CAROL REED CENTENNIAL RETROSPECTIVE
Nov. 24 - Jan. 10
December 30, 2006, marks the centennial of the birth of the great British director Sir Carol Reed. A consummate craftsman, master composer of scenes and sensitive handler of actors, Reed's cinematic genius sometimes has been overlooked, whether due to the whims of critical fashion, his preference for genre movies or the director's own relatively unobtrusive ego. Reed always will be most closely associated with his three enormously successful collaborations with novelist/screenwriter Graham Greene, including the classic thriller THE THIRD MAN, the riveting psychodrama THE FALLEN IDOL and the spy spoof OUR MAN IN HAVANA. This series includes these films as well as several of Reed's rarely screened 1940s pictures, including his other great noir thriller, ODD MAN OUT, and a new 35mm print of the classic WWII flag-waver, THE WAY AHEAD, plus Reed's Best Picture Oscar winner from 1969, OLIVER!
Films include THE THIRD MAN, THE STARS LOOK DOWN, THE WAY AHEAD, NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH, THE FALLEN IDOL, ODD MAN OUT, OUR MAN IN HAVANA, AND OLIVER!
THE THIRD MAN - ONE WEEK ENGAGEMENT!
Traveling to postwar, rubble-strewn Vienna to meet old friend Orson Welles, dime novelist Joseph Cotten is shocked to learn his friend has just died in a street accident. He suspects something is amiss when none of the witnesses can keep their stories straight. With little help from Trevor Howard and the British authorities, Cotten begins his own search. The notoriously intractable Welles more or less selfdirected one of his most magnetic performances as the charming villain Harry Lime, while Reed expertly directed a top supporting cast around him, including: Cotten's decent, slow-to-wise up Holly Martins; Howard's casually class-conscious Major Calloway; and Alida Valli as Welles's elusive, coolly desperate lover. Robert Krasker's Oscar-winning cinematography is a symphony of angled shots and slashing shadows. Winner of the Grand Prize at Cannes and #1 on the British Film Institute's list of 100 greatest British movies-the only film to enjoy dual citizenship with AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies.
DIR/PROD Carol Reed; SCR Graham Greene. UK, 1949, b&w, 104 min. NR
THE STARS LOOK DOWN
Filmed largely on location in an English coalmine and a meticulously replicated set, Reed delicately conveys the anxieties and fears often found in coal mining communities. Off to college, Michael Redgrave dreams of returning to his hometown to champion the neglected miners. But he's distracted from his mission when he marries seductress Margaret Lockwood and becomes her stooge. A mining catastrophe-thrillingly directed to evoke terror, excitement and real tragedy-reawakens his sense of purpose.
DIR Carol Reed; SCR J.B. Williams, based on the novel by A.J. Cronin; PROD Isadore Goldsmith. UK, 1940, b&w, 110 min. NR
THE WAY AHEAD
A gritty, realistic account of a WWII British combat unit undergoing basic training. David Niven stars as Lieutenant Jim Perry, a former gas station attendant who takes a tough line with the ragged bunch of civilian conscripts under his command, as he and William Hartnell prepare them for combat with Rommel's Afrika Korps. (Cannes Film Festival)
DIR Carol Reed; SCR Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov; PROD John Sutro and Norman Walker. UK, 1944, b&w, 115 min. NR
NIGHT TRAIN TO MUNICH
From the screenwriting team behind Alfred Hitchcock's wildly successful THE LADY VANISHES, this film plays like an unofficial sequel. In the first of Reed's WWII propaganda films, Margaret Lockwood attempts to flee Czechoslovakia, alternately being captured by the Nazis and then making daring escapes with her scientist father. Rex Harrison shines as the British agent in deep cover as a German officer trying to rescue Lockwood and her father. Cameo appearances by Charters and Caldicott, the cricket-crazed, drolly incurious British tourists from THE LADY VANISHES.
DIR Carol Reed; SCR Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder; PROD Edward Black. UK, 1940, b&w, 90 min. NR
THE FALLEN IDOL
Child actor Bobby Henrey gives a sophisticated and touching performance as the son of the French ambassador to Great Britain, growing up lonely in his father's London mansion. His best friend and de facto father figure is butler Ralph Richardson, whom Henrey observes enjoying intimate moments with secretary Michèle Morgan. When the maid-Richardson's wife-turns up dead, Henrey's loyalties are torn. Best Film, 1949 BAFTAs, and Oscar nominations for Reed's direction and Graham Greene's screenplay.
DIR/PROD Carol Reed; SCR Graham Greene. UK, 1948, b&w, 95 min. NR
ODD MAN OUT
A film noir cum political thriller that possesses a timeless, existential pathos. James Mason is electrifying as the idealistic young leader of an unnamed insurgency (read IRA) in an unidentified city (read Belfast), who, badly injured in a botched heist, seeks to evade the police, hide out with sympathizers, avoid opportunists and bounty hunters, and reunite with his beloved Kathleen Ryan. Robert Krasker's moody lensing of the snowy, shadowy streets of Belfast is a triumph. Best Film, 1948 BAFTAs and an Oscar nomination for Best Editing.
DIR/PROD Carol Reed; SCR F.L. Green and R.C. Sherriff, based on the novel by F.L. Green. UK, 1947, b&w, 116 min. NR
OUR MAN IN HAVANA
The third and final of the Reed-Graham Greene collaborations, this time in spoof mode: Havana vacuum cleaner salesman Alec Guinness is surprised to find himself recruited by Caribbean spymaster Noel Coward for service in MI6. He's happy forthe extra income, but when nothing much happens, Guinness spices up his reports to please his superiors. Matters are complicated when a real spy ring gets whiff of Guinness. Ralph Richardson, Burl Ives and Maureen O'Hara round out a terrific cast, with Ernie Kovacs shining as the crafty Batista enforcer Captain Segura.
DIR/PROD Carol Reed; SCR Graham Greene, based on his novel. UK,1959, b&w, 111 min. NR
OLIVER!
Mark Lester plays the young waif Oliver in this musical version of Charles Dickens's classic novel. He runs away from an orphanage only to fall in with a group of pick-pocketing hoodlums, including Oliver Reed's Bill Sikes and Ron Moody's Oscar-nominated Fagin. Nominated for 11 Oscars in all, OLIVER! won five, including Johnny Green's music adaptation, Reed's direction and Best Picture. Adapted from Lionel Bart's stage musical.
DIR Carol Reed; SCR Vernon Harris, based on the novel by Charles Dickens; PROD John Woolf. UK, 1968, color, 153 min. NOT RATED
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