The Modern Culture and Media Cinemateque Film Series exists. That is its brilliance. This is not to say that every film is brilliant or that the entire department is a bastion of brilliance - though some might dispute this. And it is not to toss "brilliance" about with disregard, denigrating its meaning.
The films are shown in Production One - a production space in the department - every Friday at 7 p.m., in the new MCM building at 135 Thayer St. Admission is free.
A few points deserve note.
First, and in true MCM form, the location is fully ironic. Production One is both a screening room and a production facility. The films shown could have been created in the very room in which they are screened. Imposing equipment hangs from the ceiling of the all-black room. The unseen guts of film spill down towards the audience. Viewing films in Production One feels very authentic, perhaps even a bit bohemian.
Second, the films are somewhat obscure. Unlike those shown by the Brown Film Society in past years, few of the films and directors will ring familiar to those without extensive knowledge of film history. Among the more prominent directors are Bertolucci, Cecil B. DeMille and Spencer Williams. A majority of the films are products of the 1930s and 1940s. The most recently made film, "Friendship's Death," comes from the late 1980s.
But what's really quite astounding is that all of the films are from the rare MCM film archives. These are Brown's films. This is what students are paying their sizable tuition for.
In spite of their obscurity, or even because of it, the films are worth seeing. These are films that "might" be found at Acme or Estas but would otherwise never have a chance to be seen in full screen, projected through celluloid. Few would see these films unless instructed. The department has gone so far as to sort out what is worth seeing - no effort is required, except to go to the screening. Or to be somewhat cliché, this is the kind of opportunity only available at college - or New York. And not everyone lives in New York.
Third, all screenings use 16mm Xenon Projection. This guarantees warmth of color. Even the film noir glows. In the relatively small and un-theater-like space of Production One, an entire wall of the space lights up. It's like sitting, however briefly, in the brain of these filmmakers, to see the world as they did. This is how film was meant to be seen.
Tonight's screening features Andre' De Toth's "Ramrod," followed by Budd Boetticher's "Seminole." More information can be found on the MCM department's Web site.
