Special Season: December 3 - December 17
Action! Howad Hawks in the 1930's
Howard Hawks' (1896-1977) long Hollywood career is one of the riches & most iconic of the Classical era. A sophisticated director who moved between various studios and produced seminal works in a range of popular genres, his films are often regard as the epitome of the Golden Years of Hollywood, his straightforward, no-nonsense approach to film-making seemingly at one with the production line methods & ethics of the system.
Fascinated by American popular culture, the French auteurist critics championed Hawks, and Andrew Sarris unsurprisingly defined his work as "good, clean, direct, functional cinema, perhaps the most distinctly American cinema of all". Nevertheless, Hawks' films are also amongst the most distinctive, profoundly modern and thematically rich of the period, honing in on such preoccupations as the fraternal bonds of men (and some women), bodies in action, work, the ethics of professionalism and the emotional life of characters who seldom let slip the laconic façade they present to the ouside world.
This season of specially imported 35mm prints focuses on Hawks' work in the 1930's, a decade which demonstrates the range and consistency of the director's cinema, as well as his collaborations with many of the great stars of the era (Cary Grant, James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson, Joan Blondell, Rita Hayworth). Featuring some of Hawks' least-known films (including such dynamic & fast-paced movies in the aviation & prison genres such as The Dawn Patrol, Ceiling Zero, and The Criminal Code), alongside some of his most celebrated (such as the tight-lipped romanticism of Only Angels Have Wings), this season provides an insight into the early work of one of the defining figures of American action cinema.
December 3 - 7:00pm
Only Angels Have Wings
Howard Hawks (1939) 121 mins G
Startlingly atmospheric aviation film is the peak of Hawks’ sustained ‘30s work in this genre & one of the defining creations of his career. Focusing on the friendships, camaraderie & romantic stoicism of a group of pilots working a hazardous South American mail run, it features wonderfully emotive but tight-lipped & restrained performances from a stellar cast including Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Rita Hayworth & Thomas Mitchell. Typically rarefied & luminous portrait of the Hawksian bonds between men & women forged on the outskirts of “civilisation”.
Imported 35mm print courtesy of The Library of Congress.
December 3 - 9:15pm
Ceiling Zero
Howard Hawks (1936) 95 mins
One of many Hawks films to centre on the world of aviation, this mid-1930s action drama slots nicely into the filmmaker’s oeuvre. When “Dizzy” Davis, an experienced but irresponsible barnstormer, joins Federal Air Lines, a fellow pilot crashes to his death as a result of one of “Dizzy’s” selfish actions. After learning that his license will not be renewed, “Dizzy” attempts to make amends – in his own fashion. Fast-paced, unsentimental & lively, the film is based on a play by Frank “Spig” Wead. With James Cagney & Pat O’Brien.
Imported 35mm print courtesy of The Library of Congress.
December 10 - 7:00pm
Tiger Shark
Howard Hawks (1932) 80 mins
After having his hand bitten off by a tiger shark, Captain Mike Mascarenhas (Edward G. Robinson) replaces it with a steel hook. His misfortune extends to his love life as his wife’s affections wander towards his friend & first mate (Richard Arlen). Hawks’ film is a sophisticated sea drama which deftly meshes the tension between his protagonists with the dangers of the sea that surround them; menaces made truly thrilling by some remarkable cinematography & editing.
Imported 35mm print courtesy of The Library of Congress.
December 10 - 8:30pm
The Crowd Roars
Howard Hawks (1932) 85 mins
James Cagney plays a hotshot racing car driver trying to keep his brother away from the track & himself away from the booze & his brother’s girl (the ever-brassy Joan Blondell). Hawks paces the whole thing at a suitably breakneck speed & Cagney cockily takes the melodramatic plot’s hairpin bends with panache. Shot at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the stunt work qualifies as first-rate realism: the film’s marketing made much of the 9 major accidents & 14 cars wrecked during filming!
Imported 35mm print courtesy of The Library of Congress.
December 10 - 10:05pm
A Hell of a Good Life: Howard Hawks
Hans C. Blumenberg (1978) 59 mins
Hawks is remarkable for producing classics in every film genre he attempted within the Hollywood studio system. At 81 years of age the veteran producer-director talks widely & laconically about his life & work in Hollywood. This insightful German documentary was shot in & near the director’s home in Palm Springs over a 5-day period in November 1977, just six weeks before his death.
December 17 - 7:00pm
The Dawn Patrol
Howard Hawks (1930) 95 mins
From the Oscar-winning script by John Monk Saunders, Hawks’ 1st sound film is a powerful drama portraying both the tragedy & futility of war via a group of WWI British pilots. The aerial combat sequences move seamlessly from soundstage recreations to actual footage obtained from a camera mounted on the front of an airplane without any jarring sense of displacement. Starring Richard Barthelmess, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. & Neil Hamilton.
Imported 35mm print courtesy of The Library of Congress.
December 17 - 8:45pm
The Criminal Code
Howard Hawks (1931) 95 mins
Hawks’ only prison film & one of Columbia’s finest early talkies. Advised by & featuring real convicts this taut drama has a strong air of authenticity & won a best screenplay Oscar nomination for Fred Niblo & Seton I. Miller. Walter Huston produces one of his most powerful performances as a cynical D.A. appointed as the warden of a prison where many of the inmates owe him their confinement. Boris Karloff is chillingly effective as the villain – some of his footage reappearing in Peter Bogdanovich’s Targets.
Imported 35mm print courtesy of The Library of Congress.
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