Tonight!

At 7 and 9:15 pm.

Seeya there!

Top 5 Top 5 Lists Related To, But Not Including, The Rules of the Game

Top 5 Jean Renoir Films:

1. The River (1951)
2. The Grand Illusion (1937)
3. Elena and Her Men (1956)
4. The Southerner (1945)
5. Woman on the Beach (1947)

Top 5 Jean Renoir Films I Haven't Seen Yet:

1. La chienne (1931)
2. French Cancan (1954)

3. Le crime de Monsieur Lange (1936)

4. La bête humaine (1938)

5. The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946)

Top 5 Marcel Dalio Films:

1. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942)

2. To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks, 1944)

3. The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)

4. The Shanghai Gesture (Josef von Sternberg, 1941)

5. Sabrina (Billy Wilder, 1954)

Top 5 French Films of the 1930s:

1. L'Atalante (Jean Vigo, 1934)
2. The Grand Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
3. Under the Roofs of Paris (René Clair, 1930)
4. The Story of a Cheat (Sacha Guitry, 1936)
5. Pépé le Moko (Julien Duvivier, 1937)

Top 5 Films of 1939:

1. Stagecoach (John Ford)
2. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (Frank Capra)
3. Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming)
4. Only Angels Have Wings (Howard Hawks)
5. Young Mr. Lincoln (John Ford)

Links: Rules of the Game

The Rules of the Game, now widely considered one of the greatest films of all-time, did not fare so well on its initial release:

"The film’s initial screenings in Paris in July 1939 are now part of film legend: badly received by both critics and the public, the premiere even saw chairs thrown at the screen and an attempt to set the cinema on fire. Shocked, Renoir cut the film from around 94 to 81 minutes, only to see the film banned by the government censors in October (the ban was rescinded some months later but then reimposed by the Germans during the Occupation). Finally, the negatives were destroyed in a bombing raid in 1942."

The above is from thefilmjounal, where Ian Johnston reviews the film and Criterion's DVD release, which is the version we're showing this week.

Also from Criterion is this essay by Alexander Sesonske, who notes that it is indeed:

"a dazzling accomplishment, original in form and style, a comic tragedy, absurd and profound, graced by two of the most brilliant scenes ever created. It is also, in the words of Dudley Andrew, “the most complex social criticism ever enacted on the screen.” A total box office failure in 1939, The Rules of the Game now ranks as one of the greatest masterpieces of world cinema."

See, I wasn't exaggerating.

OK fine if you don't believe me, or Sesonske, who I've never heard of either.  But would you believe Bernardo Bertolucci, world famous director of The Conformist, The Last Emperor and Little Buddha?  Here he is in The Guardian's The Films that Changed My Life series:

"Renoir is like a junction between the France of impressionism (the France of his father, Auguste Renoir) and the France of the 20th century. Sometimes it's as if he were making films about characters from his father's paintings. But what is really extraordinary about Renoir, particularly in La Règle, is that he loves all his characters. He loves the goodies and baddies, the ones who make terrible mistakes. He loves the ones who are on screen for just two minutes. This is something I have always tried to do."

You're My Only Home

“It seems strange to me that video stores don’t have a section for Gatherings at Country Houses, because to me this is one of the best film genres, defined by its setting like the western, or backstage musical, or space opera. Most of my dreams take place in such environments, which probably explains which movies I’ve picked.”—Stephin Merritt

Last month at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, Stephin Merritt, the greatest pop songwriter of the last oh, twenty years, curated a six-film series of films set in country houses.  The schedule was thus: Rene Clair's And Then There Were None, Fassbinder's Chinese Roulette, Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night, Peter Greenaway's the Draughtman's Contact, Harmony Korine's recent Mister Lonely, and of course, The Rules of the Game.

Why do I bring this up, now especially, a month late and three thousand miles away?  For a few reasons.  One, not only does the series feature this week's Metro Classic but it also offers me a chance to plug Strange Powers, the documentary on Mr. Merritt that will be showing at the Northwest Film Forum starting on December 10th.  Sean saw the film in Vancouver and liked it.  Two, it's nice when my hero's tastes sync up with mine.  I mean, Rules of the Game is pretty much a no-brainer but the reception garnered by Mister Lonely was more decidedly mixed.  I thought it was a gem.  Samantha Morton, Werner Herzog and a bunch of sky-diving nuns would never lead you astray.  Three, it gives me an excuse to post a bunch of Stephin Merritt videos.  Enjoy!

Coming Attractions: The Rules of the Game

Wednesday, December 1st at 7 and 9:15 pm.

Giveaways: A Gosford Park DVD courtesy of Scarecrow video and a Gift Certificate to Cinema Books, respectively.