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Home , Army of Shadows, Auguste Le Breton, Au Hasard Balthazar, Bob le flambeur, Bruce Goldstein, Claude Berri

MoMA CELEBRATES 10 YEARS OF WITH 17-FILM RETROSPECTIVE

Series by Leading Distributor of Classic Repertory Cinema Spotlights Some of the Finest Filmmaking Talents Such as , Luis Buñuel, Federico Fellini, Jean- Luc Godard, and Jean-Pierre Melville

Rialto Pictures: Reviving Classic Cinema July 25–August 10, 2007 The Roy and Niuta Titus 1 and 2 Theaters

NEW YORK, June 26, 2007—Celebrating a decade of titles issued by Rialto Pictures, The presents a 17-film survey from the distributor’s catalogue of extraordinary cinema. Rialto Pictures: Reviving Classic Cinema, presented July 25 through August 10, 2007, in The Roy and Niuta Titus 1 and 2 theaters, includes some of the most acclaimed films produced over the past six decades. These classics of cinema include ’s stylish and taut (1955), Carol Reed’s memorable thriller The Third Man (1949), and Jean-Pierre Melville’s powerful depiction of fighters in L’armée des ombres (, 1969), which was released in the United States for the first time in 2006, to wide critical acclaim. The exhibition is organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. In 1997, film programmer and curator established Rialto Pictures, a company dedicated to invigorating classic cinema by ensuring that it continued to be viewed, as originally intended, on the big screen. Since then Goldstein, in conjunction with his partner Adrienne Halpern, has released almost 40 fresh, and often restored, 35mm prints of classic foreign films with new English subtitles not seen in theaters since their original runs, and has premiered films never before distributed in America. “Rialto has given a new generation of filmgoers the opportunity to experience the works of masters as they were meant to be seen, and invites those who saw these films years ago to revisit them,” says Mr. Kardish. “MoMA salutes Bruce Goldstein and Adrienne Halpern for keeping classic cinema invigorated and contemporary.” Rialto Pictures: Reviving Classic Cinema spotlights some of the finest directing talents of the moving image: Robert Bresson, one of the undisputed masters of cinema, is represented by two of his strongest works, the influential (1967), and the deeply moving Au hasard Balthazar (1966); Jean-Pierre Melville, whose portraits of underworld denizens in (1955), and Army of Shadows are unforgettable; and Jules Dassin, whose seminal Rififi, the opening-night screening, will be shown with the seldom-screened Oscar-winning short Le Poulet (1962) by . Of special interest is Coming Attractions, a compilation of 10 trailers produced by Rialto Pictures to advertise their upcoming releases. The 20-minute program, which will be screened twice during this exhibition preceding Le Vieil homme et l’enfant (The Two of Us, 1967), includes six titles which are in this exhibition as well as four additional ones: The Graduate (1967), (1958), The Battle of Algiers (1966), and Band of Outsiders (1964). Many of the films in this retrospective are also notable for the career-defining performances of their actors. Giulietta Masina lent an air of poignancy to the role of a Roman prostitute in Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria, 1957), directed by Federico Fellini; John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar (1963) features iconic performances by Tom Courtenay in the title role and, in the part that catapaulted her to stardom, a young Julie Christie; captivated audiences as the dispassionate observer in Luis Buñuel’s Le Journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid, 1964); and the highlight of Carol Reed’s The Third Man is a brief but career-defining performance by as a black marketeer in post-War Vienna. Jean-Pierre Denis’s 2002 Murderous Maids, the chilling true story of two homicidal sisters, starring Sylvie Testud, is the company’s sole first-run feature (apart from Army of Shadows, a 36- year-old film that had never been released in the U.S.). Rialto’s latest rediscovery—Alberto Lattuada’s dark comedy Mafioso (1962)—was another success, a highlight of the 2006 New York Film Festival also screening in this retrospective. Upcoming Rialto releases include Jean-Pierre Melville's (1962), starring Jean- Paul Belmondo (which is screening at Film Forum June 29–July 12), and ’s classic Last Year at Marienbad (1961).

Images are available at www.moma.org/press

No. 62 Press Contact: Paul Power, (212) 708-9847, or [email protected]

For downloadable images, please visit www.moma.org/press Please contact me for user name and password.

Public Information: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019

Hours: Wednesday through Monday: 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday: 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday Museum Adm: $20 adults; $16 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $12 full-time students with current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs) Target Free Friday Nights 4:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. Film Adm: $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D. (For admittance to film programs only) Subway: E or V train to Fifth Avenue/53rd Street Bus: On Fifth Avenue, take the M1, M2, M3, M4, or M5 to 53rd Street. On Sixth Avenue, take the M5, M6, or M7 to 53rd Street. Or take the M57 and M50 crosstown buses on 57th and 50th Streets.

The public may call (212) 708-9400 for detailed Museum information. Visit us at www.moma.org

RIALTO PICTURES: REVIVING CLASSIC CINEMA

SCREENING SCHEDULE

Wednesday, July 25

6:00 Le Poulet. 1962. . Directed by Claude Berri. 15 min.

Followed by

Rififi. 1955. France. Directed by Jules Dassin. Screenplay by Auguste Le Bréton, Dassin, René Wheeler, based on the book by Bréton. With , Carl Möhner. Dassin’s second European feature is the most stylish of heist pictures. Deemed by contemporary critics to be the perfect mix of American toughness and French sophistication, the film centers on a carefully plotted and executed theft in a Parisian jewelry store. In French; English subtitles. 115 min.

8:30 Bob le Flambeur. 1955. France. Directed by Jean-Pierre Melville. Screenplay by Melville, . With Roger Duchesne, Isabelle Corey. Shot on the streets of Montmartre over a period of three years, Melville’s tale of an honorable hood who attempts one last heist presents the Parisian neighborhood as the glamorous realm of gamblers, pimps, and ladies of the night. In French; English subtitles. 100 min.

Thursday, July 26

5:30 Le Vieil homme et l’enfant (The Two of Us). 1967. France. Directed by Claude Berri. Screenplay by Berri, Gérard Brach, Michel Rivelin. With , Alain Cohen. A late triumph for Simon, The Two of Us is an affecting story of the caring bond formed between an elderly anti-Semite and an eight-year-old Jewish boy who goes to live with him during World War II. In French; English subtitles. 86 min.

preceded by

Coming Attractions. A compilation of trailers produced by Rialto Pictures for their upcoming releases. 20 min.

7:30 L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows). 1969. France/. Written and directed by Jean-Pierre Melville, based on the book by . With , . Restored and released last year in theaters, Army of Shadows was one of the most acclaimed films of 2006. Sustaining a tone of relentless suspense, Melville presents the calculated activities and covert maneuverings of French resistance fighters during World War II. In French; English subtitles. 140 min.

Friday, July 27

5:00 Mafioso. 1962. Italy. Directed by Alberto Lattuada. Screenplay by Rafael Azcona, Marco Ferreri, Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli, based on the story by Bruno Caruso. With Alberto Sordi, Norma Bengell. Sordi gives one of his greatest performances as Nino, a successful foreman in a Milanese car factory who takes his wife and children on a visit home to his Sicilian roots and finds himself obliged to take a detour. In Italian; English subtitles. 99 min.

7:30 Le Poulet. Rififi. See Friday, July 27, 7:30

Saturday, July 28

2:00 L’armée des ombres (Army of Shadows). See Thursday, July 26, 7:30

5:00 Le Vieil homme et l’enfant (The Two of Us). preceded by Coming Attractions. See Thursday, July 26, 5:30

Sunday, July 29

2:00 Au hasard Balthazar. 1966. France. Written and directed by Robert Bresson. With , Walter Green. Au hasard Balthazar is a religious allegory conveyed through the life and death of a donkey. Baptized “Balthazar” by three young children at the start of the film, the donkey is soon thrown into a life of successive labors and abuses at the hands of different owners. In French; English subtitles. 95 min.

4:00 Mouchette. 1967. France. Written and directed by Robert Bresson, based on the novel by Georges Bernanos. With Nadine Nortier, Jean-Claude Guilbert. In Bresson’s masterpiece, loneliness, shame, and other tragedies universal to human experience are evoked with compassion and subtlety through the depiction of twenty-four hours in the life of a teenage outcast who quietly absorbs the sins and abuses of her rural community. In French; English subtitles. 80 min.

5:45 Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria). 1957. Italy. Directed by Federico Fellini. Screenplay by Fellini, Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli. With Giulietta Masina, Amadeo Nazzari. Brawling, combustible, and ever resilient, Cabiria is a pint-sized prostitute who squeezes out everything life has to offer. For its re-release Rialto restored a seven-minute sequence cut before the film’s premiere. In Italian; English subtitles. 111 min.

Monday, July 30

6:15 Masculin féminin (Masculine Feminine). 1966. France/Sweden. Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With Jean-Pierre Léaud, Chantal Goya. Endlessly quotable, Godard’s episodic portrait of “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola” remains a remarkably fresh commentary on courtship and capitalism. Léaud, the poster boy for the Nouvelle Vague, is the sincere and ardent suitor of rising pop star Madeleine. In French; English subtitles. 103 min.

8:30 Deux ou trois choses que je sais d’elle (Two or Three Things I Know about Her). 1967. France. Written and directed by Jean-Luc Godard. With , . Inspired by a newspaper article on housewives dabbling in prostitution, Godard created this study of a woman who leads a nocturnal life as a streetwalker. But the primary subject of the film’s investigation, the “her” in question, is the city of . In French; English subtitles. 90 min.

Wednesday, August 1

6:15 Deux ou trois choses que je sais d’elle (Two or Three Things I Know about Her). See Monday, July 30, 8:30

8:30 Masculin féminin (Masculine Feminine). See Monday, July 30, 6:15

Thursday, August 2

6:15 Bob le Flambeur. See Wednesday, July 25, 8:30

8:30 Mafioso. See Friday, July 27, 5:00

Friday, August 3

6:15 Mouchette. See Sunday, July 29, 4:00

8:15 Au hasard Balthazar. See Sunday, July 29, 2:00

Saturday, August 4

2:00 Gojira (Godzilla). 1954. Japan. Directed by Ishiro Honda. Screen-play by Honda, Takeo Murata, based on the short story by Shigeru Kayama. Special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya. A sci-fi classic that also serves as a time capsule for 1950s nuclear anxiety, Godzilla was available in the U.S. for years in only its comically dubbed and recut version. For the film’s 50th anniversary Rialto restored 40 minutes of original footage, reestablishing the film as a dark comment on postwar Japan. In Japanese; English subtitles. 98 min.

4:00 Billy Liar. 1963. Great Britain. Directed by John Schlesinger. Screenplay by Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall. With Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie. Fantasy overtakes the kitchen-sink realism that defined the 1960s British New Wave in this escapist comedy about a working-class daydreamer who uses a vivid imagination to battle his wearying daily life. 94 min.

6:00 The Third Man. 1949. Great Britain. Directed by Carol Reed. Screenplay by Graham Greene. With Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles. Famous for its climactic Vienna chase sequence and its unforgettable theme music, Reed’s dazzling collaboration with Greene features Cotten as a novelist trying to puzzle through what’s become of his old friend, Harry Lime. 104 min.

Sunday, August 5

2:00 Les Blessures assassines (Murderous Maids). 2000. France. Directed by Jean-Pierre Denis. Screenplay by Denis, Michèle Halberstadt, based on the book by Paulette Houdyer. With Sylvie Testud, Julie-Marie Parmentier. The real-life murders committed by the Papin sisters in 1933 are the source material for this complex and disturbing portrayal of escalating insanity and violence. This is Rialto’s only first-run film; it is not a reissue. In French; English subtitles. 94 min.

4:00 (The Big Risk). 1960. France. Directed by . Screenplay by Sautet, José Giovanni. With Lino Ventura, Jean-Paul Belmondo. A well-crafted chase film, gorgeously photographed by , explores the limits of loyalty and friendship. Sautet’s genre exercise offers the rare pairing of the sprightly Belmondo with the weighty Ventura. In French; English subtitles. 103 min.

Monday, August 6

6:15 Billy Liar. See Saturday, August 4, 4:00

8:30 Gojira (Godzilla). See Saturday, August 4, 2:00

Wednesday, August 8

6:00 Le Journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid). 1964. France/Italy. Directed by Luis Buñuel. Screenplay by Buñuel, Jean-Claude Carrière. With Jeanne Moreau, Georges Géret. Famous for its playful depiction of shoe fetishism, this kinky classic is a showcase for Moreau as the reserved witness to and object of the swirling desires in a 1930s French country manor. In French; English subtitles. 101 min.

8:45 The Third Man. See Saturday, August 4, 6:00

Thursday, August 9

6:00 Classe tous risques (The Big Risk). See Sunday, August 5, 4:00

8:30 Les Blessures assassines (Murderous Maids). See Sunday, August 5, 2:00

Friday, August 10

6:00 Le Notti di Cabiria (Nights of Cabiria). See Sunday, July 29, 5:45

8:30 Le Journal d’une femme de chambre (Diary of a Chambermaid). See Wednesday, August 8, 6:00