Category Archives: News

Gaslight (1940) Showing at the Gulbenkian Cinema on 9th of Feb

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah

The third film in the Gulbenkian Cinema’s Gothic Season – Thorold Dickinson’s Gaslight (1940) – will screen on Sunday the 9th of Feb at 3pm.

Gaslight UK

The Gulbenkian Cinema’s description of the film:

Thorold Dickinson | UK | 1940 | 82mins | Anton Walbrook, Diana Wynyard, Frank  Pettingell, Robert Newton

A powerful Gothic melodrama of domestic sadism and  psychological suspense, now presented in a sparkling digital restoration. Not  to be confused with George Cukor’s film of the same name – the second  adaptation of novelist/dramatist Patrick Hamilton’s play, and more well-known  until now, as MGM famously tried to suppress the competition – this suspenseful,  stylish classic from Thorold Dickinson (The  Queen of Spades) is an absolute treat.

Diana Wynyard  and Anton Walbrook are Bella and Paul, the young couple settling into a new  house when Bella begins to lose things and becomes fearful when the gaslights  go dim in the middle of the night and she hears footsteps above her head. Fer  husband begins to question her judgement, and Bella herself begins to feel that  her sanity is slipping away. But there is a deception in play – and the key is  in the history of the house itself.

“Walbrook [gives] a brilliant, seething performance” David Thomson, The Guardian

“Sadism propels Thorold Dickinson’s exquisite Victorian  thriller of 1940” Graham Fuller, Artsdesk.com

For more information and to book your ticket please go to:

http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/cinema/2014/February/2014-02-gaslight.html

Posts on the Melodrama Research Group’s discussion on this film and the Hollywood remake:

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/melodramaresearchgroup/2013/03/14/melodrama-screening-20th-march-jarman-7-5-7-pm/

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/melodramaresearchgroup/2013/03/26/melodrama-screening-and-discussion-3rd-april-jarman-7-5-7pm/

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/melodramaresearchgroup/2013/04/05/summary-of-discussion-on-gaslight/

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/melodramaresearchgroup/2013/04/05/gaslight-links/

Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder (1954) Showing at Gulbenkian Cinema on 1st of Feb

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah

The second film in the Gulbenkian Cinema’s Gothic Season – Alfred Hitchcock’s Dial M For Murder (1954) – will screen on Saturday the 1st of Feb at 2.30 pm.

Dial M

The Gulbenkian Cinema description of the film:

Alfred Hitchcock | US  | 1954 | 105mins | Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings

Originally shot in 3D and newly remastered and restored,  Alfred Hitchcock’s screen version of Frederick Knott’s stage hit Dial M for Murder is a tasty blend of  elegance and suspense casting Grace Kelly, Ray Milland and Robert Cummings as  the points of a romantic triangle.

Kelly won the New York Film Critics and National Board of  Review Best Actress Awards for this and two other acclaimed 1954 performances.  She loves Cummings; her husband Milland plots her murder. But when he dials a  Mayfair exchange to set the plot in motion, his right number gets the wrong  answer – and gleaming scissors become a deadly weapon. Dial “M” for  the Master of Suspense at his most stylish.

“Alfred  Hitchcock’s 1954 thriller is a precision-engineered delight” – The Telegraph

For more information and to book your ticket please go to:

http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/cinema/2014/February/2014-02-dial-m-for-murder.html

Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) showing at the Gulbenkian on the 26th of Jan

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah

As mentioned earlier on the blog, the Gulbenkian Cinema, located on the University of Kent campus, is screening a series of Gothic films between January and March.

The first is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940) on the 26th of January at 2.30 pm.

Rebecca poster

The Gulbenkian Cinema description of the film:

Alfred Hitchcock | US | 1940 | 130mins | Laurence Olivier, Joan Fontaine, George Sanders, Judith  Anderson

Alfred Hitchcock’s superlative psychological thriller  adapts Daphne du Maurier’s haunting tale of a naive young woman (Joan Fontaine)  who meets handsome, aristocratic widower Maxim de Winter (Laurence Olivier) on  holiday in Monte Carlo and is swept off her feet by his whirlwind courtship.

Following their wedding, they move to his Cornish estate Manderley, where the  brooding Maxim once lived with his first wife, Rebecca, and where sinister  housekeeper Mrs Danvers (Judith Anderson) who is fiercely devoted to the memory  of her dead mistress, undermines Maxim’s new wife at every turn.

A beautifully  nuanced study in guilt and anxiety about sex, money and class, Rebecca continues to hold audiences  spellbound with its beguiling blend of lush romanticism and bleakly oppressive  suspense.

“A gorgeous treat from one of cinema’s masters. Not to be  missed.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 5  stars

“Tense, engrossing and deliciously deceitful.” David Parkinson, Empire Magazine

For more information and to book your ticket please go to:

http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/cinema/2014/January/2014-01-rebecca.html

Gone With the Wind (1939) screening at the Gulbenkian Cinema on Sunday 12th of January

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah

The Gulbenkian Cinema, located on the University of Kent’s Canterbury campus, is screening the classic Hollywood melodrama Gone With the Wind (1939) on Sunday the 12th of January from 1.30 pm – 5.30 pm.

gone with the wind

The following is from the Gulbenkian Cinema’s website http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/cinema/2014/January/2014-01-gone-with-the-wind.html where you can also book your ticket.

Victor Fleming | USA | 1939/2013 | 233mins | Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Thomas Mitchell

Often considered the greatest films of all time – the pinnacle of polished Hollywood storytelling – this truly epic screen adaptation of Margaret Mitchell’s seminal work of American literature bristles with energy and passion and demands to be seen on the big screen following a 4K digital restoration.

It is 1861 on a palatial Southern estate, where Scarlett O’Hara (Leigh) hears that her casual beau Ashley Wilkes (Leslie Howard) plans to marry Melanie Hamilton (Olivia de Havilland). Despite warnings from her father (Thomas Mitchell) and her faithful servant Mammy (Hattie McDaniel), Scarlett intends to throw herself at Ashley at an upcoming social event. Alone with Ashley, she goes into a fit of histrionics, all of which is witnessed by roguish Rhett Butler (Clark Gable), the black sheep of a wealthy Charleston family, who is instantly fascinated by the feisty, thoroughly self-centred Scarlett…

“It’s impossible not to be carried away by the rich arterial force of this storytelling.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

Tickets: Full £7.50 / Concessions £6.50/ GulbCard Members £5.50 / Students £4.50 / GulbCard Students £4

This will be a great opportunity to see a beautifully restored version of the film on the big screen.

 

Gothic Season of Films at the Gulbenkian Cinema Jan-March 2014

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah

Rebecca

Exciting news! From January to March 2014 the Gulbenkian will be screening a season of Gothic films. Dates and films include:

26th of Jan  Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940)

1st of Feb Dial M For Murder (Alfred Hitchcock, 1954)

9th of Feb Gaslight (Thorold Dickinson, 1940)

24th of Feb Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979)

4th of March The Orphanage (J.A. Bayona, 2007) (and panel discussion)

22nd of March Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009)

Introductions to some of the films will be provided by members of the group with Tamar Jeffers McDonald also taking part in a panel discussion on  the 4th of March.

More details will be posted here nearer the time.

Spring Term Screening and Discussion Schedule

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah

We now have the dates and times for next term’s screening and discussion sessions.

screening

The group will meet  in Keynes Seminar Room 6 from 4-7pm on the Wednesdays of weeks 13 (22nd Jan), 14 (29th Jan), 16 (12th Feb), 17 (19th Feb), 19 (5th March), 22 (26th March), 23 (2nd April). All are welcome.

More details will be posted here when they become available, but do put these dates in your diaries.

It’s A Wonderful Life Screening at the Gulbenkian Cinema on the 15th of December

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah,

A quick reminder that the Gulbenkian Cinema is screening the Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) this Sunday, the 15th of December at 2.30 pm.

wonderful life

Some of the group might well be there to enjoy the dramatic ups and downs (or downs and ups) in preparation for the festive season.

The Gulbenkian Cinema’s blurb on Capra’s film:

Oscar winning director Frank Capra’s (It Happened One Night) profoundly charming film casts Jimmy Stewart (Rear Window) as everyman George Bailey, who is on the brink of suicide when his guardian angel (Henry Travers) visits and shows him what the world would have been like had he never existed.

Set on Christmas Eve, this very touching, very romantic reverse-Scrooge fable is a seasonal classic; the perfect big-screen outing over the holiday period.

“A genuine American classic.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

A link to the Gulbenkian Cinema’s site: http://www.thegulbenkian.co.uk/events/cinema/2013/December/2013-12-its-a-wonderful-life.html

 

 

Screening of Butterfly Kiss on Friday 29th at Queen Mary Uni, London

Posted on by
Reply

Posted by Sarah,

Recently Lavinia mentioned the final screening of a Michael Winterbottom season she has co-organised. Butterfly Kiss (1995) will be shown at the Hitchcock Cinema, Arts One, Queen Mary, London on Friday the 29th of November at 6pm.

butterfly kissIt will be introduced by Dr Michelle Aaron (Birmingham) who has published on the film.

Please see the flyer for more information and many thanks to Lavinia for drawing the group’s attention to this.

 

Melodrama Group Challenge: Bette and Joan on Psychobitches

Posted on by
Reply
Posted by Sarah
Ann-Marie and Lies have very kindly suggested a competition. It relates to the Sky Arts comedy Psychobitches which stars Rebecca Front as a therapist helping famous, and infamous, women from history. The first episode features an appearance from Bette Davis (Frances Barber) and Joan Crawford (Mark Gatiss) (both pictured below) engaged in a confrontation whilst wearing their What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? costumes.
psychobitches
The Competition
View a clip of Bette and Joan’s appearance on Psychobitches(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EBHCPNs_Zc) and SPOT THE MISTAKE!
At the screening on Wednesday a small prize will be handed to the person(s) with the correct answer.
Many thanks to Ann-Marie and Lies for suggesting this, especially as it will also provide a useful discussion point in terms of Bette and Joan’s star images.
Good Luck!