University News
The Dead Filmmakers Society Returns for Summer 2014
June 2, 2014
MACOMB, IL – The summer film favorite "The Dead Filmmakers Society" returns this year with nine showings scheduled on Thursday nights in the Sandburg Theater of the Western Illinois University Union.
The film screenings are each 16 mm films from the collection of WIU film Professor Richard Ness, who will serve as host each Thursday. Each film begins at 7 p.m. and admission is free. Most films will be preceded by selected short subjects.
This year's schedule includes:
• June 5: "Thunder Rock" (Britain, 1942) - Disillusioned writer Michael Redgrave retreats to an isolated lighthouse to hide from the world, but finds he can't escape the ghosts of the past in this acclaimed wartime drama designed to boost British morale - with James Mason and Lilli Palmer.
• June 12: "Harrowhouse" (1974) - In this comic crime caper, Charles Grodin and Candice Bergen conspire to pull off a major diamond heist, with the support of an all-star cast, including Trevor Howard, John Gielgud and (again) James Mason. Note that this film will be shown in its original widescreen aspect ratio.
• June 19: "Disorder!" (IL DISORDINE) (Italy, 1962) - In the tradition of "La Dolce Vita," this little-known Italian drama features an international cast, including Louis Jourdan, Susan Strasberg, Curd Jergens, Alida Valli and Renato Salvatori, in a series of vignettes crossing all classes of Italian society. Directed by Franco Bursati ("Bread and Chocolate"). In Italian with English subtitles.
• June 26: "The Krays" (Britain, 1990) - Director Peter Medak's account of the notorious twins who controlled the London criminal world in the 1960s (and were the inspiration for Monty Python's Piranha brothers). Starring Martin and Gary Kemp, of the rock group Spandau Ballet, and featuring an unforgettable performance by Billie Whitelaw as the boys' devoted mother. Note: This film contains graphic violence and adult content.
• July 3: "Lady Liberty" (1972) - Our Fourth of July-eve offering is an example of when not so great films happen to good people. Sophia Loren stars as an Italian woman trying to get a large mortadella sausage through U.S. customs. That's pretty much the whole story, but the cast includes early performances by Danny DeVito, Susan Sarandon and William Devane, and the soundtrack features songs by Harry Nilsson and Carly Simon. You may or may not come away feeling proud to be an American, but you'll honestly be able to say that you never sausage a movie.
• July 10: "Cries and Whispers" (Sweden, 1972) - Ingmar Bergman's critically acclaimed study of illness and death features stunning Oscar-winning cinematography by Sven Nykvist. Starring Liv Ullmann. In Swedish with English subtitles.
• July 17: "Comfort and Joy" (Scotland, 1984) - Another great comedy from director Bill Forsyth ("Local Hero"), starring Bill Paterson as a disc jockey who gets caught up in a territorial dispute between two warring families (but the product they're fighting over is not typical gangster-film fare). Music score by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits.
• July 24: "The Couch" (1962) - Robert Bloch, author of "Psycho," scripted this chilling account of an ice-pick killer terrorizing a city, from a story by Blake Edwards. The film will be followed by "Waxworks," a Bloch-scripted episode of the Thriller TV series.
• July 31: "No Haunt for a Gentleman" (Britain, 1952) – The series concludes with another British ghost film, this time a short and silly farce about a ghost trying to drive away the mother-in-law of the owner of a country estate.
The summer film series is sponsored by the WIU Department of Broadcasting.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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