University News
The Dead Filmmakers Society Returns to WIU This Summer
June 5, 2015
MACOMB, IL – The annual Dead Filmmakers Society began screenings this week at Western Illinois University and the event will continue Tuesday nights through July 28.
All screenings will be held in the University Union Sandburg Theatre, with films beginning at 7 p.m. each Tuesday. Admission is free.
All films in the series are from the private collection of WIU Professor Richard Ness, who will serve as host of each screening. The series is sponsored by WIU's Film Studies Program and the WIU departments of English, Journalism and Broadcasting.
This summer's schedule includes:
June 9: "Bizarre, Bizarre," (France, 1937): A botanist's attempts to hide his identity as a writer of lurid crime novels set in motion a series of comical events in this wild farce by director Marcel Carné ("Children of Paradise"). In French with English subtitles.
June 16: "In the French Style" (1963): Two stories by Irwin Shaw served as the basis for this transitional film for beautiful star Jean Seberg, playing a wide-eyed art student in Paris, who becomes more mature and jaded as a result of her experiences with various men. Also featuring James Leo Herlihy (best known as the author of "Midnight Cowboy").
June 25: "Top Secret Affair" (1957) (This is a special Thursday screening): Susan Hayward and Kirk Douglas get a chance to show their comedic skills in this account of a publisher who gets more than she bargained for when she tries to expose the past of an army general to keep him from being appointed to an atomic energy committee. Also starring Jim Backus and John Cromwell.
June 30: "Devi" (India, 1960): A young woman's father-in-law comes to believe that she is the reincarnation of a goddess in Satyajit Ray's compelling meditation on the dangers of religious obsession. In Bengali with English subtitles.
July 7: "The Burglars" (France, 1972): Take an international cast headed by Jean-Paul Belmondo, Omar Sharif and Dyan Cannon, add exciting chase scenes, great stunt work, high-tech crime, gorgeous scenery, an Ennio Morricone score and even a gourmet food scene, and you have the perfect recipe for a slick ‘70s caper film. Shown in widescreen.
July 14: "In the Nick" (Great Britain, 1960): Although you won't find any reviews of this one in the major film guides, it's an entertaining comedy/drama about a group of delinquents sent to an experimental prison. Featuring Anthony Newley as the prison psychologist and a title song by Lionel Bart ( Oliver!"). The film will be shown in widescreen.
July 21: "The Liars" ("Les Menteurs") (France, 1961): Dawn Addams stars in this thriller as a woman planning to eliminate her wealthy husband with the help of her lover. With Claude Brasseur and Jean Servais. In French with English subtitles.
July 28: "An Evening of Forgotten Hitchcock": We end the season with a night of seldom-seen Alfred Hitchcock-related works, including a rare chance to see Hitchcock's least-known television appearance on a public affairs program directing an up-and-coming stage actor named William Shatner. Also on the bill is the feature Forbidden Territory (1934), one of the few films scripted by Alma Reville (Mrs. Hitchcock) not directed by her husband. Plus an opening short from the Hitchcock TV series involving Barbara Bel Geddes and a frozen leg of lamb.
Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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