Repertory Series

Barbara Stanwyck: Maybe I Am Just A Dame
Tuesdays, July 17 - August 28, 2007

Tuesday, July 17 at 7:15, 9:30

Ball Of Fire
(1941) dir Howard Hawks w/Stanwyck, Gary Cooper; Screenplay by Charles Bracket & Billy Wilder [111 min]
“ I love him because he doesn’t know how to kiss, the jerk!” A gangster’s mistress goes on the lam and winds up in the care of seven professors who are working on an encyclopedia entry about modern slang. The film is a veritable showcase for Stanwyck, who uses her rapid-fire delivery and streetwise smolder to play off the befuddled Cooper in this uproarious screwball comedy. – BAM Cinematek

Tuesday, July 24 at 3:45, 7:30

Double Feature w/ TEN CENTS A DANCE
Ladies Of Leisure
(1930) dir Frank Capra w/Stanwyck, Ralph Graves [99 min]
Frank “Wonderful Life” Capra and saucy dame Stanwyck formed a solid team during the pre-code years in Hollywood. This film marks the emergence of Stanwyck as a leading lady and serves up the racy dialogue and risqué situations typical of a certain kind of ‘30s movie. Stanwyck is a self-proclaimed party girl who is hired by a rich wanna-be artist as a model.
Not available on video!

Tuesday, July 24 at 5:45, 9:30

Double Feature w/ LADIES OF LEISURE
Ten Cents A Dance
(1931) dir Lionel Barrymore w/Stanwyck, Ricardo Cortez, Monroe Owsley [75 min]
Dance hall girl Stanwyck secretly marries her nerdy neighbor (Owsley) and helps him get a job with the handsome bigwig (Cortez) who has been after her. Her husband quickly develops a taste for the good life and winds up in debt to said bigwig – what’s a devoted wife to do?
Not available on video!

Tuesday, July 31 at 7:30, 9:30

New 35mm Print!
Canceled: Sorry, Wrong Number
Witness To Murder
(1954) dir Roy Rowland w/Stanwyck, George Sanders; cinematography by John Alton [83 min]
Good citizen Stanwyck reports George Sanders' murder of a fellow apartment dweller, but with no evidence except her own threatening letters, next stop is the nut house. But when she gets out, forger Sanders ("properly suave and hateful" – NY Times) begins creating his masterpiece: Stanwyck’s suicide note.
Not available on video

Tuesday, August 7 at 2:30, 7:00

New 35mm Print! Double Feature w/THE FILE ON THELMA JORDAN
Canceled: The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers
Clash By Night
(1952) dir Fritz Lang w/Stanwyck, Robert Ryan, Paul Douglas, Marilyn Monroe [105 min]
This is a noir vision of a Sirkian Stanwyck role: the worldly-wise woman trying to make a go of domesticity. Defeated by the city, she returns to her small fishing town and attempts to suppress her sophistication by marrying a goodhearted fisherman, Paul Douglas. But she is drawn into the adulterous net of Robert Ryan, like her, an anguished misfit. The film, adapted from a play by Clifford Odets, has some of the most caustic dialogue of any of the fifties noirs. Visually, Fritz Lang and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca counterpose claustrophobic interiors and documentary-style location shooting of the Monterey sardine fishing industry and Cannery Row. Marilyn Monroe, in one of her first important dramatic roles, takes lessons from sister-in-law Stanwyck on how to be free and then come home "when you run out of places." - Judy Bloch, Pacific Film Archive

Tuesday, August 7 at 5:00, 9:30

Double Feature wTHE STRANGE LOVE OF MARTHA IVERS
The File On Thelma Jordan
(1950) dir Robert Siodmak w/Stanwyck, Wendell Corey, Paul Kelly [100 min]
The film that gives our series its subtitle is this taught thriller from noir master Siodmak (Phantom Lady, The Killers). Stanwyck plays a schemer along the same lines as Mrs. Dietrichson in Double Indemnity but this time her sights are set on a down-and-out assistant district attorney instead of an insurance agent.
Not available on video.

Tuesday, August 14 at 3:30, 7:30

Double Feature w/THE MAD MISS MANTON
The Lady Eve
(1941) dir Preston Sturges w/Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, Charles Coburn [97 min]
" I need him like the axe needs the turkey." In Preston Sturges's masterpiece of screwball comedy, boyish herpetologist/brewery heir Henry Fonda seems like an easy mark for father-and-daughter con artists Charles Coburn and Barbara Stanwyck. But Stanwyck wasn't supposed to fall in love with Fonda after fleecing him. Spurned by the burned Fonda, Stanwyck takes on the persona of "Lady Eve Sidwich" to win his heart again. – AFI Silver Theatre

Tuesday, August 14 at 5:30, 9:30

Double Feature w/THE LADY EVE
The Mad Miss Manton
(1938) dir Leigh Jason w/Stanwyck, Henry Fonda [80 min]
Flighty heirous Melsa Manton’s discovery of a dead body is decried as a prank by newspaperman Peter Ames (Fonda) and the police don’t believe her. What else is a girl to do but gather a crack team of other debutantes to investigate the murder! This delicious screwball mystery pits Stanwyck vs Fonda in their first comedic match up.
Not available on DVD.

Tuesday, August 21 at 3:45, 7:30

Double Feature w/ALL I DESIRE
There's Always Tomorrow
(1956) dir Douglas Sirk w/Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Joan Bennett [84 min]
Toy manufacturer MacMurray has everything he could want, yet feels disconnected from his perfect wife and kids. So when former love Stanwyck enters the picture, they both contemplate having an affair. Stanwyck and MacMurray are terrific in their last film together, and the film is more intimate than Sirk’s Technicolor operas of despair, with its black and white cinematography giving it a more subtle romance. – BAM Cinematek
Not available on video.

Tuesday, August 21 at 5:45, 9:30

Double Feature w/THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW
All I Desire
(1953) dir Douglas Sirk w/Stanwyck, Richad Carlson [79 min]
Actress Stanwyck deserted her family for a shot at the big time. Returning home ten years later, she must cope with the disapproval of the town and her estranged family. Saddled with a false “happy ending,” Sirk still makes the film his own, as he ruthlessly dissects the morals of the middle class and gets a world-class performance from Stanwyck. – BAM Cinematek
Not available on DVD.

Tuesday, August 28 at 2:45, 7:15

Double Feature w/THE NIGHT WALKER
Walk On The Wild Side
(1962) dir Edward Dmytryk w/Stanwyck, Laurence Harvey, Capucine, Jane Fonda, Anne Baxter [114 min]
Stanwyck is in a supporting role in this sexy ‘60s melodrama but oh what a role! She plays the madam of a ‘30s bordello in New Orleans and presides over a group of women including Jane Fonda. Things get a little rocky when a lovelorn man (Harvey) shows up trying to reunite with his long lost girl, Hallie (Capucine). The credit sequence, by the way, with Saul Bass’s strutting cat and Elmer Bernstein’s strutting jazz is sensational.

Tuesday, August 28 at 5:15, 9:45

Double Feature w/WALK ON THE WILD SIDE
The Night Walker
(1964) dir William Castle w/Stanwyck, Robert Taylor; Screenplay by Robert Bloch [86 min]
In her final film role, Stanwyck plays a woman driven to near-insanity by the death of her husband. Castle, the marketing mastermind who brought cinema such treats as The Tingler and 13 Ghosts, plays it fairly straight, creating a Hitchcockian psychological thriller with a campy sense of humor. – BAM Cinematek
Not available on DVD.