UCLA Festival of Preservation at NYC's Lincoln Center

The UCLA Festival of Preservation will be moving cross-country to New York's Lincoln Center for the long weekend of Friday, July 15th through Monday, July 18th.

I've seen three of the prints which will be screened that weekend, and I strongly encourage classic film fans in traveling distance of New York to attend some of the films in the series.

I was fortunate to see Dick Powell in the superb film noir CRY DANGER (1951) and Cecil B. DeMille's THE CRUSADES (1935) at UCLA in March. I really loved both films. CRY DANGER might be my favorite film seen so far this year, though I think the sheer experience of seeing a huge, pristine 35-millimeter print of THE CRUSADES was, in a way, even more memorable. DeMille films were made to be seen on a large screen!

CRY DANGER screens in New York twice, on July 15th and the 17th; THE CRUSADES will play on the 18th.

Also showing at the festival is Anthony Mann's "B" thriller STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT (1944). Although I missed it at UCLA, I caught up with the same restored print a few weeks later at the Noir City Film Festival in Hollywood. The movie was wild, wacky fun, and the print was outstanding.

STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT plays in New York on the 16th and the 18th.

Another interesting film playing at the festival is Douglas Sirk's SLEEP, MY LOVE (1948) with Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, and Robert Cummings, plus Hazel Brooks as an excellent femme fatale. I caught it on Netflix Instant last Christmas and enjoyed it very much; seeing it in a great print on a big screen would be even better. It will be shown on July 15th and 17th.

Enjoying all these films in beautiful 35-millimeter prints on a big screen is highly recommended! For complete details of the New York edition of the UCLA Festival, please see the schedule. I'd love to know if any film bloggers are able to attend one or more of these films.

Back on this coast, I'll be heading to UCLA again this Friday evening to attend the opening night of a month-long festival, Tracking the Cat: Robert Mitchum in the West. I'll be seeing two films which are favorites on a big screen for the first time: PURSUED (1947), directed by Raoul Walsh and costarring Teresa Wright, and BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948), costarring Barbara Bel Geddes, directed by Robert Wise.

Walsh biographer Marilyn Ann Moss and historian Alan Rode will be in attendance. I just received Moss's new biography of Walsh from Amazon; based on the outstanding picture selection alone, it looks excellent!

July 7th Update: Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times calls tomorrow night's films a "crackerjack double bill" in his article on the Mitchum Westerns series.