Tag Archives: Screening and Discussion

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 27th of February, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us when we screen and discuss our next pre-code film. We will be showing Ladies They Talk About (1933, Howard Bretherton and William Keighley, 69 mins) on Tuesday the 27th of February, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

Like all of our most recent screenings, this is a Warner Brothers production. It also, like Baby Face, stars Barbara Stanwyck. She plays gangster’s moll, Nan Taylor, who is caught during a bank robbery but who appeals to old male classmate David Slade (Preston Foster) for help. David is now a radio evangelist, intent on just punishment for criminals, but agrees to help Nan. Despite David’s intervention, Nan is sent too San Quentin prison where she meets an array of fellow female convicts. Dramatic urgency is supplied by a thwarted escape, a shooting, and romance.

The film was later remade in 1942, starring Faye Emerson as the more aptly titled Lady Gangster (Robert Florey). Once more, as with Three on a Match and Broadway Musketeers, this affords us the opportunity of  comparing  pre and post-code treatments of a story.

Do join us if you can.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 30th of January, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for our next screening. We’ll be showing Three on a Match (1932, Mervyn LeRoy, 63 mins), on Tuesday 30th of January, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

Three on a Match continues the melodrama research group’s interest in pre-code Hollywood and, like both of our recent screenings Female and Baby Face, is a Warner Brothers production. It too is especially concerned with women. But it provides us with three heroines instead of one. Friends Mary (Joan Blondell), Vivian (Ann Dvorak) and Ruth (Bette Davis) meet again a decade after leaving school.  Their lives widely diverge: crime is followed by redemption through acting for Mary, a stable marriage to a wealthy lawyer is ruined by a messy break up for Vivian, while Ruth embarks on a career as a secretary. All three face challenges, with Vivian’s life taking a particularly melodramatic turn.

Do join us if you can.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 16th of January, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for our first melodrama meeting of 2018. We’ll be screening Female (1933, Michael Curtiz, 60 mins), on Tuesday 16th of January, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

The film stars Ruth Chatterton as Alison Drake, the owner-manager of a family business whose casual affairs with men turn serious once she meets Jim Thorne (George Brent). Like Baby Face, a film we screened at towards the end of the Autumn Term, Female is a pre-code film, written by Gene Markey and Kathryn Scola.  It too raises many interesting issues regarding film history, audience address, gender and genre. We hope to further explore these by watching and discussing more pre-code films in the Spring Term.

Do join us if you can.

UPDATE: Lies has very kindly posted some wonderful fan magazine material about Female on the NoRMMA blog: 

http://www.normmanetwork.com/you-wouldnt-have-these-problems-if-you-were-a-fallen-woman-female-curtiz-1933/

This gives us  great insight into the film’s promotion and reception at the time. Thank so much Lies! 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 11th of December, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for our last screening before the end of term. We will be showing a television adaptation of the M.R. James short story Number 13 (2006, 40 mins) on Monday the 11th of December, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

Part 2 of the BBC’s 4 part occasional A Ghost Story for Christmas strand (2005-2013), Number 13 stars Greg Wise as Oxbridge academic Professor Anderson. Anderson is visiting a hotel in a cathedral town to authenticate some historical papers, but while researching long ago history becomes fixated on a current mystery – the room next door. Room 13, however, is said not to exist….

Do join us, if you can, for some pre-Christmas viewing.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 27th of November, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are welcome to join us for our next screening and discussion session, which will take place on Monday the 27th of November, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

We will be screening and discussing Baby Face (1933, Alfred E. Green, 75 mins) – postponed from the last session.

Please refer to recent posts for more information on the film and some interesting extra-textual material.

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, 13th of November, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for our next screening and discussion session, which will take place on Monday the 13th of November, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

We will be showing Alfred E. Green’s Baby Face (1933, 75 mins). We recently referenced this pre-code Hollywood film in our discussion of Tamsin Flower’s developing stage play, TRANSFORMER:

http://blogs.kent.ac.uk/melodramaresearchgroup/2017/09/19/tamsin-flowers-transformer/

The film’s heroine (the ‘Baby Face’ of the title, played by Barbara Stanwyck) improves her material wealth by turning the tables on men who have abused her since she was a child. In addition to its interest to the group due to its melodramatic narrative, Baby Face raises lots of issues regarding the representation of women on screen and comments on society in the US in the 1930s. Despite the fact the film is over 80 years old, screening it seems especially timely. There is currently much coverage of Hollywood’s treatment of those who are perceived to hold less power, and of the brave men and women who are reporting their experiences of abuse in the industry.

The film also allows us to explore film history in more detail. The film was released not long before Hollywood’s Production Code, which policed the content of films, was implemented. Indeed, it is credited by some as being one of the handful of films which prompted the clampdown on what types of  moral and sexual behaviour were acceptable on the screen. This led to the original version being edited, although both the censored and  uncensored versions are available today and will be discussed at the session.

Do join us, if you can, for this important film.

Melodrama Screening ,16th October, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the next Melodrama Research Group screening. We will be showing two episodes from the UK TV series Black Mirror on Monday the 16th of October, 5-7pm, Jarman 6. 

‘Be Right Back’ (Series 2, Episode 1, February 2013, 44 mins) tells the story of a young couple, Martha (Hayley Atwell) and Ash (Domhnall Gleeson), living in a remote house in the countryside. Their lives are soon shattered when Ash is killed. This is not the end of their relationship, however, since Ash’s emails and social media profile are mined, and a virtual version of him is created. While initially this offers Martha some comfort, the next step of the process, which involves an android resembling Ash, causes problems….

‘Nosedive’ (Series 3, Episode 1, October 2016, 63 mins) also revolves around social media, since everyone both gives and receives ‘ratings’ for their interactions with others.  Obsessed with approval, Lacie (Bryce Dallas Howard) becomes distressed as her high rate starts to slip, and opportunities like discounts on housing, access to flights, and health treatment are denied to her.

Do join us for these, if you can, ahead of Kat and Ann-Marie’s ‘At Home With Horror? Terror on the Small Screen conference’, taking place at Kent from the 27th to the 29th of October. You can find out more information on the blog: https://tvhomeofhorror.wordpress.com/ 

And purchase tickets here:

 

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Monday 2nd October, 5-7pm, Jarman 6

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All are very welcome to join us for the first of this term’s melodrama screening and discussion sessions, taking place on Monday the 2nd of October, 5-7pm, in Jarman 6.

By screening Miss Christina (2013, Alexandru Maftei, 101 minutes) we are referring back to the wonderful Gothic Feminism conference held at Kent in May 2017. (See the Gothic Feminism blog here: https://gothicfeminism.com) Maria (who presented an excellent paper on Miss Christina at the conference) is very kindly giving us the opportunity to see this film, and has provided the great summary below. Thanks Maria!

Alexandru Maftei’s 2013 film Miss Christina represents the second adaptation of Mircea Eliade’s novella with the same title. The film largely follows the same narrative line as the novella. The young painter Egor (Tudor Aaron Istodor) and his love interest Sanda (Ioana Anastasia Anton) travel to her family’s countryside estate to get away from Bucharest’s busy city life. Upon reaching the Moscu family mansion, Egor observes the strange interactions between members of the household. The mother, Mrs. Moscu (Maia Morgenstern) seems weakened, drained and ill. Professor Nazarie, a guest in the mansion, is polite and pleasant by day but weary at night. Sanda’s younger sister, Simina (Ioana Sandu) appears as a happy but creepy child, who always talks about her mysterious aunt, Christina (Anastasia Dumitrescu). Egor is led to Christina’s portrait and becomes increasingly obsessed with it and falls further and further under her spell.

Miss Christina created quite a hype among movie-goers at the time of its release, largely because it was marketed as the first Romanian horror film. However, it received mixed reviews. Some critics noted that there was nothing scary about the film and that attempts at jump scares fell short and even became embarrassing. Other critics focused on the Gothic elements of the film, praising it for the setting and costumes. Given these reactions, Miss Christina generates an interesting discussion in terms of marketing, genre and audience expectations. As a DVD copy has not been released for purchase, this screening is a unique opportunity to see the film (with English subtitles!).

Do join us, if you can, for an interesting discussion on the intersection of the gothic and horror in film.

 

Melodrama Screening and Discussion, Tuesday 30th of May, 5-7pm, Jarman 7

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All are very welcome to join us for our next screening and discussion session which will take place on Tuesday the 30th of May, 5-7pm, in Jarman 7.

Inspired by Kent’s wonderful on-going Gothic Feminism project (https://gothicfeminism.com/), we continue our concern with the Gothic by showing The Others (2001, Alejandro Amenabar, 104 mins).

The film, which focuses on a family living in a Jersey mansion in 1945, was referenced several times in the recent Gothic Feminism conference.

Do join us if you can.