December 2005 Film Calendar

During December 2005, Block Cinema, a collaboration of the Northwestern University School of Communication and the Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, 40 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston campus, will present two series of films.

“Classic Hollywood: Leading Ladies, 1934-1945” will offer a sampling of some of the period’s most beloved and gifted actresses in a variety of stories. Block Cinema has chosen tales of women striking out on their own in a man’s world and of cold-blooded femme fatales who manipulate men like puppets as well as screwball comedies and dramas set in 19th century Paris.

The “American Slapstick” series features films that rely on physical comedy including pratfalls, accidents and sight gags and star Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton and the Marx Brothers, among others.

For more information, call the Block Cinema Hotline at (847) 491-4000 or go to the Block Cinema Web site at http://www.blockmuseum.northwestern.edu/block-cinema.

DECEMBER 2005 

 Classic: “Mildred Pierce,” 8 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 1 (Michael Curtiz, 1945, United States, 111 minutes, 35 mm). Joan Crawford stars in her only Oscar-winning role as the spurned Mildred, a strong-willed single mother who becomes involved with a wealthy playboy. Crawford’s performance is complemented by Curtiz’s beautifully photographed noir.

 Slapstick: “Airplane!” 8 p.m. Friday, Dec. 2 (Jim Abrahams, 1980, United States, 88 minutes, 35 mm). The first (and best) of the Zuker/Abrahams spoofs, “Airplane!” is a postmodern remake of a decade of disaster films transformed into a piece complete with lowbrow profanity, comic violence, gags and one-liners. The cast includes acting legends Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and former dramatic actor turned comedic actor Leslie Nielsen.

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