Preceded by One-Horse Farmers
precursor to modern day fancams found on social media platforms, Barriga reimagines Garbo and Dietrich cast as lovers in a fictional film. DIRECTED BY: Cecilia Barriga. WITH: Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo. 1991. 14 min. Spain. Color. English. DCP. Preservation of this video was made possible by the Moving Image Archiving and Preservation masters program at New York University, the Women’s Film Preservation Fund, and Women Make Movies. Hallelujah in 35mm with Safe in Hell Mon, Apr 1 | 7:30pm | TMT Hallelujah One of the first films with an all-African American cast produced by a major studio, this musical follows sharecropper Zeke Johnson (Daniel L. Haynes) and chronicles his relationship with swindler Chick (Nina Mae McKinney), pushing him toward a dishonorable path. This was Nina May McKinney’s first film role, after being discovered by director King Vidor—earning her a contract at MGM, making McKinney the first Black actor with this accomplishment. It has been noted that during the production of this film, McKinney met and entered a brief affair with actor Pepi Lederer. DIRECTED BY: King Vidor. WRITTEN BY: Wanda Tuchock, King Vidor, Richard Schayer, Ransom Rideout. WITH: Daniel L. Haynes, Nina Mae McKinney, William Fountaine, Harry Gray. 1929. 109 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Restored by the Library of Congress and The Film Foundation. Funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Safe in Hell New Orleans sex worker Gilda (Dorothy Mackaill) murders her former boss—who had brought on Gilda’s struggles—and sets his apartment ablaze. To escape a murder charge, she sets off to a Caribbean island where booze is legal and criminals live without recourse. Nina Mae McKinney plays a dynamic supportive role as hotel manager Leonie in this pre- Code fare. Safe in Hell was McKinney’s next substantial role following Hallelujah ; many studios at the time failed to create positive roles for Black contract players, leading McKinney to look for opportunities in Europe where she was dubbed “The Black Garbo.” DIRECTED BY: William A. Wellman. WRITTEN BY: Houston Branch, Joseph Jackson, Maude Fulton. WITH: Dorothy Mackaill, Donald Cook, Nina Mae McKinney, Ralf Harolde. 1931. 73 min. USA. B&W. English. DCP.
In the early 1930s, filmmaker Hal Roach paired comedic actors Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly as the female answer to Laurel and Hardy. Todd and Kelly starred in 21 shorts beginning in 1933 until Todd’s untimely death in 1935. In One-Horse Farmers, the two actors purchase a farming plot at Paradise Acres sight unseen and arrive to find their slice of heaven is not what they expected. The land may not be fertile, but this short is fertile ground for sapphic interpretation, with Kelly, who was an out lesbian, sharing a home and even a bed with her costar. DIRECTED BY: Gus Meins. WITH: Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly. 1934. 17 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive. Twin Triplets In this Todd/Kelly short, the duo gets into a variety of comic scrapes as they try to sell a bogus story to a newspaper about newly born sextuplets. DIRECTED BY: William H. Terhune. WITH: Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly. 1935. 19 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. Preserved by The Packard Humanities Institute in collaboration with the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
SHANGHAI EXPRESS
Shanghai Express in 35mm preceded by Meeting Two Queens Sun, Mar 31 | 2pm | TMT Shanghai Express
In this pre-Code classic, Marlene Dietrich stars alongside Anna May Wong as courtesans aboard a train bound for Shanghai that is hijacked by rebels. Also aboard the train is Captain Donald Harvey (Clive Brook) a former love of Dietrich’s Shanghai Lily. Nonetheless, it is the palpable chemistry displayed between Lily and Wong’s Hui Fei that is enthralling. Dietrich has long been considered a bisexual icon; she made no secret of her sexual fluidity, and she shattered gender norms by presenting equally masculine and feminine in her way of dressing offscreen. Content advisory: This film contains a performance with a white actor in yellowface. DIRECTED BY: Josef von Sternberg. WRITTEN BY: Jules Furthman, Harry Hervey. WITH: Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Anna May Wong, Warner Oland. 1932. 82 min. USA. B&W. English. 35mm. New print courtesy of the Academy Film Archive. Preceded by Meeting Two Queens An experimental short by filmmaker Cecilia Barriga, who cuts and re-edits scenes from studio pictures featuring Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. A
Pandora’s Box Thu, Apr 4 | 7:30pm | DGT Los Angeles Restoration Premiere
Pandora’s Box chronicles the life and ultimate downfall of the charming and amoral Lulu (Louise Brooks), whose somewhat impish behavior and alluring sensuality leads to the misfortune of those who love her. The film is noted to feature one of the first depictions of a lesbian character in Countess Augusta Geschwitz (Alice Roberts). Brooks considered herself to be sexually liberated, eschewing labels; she reveled in encouraging speculation about her sexual inclinations, choosing to surround herself with notable sapphic figures of the time. DIRECTED BY: G.W. Pabst. WRITTEN BY: Ladislaus Vajda. WITH: Louise Brooks, Fritz Kortner, Francis Lederer, Carl Goetz. 1929. 141 min. USA. B&W. Silent. English intertitles. DCP. Restored in 2K from the best surviving 35mm elements at Haghefilm Conservation under the supervision of the Deutsche Kinemathek with the cooperation of George Eastman Museum, the Cinémathèque Française, Cineteca di Bologna, Národní filmový archiv, and Gosfilmofond.
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