The Cinema Museum - The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Dinner At Eight (1933), BBC Centenary, Gentleman Prefer Blondes (1953), Fringe!, BBC Centenary, Thin Ice (1928)

 

The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) Dinner At Eight (1933) BBC Centenary Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Fringe! BBC Centenary Thin Ice (1928) Kennington Bioscope presents; The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), Wednesday September 14th @ 7:30pm 1949, Santa Rosa, California. A laconic, chain-smoking barber Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is an ordinary man trying to escape a humdrum life. Ed’s wife Doris (Frances McDormand) likes a drink and may be having an affair with her boss Big Dave, who has $10,000 to invest. Ed gets wind of a chance to make some money, and blackmail and investment are his opportunity to be more than a man whom no one notices. Cue a tale of suspected adultery; blackmail; foul play; death; Sacramento city slickers; racial slurs; invented war heroics; shaved legs; a gamine piano player; and UFOs. A 1949 noir made in 2001, and directed by the Coen Brothers, this film received multiple award nominations and awards. Advance tickets are £8 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now Women & Cocaine presents Jean Harlow: Dinner At Eight (1933), Friday September 16th @ 7:30pm Before Madonna, Mansfield and Monroe, there was Harlow, the original Blonde Bombshell. By the time of her death at the age of 26, Jean Harlow had become one of Hollywood’s biggest and brightest stars. He image has endured in fascinating modern audiences and on the 16th September we will take a closer look at the short but sweet life of ‘Baby’ Jean with a screening of her most successful film, Dinner at Eight (1933). Millicent Jordan, (Billie Burke) an ambitious New York socialite, is planning an extravagant dinner party as her businessman husband, Oliver (Lionel Barrymore), contends with financial woes, causing a lot of tension between the couple. Meanwhile, their high-society friends and associates, including the gruff Dan Packard (Wallace Beery) and his sultry spouse, Kitty (Jean Harlow), contend with their own entanglements, leading to revelations at the much-anticipated dinner. Come join us in this beautifully historic Grade II listed venue for an introduction, then screening of the film and exclusive raffle! “My father warned me about men & booze, but he never mentioned a word about women & cocaine” – Tallulah Bankhead. Reserved tickets £9.45 available from Eventbrite. Tickets will also be available on the door on the night. Concessions available on the door with valid ID. Phone bookings for this event cannot be made via the Cinema Museum. BBC Centenary presents LGBTQ+ Screenings; Everyman: Blasphemy At The Old Bailey (1977) + Q&A, Saturday September 17th @ 7:30pm This screening of Blasphemy at the Old Bailey (1977) and rare BBC news footage is accompanied by a discussion by some of those involved in defending Gay News and supporting gay and lesbian Christians against Mary Whitehouse’s moral crusade. The LGBTBBC season of screenings is funded by the Arts and Humanities Council in cooperation with the BBC. Admission is free, but places are limited.  To avoid disappointment, please click below to register via Eventbrite. Register Now The Vito Project LGBTQ+ Film Club Presents; Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953), Sunday September 18th @ 6pm Forget your troubles, come on, get happy and join us as The Vito Project LGBTQ+ Club returns with its brand new season – Imitations of Life: Deconstructing Camp in Classic Hollywood. We will explore how camp has been used not only to bring joy and laughter to audience, but also as a tool to get subversive queer, feminist and socially-charged content to the screen – all the while eluding critics in the process! Each movie is preceded by an introduction and followed by a panel discussion discussing the movie through a queer lens, and a conversation with the audience. Our season kicks off with one of the best loved, most quoted, but rarely surpassed titles in camp classic canon: the masterpiece of musical comedy Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, directed by Howard Hawks. Starring the indomitable Jane Russell and a radiant Marilyn Monroe in one of her breakthrough roles, this classic still shines bright like a diamond as one of the most luminous examples of female friendship on the screen. This glitzy Technicolor romp features a long list of iconic moments that cemented their place in pop culture history, but just to name a few that you wouldn’t want to miss – an extremely ‘love sick’ Jane Russell singing “Isn’t Anyone Here For Love” to a bevy of beefy but oblivious scantily-clad bodybuilders; and of course, Marilyn’s dazzling rendition of “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend”, which has inspired homages by everyone from Madonna to Miss Piggy. More information here. Advance tickets are £8 and may be purchased from Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest: Chocolate Babies (1996) & Pat Rocco Dared (2001), Friday September 23rd @ 6:30pm The Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest travels to The Cinema Museum to screen two films about the gay activism in the States in the last century. Chocolate Babies (1996) USA 83 mins Directed by Stephen Winter. An underground band of HIV-positive, queer, urban, activists of color make headlines in NYC after staging fabulous guerilla attacks on conservative politicians to expose political corruption. As the charismatic group get caught up in self-destructive binges, love affairs and infighting, the group begins to crumble. Will they find the peace and justice they seek? A raw and honest film (rich in history and place), which has been provoking laughter and dialogue for 25 years. Content warning: intravenous drug use, nudity, gun violence Pat Rocco Dared (2021) Canada 90 mins – UK Premiere Directed by Charlie David. In the 1970’s Playboy magazine dubbed Pat Rocco the ‘King of the Nudies’, but he is much more than an erotic filmmaker. This charming doc reveals all about the activist, artist, and prolific purveyor of authentic documentation of LGBTIQA+ people over the 20th century. Rocco recorded the presence of the most marginalised communities at historical moments, like the first ever gay pride parade. This film offers a rare chance to hear from Rocco in his own words and see clips from restored versions of some of his rarest films.  Advance tickets are £10 for both films or £6 for an individual film. Please click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Tickets can also be purchased on the door. Buy Now BBC Centenary LGBTQ+ Screenings: Trans Lives In The Seventies + Q&A, Saturday September 24th @ 7:30pm Wonder Reels return to the Cinema Museum with their unique events featuring live performances from outstanding London musicians followed by a screening of a full feature film chosen with the artist in mind. The event will start with a performance by vocalist, instrumentalist and dancer Maggie Nicols, who will be playing an improvised voice and piano set. Maggie Nicols co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group in the 1970s and has had a prolific career as a performer and recording artist worldwide. The concert will be followed by a screening of Hal Ashby’s 1971 cult existentialist comedy Harold and Maude, chronicling the adventures of two adorable mavericks while they make the most of their time on earth. Admission is free, but places are limited.  To avoid disappointment, please register via  Eventbrite. Kennington Bioscope presents; Thin Ice (1928), Wednesday September 28th @ 7:30pm Thin Ice is known in Norwegian as Bergenstoget plyndret i natt (The Bergen Train Looted Last Night) and was adapted by Alf Rød from the 1923 novel of that name written by Nordahl Grieg and Nils Lie under the joint pseudonym `Jonathan Jerv’. Directed by Uwe Jens Krafft and with German actors Aud Egede-Nissen and Paul Richter in the leading roles, Thin Ice is the story of a student embarking on a daring raid on a train passing through the mountain scenery from Oslo to Bergen. His motivation: having obtained a job as advertising executive with the railway company and seeking the hand of the boss’s daughter, he hopes to confirm his chances with both by staging the robbery – but is this merely a publicity stunt, or something more? The extensive Norwegian outdoor scenes were photographed by Paul Berge and Johannes Bentzen; interiors were shot by Günther Krampf in the EFA and UFA studios in Berlin (the film was released in Germany as Schneeschuhbanditen). Thin Ice was Norway’s first true attempt at an international film success and fulfilled its promise; even without promotion over 100,000 Norwegian cinemagoers saw the film, which was subsequently exported to 11 countries. The first part of the evening will feature a screening of Ménilmontant (1925). Ménilmontant is an avant-garde French film directed by Dimitri Kirsanoff. Its narrative develops solely through images and montage, without the support of sound or title cards. Ménilmontant tells the story of two young sisters who leave their country home in the wake of their parents’ brutal murder, and settle in the eponymous working-class Parisian neighborhood where they fall prey to the ruthless seduction of a young man. The film is notable for its use of double exposure, the depiction of disorienting urban landscapes via very rapid cutting, as well as for the brutality of the opening and closing scenes. This will be screened from a 16mm print from The Cinema Museum’s collection. Tickets are £7 and seats are limited.  To avoid disappointment, please request an invite via email; kenbioscope@gmail.com.

Trouble In Paradise (1932), Bridge on The River Kawai, Trouble In Paradise (1932), Laurel & Hardy Meeting, The Sea Hawk (1924), Two Of Us (1987)

 

Trouble In Paradise (1932) August 27th Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) September 1st Laurel & Hardy Meeting September 3rd The Sea Hawk (1924) September 7th Two of Us (1987) September 10th Women & Cocaine presents; Trouble In Paradise (1932), Saturday August 27th @ 7:30pm “I love you as a crook. I worship you as a crook. Steal, swindle, rob. Oh, but don’t become one of those useless, good-for-nothing gigolos.” Thief Gaston Monescu (Herbert Marshall) and playful pickpocket Lily (Miriam Hopkins) are partners in crime and love. Working for perfume company executive Mariette Colet (Kay Francis), the two crooks decide to combine their criminal talents to rob their employer. Under the alias of Monsieur Laval, Gaston uses his position as Mariette’s personal secretary to become closer to her. However, he takes things too far when he actually falls in love with Mariette, and has to choose between her and Lily. Come join us in this beautifully historic Grade II listed venue for an introduction, then screening of the film and exclusive raffle! “My father warned me about men & booze, but he never mentioned a word about women & cocaine” – Tallulah Bankhead. Reserved tickets are £9.45 - click below to purchase from Eventbrite. Tickets will also be available on the door on the night. Concessions available on the door with valid ID. Phone bookings for this event cannot be made via the Cinema Museum. Buy Now Bridge On The River Kwai (1957), Thursday September 1st @ 7pm British POWs are forced to build a bridge for their Japanese captors in Burma, under the command of Colonel Nicholson (Alec Guinness). David Lean’s classic epic landed him his first Best Director Oscar, and it also gave Carl Foreman his only Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, which, due to his blacklisting, he received a whopping 26 years after he won it, the day before he died. Screenplay By is hosted by screenwriter, playwright and film blogger Carol Saint Martin and it focuses on the screenwriters and storytellers behind some of the greatest films ever made and their stories. Advance tickets are £9 (£8 concession) and may be purchased from Ticketlab. Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. The Live Ghost Tent; Quarterly Laurel & Hardy Society Meeting, Saturday September 3rd @ 3pm - 7pm The films we intend to show, which were all released in the month of September, are: Should Married Men Go Home? (1928), silent short directed by Leo McCarey and James Parrott; The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930), short directed by James Parrott; Come Clean (1931), short directed by James W. Horne; Scram! (1932), short directed by Ray McCarey; and Pack Up Your Troubles (1932), directed by George Marshall and Ray McCarey. The membership fee is for one year and includes entrance to our meetings and a copy of our international quarterly magazine the Intra-Tent Journal. Single cost of membership is £10 per annum, £12.50 for a couple living at the same address. Non-members are welcome and we ask for a donation of £5 per meeting. Children under the age of 12, accompanied by an adult are admitted free. Kennington Bioscope presents; The Sea Hawk (1924), Wednesday September 7th @ 7:30pm The Sea Hawk (1924), directed by Frank Lloyd, and starring Milton Sills, Enid Bennett, Lloyd Hughes and Wallace Beery. Based on Rafael Sabatini’s 1915 novel, The Sea Hawk was adapted for the screen by J.G. Hawks and produced and directed by Frank Lloyd. The story – about an English baronet (Milton Sills) who is framed for murder by his half-brother (Lloyd Hughes), becomes a galley slave then escapes to reinvent himself as the buccaneering `Sakr-el-Bahr’ – is set amid the high-seas piracy of the late 16th century. Aware that audiences had learned to recognise the use of scale models, Lloyd spent $200,000 for the construction of authentic-looking sea vessels, hiring Buster Keaton’s prop designer Fred Gabourie – who had previously built replicas of Stephenson’s Rocket and a hobby-horse bike for Keaton’s Our Hospitality – to create wooden cladding that would convert modern ships into those suitable for the period setting. The results were so convincing (the New York Times considered it `far and away the best sea story that’s yet been done up to that point’) that Warner Brothers subsequently re-used the footage in the Errol Flynn vehicles Captain Blood (1935) and the nominal remake of The Sea Hawk in 1940. Filming of these scenes took place off Catalina Island, with 150 tents supplied for the use of 1,000 extras, 21 technicians, 14 main actors and 64 sailors. The Sea Hawk also stars Enid Bennett, Wallace Beery and Marc McDermott. A programme of silent shorts makes up the first part of the evening, which features live piano accompaniment throughout. Silent film with intertitles which may be suitable for the deaf and hard of hearing. Tickets are £7, but seats are limited.  To avoid disappointment, please arrive early or request an invitation via email; kenbioscope@gmail.com. BBC Centenary LGBTQ+ Screenings: Two Of Us (1987) + Q&A, Saturday September 10th @ 7:30pm This screening brings together the creators of the groundbreaking BBC drama Two of Us (1988) to discuss why a film about love between two teenage boys led to a Thatcherite backlash against the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local authorities. The LGBTBBC season of screenings is funded by the Arts and Humanities Council in cooperation with the BBC. Free admission. Places are limited, so please register via the Eventbrite webpage.

The Cinema Museum - The Psycho Sequels, Rare Cinema Europe, Fog Over Frisco (1934), Blinkin Buzzards, Harold & Maude (1971)

 

The Psycho Sequels July 24th Rare Cinema Europe July 29th Fog Over Frisco (1934) July 30th Blinkin Buzzards August 6th Harold & Maude (1971) August 13th Queer Horror Nights presents; The Psycho Sequels, Sunday July 24th @ 6:30pm Queer Horror Nights is proud to present a double dose of Psycho sequels, Richard Franklin’s acclaimed follow-on Psycho II (1983) and Anthony Perkins’ own attempt at sticking a knife in the heart of the franchise that would forever define him, Psycho III (1986). Psycho II (1983/1hr 53min) “It’s 22 years later, and Norman Bates is coming home.” Directed by Richard Franklin and starring Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, Meg Tilly and Robert Loggia. Rated 18. Psycho III (1986/1hr 33min) “Norman Bates is back to normal. But Mother’s off her rocker again.” Directed by Anthony Perkins and starring Anthony Perkins, Diana Scarwid, Jeff Fahey, Roberta Maxwell and Hugh Gillin. Rated 15. We won’t have time to show TV movie Psycho IV (1990), but we’ll certainly be talking about it! Alfred Hitchcock’s newly restored and uncut Psycho (1960) is possibly one of the most influential horror films of all time, a low budget, black and white masterpiece that is now synonymous with the word fear. But we’re taking a path less well travelled… what Norman Bates did next. For more details including the full program, click here. Advance tickets are £12 and may be purchased from Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Rare Cinema Europe presents; Me By Day & You By Night / Ich Bei Tag Un Du Bei Nacht (1932), Friday July 29th @ 7:30pm A chance to see a selection of rarely screened fine European films. Me by Day and You by Night/Ich bei tag und du bei nacht, (Germany / 1932 /98 mins). Directed by Ludwig Berger and starring Käthe von Nagy and Willy Fritsch. Wonderful screwball-style Weimar comedy with the always reliable Willy Fritsch and adorable Kathe von Nagy sharing a room while working opposite hours. They’ve developed a hatred for each other’s habits without ever meeting. The couple’s series of mishaps and mistaken identities are delightfully counterpointed by a film playing at the adjacent cinema which pokes fun at the then-current musical romance films. Never in the early days of sound cinema has a camera been so mobile as it skates and darts from projection room to street, from street to restaurant, from restaurant to the confines of the rented room. Ludwig Berger (best known for co-directing The Thief of Bagdad with Michael Powell in 1940) directed both English and French language versions adjacent to the German original whose consistent inventiveness makes it an absolute gem. Advance tickets are £8 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now Women & Cocaine presents; Fog Over Frisco (1934), Saturday July 30th @ 7:30pm Hollywood legend Bette Davis plays spoiled high society bad girl, Arlene Bradford, in this rarely screened pre code classic. Arlene has little regards for the law, but things take a turn for the worse when she involves her sister in her shady and highly dangerous activities. Come join us in this beautifully historic Grade II listed venue for an introduction, then screening of the film and exclusive raffle! Reserved tickets £9.45 available from Eventbrite. Tickets will also be available on the door on the night. Concessions available on the door with valid ID. Phone bookings for this event cannot be made via the Cinema Museum. Blinkin Buzzards, Saturday August 6th @ 4pm - 7pm The UK Buster Keaton Society. Quarterly meeting of the society dedicated to the appreciation of the silent comedian. After a selection of Keaton shorts and a break, the second half will be a screening of Battling Butler (1926). Buster plays Alfred Butler, the son of a wealthy family – and also a wimp! His father sends him on a hunting holiday to toughen him up, and he falls for a working class girl he meets. To impress his sweetheart’s family, he pretends he is ‘Battling Butler’, the well-known professional prizefighter. Amazingly, the story is adapted from a 1923 musical play! Entry free to members with £10 annual membership available at the door. Wonder Reels; Harold & Maude (1971), Saturday August 13th @ 7:30pm Wonder Reels return to the Cinema Museum with their unique events featuring live performances from outstanding London musicians followed by a screening of a full feature film chosen with the artist in mind. The event will start with a performance by vocalist, instrumentalist and dancer Maggie Nicols, who will be playing an improvised voice and piano set. Maggie Nicols co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group in the 1970s and has had a prolific career as a performer and recording artist worldwide. The concert will be followed by a screening of Hal Ashby’s 1971 cult existentialist comedy Harold and Maude, chronicling the adventures of two adorable mavericks while they make the most of their time on earth. Advance tickets are £10 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now

The Cinema Museum - Pickup On South Street (1953), Rare Cinema, Oh What A Carry on!, French Sundaes, Born To Kill (1947)

 

Pickup On South Street (1953) June 22nd Rare Cinema Europe June 24th Oh What A Carry On! July 2nd French Sundaes July 10th Born To Kill (1947) July 13th Kennington Noir presents; Pickup On South Street (1953), Wednesday June 22nd @ 7:30pm Kennington Noir presents Pickup On South Street (1953), a Cold War thriller directed by Sam Fuller and starring Richard Widmark, Jean Peters and Thelma Ritter. On a crowded New York City subway train, pickpocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) steals a wallet from a girl passenger, but unbeknownst to either of them, in the wallet is microfilm of top-secret government information. So starts a game of cat and mouse in this Cold War noir. Advance tickets are £8 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now Rare Cinema Europe presents; J'Accuse! / Accuse! (1938), Friday June 24th @ 7:30pm A chance to see a selection of rarely screened fine European films. J’Accuse!/I Accuse aka That They May Live, (France / 1938 /119 mins). Directed by Abel Gance and starring Victor Francen, Line Noro and Jean-Max. During 1937, with the threat of German National Socialism casting its darkening shadow across Europe, Gance chose to remake J’Accuse, his own highly regarded 1919 anti-war film. This new version, Gance hoped, would be a warning against engaging in a foreseeable destructive war. To this end Gance even wrote to Leni Riefenstahl urging her to get Hitler to watch a print of the film. Alas, history was against him. Gance employed actor Victor Francen to good effect as soldier suffering from long term memory loss having endured the pointless sacrifice of comrades during trench conflict. In 1917 Gance himself had been drafted into the French army’s Service Cinématographique, had filmed at the front line, and later suffered depression caused by the death of many of his friends. At certain points in J’Accuse, Gance inserts reality footage heightening the films powerful message. Especially, in the early scenes set in the dugouts and trenches (cleverly rendered in the confines of a studio), Gance – the master of silent film – proves that he was equal to the technical demands of the sound film. Advance tickets are £8 and can be purchased from Ticketlab or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 during office hours. Robert Ross presents; Oh, What a Carry On!, Saturday July 2nd @ 12pm In a full day of live shows and laughter in celebration of the Carry On series, the official Carry On historian Robert Ross presents trailers, rare clips, special guests and a few surprises from this beloved comedy franchise. More details can be found here. Advance tickets are £25 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now French Sundaes presents; Swimming Pool (2003), Sunday July 10th @ 2:30pm Swimming Pool – François Ozon’s excellent thriller with Charlotte Rampling and Ludivine Sagnier. Trailer here. Something twisty and funny to finish off the season. Each film is accompanied by an introductory illustrated talk by Jon Davies, Tutor in French Cinema at Morley College. Advance tickets are £8 and can be purchased from Ticketlab or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 during office hours. Kennington Noir presents; Born To Kill (1947), Wednesday July 13th @ 7:30pm Kennington Noir presents Born to Kill (1947), the first noir from director Robert Wise, starring Lawrence Tierney, Claire Trevor and Walter Slezak. Sam (Lawrence Tierney), a cold-blooded murderer, uses his charm to seduce Helen (Claire Trevor) and marry her – but she is engaged to Marty, a wealthy businessman (Walter Slezak). Sam plans to use any kind of force to redeem Helen. Will the murderer win? Advance tickets are £8 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now

The Cinema Museum - Bugsy Malone (1976), Teorema (1968), Compulsion (1959), Laurel & Hardy Society, French Sundae, Kennington Bioscope, Misty Moon

 

Bugsy Malone (1976) May 28th Teorema (1968) May 28th Compulsion (1959) May 29th Laurel & Hardy Society June 4th French Sundaes June 12th The Man Without Desire (1923) June 15th Misty Moon June 18th Scout Fundraiser Matinee; Bugsy Malone (1976), Saturday May 28th @ 2:30pm As a fundraiser for the 25th World Scout Jamboree in South Korea in 2023, the 1st New Cross Scout Group is presenting a screening of the 1976 gangster musical comedy film Bugsy Malone, written and directed by Alan Parker, with music by Paul Williams. With an cast completely devoid of adults, this popular US-UK co-production is a gangster movie spoof, telling the story of the rise of Bugsy Malone and the battle for power between Fat Sam and Dandy Dan. Any violence in the plot is undercut – in the final machinegun battle, the gangsters are firing whipped cream at each other! The child stars are Jodie Foster, Scott Baio, Florrie Dugger and John Cassisi. Advance tickets are £10 for adults and £8 for children - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now Wonder Reels; Teorema (1968), Saturday May 28th @ 7:30pm Wonder Reels: a night for music and film lovers Wonder Reels return to the Cinema Museum with their unique events featuring live performances from outstanding London musicians followed by a 35mm screening of a full feature film chosen with the artist in mind. The event will start with a performance by artist Marta Salogni who duets with tape machines, using them as instruments to weave intricate mazes of tape loops and echoes through the manipulation of both live and recorded sounds. The concert will be followed by a 35mm projection of Pasolini’s 1968 masterpiece Teorema, in which a beautiful stranger destroys the bourgeois world of a Milanese family. This is an original print, so as was the practice at the time, this is an English language dubbed version. Advance tickets are £10 and can be purchased from Ticketlab or direct from the Museum by calling 020 7840 2200 during office hours. Vito Project LGBTQ + Film Club presents; Compulsion (1959), Sunday May 29th @ 6pm The VITO Project returns to the Cinema Museum with a monthly screening of a feature with a LGBTQ+slant. Re-Opening the Celluloid Closet is a series of screenings exploring the ways in which classic Hollywood films depicted queer representation under the restraints of the infamous Production (aka Hays) Code, a set of strict guidelines dictating what was deemed acceptable in American movies from 1934-1968. This month’s film is COMPULSION (1959) dir Richard Fleischer, with Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell and Diane Varsi. Based on novelist Meyer Levin’s fictionalised account of the infamous 1924 murder trial of lovers Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two close friends murder a younger boy in a philosophical exercise in “how to commit the perfect crime”. Despite their precautions, one of them inadvertently leaves a key piece of evidence at the crime scene, and they are arrested and put on trial. It’s up to their nationally famous attorney (Orson Welles) to save them. The story provided Hollywood with the perfect sensationalist material to reinforce its tendency to portray gay men as villains. This didn’t prevent Stockwell and Dillman jointly winning (alongside Welles) the Best Actor award at Cannes Film Festival. Less often screened than the other cinematic retellings of the story, Compulsion is a compelling tale that offers a compassionate plea against capital punishment. The film will be followed by a conversation about the context of its production and the content of the movie. Advance tickets are £8 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now The Live Ghost Tent, Quarterly Meeting of Laurel & Hardy Society Saturay June 4th @ 3pm The films we intend to show are: Leave ’em Laughing (1928), silent short directed by Clyde Bruckman and Leo McCarey; They Go Boom (1929), short directed by James Parrott; Perfect Day (1929), short directed by James Parrott; County Hospital (1932), short directed by James Parrott; and Sons of the Desert (1933), directed by William A. Seiter. More details on our Facebook page. The membership fee is for one year and includes entrance to our meetings and a copy of our international quarterly magazine the Intra-Tent Journal. Single cost of membership is £10 per annum, £12.50 for a couple living at the same address. Non-members are welcome and we ask for a donation of £5 per meeting. Children under the age of 12, accompanied by an adult are admitted free. French Sundaes presents; Un Homme et Une Femme (1966), Sunday June 12th @ 2:30pm Un Homme et une femme (A man and a Woman) (1966) is the quintessential French romance that won its maker, Claude Lelouch, an Oscar and had everyone humming Daaaa Daaaa Daaaa dadidadida daaa daaa daaa dadidadida. Here’s a link if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Accompanied by a look at the work of Claude Lelouch. Each film is accompanied by an introductory illustrated talk by Jon Davies, Tutor in French Cinema at Morley College. Advance tickets are £7 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now Kennington Bioscope presents; The Man Without Desire (1923), Wednesday June 15th @ 7:30pm The Man Without Desire (1923), directed by Adrian Brunel with Ivor Novello and Nina Vanna. A 35mm print from the BFI. When his lover is murdered by her cruel husband, an 18th Century Venetian nobleman is placed by his magician friend into suspended animation. Awaking 200 years later, he finds the experiment has unexpected consequences. Find out more here. Advance tickets are £7, but seats are limited. To avoid disappointment, please request an invitation via email; kenbioscope@gmail.com. Misty Moon presents; The Bill Reunion 3, Sunday June 18th @ 5:30pm After the sold out success of The Sweeney Reunion 2 at The Cinema Museum in March 2020, due to popular demand, Misty Moon is proud to bring back The Sweeney to the Cinema Museum for more tales of the flying squad from cast and crew. The Sweeney (1975-1978) is a British TV drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It was made by Thames Television for broadcast on the ITV network. The programme’s title derives from “Sweeney Todd”, which is cockney rhyming slang for “Flying Squad”. It starred John Thaw as Detective Inspector Jack Regan and Dennis Waterman as his partner, Detective Sergeant George Carter. Such was its’ popularity that it spawned two feature film spin-offs: Sweeney! (1977) and Sweeney 2 (1978). More information here. Advance tickets are £20 - click below to purchase via Ticketlab.  Alternatively, please call 020 7840 2200 during office hours to purchase direct from the Museum. Buy Now