Christmas for Film Nerds

To Save and Project is back at the Museum of Modern Art

Tonight, at the New York Film Critics Circle’s annual awards dinner, there will be a Special Award given to the Museum of Modern Art’s annual preservation festival, To Save and Project. The National Society of Film Critics also has given To Save and Project one of this year’s Film Heritage Awards, “for more than two decades of superb restorations and diverse programming from all over the world, in collaboration with archives, foundations, studios and other organizations.” Amen!

I’m happy to be a part of both the organizations giving these awards for To Save and Project, which is in its 21st year. My own description of the annual festival would be more like “Christmas for Film Nerds.” This year’s TSAP was organized by Dave Kehr, curator in MoMA’s Department of Film, and the independent curator Cindi Rowell. Cindy has done great work for years at places including Milestone Films and Cineaste, and the mighty Dave is of course a longtime Friend of the Blog. I’ve always been very much in tune with their taste, so this is an especially exciting year — for one thing, a high number of important silent films, some not seen in decades. Things kick off on Thursday, Jan. 9, at 7 pm, with the premiere of the new restoration of 7th Heaven (I wrote about the film in 2018); and they close out Jan. 30 with MoMA’s brand-new reconstruction of the original 1918 Charles Chaplin film Shoulder Arms.

Here is the complete schedule, and below you can find a list of just some of the films I intend to see if possible. I know these “now playing in Manhattan” posts can be a source of vexation to readers outside the New York area. Believe me, I won’t get to everything, either. Experience suggests to me that a lot of restorations screened at TSAP either wind up playing other cities and festivals, or make it to home video eventually (at least one already has!). Keep your fingers crossed.

My Tentative Dance Card, with reasons for interest (follow links for complete descriptions and showtimes):

Raskolnikow, 1923. Directed by Robert Wiene; piano accompaniment by Donald Sosin.

The highly abstract German Expressionist sets look fantastically beautiful, and the cast was drawn from Russian exiles who had worked at the famed Moscow Art Theatre. The digital restoration has been painstakingly reconstructed from surviving footage in several different archives, and while it’s still shorter than the release version, this is as complete a Raskolnikow as we’re likely to see.

Mulher de Verdade (A Real Woman). 1954. Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti

Brazilian Alberto Cavalcanti returned to his native country to make this one; I missed it at Locarno last summer.

Mia Luang (My Dear Wife). 1978. Directed by Vichit Kounavudhi

“A sophisticated, Sirkian entry in Thailand’s domestic melodrama tradition”—stop, stop, you had me at “Sirkian.”

Rosaura a las 10 (Rosaura at 10 O'Clock), 1958. Directed by Mario Soffici

“A uniquely twisty genre piece that begins as a cozy social comedy and ends on the far side of noir,” eh? Meet me on the far side of noir, baby. The restored Argentinian films that I’ve seen over the past decade or so at MoMA have been uniformly terrific.

The Craving. 1918. Written and directed by Francis Ford, John Ford. With The Post Telegrapher. 1912. Directed by Francis Ford; piano accompaniment by Ben Model.

The Craving is a drama about alcoholism, a subject the Ford family was all too personally familiar with. Both digital restorations come from Ben Model’s admirable Undercrank Productions (and are already available on Blu Ray/DVD).

The White Heather, 1919. Directed by Maurice Tourneur; Peg o’ the Mounted, 1924. Directed by Alfred J. Goulding. Piano accompaniment by Ben Model

Peg o’ the Mounted stars the beloved Diana Serra Cary, “Baby Peggy.”

My Son, 1928. Directed by Yevgeni Cherviakov.

Formerly lost Soviet film recently found in Argentina. Stars Anna Sten, who one day (I firmly believe this) will overcome her “Goldwyn’s Folly” reputation, caused by the American producer’s failure to market her properly, and take her place as the star of some excellent films including The Wedding Night. I hope and expect that My Son is one of them!

The Greeks Had a Word for Them, 1931. Directed by Lowell Sherman.

No big deal, I’ve only been trying to see this legendary “three girls” movie in a decent print for the better part of two decades.

Dutchman, 1966. Directed by Anthony Harvey; We Are Universal, 1971. Directed by Billy Jackson

I’ve never seen the legendary Dutchman by Amiri Baraka, so here we go.

The Wages of Sin. 1938. Directed by Herman E. Webber

Depression-era exploitation film about sex work? Sounds fascinating.

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I saw the superb Gunman’s Walk at Locarno, so time being what it is, I probably won’t go this month, but if you haven’t seen it, by all means please do. May try to see Bend of the River, Broadway, and Maria Candelaria though I’ve seen them all before as well. I hope some of you can make it to something you want to see!