an impersonal city. She throws herself into the seedier side of Los Angeles life, searching for any distraction to relieve her boredom, before an auto accident allows her to recognize the positive sides of humanity. Two stream-of-consciousness narrators dominate the soundtrack: Judith and a male angel/poet, who carry on a dialogue about what she sees and experiences. Producer: Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick. Screenwriter: Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick. Cinematographer: Haskell Wexler, Jack Couffer, Henry Levitt. Editor: Ben Maddow, Sidney Meyers, Joseph Strick. Cast: Barbara Baxley, Gary Merrill, Herschel Bernardi, Jean Hidey, Elizabeth Zemach. 35mm, 68 min. Preceded by...
MUSCLE BEACH
(1948) Directed by Irving Lerner and Joseph Strick Lerner and Strick's poetic documentary on the cult of the body beautiful at Venice, CA with a score by Earl Robinson. In person: Mark Toscano, Film Preservationist, Academy Film Archive. Monday November 17 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the Billy Wilder TheaterThese three previously "lost" films star the great Japanese-American actor Sessue Hayakawa and were produced by his own company, in conjunction with director William Worthington. Hayakawa starred in over 50 films between 1914 and 1919, but became an American superstar after Cecil B. DeMille's The Cheat (1915). Only a handful of Hayakawa's films survive. Elif Rongen, from the Nederlands Filmmuseum, will discuss the restoration of these important films, two of which remain fragments. HIS BIRTHRIGHT
(1918) Directed by William Worthington THE COURAGEOUS COWARD
(1919) Directed by William Worthington THE MAN BENEATH
(1919) Directed by William Worthington In person: Elif Rongen, Film Collections Project Manager, Nederlands Filmmuseum.
Live musical accompaniment by Michael Mortilla.
TRT: 126 min. Monday November 24 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the Billy Wilder Theater THE ROBE
(1953) Directed by Henry Koster  20th Century Fox film preservationist, Schawn Belston, will introduce this restoration of the studio's first feature film in CinemaScope. Starring Richard Burton as a Roman tribune from a patrician family who works for Pontius Pilate, and based on a Lloyd C. Douglas novel, this reworking of the story of Christ's crucifixion focuses on the robe Jesus wore at the time of his death. Epic in scope (no pun intended), The Robe won Oscars for Best Art Direction and Costume Design, while Burton, cinematographer Leon Shamroy and producer Frank Ross were also nominated.
In person: Schawn Belston, Vice President of Asset Management & Film Preservation, 20th Century Fox. The Robe has been restored by the Academy Film Archive and Twentieth Century Fox with funding provided by The Film Foundation.Based on the novel by Lloyd C. Douglas. Producer: Frank Ross. Screenplay: Philip Dunne, Albert Maltz. Cinematographer: Leon Shamroy. Cast: Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Michael Rennie. 35mm, 135 min. Monday December 1 2008, 7:30PM ( Free Admission )
@ the Billy Wilder Theater THE TIMES OF HARVEY MILK
(1984) Directed by Rob Epstein  In 1978, San Francisco City Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a former city politician. Milk was the first openly gay official elected to any major government office in the United States and thus an instant martyr to the cause of gay rights. Rob Epstein's 1984 memorial won an Oscar for best documentary, but the original materials in 16mm had seriously degraded over the years, leading the UCLA Film & Television Archive to make the film a preservation priority. Preservationist Ross Lipman will discuss the complicated restoration to 35mm, which involved tracking down numerous original sources for Epstein's compilation.
In person: Ross Lipman, Film Preservationist, UCLA Film & Television Archive. Producer: Richard Schmiechen. Screenplay: Judith Coburn, Carter Wilson. Cinematographer: Frances Reid. Editor: Rob Epstein, Deborah Hoffmann. 35mm (blow-up from 16mm), 90 min. |