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Click here to download an interview with Mamoulian by George Stevens, Jr., a chapter from Conversations with the Great Moviemakers of Hollywood's Golden Age

“THE UNSUNG MASTER STYLIST OF HOLLYWOOD'S GOLDEN AGE...
Film Forum will screen every one of the 16 films in Mamoulian's marvelous and maddeningly small body of work... Each of the movies he made was crafted with a theatrical verve and absolute mastery of filmic expression that reward both casual viewing and minute study.”
– Bruce Bennett, The New York Sun. Click here to read feature

“Mamoulian's genre-spanning style was defined by continental taste,
playful innovation, and an unmatched joie de cinema.”
– Mark Asch, The L Magazine

“A supreme stylist of the screen... A sumptuously varied, innovative vision!”
– David Noh, Gay City News. Click here to read feature

“The most innovative director in American movies during the early sound period...
No wonder Film Forum sees him fit for retrospective.”
– Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

“This exhaustive retrospective has its share of gems; see as many as you can!”
– Time Out New York

Click here for complete schedule

ROUBEN MAMOULIAN (1897-1987) was one of the cinema’s greatest innovators. Coming triumphantly from the stage (already director of Porgy, and later of Porgy and Bess, Oklahoma, and Carousel — not bad Americana for the Tbilisi, Georgia, Armenian), Mamoulian was never interested in just “photographing people talking.” From his debut in the earliest days of sound, when cameras were housed in miniature bungalows and actors were tethered to primitive microphones, he demanded camera movement and sound recorded on multiple tracks; then moved to dramatic ellipses, make-up changes effected within the shot, completely artificially-generated sound tracks, city sounds orchestrated into melody, songs spread across multiple soloists and time and space; and even in his later, underrated musicals, expressionistic use of lens changes and color distortion, and stereophonic sound that pinballs across the screen within a single phrase. As David Thomson has written, “Mamoulian blended movement, dancing, action, music, singing, decor and lighting into one seething entity.”

SPECIAL THANKS TO BOB O’NEIL, PAUL GINSBURG (UNIVERSAL PICTURES); SUZANNE LEROY (SONY PICTURES); MARILEE WOMACK (WARNER BROS.); RICK YANKOWSKI (CRITERION PICTURES); SCHAWN BELSTON, CAITLIN ROBERTSON (TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX); TODD WIENER (UCLA); DENNIS DOROS, AMY HELLER (MILESTONE); MARY PICKFORD FOUNDATION; DELPHINE SELLES-ALVAREZ (FRENCH CULTURAL SERVICES); PATRICK CAZALS; AND ELYSE TOPALIAN.

SEPTEMBER 7/8 FRI/SAT (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

LOVE ME TONIGHT

(1932) “That son of a gun is nothing but a tailor,” but isn’t it romantic? Poseur Maurice Chevalier, out to collect from a deadbeat vicomte, carries off his aristocratic masquerade long enough to hotly pursue princess Jeanette MacDonald — all to rapturous Rodgers & Hart melodies.
1:00, 4:40, 8:20

“A poem from beginning to end.
Everything is rhythm, counterpoint, stylization.”
– Mamoulian

“Thrilling and innovative... Mamoulian’s lively experiments with rhythm, framing, and superimposition are very much his own.”
– Dave Kehr

“The most enchanting of all musical films.” – David Robinson

DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE

(1932) Fredric March in Oscar-winning performance as Robert Louis Stevenson’s doctor/monster, with Cockney streetwalker Miriam Hopkins (“shiny-eyed with sexual mischief” – Pauline Kael) in his thrall. Jekyll’s transformation into Hyde was achieved in a single shot, with succeeding color filters before the camera revealing different layers of March’s makeup.
2:50, 6:30, 10:10

“ONE OF THE ALL-TIME GREAT HORROR FILMS!
Mamoulian's ferocious fright flick is the definitive screen version of Stevenson's story.”
– Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

“A remarkable achievement that deserves to be much better known. The transformations of Jekyll are a notable achievement for Frederic March and Mamoulian alike, and the disturbing undercurrents of the story are given their full due. Mamoulian was at his peak in the early 30s, as this film shows.”
– Jonathan Rosenbaum

“Surpasses its numerous rivals not only in its technical mastery but in its psychological coherence and in its powerfully atmospheric incarnation of Stevenson’s gaslit, fogbound London, brilliantly photographed by Karl Struss.”
– World Film Directors

“Magnificent. The climax of Mamoulian’s evolved and highly wrought imagery.”
– David Thomson

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SEPTEMBER 9/10 SUN/MON (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

BLOOD AND SAND

(1941) The rise and fall of matador Tyrone Power, as he has to choose between wife Linda Darnell and aristocratic bullfight groupie Rita Hayworth. Critic Laird Cregar’s play by play is climaxed as red wine spurts from his ruptured wineskin, while Hayworth and Anthony Quinn perform a sultry Paso Doble in a smoky tavern. Oscar-winning color cinematography.
SUN 3:20, 7:30
MON 3:20

“A Velasquez-inspired Technicolor orgy of bullfighters, wild flamencos, and Rita Hayworth, gleamingly predatory, as the fatal Doña Sol, the woman no torero can resist.”
– David Noh, Gay City News

“ONE OF THE GREAT COLOR FILMS, THIS IS MELODRAMATIC ROMANCE OF THE FIRST ORDER! So enjoyable is the sheer elegance of the execution, with Mamoulian's sense of rhythm, the rich Technicolor, and Richard Day's sets calling up an imaginary Spain of the heart, poignant location of love in the shadows and death in the afternoon. ”
– Geoff Andrews, Time Out (London)

THE MARK OF ZORRO

(1940) “Quiet, you popinjay!” snaps sword-happy Basil Rathbone to Tyrone Power’s foppish Don Diego, but of course Ty’s also black-masked Zorro, righter of wrongs in Spanish colonial California, and romancer of lovely Linda Darnell.
SUN 1:30, 5:40, 9:50
MON 1:30, 5:40

“A HUMDINGER OF A SWASHBUCKLER!
Easily the best of the many Zorro movies. Great Fun!”
– Time Out New York

“An elegant and intelligently made cloak-and-sword swashbuckler--Rathbone's savage duel with Power is the highlight of the show.”
– Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

“Mamoulian adds an overwhelming pictorial sense.”
– Leslie Halliwell

“A superior swashbuckler . . . the dueling has the grace and lightness of ballet.”
– Dave Kehr

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SEPTEMBER 11 TUE (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

APPLAUSE

(1929) “What wouldn’t I do for that man!” laments blowsy, washed-up burlesque queen Helen Morgan — only 29, but already legendary for creating “Julie” in Show Boat — but it’s a Mother Love story after all. A debuting Mamoulian forced long takes, location shooting, overlapping sound tracks, and a dazzlingly mobile camera on a recalcitrant crew
2:35, 7:00

“An astonishing debut, perhaps the first really great talking picture. The legendary Helen Morgan gives a riveting performance as Kitty Darling, the frowsy has-been hip-shaker, who gives birth backstage in a dressing room, looking like a destroyed, mascara-stained kewpie doll.”
– David Noh, Gay City News

“This superlative 'weepie' is one of the most invigorating early talkies... remarkable for the mobility of its lensing and the versatility of the soundtrack at a time when most pictures were verbose and stage-bound.”
– Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

“Film buffs curious about the transition from silent pictures to talkies shouldn't miss this technically innovative production -- among the first to genuinely take advantage of the soundtrack.”
– Time Out New York

“An oasis of filmic sophistication in a desert of stage-bound early talkies.”
– William K. Everson

“Mamoulian’s earliest, but possibly his freshest. Shows not all early talkies were static and leaden.”
– Don Druker, Chicago Reader

“One of the most shockingly alive and heartrending films ever screened.” – Michael Feingold, Village Voice

CITY STREETS

(1931) Carny worker Gary Cooper is roped into crime by his love for gangster’s daughter Sylvia Sidney, in Dashiell Hammett’s sole original screenplay; with an alibi established by cigar ash length, two stone cats looking on at a bitchy argument, and ten murders, “none of them actually seen” (Mamoulian). A favorite of Jean-Pierre Melville...and Al Capone.
1:00, 5:25, 9:50

“A gangster film to rank with the first two Godfathers, and Howard Hawks' Scarface, which owes Mamoulian plenty.
It defines chiaroscuro!”
– David Noh, Gay City News

“Cooper plays a carny! Sidney is a femme fatale! The mighty Mamoulian is at the helm!
Why are we using so many exclamation points?!!? Because it's so darn good!”
– Time Out New York

“Gary Cooper and Sylvia Sidney are an appealing pair in this beautifully photographed flick.”
– Elliott Stein, The Village Voice

“Creates a wonderfully evocative, low-key atmosphere not dissimilar to Sternberg's Underworld with terrific camerawork from Lee Garmes, and fine performances from Cooper and Sidney as the young lovers enmeshed in the rackets.”
– Tom Milne

ROUBEN MAMOULIAN:
The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood

(2006) Porgy and Bess, Love Me Tonight, Oklahoma, Summer Holiday, Carousel . . . French documentarian Patrick Cazals shows how Mamoulian’s bi-coastal careers as a Broadway and Hollywood director intersected; archival footage includes a fascinating interview with the then-octogenarian director himself.
4:10, 8:35

“A nice addendum to the series.” – Time Out New York

“Confirms with sharp insights that Mamoulian was an underrated and highly cultivated filmmaker”
– Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

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SEPTEMBER 12 WED (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

GOLDEN BOY

(1939) William Holden (in his first starring role) disappoints very Italian dad Lee J. Cobb (27 at the time) by trading in his violin for boxing gloves, courtesy of promoter Adolphe Menjou, with Menjou’s mistress Barbara Stanwyck providing distraction and support. Somewhat bowdlerized version of Clifford Odets’ Broadway smash.
1:00, 4:35, 8:10

“William Holden became a star with this, his first real screen role, in his appealing performance.”
– Elliott Stein, Village Voice
“Has a vigorous hard-hitting close-up effect... the real star is Mr. Mamoulian. You can tell the quality of a director by his close-ups, and I would put the final boxing-match among the finest sequences of the talking film.”
– Graham Greene

RINGS ON HER FINGERS

(1942) Anything to get out from that girdle counter: Gene Tierney gets conned by con artists Spring Byington and Laird Cregar into helping sell Henry Fonda a yacht they don’t own, then gets involved with amorous zillionaire Shepperd Strudwick — just as guess who shows up. Unsung screwball comedy in the Lady Eve mode.
2:55, 6:30, 10:05

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SEPTEMBER 13 THU (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

HIGH, WIDE, AND HANDSOME

(1937) The earliest of oil strikes in 1860 Pennsylvania, with Randolph Scott struggling to get that pipeline built even as corrupt railroaders try to sabotage, as Irene Dunne sings “The Folks Who Live on the Hill”, and a circus rides to the rescue. Score by Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein.
2:40, 6:25, 10:10

“Recommended! An enjoyable musical.”
– Time Out New York

“Irene Dunne at her cornball primmest.” – Pauline Kael

“Has an epic authenticity not usually associated with musicals.” – Tom Milne

“An extraordinary fusion of Brecht and Broadway.” – Richard Roud

THE GAY DESPERADO

(1936) Inspired by a Hollywood gangster picture, cruel and hilarious bandito Leo Carillo — who just can’t keep those wives straight — kidnaps singer Nino Martini to be gang minstrel, then carjacks Ida Lupino and her rich jerk of a fiancé. Best Director, New York Film Critics Circle.
1:00, 4:45, 8:30

“Camp appreciation required.”
– Time Out New York

“Mamoulian in a playful, kooky mood.” – Pauline Kael

“We can place this Mamoulian picture right up at the top of the nearly first class in its melodious-movie kind. Eistenstein's Mexico was no more sensuous than this artificial comedy... these lovely shots of cacti like cathedral pillows, of galloping horses before old Spanish churches, of sombreros against skyscapes, are like a framework of fine and mannered prose.”
– Graham Greene

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SEPTEMBER 14/15 FRI/SAT (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

QUEEN CHRISTINA

(1933) As the 17th century Swedish queen, Greta Garbo renounces all for an impossible love (washed-up silent screen star John Gilbert, Garbo’s former flame). Mamoulian instructed Garbo to empty her mind for her legendary final close-up.
2:45, 6:25, 10:05

“A superb film with an unforgettable final shot... Garbo makes staring into the void sublime.”
– Time Out New York

“Not only one of Greta Garbo’s finest performances, but one of her very best films. Directed by the underrated Rouben Mamoulian... Erotic, romantic, and a feast for the eyes.”
– Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

THE SONG OF SONGS

(1933) Naïve country lass Marlene Dietrich poses nude for sculptor Brian Aherne out of love, but gets conned into marrying his patron, decadent Lionel Atwill. Lurid melodramatic finale, with definitely Pre-Code closeups of the unclothed Dietrich — the statue, that is.
1:00, 4:40, 8:20

“A gloriously entertaining, ultra-glam vehicle!”
– David Noh, Gay City News

“A delightful mix of Sternbergian splendour and Mamoulian send-up, this hits exactly the right note of knowingness as Dietrich positively glows with demure innocence or malice aforethought as the need arises. The whole thing has a glitteringly opulent beauty, sparked with an irresistible sense of the absurd.”
– Tom Milne

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SEPTEMBER 16 SUN (2 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

SILK STOCKINGS

(1957) Color, CinemaScope remake of Lubitsch’s Ninotchka proved to be Mamoulian’s unplanned swan song, as playboy Fred Astaire introduces stern Commie apparatchik Cyd Charisse to the delights of Paris, to the tunes of Cole Porter. Plus Astaire and Janis Paige’s ear-bending homage to “Stereophonic Sound”; and Peter Lorre leading the three Commissars in song and dance.
3:30, 7:35

“Mamoulian's swan song was one of the last of the great MGM musicals--a self-reflexive, widescreen, Technicolor Cole Porter-ized version of Ninotchka.”
– J. Hoberman, Village Voice

“Fred Astaire is always a sight to behold, and the film's got style to burn.” – Time Out New York

“Astaire never was sexier or danced better.” – Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader

“Some of the best intimate dances in the history of the musical.” – David Thomson

SUMMER HOLIDAY

(1948) Dad Walter Huston is always on the lookout for that dreaded bluefish on his plate; uncle Frank Morgan never passes up on a drink; spinster aunt Agnes Moorehead joins in for their first ride in a newfangled Stanley Steamer; son Mickey Rooney romances Gloria De Haven and celebrates graduation by tying one on and... Musicalized version of Eugene O’Neill’s Ah, Wilderness!
1:40, 5:45, 9:50

“Pretty gorgeous to look at.” – Time Out New York

“A glowing evocation of small-town America as a nostalgic memory.” – Tom Milne

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SEPTEMBER 17/18 MON/TUE (3 FILMS FOR 1 ADMISSION)

BECKY SHARP

(1935) Condensed version of Thackeray’s three-decker classic, with Miriam Hopkins recreating her stage role as Becky, cynically rising through Napoleonic era British society. Mamoulian concentrated on the color design, aided by Broadway legend Robert Edmond Jones’ sets, highlighted in the ball before Waterloo scene, when the departing officers flood the screen with red. This is the UCLA restoration of the first three-strip Technicolor feature.
MON 3:50, 8:15
TUE 3:50

“The most delicious Napoleonic screwball comedy!”
– David Noh, Gay City News

“Still remains an exquisitely beautiful color film.” – Tom Milne

WE LIVE AGAIN

(1934) Tough jury duty for Russian nobleman Fredric March: accused murderess Anna Sten is the peasant girl he grew up with, then seduced and abandoned. Lush filming — by Kane’s Gregg Toland — of Tolstoy’s Resurrection, in the second of Sam Goldwyn’s three attempts to make Russian star Sten into his Garbo. Co-scripted by Preston Sturges!
MON 1:00, 5:25, 9:50
TUE 1:00, 5:25

“Turned into something more by Mamoulian's superb direction... sustained by the performances and Gregg Toland's camerawork, superlative throughout.”
- Tom Milne

ROUBEN MAMOULIAN:
The Golden Age of Broadway and Hollywood

See description for September 11.
MON 2:35, 7:00
TUE 2:35

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