Technicolor Weekend – Day 1

Friday, March 15 – Gene Siskel Film Center — 164 N State Street
Tickets: $13 at the door or purchase in advance

6:00 PM
THE BOY WITH GREEN HAIR 
Directed by Joseph Losey • 1948
In Joseph Losey’s weird, gorgeous Technicolor fantasy, a neglected war orphan and possible messiah shares the miraculous story behind his green-colored hair (as well as his subsequent persecution) with a psychologist after being discovered bald-headed and alone. Shot in the aftermath of the Second World War, the odd and ambitious film is many things: an allegory on discrimination, an anti-war protest, an appeal for tolerance, and a treat for the eyes. It was also a box office flop, and an expensive one at that. A few years later, Losey was blacklisted from Hollywood after refusing to testify before the HUAC, relocating to England to continue his directorial career. Original Technicolor prints were nitrate; we will be screening an IB Technicolor safety reissue print avec sous-titres français. (RIN)
82 min • RKO Radio Pictures  • 35mm from private collections, permission Warner Bros.

8:15 PM
CLEOPATRA JONES 
Directed by Jack Starrett • 1973
Fur bomber jackets, blue skies, and burning poppy fields; such are the sights of Cleopatra Jones, a 1973 American blaxploitation classic starring Tamara Dobson as the titular 6’2″ supermodel and undercover special agent. Kung-fu master Cleopatra “Cleo” Jones works for the government out of her tricked-out ‘73 Stingray. In order to defend her community, Cleo takes on a cartel run by a drug lord known as Mommy (a delightfully unhinged Shelley Winters). She faces off against Mommy’s hitmen, as well as a corrupt police force that interferes with her lover’s passion project, a halfway house serving addicts. As entertaining as it is eye-catching, Jones is a can’t-miss Technicolor spectacle. (RIN)
89 min • Warner Bros. • 35mm from private collections, permission Warner Bros.

NEXT UP: TECHNICOLOR WEEKEND : Friday, March 15 – Sunday, March 17 at the Gene Siskel Film Center

Published
Categorized as News