Thursday, February 19, 1987

Rouben Mamoulian retrospective (Berlin Film Festival 1987)


Rouben Mamoulian: City Streets (US 1931) with Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney.

19 Feb 1987  Silk Stockings / Silkkisukat (US 1957). Helmut Arlt, video
20 Feb 1987  High, Wide and Handsome / Kultainen unelma (US 1937). Filmkunst 66. 35 mm
20 Feb 1987  City Streets / Suurkaupungin kadut (US 1931). Cinema Paris. 35 mm
21 Feb 1987  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Tri Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (US 1932). Cinema Paris. 35 mm
21 Feb 1987  Love Me Tonight / Rakasta minua tänä yönä (US 1932). Cinema Paris. 35 mm
21 Feb 1987  The Gay Desperado / Meidän roistojen kesken (US 1936). Zoo-Palast. 35 mm
22 Feb 1987  Rings On Her Fingers / Rakkautta ja huijausta (US 1942). Filmkunst 66. 35 mm
22 Feb 1987  Summer Holiday / Oi nuoruus (US 1948). Filmkunst 66. 35 mm
22 Feb 1987  Golden Boy / Kultapoika (US 1939). Filmkunst 66. 35 mm
23 Feb 1987  Becky Sharp / Elämän uhkapeli (US 1935). Cinema Paris. 35 mm
25 Feb 1987  Blood and Sand / Verta ja hiekkaa (US 1941). Cinema Paris, 35 mm
26 Feb 1987  The Mark of Zorro / Zorron merkki (US 1940). Filmkunst 66, 35 mm
26 Feb 1987  We Live Again / Katjuša (US 1934). Filimkunst 66, 35 mm
1 March 1987  Applause (US 1930). Cinema Paris. 35 mm
1 March 1987  Rouben Mamoulian Interview (GB 1984?). D: Philip Jenkinson
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POST FESTUM
2 April 1987  The Song of Songs / Korkea veisu (US 1933). Video

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4 Oct 1964  The Mark of Zorro / Zorron merkki (US 1940) tv: Yle TV1
15 Nov 1975  Queen Christina / Kuningatar Kristiina (US 1933) tv: Yle TV2
June 1981  Silk Stockings / Silkkisukat (US 1957) Stockholm: Filmklubben, Filmhuset, 35 mm
Jan 1982  Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde / Tri Jekyll & Mr. Hyde (US 1932). Stockholm: Filmklubben, Filmhuset, 16 mm
10 May 2006  The Song of Songs / Korkea veisu (US 1933) dvd: Marlene Dietrich Collection (Paramount)

Rouben Mamoulian (1897-1987) was still alive during the Berlin tribute but did not attend it. Instead, we saw the recent Philip Jenkinson interview with him. I included in my MMM Film Guide of 1000 (later 1100) best films: Applause, Love Me Tonight, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, City Streets, Blood and Sand and The Mark of Zorro.

It was amazing that Mamoulian was so brilliant and assured since the very start of his own film career and the early years of sound film in general when everything was clumsy and awkward. He was formative in so many genres and idioms: the musical (Applause), the gangster film (City Streets), the horror film (Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde), out-Lubitsching Lubitsch in Love Me Tonight, out-Sternberging Sternberg  in The Song of Songs (with Dietrich) and out-Stillering Stiller in Queen Christina (with Garbo), pioneering in Technicolor (Becky Sharp), launching new stars (William Holden in Golden Boy) and superbly remaking the silent classics The Mark of Zorro and Blood and Sand in Technicolor. In Silk Stockings, Mamoulian did not out-Lubitsch the Lubitsch of Ninotchka, but Cyd Charisse and Fred Astaire were at their greatest, and it was a brilliant ending to the master of the Broadway and Hollywood musical.

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