I’m so lazy. It’s just an hour by train to Manhattan and a seat in the Film Forum, worse yet, I’m just five minutes from the Huntington Cinema Arts Centre which shows its share of Classics, and I never go to either. Instead Robert Osborne keeps me glued to the couch on those nights I do manage to unchain myself from my desk.
I’d like to think that if I were around in the 60’s (and in this case, in London) I’d have been a little more proactive about heading out to the theatre. No TCM, no AMC of the 90’s, no cable TV, just a handful of channels. But who am I kidding, I’d likely be playing with the rabbit ears trying to take the grain out of whatever was playing on the Late Late Show. But my own sloth-like tendencies don’t take away from my fascination with this stack of National Film Theatre programs I pulled from one of the boxes of goods I recently unearthed.
For those of you who’d venture from their 60’s London couch after a 2010 whirl back in a Tardis, here’s a map of the National Theatre as well as a photo that includes a big arrow directing you to the proper entrance:
The National Film Theatre, today BFI Southbank, originally opened in 1951 moving to its present location in 1957. Strangely I could not find much of what I’d imagine is a rich history of the National Film Theatre anywhere on the British Film Institute’s website, though it’s entirely possible I was looking in the wrong place.
I’m going to bring you a little bit of history first hand through a detailed look at a pair of my National Film Theatre programs. Below them you’ll find a Gallery containing images of all of those I found. First up, we go back to 1968 for a look at The 20s How They Roared.
That’s the front cover up above featuring appropriately enough Clara Bow. Turning a couple of pages inside we find a brief introduction of the 20’s festival leading off with a quote from F. Scott Fitzgerald. The following page contains the start of the schedule with these photos on the facing page showing Louise Brooks in A Girl in Every Port and Adolphe Menjou with the cast of Are Parents People?
The National Film Theatre’s featured films of the Roaring 20’s, showing in June and July 1968:
Under the heading Girls, Garters & The New Morality: The Last Flight (1931), The Wild Party (1929), Manhandled (1924), A Girl in Every Port (1928), Show People (1928), Are Parents People? (1925), Male and Female (1919).
Under Booze and Bullets: Underworld (1927), The Docks of New York (1928), The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967), Little Caesar (1931), The Public Enemy (1931), City Streets (1931).
Under Escape to Innocence: The Iron Horse (1924), The Pony Express (1925), Tumbleweeds (1925), Exit Smiling (1926).
Under Gods for a Godless World: My Best Girl (1927), The Gaucho (1927), The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921).
Under Disillusion: Mantrap (1926), Lonesome (1928), The Crowd (1928).
Under Crash & Crack-Up: Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933).
It’s noted that all features will be supported by contemporary newsfilms and two-reel comedies from the period. The schedule was arranged in collaboration with David Robinson, then film critic of The Financial Times and author of Hollywood in the Twenties
Below: William S. Hart in Tumbleweeds at left, Rudolph Valentino in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse on right.
Moving forward to February-March 1972 the National Film Theatre focuses on D.W. Griffith:
The introduction to the 13 Griffith films mentions the coming centenary of Griffith’s 1875 birth and states that “a good deal of lip service is paid to Griffith’s mastery but few of these features have been shown in Britain in recent years.” The complete schedule of D.W. Griffith films playing at The National Film Theatre in February 1972:
Sally of the Sawdust (1925), America (1924), Orphans of the Storm (1921), Broken Blossoms (1919), Dream Street (1921), The Birth of a Nation (1915), Intolerance (1916), Way Down East (1920), Hearts of the World (1918), Judith of Bethulia (1914), Isn’t Life Wonderful (1924), Abraham Lincoln (1930), The Struggle (1931), and various shorts.
Following is a gallery of all 15 front, and several back, covers of the National Film Theatre programs I found. I find they offer a little taste of film history in covering how many of our beloved classics were revived and enjoyed decades before any of us sank into our couches to listen to Robert Osborne, enjoy:
Thousands of vintage movie cards and collectibles for sale at my eBay Store.
Interesting stuff.
You should go to Film Forum more often! I try to go whenever I can find a friend to drag along.
They have a noir series upcoming http://filmforum.org/series/chandler-hammett-woolrich-cain-series-page
I (along with a couple of buddies from the Sergio Leone Web Board) am going to the Dec. 18th double bill of CITY STREETS and STREET OF CHANCE, two movies that I’d never heard of but which have never had a normal DVD release in USA.
It’s always nice to see movies there that are unavailable elsewhere.
I was just there last week for a single showing they had of LA GRANDE GUERRA aka THE GREAT WAR (1959), an really good Italian movie about World War I. Written by the same writing team (Age-Scarpelli, Luciano Vincenzoni) that wrote THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, (another anti-war movie about tramps in a war they want nothing to do with).
Film Forum doesn’t conflict with TCM – I always have my DVR set for TCM anyway 🙂
Steven,
I try to go to Film Forum a couple of times a year now (the post above was written in 2010) and since my sister has moved to Queens, I’ve hit up the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria a few times as well. I’ll never be a regular, I get a lot more out of the movies from my couch where I can concentrate, but it’s become an enjoyable event every so often.
PS: City Streets is awesome — It’s reviewed on the site and that piece is expanded in my eBook.
Have to confess, I barely, if ever, watch TCM live anymore these days–I’m always time shifting and watch on DVR/DVD close to 100% of the time.
Cliff
yeah, I never watch anything live now. Whether sports or TCM, the DVR is king!
I confirmed with a couple of cineaste buddies that we’re going to Film Forum on Dec. 18th for that double bill. You should come too!
Thanks for the invite, Steven. I’m tempted, especially because of City Streets, but it’s just way too hectic for me here this time of year. Hopefully they program something just as tempting after the New Year!