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BLACK SUNDAY [La maschera del demonio] (1960)
Fri, Jul 4, 10:45; Sun, Jul 6, 8:20
In 17th century Moldavia, a beautiful woman (Barbara Steele,
launching what would become a prolific career as a horror film
scream queen) is sentenced to a gruesome death for witchcraft,
but vows revenge on the descendants of those responsible.
Resurrected two centuries later, she keeps her promise.
DIR Mario
Bava; SCR Ennio De Concini, Mario Serandrei, from a short story by Nikolai Gogol; PROD Massimo
De Rita. Italy, 1960, b&w, 87 min. In English. NOT RATED
BLACK SABBATH [I tre volti della paura]
Fri, Jul 11, 10:45; Sat, Jul 12, 11:30
In this trio of haunting tales, a call girl is terrified by threatening
phone calls, which she believes are coming from the pimp she
snitched on; in 19th century Russia, Boris Karloff and his family
fall prey to a vampiric creature called “the Wurdalak”; and a
nurse is haunted by the ghost of a former patient, from whom
she stole a sapphire ring.
DIR/SCR Mario Bava; SCR Alberto Bevilacqua, Marcello
Fondato, from stories by Ivan Chekhov, F. G. Snyder and Aleksei Tolstoy; PROD Salvatore Billitteri,
Paolo Mercuri. Italy/UK/France, 1963, color, 92 min. In English. NOT RATED
KILL, BABY, KILL [Operazione paura]
Fri, Aug 1, 12 midnight; Sat, Aug 2, 12 midnight
Regarded by Martin Scorsese as Bava’s masterpiece, and often
linked with contemporary Japanese horror. A Transylvanian
village suffers from a spate of murders, the victims found with
silver coins embedded in their hearts. Is the killer the town
witch? The mysterious baroness? Or the ghost of her murdered
daughter?
DIR/SCR Mario Bava; SCR Romano Migliorini, Roberto Natale; PROD Luciano
Catenacci, Nando Pisani. Italy, 1966, color, 85 min. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Alec Guinness Centennial
Mario Bava Centennial
Italian cinematographer-
turned-director Mario Bava
(1914–1980) is one of the
most influential visual stylists
of late-20th century cinema.
Although working exclusively
in Italian genre cinema — most
famously gothic horror, but also
giallo
thrillers, swinging ‘60s
spy spoofs and crime capers,
sci-fi/fantasy spectacles, spaghetti Westerns and
sword & sandal epics — his stylish visuals and
aesthetic sensibility (even after becoming a full-
fledged director, he continued to oversee his own
cinematography) have been cited by celebrated
auteur filmmakers including Francis Ford Coppola,
Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino.
On the occasion of Bava’s centennial year, AFI
Silver proudly presents this selection of some of his
best films, nearly all on archival 35mm prints and,
even rarer, several in their Italian language originals
with English subtitles.
AFI Member Passes accepted at all screenings.
July 4–September 17
THE QUILLER MEMORANDUM
Sun, Aug 24, 11:05 a.m.; Mon, Aug 25, 4:50;
Tue, Aug 26, 2:30; Thu, Aug 28, 2:30
Phoenix, a cell of former Nazis in West Berlin, have
assassinated two British agents. Young agent Quiller (George
Segal) is tasked by his handler, Pol (Alec Guinness), to root out
the Reich diehards. This Cold War-era spy thriller boasts an
excellent cast, including Max von Sydow, Senta Berger and
George Sanders, not to mention a screenplay by Harold Pinter.
Music by John Barry.
DIR Michael Anderson; SCR Harold Pinter, from the novel “The Berlin
Memorandum” by Elleston Trevor; PROD Ivan Foxwell. UK/US, 1966, color, 104 min. NOT RATED
DOCTOR ZHIVAGO
Sat, Aug 30, 4:00; Mon, Sep 1, 8:00; Tue, Sep 2, 11:30 a.m.;
Wed, Sep 3, 1:00; Thu, Sep 4, 12 noon
Ten nominations and five Oscar® wins for David Lean's
adaptation of the Boris Pasternak classic recounting the time
before, during and after the Russian revolution, as experienced
by soulful doctor/poet Omar Sharif and recounted later by
his half-brother, Soviet army officer Alec Guinness. Sharif
navigates a difficult love triangle between his aristocratic wife
Geraldine Chaplin and new love Julie Christie, a nurse who
has suffered heartbreak as the former lover of self-righteous
revolutionary Tom Courtenay, and dishonor at the hands of
politician/rapist Rod Steiger.
DIR David Lean; SCR Robert Bolt, from the novel by
Boris Pasternak; PROD Carlo Ponti. UK, 1965, color, 212 min. including 15 min. intermission. In
English and Russian with English subtitles. RATED PG-13
STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE
Sat, Aug 30, 8:00; Sun, Aug 31, 4:45
A long time ago, in a galaxy, far, far away… Alec Guinness
earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar® nomination for his
iconic turn as Jedi knight Obi-Wan Kenobi, lending his veteran
screen presence to the cast of young unknowns in George
Lucas' history-making, paradigm-shifting, swashbuckling space
adventure.
DIR/SCR George Lucas; PROD Gary Kurtz, Rick McCallum. US, 1977, color, 121
min. RATED PG
THE SWAN
Sun, Sep 7, 3:20; Mon, Sep 8, 4:45; Wed, Sep 10, 4:45
Third Hollywood remake of Ferenc Molnár’s play about a
Mittel-European princess (Grace Kelly, in, yes, her Hollywood
swansong, before marrying Prince Rainier of Monaco) torn
between marrying the Crown Prince Alexander (Alec Guinness),
as her family desperately desires, and her love for dashing
tutor Dr. Nicholas Agi (Louis Jourdan). With Agnes Moorehead
and child actor, later Beach Boys collaborator and songwriter
extraordinaire, Van Dyke Parks.
DIR Charles Vidor; SCR John Dighton, from the
play by Ferenc Molnár; PROD Dore Schary. US, 1956, color, 104 min. NOT RATED
30th Anniversary!
A PASSAGE TO INDIA
Sun, Sep 14, 1:30; Mon, Sep 15, 4:00
David Lean’s exquisite E. M. Forster adaptation, his return
to the screen after a 14-year hiatus, earned 11 Oscar®
nominations, winning Best Supporting Actress for Peggy
Ashcroft and Best Score for Maurice Jarre. In 1920s colonial
India, headstrong Brit Judy Davis befriends local doctor Victor
Banerjee, but a mysterious event while touring the mystical
Marabar caves leads to accusations of rape. Guinness
delights as Brahmin scholar Dr. Godbole.
DIR/SCR David Lean; SCR from
the novel by E. M. Forster and the play by Santha Rama Rau; PROD John Brabourne, Richard B.
Goodwin. UK/US, 1984, color, 164 min. RATED PG
OUR MAN IN HAVANA
Fri, Sep 5, 5:10; Sat, Sep 6, 1:15; Sun, Sep 7, 1:00;
Tue, Sep 9, 5:00 ; Thu, Sep 11, 5:00
The third and final of the Carol Reed-Graham Greene
collaborations, this time in spoof mode: Havana vacuum
cleaner salesman Alec Guinness is surprised to find himself
recruited by Caribbean spymaster Noël Coward for service
in MI6. He's happy for the extra income, but when nothing
much happens, Guinness spices up his reports to please his
superiors. Matters are complicated when a real spy ring gets
wind of Guinness. Ralph Richardson, Burl Ives and Maureen
O'Hara round out a terrific cast, with Ernie Kovacs shining as
the crafty Batista enforcer Captain Segura.
DIR/PROD Carol Reed; SCR
Graham Greene, from his novel. UK, 1959, b&w, 111 min. NOT RATED
DANGER: DIABOLIK [Diabolik]
Fri, Aug 8, 9:30; Sat Aug 9, 11:00
Based on the Italian comic-book character, Mario Bava’s
campy caper is a touchstone of swinging ‘60s style, starring
John Phillip Law (BARBARELLA) as the masked super-thief. Ennio
Morricone provides the groovy score; the Beastie Boys’ “Body
Movin’” video paid homage and even incorporated clips from
the film.
DIR/SCR Mario Bava; SCR Arduino Maiuri, Brian Degas, Tudor Gates; PROD Dino De
Laurentiis, Bruno Todin. Italy/France, 1968, color, 105 min. In English. RATED PG-13
THE WHIP AND THE BODY [La frusta e il corpo]
Sat, Jul 19, 12 midnight; Tue, Jul 22, 9:00
Sadistic nobleman Christopher
Lee returns to his family
mansion after many years
in exile. He soon sets his
sights — and whips — on
Daliah Lavi, his brother’s
wife and Lee’s former lover,
whom he flogs for perverse
sexual satisfaction. The torture
ends after Lee is mysteriously
murdered, but continues anew
when his ghost returns.
DIR Mario
Bava; SCR Ernesto Gastaldi, Ugo Guerra,
Luciano Martino; PROD Federico Magnaghi.
Italy/France, 1963, color, 91 min. In English. NOT RATED
50th Anniversary!
BLOOD AND BLACK LACE
[Sei donne per l'assassino]
Mon, Jul 28, 9:30; Wed, Jul 30, 9:30
Bava’s landmark giallo thriller is universally cited as the
inspiration for the slasher subgenre. In a fashion house rife
with vice, a model recently slain by a mysterious masked man
may have been killed for her diary documenting the business’
improprieties. As the diary changes hands among the dead
girl’s model friends, each winds up dead.
DIR Mario Bava; SCR Marcello
Fondato; PROD Alfredo Mirabile, Massimo Patrizi. Italy/France/Monaco, 1963, color, 88 min. In
English. NOT RATED
HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON aka
BLOOD BRIDES [Il rosso segno della follia]
Fri, Aug 15, 9:30; Tue, Aug 19, 9:40
The handsome owner of a bridal shop suffers from impotence,
which has left him unable to consummate his marriage to
his beautiful, bedeviled wife, and which starts him luring
women to his shop, dressing them in his wedding gowns, and
murdering them. Events escalate after he murders his wife, who
returns as a vengeful ghost.
DIR/SCR Mario Bava; SCR Santiago Moncada; PROD
Manuel Caño. Italy/Spain, 1970, color, 88 min. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
5 DOLLS FOR AN AUGUST MOON
[5 bambole per la luna d'agosto]
Sat, Aug 16, 10:00
In this giallo take on an Agatha Christie-style whodunit, a
wealthy industrialist invites a group of investors to his private
island to discuss a new venture. The group’s scheming and
backstabbing derails the meeting, but after one of them is
mysteriously killed, and then another, they must band together
lest they all perish one by one.
DIR Mario Bava; SCR Mario di Nardo; PROD Luigi
Alessi. Italy, 1970, color, 80 min. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
A BAY OF BLOOD aka TWITCH OF THE DEATH
NERVE [Reazione a catena aka Ecologia del delitto]
Sat, Aug 23, 9:00
Looking for a love shack, four teens break into a seaside
cottage, not realizing that they’ve intruded, not only upon a
murderous squabble among a family of aristocrats, but also
a murder plot cooked up by greedy real-estate speculators.
All the murders converge and multiply, becoming ever more
outrageous as the body count rises.
DIR/SCR Mario Bava; SCR Filippo Ottoni,
story by Franco Barberi, Dardano Sacchetti; SCR/PROD Giuseppe Zaccariello. Italy, 1971, color,
84 min. In Italian with English subtitles. RATED R
BARON BLOOD
[Gli orrori del castello di Norimberga]
Sun, Aug 24, 9:20
Bava returned to the Gothic horror tradition with this tale of
a murderous, cursed and long-dead nobleman, Baron Otto
von Kleist aka “Baron Blood” (Joseph Cotten), resurrected after
a spell is unwittingly read by modern-day ancestor Antonio
Cantafora and Elke Sommer, an architect hired to turn the family
castle into an upscale hotel.
DIR Mario Bava; SCR Vincent Fotre; PROD Alfredo
Leone. Italy/West Germany, 1972, color, 100 min. In Italian with English subtitles. RATED PG
LISA AND THE DEVIL [Lisa e il diavolo]
Wed, Sep 10, 7:00
The lovely Lisa Reiner
(Elke Sommer) is spooked
that the man shopping
alongside her for antiques
(Telly Savalas) bears an
uncanny resemblance to
the devil depicted in an
old fresco. Separated from
her tour group, a series of
strange events lands Lisa
in the mansion of a blind
countess…And then things
really get weird.
DIR/SCR Mario
Bava; SCR/PROD Alfredo Leone. Italy/
West Germany/Spain, 1972, color,
95 min. In Italian with English subtitles.
RATED R
Note: This version is the Italian original,
not
the U.S.
re-cut known as HOUSE OF EXORCISM.
RABID DOGS [Cani arrabbiati]
Tue, Sep 9, 7:20
Shot in 1974, this film remained unfinished and unreleased
until it was completed decades later by Mario Bava’s son
Lamberto. At a red-light street crossing, fleeing bank robbers
carjack an innocent woman and force her to drive them to
Rome.
DIR Mario Bava; SCR Alessandro Parenzo; PROD Lamberto Bava, Alfredo Leone,
Roberto Loyola. Italy, 1974, color, 96 min. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
PLANET OF THE VAMPIRES [Terrore nello spazio]
Sat, Aug 30, 10:30;
Tue, Sep 2, 9:30
Two spaceships
respond to a distress
signal coming from
an unexplored planet,
whereupon most of the
crew become possessed
by a mysterious force,
first causing them to
kill one another, then
reanimating their corpses.
Bava’s psychedelic sci-fi
visuals and dread-filled
atmospherics have made
this a beloved and
influential film.
DIR/SCR Mario
Bava; SCR Alberto Bevilacqua, Callisto
Cosulich, Antonio Román, Rafael J.
Salvia; PROD Fulvio Lucisano. Spain/Italy, 1965, color, 86 min. In English. NOT RATED
SHOCK aka BEYOND THE DOOR II [Schock]
Fri, Sep 12, 9:30; Wed, Sep 17, 7:00
Dora, a recently released mental patient, moves into her
old home with her new husband. Soon, strange things start
happening, and her son seems to be possessed by the ghost
of her ex, a heroin addict who committed suicide. Has the
electroshock treatment left her a madwoman, or is there a more
sordid past barely hidden?
DIR Mario Bava; SCR Francesco Barbieri, Lamberto Bava,
Paulo Brigenti, Dardano Sacchetti; PROD Turi Vasile. Italy, 1977, color, 93 min. In English. RATED R
Courtesy of MGM
Courtesy of LucasFilm
Courtesy of Sony Pictures
Courtesy of MGM
Courtesy of International Media Films
THE SWAN
STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE
OUR MAN IN HAVANA
A PASSAGE TO INDIA
BLACK SUNDAY
