Ginger & Rosa - Filmhouse Cinema Edinburgh

Introduction to European Cinema
31
THE BLUE ANGEL MIRACLE IN MILAN NIGHT AND THE CITY
The Blue Angel Der blaue Engel
Wed 7 Nov at 6.00pm
Josef von Sternberg • Germany 1930 • 1h46m • 35mm
German & English dual language version • PG
Cast: Marlene Dietrich, Emil Jannings, Kurt Gerron, Rosa Valetti,
Hans Albers.
Marlene Dietrich in her first iconic role as a femme fatale
plays a sensual singer at the café Blue Angel. Director Josef
von Sternberg’s use of lighting, composition and of silence
as sound, his overall creation of a world that can seduce
and destroy even its most upstanding citizen, attest to his
greatness.
La kermesse héroïque
Carnival in Flanders
Wed 14 Nov at 6.00pm
Jacques Feyder • France/Germany 1935 • 1h57m
35mm • French with English subtitles
12A – Contains moderate violence and sex references
Cast: Françoise Rosay, André Alerme, Jean Murat, Louis Jouvet,
Lyne Clevers.
This tongue-in-cheek farce is set in the 1600s, in a Flemish
town which is facing invasion by the Spanish army. The
men of the town are spineless and the mayor pretends
to be dead, but his more courageous and sophisticated
wife takes control of the situation and by recognising and
appealing to the enemy’s base needs, she and the town’s
women avert a catastrophe. Feyder managed to recreate
the world of Flemish painters with an incredible accuracy,
and La kermesse héroïque portrays his great sense of
humour and attention to historical detail.
Miracle in Milan Miracolo a Milano
Wed 21 Nov at 6.00pm
Vittorio De Sica • Italy 1951 • 1h40m • 35mm
Italian and English with English subtitles • U
Cast: Emma Gramatica, Francesco Golisano, Paolo Stoppa,
Guglielmo Barnabò, Brunella Bovo.
A quintessential work of Italian neo-realism, De Sica’s
post-WWII fable displays his humanistic ideology through
the tale of a young boy granted magical powers. When
his kind-hearted guardian dies, Toto, an orphan, begins
living with a group of beggars. When Toto is given a magic
dove by a fairy, he uses its wish-granting powers to help
whoever asks, but the dove is eventually stolen, the land
on which the beggars live is taken over, and they are jailed.
Night and the City
Wed 28 Nov at 6.00pm
Jules Dassin • UK 1950 • 1h40m • 35mm • PG
Cast: Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney, Googie Withers, Hugh
Marlowe, Herbert Lom.
A dark, brooding noir, with Richard Widmark riveting as
Harry Fabian, a hustler who sinks into the quagmire of
his own ambitions. The film is set in London, where Harry
works for the owner of a sleazy dive where his girlfriend
Mary (Gene Tierney) sings. Director Dassin relentlessly
displays London without charm and grace, showing
only the seamy side where Widmark and his kind live out
their unscrupulous lives. Despite the feeling of lonely
helplessness that pervades the film, the story proceeds
at such a frenetic pace that it’s utterly captivating, and
Widmark’s performance is nothing short of remarkable.