Friday, September 13, 2024 - 6:00 pm
September 13 - Black Narcissus (1947), 96 minutes, directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, starring Deborah Kerr, Sabu, and David Farrar.
The legendary British filmmaking team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger made perhaps their most indelible and audacious film with Black Narcissus. Five Protestant missionary nuns attempt to establish a school in the remote Himalayas, but are beset by doubt, worldly desires, and madness. This fever dream of a movie stands by itself in film history. The extensive use of matte paintings and huge landscape paintings contribute its unsettling aura of mysticism and displacement, while Jack Cardiff’s Oscar-winning deeply saturated color photography richly enhances Powell and Pressburger’s concern for visual symbolism and metaphor.
September 2024 CinemaLit: Members Choice
To launch the 2024/2025 CinemaLit Season, we conducted a members choice survey of select films in the Mechanics’ DVD collection for screening. We’ve tallied the results, and… the members have spoken! (And have exquisite good taste in films.) Below are the top vote getters. They’re a fantastic quartet of classics young and old with a diversity of genres, styles, nationalities, and eras. Join us for The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), Black Narcissus (1947), Fargo (1996), and Cinema Paradiso (1988).
Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies. His most recent book, On Elizabeth Taylor: An Opinionated Guide, examines the screen legend's entire career.
“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."
“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”
Mechanics' Institute Members Free
Non-Members $10
Cafe opens at 5:30 pm with wine, beer, sparkling water, juice, and fresh-popped popcorn for sale.
Register with Eventbrite below.
Please note: Photos and/or video may be taken during this event.
CinemaLit Films
