"Superbly choreographed by Fosse, the cabaret numbers evoke the Berlin of 1931 so vividly that only an idiot could fail to perceive that something is rotten in the state of Weimar." - Time Out
The winner of 8 Academy Awards (EIGHT!) this is darkly funny adaptation of Christopher Isherwood’s autobiographical novel, Goodbye to Berlin. Liza Minnelli is utterly unforgettable as Sally Bowles: a cabaret singer with a tangled love life, hoping to make it big in a Germany about to succumb to the Nazi movement.
"Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance is astonishing." - Philip French, The Observer
We promised ourselves that we'd try to stick to The Chain as much as possible this year, and limit Tribute Screenings to only exceptional cases. And so we're extremely sad to find ourselves scheduling a screening in tribute to Philip Seymour Hoffman - one of the finest actors of his generation.
There's an embarrassment of riches to choose from when it comes to Hoffman's work, but seeing it was his incredible portrayal of the writer Truman Capote that saw him deservedly win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 2005, we thought Capote the most appropriate film to screen.
Set in 1959, Capote deals with the New York writer's research into the brutal and senseless murder of a middle-class family in a small Kansas town - research that sees the writer befriending both the shell-shocked townspeople and the convicted killers. While the end result is Truman Capote's best-selling classic, In Cold Blood, the writing of the book takes Capote into very murky ethical waters and raises questions regarding artistic integrity and a writer's responsibility to telling the truth.
We hope you'll join us on Tuesday 11 February in paying our respects to this brilliant, brilliant actor.
"She smolders, she smirks, she fails to be amused, she dominates, she destroys." Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
Set in Weimar Germany, an elderly well-respected professor (Emile Jannings) allows his cosy, middle-class existence to spin dangerously out of control when he falls for cabaret singer, Lola Lola (Marlene Dietrich in the role that first brought her international acclaim).
Based on the 1905 novel, Professor Unrat by Heinrich Mann (brother of Thomas), The Blue Angel is considered the first major German sound film and contains what was to become Dietrich’s signature song, Falling In Love Again (Can’t Help It). And while it is arguably von Sternberg’s best-loved film, it also cost him his marriage as he and Deitrich began an affair during filming.
"If Mel Brooks has a masterpiece it’s this homage to the Universal horror movies of the 1930s and 40s." - Josh Larsen, Filmspotting
We are delighted to be part of this year’s LOCO London Comedy Film Festival, which lightens up the capital during the most miserable month of the year. The week before the main festival kicks off at the BFI and other London cinemas, we’re showing Mel Brooks’ affectionate parody of classic Hollywood horror, Young Frankenstein, as the film celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2014.
Gene Wilder, who co-wrote the script with Brooks, plays Dr Frederick Frankenstein, who after years of living down the family reputation, inherits his grandfather's castle and repeats the infamous experiments.
The film winks and nods to the Boris Karloff classics of the 1930s but overflows with all the silliness you’d expect from an A-grade Mel Brooks movie.
A superb supporting cast includes Peter Boyle playing the Monster and Marty Feldman as a bug-eyed servant; Teri Garr is the doctor’s lovely assistant while Madeline Kahn plays Wilder’s uptight fiance - all of whom are upstaged by a magnificent cameo from Gene Hackman.
Young Frankenstein is a must-see and quite rightly appears regularly on lists of the funniest movies ever made.
"Glaciers might be melting, the polar caps might be crumbling, but not even the passage of half a century has taken the frozen edge off this brilliantly icy film." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Class warfare as refracted through the prism of psychosexual drama. Stylishly shot, beautifully scripted (by Harold Pinter), with a trio of truly mesmerising performances at his heart from Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles and James Fox, The Servant is a witty and unsettling dissection of the long-harboured resentments that seethed just below the surface of British society.
Tuesday 26 November 2013 @ 8pm The Lord Palmerston
"More relevant than ever in the age of reality television and CCTV".- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
On its release in 1960 the critical mauling that greeted Michael Powell's tale of a voyeuristic serial killer effectively ended the career of one of British cinema's true greats. Now, thanks to champions such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, it's rightly regarded as a masterpiece.
“A notably well-executed, very funny and very well-acted movie: a quirky, sardonic take on '50s faddishness, fame, power, friendship, character and ethics”. - Geoff Andrews, Time Out
It’s A Wonderful Life may have been the obvious choice for our Christmas film; instead we give you the Coen brothers’ loving parody of a Capra-esque feel-good festive flick, complete with New York in the snow and an angel.
A throwback to the fast-talking comedies of the 1940s and bursting with wonderful production design the film follows the unlikely adventures of Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), a college graduate who secures a job in the postroom at Hudsucker Industries just as its chairman is jumping 50 floors to his death.
The chairman's scheming aide, Mussburger (Paul Newman, blues still a-twinklin'), decides to hire Norville as chairman, presuming he is a dunce whose new position will frighten the stockholders into selling all their stock cheaply, thus allowing him to consolidate his hold on the company.
Jennifer Jason Leigh channels Katherine Hepburn as cynical undercover reporter who Norville falls for at the office Christmas party.
The plot hinges on Robbins’ character producing the smash hit toy of the season, and in the end isn’t that who Christmas is for? You know, for kids?
"Leo Tolstoy wrote that 'every unhappy family is unhappy in its own fashion,' but not even he could have invented the Friedmans." - Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
The Friedmans are a respectable, middle-class Long Island family, seemingly addicted to recording their daily lives – first on super-8, then on video. But their world crumbles when the father, a popular teacher, is accused, along with the youngest of his three sons, of molesting schoolchildren.
Unbelievably, the arrest, trial and its horrifying aftermath are all chronicled in the family’s own home movies, revealing a tangle of contradictions and their comfortable world slowly disintegrates around them.
Andrew Jarecki's Oscar-nominated documentary is thought-provoking, shocking and unforgettably compelling.
"It's a cornerstone of the French New Wave, and one of the greatest movies about childhood, from anywhere, ever." - Anthony Quinn, Independent
FrancoisTruffaut's autopbiographical New Wave classic is a touching story of a misunderstood young adolescent who left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
Tuesday 12 November 2013 @ The Lord Palmerston 8pm
“All quite beautiful, combining romance, comedy, suspense and a sense of the supernatural to winning effect.” - Geoff Andrews, Time Out
As part of their prize the winners of our second quiz, Magic Hour, picked this classic, one of our audience vote losing 'also rans', to be screened at a later date.
stars as a headstrong young woman who travels to these remote isles to marry a rich lord. Stranded by stormy weather, she meets a handsome naval officer (
"The film that launched a thousand careers... funny, perceptive, pepped up by a great soundtrack." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out
One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence.
The young cast includes Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and a pre-Han Solo Harrison Ford.
"It is a creepy film and a crawly film, and a film filled with things that go bump in the night. It is very good." - Roger Ebert
The Greatest Horror Film Ever Made? Very possibly. 1960s Uptown New York as a haven for cosmopolitan witches intent on bringing the child of Satan into the world.
A classic of paranoia and creeping dread. Ruth ‘Harold & Maude’ Gordon rightly won Best-Supporting Actress Oscar for her unforgettably creepy performance as Mia Farrow’s elderly neighbour who might not be as kindly as she initially seems.
“By the time Tom Waits growls his lovely closing waltz over the credits, Jarmusch has shown us moments most filmmakers don't even notice.” - Geoff Andrews, Time Out
Five different taxi journeys that take place at precisely the same time in five different cities around the world reveal a mixture of humorous and moving stories. The films nods towards directors including Spike Lee, John Casavetes and Aki Kaurismaki - all scored to magnificent Tom Waits soundtrack.
Taking place in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helinski, the film features an international cast including Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Beatrice Dalle, Roberto Benigni, Matti Pellonpää and Isaach De Bankolé.
A typically idiosyncratic film by Jim Jarmusch, one of indie America's most distinctive directors.
If you want to read what an impact the film had on Nigel when he first saw it, read his Open Letter to Winona Ryder.
"Having the Touch of Evil envisioned by our most creative filmmaker, is a wondrous gift no movie lover should miss." - Chicago Tribune
Our contribution to the UK-wide Scalarama festival is one the great cult classics.
If Citizen Kane can be seen as a perfect representation of Orson Welles’ (considerable) ego, Touch of Evil is where he let his (equally considerable) id run riot. The result is a film that, while not as perfect as Kane, is darker, funnier and – arguably – more entertaining. A brilliantly warped piece of Wellesian noir populated by a cast of grotesques that was clearly an influence on David Lynch, the Coen Brothers et al.
Set in a Mexican border town, Charlton Heston and Welles go head-to-head as a pair of sweaty lawmen. In addition to Janet Leigh as Heston’s new wife, the film features memorable cameos by Marlene Dietrich and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Encompassing police corruption, organised crime, racial tension, recreational drugs, prostitution, sexual perversion, a truly terrible wig, an opening shot that has justifiably gone down in cinematic history and a great score by Henry Mancini, Touch of Evil is an unforgettable, flawed masterpiece.
"The blend of Schrader's script, Scorsese's direction and De Niro's performance is both riveting and unnerving. A film that will stay with you forever." - Empire
As part of their prize the winners of our first quiz, The Rain Men, picked one of our
If you've never seen the film you have no excuse not to attend. Those that are familar with it should relish the chance to see it on a bigger screen with an audience.
Robert De Niro stars as the Vietnam vet tuned nocturnal cabbie who "just won't take it anymore". The excellent supporting cast includes Cybill Shepherd, Jodie Foster, Harvey Kietel, Albert Brooks and Peter Boyle.
“As French crime thrillers go, this is about as good as it gets. It's also an important film historically, and to top it off, the jazz score, by Miles Davis, is famous in its own right.” - San Francisco Chronicle
Paris at night, Jeanne Moreau, and criminal misadventure - all to a beautiful Miles Davis score - Louis Malle’s debut feature is an unforgettable slice of 1950s French cool.
"Five Easy Pieces, a brilliant gem of American psychological realism (where are these movies today?), is Nicholson's arrival to the A-list." - Time Out New York
Screening in tribute to Karen Black who died earlier this month, Five Easy Pieces is one of the essential films of the 1970s New Hollywood. A classic of the 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls' era.
Jack Nicholson plays an upper-class drop-out who's rejected a promising career as a concert pianist for work on oil rigs and an itinerent life of dive bars, motels and diners.
When he learns that his father isn't well he takes his waitress girlfriend (Black) to the family home in Washington. Cue a culture-clash confrontation.
“Bridges has a special gift for these evocations of a world seen in a bell jar.” - Pauline Kael
1913, and while Europe trembles on the brink of war, Sir Randolph Nettleby (James Mason in his last film role before his death) gathers together a group of European aristocrats for a weekend of huntin’ and shootin’. A fascinating look at a world of blissfully privileged ignorance that was about to be swept away for ever.
"One of the most entertaining, best executed, original road pictures ever." - Variety
This is the one film that we both had on our lists of films we wished you'd voted for in the last 12 months. By unhappy coincidence, Dennis Farina, who plays the mob boss in the film, died on 22 July, so we'll now be showing the film in tribute as an additional screening.
Midnight Run is a brilliantly throwaway comedy-thriller that fairly zips along, yet still packs a real emotional punch when the final credits roll.
Charles Grodin’s mild-mannered lawyer almost steals the film from Robert De Niro’s uptight bounty-hunter (a role that is just the right side of self-parody and undoubtedly De Niro’s finest comedic performance). Also, great support from Yaphet Kotto, Joe Pantoliano, and the recently deceased Dennis Farina – who puts in a genuinely chilling performance as a mob boss with a criminal taste in comfortable knitwear. Put simply: more people should see this film.
“This masterpiece still packs a wallop, though nothing in it is as simple as it may first appear.” - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Early Kubrick – and one of his best (which is saying something.) Kirk Douglas stars as the commanding officer of a unit of soldiers during this First World War who are court martialed and tried for cowardice after they refuse orders and retreat from a suicidal attack. As haunting as it is thought-provoking.
