Dryden Theatre presents summer film series Not on Video: Season 4

Only opportunity to see seven films not available on U.S. home video

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Dryden Theatre presents its fourth annual summer series of films never made available on U.S. home video, in any format. The films of the series Not on Video: Season 4 will screen at 8 p.m. on seven consecutive Tuesday evenings, July 17 through Aug. 29.

Kicking off the series is a new 35mm print of Jacques Demy's 1972 take on the Brothers Grimm tale The Pied Piper, starring pop superstar Donovan. This screening is part of a North American tour of The Pied Piper arranged by George Eastman House in collaboration with Paramount Pictures.

In conjunction with the Dryden's Ennio Morricone retrospective screening this summer, the theater will present two crime thrillers with a score by the maestro: The Burglars (July 24), a European heist picture with Jean-Paul Belmondo; and the controversial directorial debut of celebrated cinematographer Gordon Willis, Windows (Aug. 21). Speaking of great film music, there's an absolutely lovely score by Hungarian émigré Miklos Rosza in Vincente Minnelli and Gottfried Reinhardt's romantic MGM triptych The Story of Three Loves (Aug. 7).

The Dryden will also offer two critical views of American suburban domesticity in the 1950s with Martin Ritt's No Down Payment (July 31) and Douglas Sirk's There's Always Tomorrow (Aug. 14), the latter featuring the fourth and final big-screen pairing of Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck. The last not-on-video offering is Agnès Varda's Kung-fu Master (Aug. 28). Not a martial arts movie, this provocative feature stars English actress Jane Birkin as a 40-year-old divorcee who has a fleeting affair with a 14-year-old boy (Mathieu Demy, son of Varda and Jacques Demy).

The films of Not on Video: Season Four

July 17
THE PIED PIPER (Jacques Demy, UK 1972, 90 min, 35mm)
Pop music superstar Donovan provides the tunes and stars as the title character in this fairy tale for adults from the director of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. Adapted from Robert Browning's poem and the original Brothers Grimm story set during the 14th century, the familiar narrative tells of a talented piper hired by a corrupt Burgomaster to rid his tiny village of an oversized population of rats. Demy's politically engaged gem features a supporting cast of great British character actors, including John Hurt, Donald Pleasence, Michael Hordern, and the late Jack Wild (Oliver!). New 35mm print.

July 24
THE BURGLARS (LE CASSE, Henri Veneuil, France/Italy 1971, 120 min., 35mm)
In this classy heist movie that recalls Rififi, Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a career thief who plots his last big jewel robbery. But a thuggish and corrupt cop (Omar Sharif) wants his own piece of the action. An attractive cast (including Dyan Cannon), plus a spectacular car chase and gorgeous Athens locations, add up to deliver a smorgasbord of eye candy. The action is played out to Ennio Morricone's seductive score, which features the wordless vocals of his frequent collaborator Edda Dell'Orso.

July 31
NO DOWN PAYMENT (Martin Ritt, US 1957, 105 min., 35mm)
Before the pitfalls of suburban marriages were examined by novels like John Updike's Rabbit, Run and Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, Hollywood offered this trenchant and observant study of four different couples: the blue-collar Boones (Joanne Woodward and Cameron Mitchell); clean-cut newcomers, the Martins (Jeffrey Hunter and Patricia Owens); the sophisticated but alcoholic Flaggs (Tony Randall and Sheree North); and the stable Kreitzers (Pat Hingle and Barbara Rush). Far from a soap opera, director Ritt and blacklisted screenwriter Ben Maddow uncover true disenchantment in a prefabricated housing development.

Aug. 7
THE STORY OF THREE LOVES (Vincente Minnelli & Gottfried Reinhardt, US 1953, 122 min., 35mm)
As several passengers gather for an ocean voyage, three love stories are told in flashback. A choreographer (James Mason) recalls his passionate affair with a ballerina (The Red Shoes' Moira Shearer); a governess (Leslie Caron) reflects on an evening spent with a mysterious stranger (Farley Granger); and a trapeze artist (Kirk Douglas) remembers his troubled relationship with his aerial partner (Pier Angeli).

Aug. 14
THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW (Douglas Sirk, US 1956, 84 min., 35mm)
Sirk, cinema's poet laureate of upper-middle-class American angst in the 1950s, examines the unhappy marriage of toy manufacturer Clifford Groves (Fred MacMurray) and his wife, Marion (Joan Bennett). When Groves accidentally meets up with old flame Norma (Barbara Stanwyck), he's provided with the temporary illusion that happiness is still possible. This beautiful melodrama marked the fourth and final pairing of Double Indemnity stars MacMurray and Stanwyck.

Aug. 21
WINDOWS (Gordon Willis, US 1980, 96 min., 35mm)
In this disturbing thriller set in an apartment complex, psychotic Peeping Tom Andrea (Elizabeth Ashley), hires a rapist to attack her mousy neighbor Emily (Talia Shire). While she hopes that Emily will be driven into her arms, Andrea's plans go awry when Emily falls for a detective (Joe Cortese) investigating the case. Controversial upon release, marks the only directorial effort to date by acclaimed cinematographer Gordon Willis.

Aug. 28
KUNG-FU MASTER (Agnès Varda, France 1987, 80 min., French with subtitles, 35mm)
Not a martial arts movie, this provocative feature stars English actress Jane Birkin, who co-wrote the screenplay. Birkin plays Mary-Jane, a 40-year-old divorcee who falls in love with and eventually has a fleeting affair with a 14-year-old boy (Mathieu Demy, son of director Varda). "Varda's serene and unrhetorical handling of the loaded subject-underlined with sympathy and understanding for all of the characters, and full of both wit and tenderness-is what gives this picture its charge." - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

Admission at the door for each film is $6 general admission; $5 students; and $4 members. For more information visit dryden.eastmanhouse.org or call (585) 271-4090.

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