Elia Kazan, a Greek-American, was born in Turkey and brought
to America in 1913 at the age of four. He grew up on stories of the hardships
of the Old World and the desperate attempts to reach the New. Kazan entered into
cinema during the most controversial period in Hollywood history—the paranoid,
post-war years of the “Red Scare”—and though enduring career-long
political and social vilification, managed to leave one of the great bodies of
American film. When he was awarded an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement in
1999, many refused to applaud based on his testimony before the House on Un-American
Activities Committee in 1952. It has been argued that he himself was a Communist
Party member once, a leftist for a long time, and was unjustly tarred for his
testimony. But regardless of politics, few dismiss Kazan’s indelible achievements
as a director. ELIA KAZAN: AMERICAN STORIES provides a survey of some of Kazan’s
quintessential works and is offered in conjunction with a credit course offered
by the Northwest Film Center and Portland State University taught by PSU Professor
Tom Doulis. Series screenings are open to the public for general admission. For
registration information on the course, which includes pre-film lectures, discussions
and consideration of Kazan’s other works, please see page 8 in the NWFC SCHOOL
OF FILM section.
APRIL 8 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATER
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN
US 1945
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN Kazan's first feature brought to life the drab tale of a
young girl named Francie Nolan and her struggle to overcome the poverty and frustrations
of her family life in turn-of-the-century Brooklyn. Peggy Ann Garner won an Oscar
for her role, and she carries the movie, conveying the tragedy of her existence
with long, dreamy stares that have been emulated by young actresses ever since.
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN is filled to the brim with atmosphere of the grimy streets
of the Brooklyn slums—the requisite newsboys, laundry-hanging housewives
and immigrants coming together to create a moving environment that practically
defines the term "tear-jerker." (128 mins.)
APRIL 15 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATER
BOOMERANG!
US 1947
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN A dramatization of true events, BOOMERANG! provocatively
combines fact with fiction in semi-documentary style. Kazan shot most of the film
on location, using high-contrast cinematography and an extremely mobile camera
to create a palpable sense of urgency. In a quiet Connecticut town, a kindly priest
is murdered while waiting at a street corner. Witnesses identify John Waldron
(Arthur Kennedy), a nervous out-of-towner, as the killer. Although Waldron vehemently
denies the crime, no one will believe him. When a prosecuting attorney (Dana Andrews)
investigates the killing, he begins to suspect that the accused man is innocent
and sets out to prove it. The screenplay, expertly crafted by Richard Murphy,
received an Academy Award nomination. (88 mins.)
APRIL 22 MON 7 P.M.
whitsell auditorium
PANIC IN THE STREETS
US 1950
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN “The sidewalks of New Orleans are lousy with fear, spawned
by an illegal alien lying dead in a gutter and carrying bubonic plague from a
rat-infested ship; and spread by a band of rodent-like hoodlums led by psychopath
Jack Palance and his fawning sidekick Zero Mostel, who have murdered the man over
a card game. Richard Widmark is the public health doctor who descends into the
dockside underworld to track down the plague, exposed thugs. Xenophobia is the
ironic trick-card here: undue interest on the part of the cops over the death
of an alien tips off the murderers. Filled with telling detail, Kazan's entry
into the postwar film noir genre combines the documentary realist tradition of
Henry Hathaway’s HOUSE ON 92ND STREET with a bravura style that anticipates
Sam Fuller's PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET.”– Pacific Film Archive. (93 mins.)
APRIL 29 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
A STREETCAR
NAMED DESIRE
US 1951
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN When STREETCAR was released in 1951, the public walked out,
but the critics stayed and raved over acting that was probably the most powerful
ever seen on an American screen. Pauline Kael, for example: "Vivien Leigh
gives one of those rare performances that can truly be said to evoke pity and
terror. When Marlon Brando, as the realist Kowalski, shatters her system of illusions,
she disintegrates … you're looking at just about the best feminine performance
you’re ever going to see, as well as an interpretation by Brando that is
just about perfection. This film has some of the best dialogue ever written by
an American....” The public, of course, eventually caught on, and the imitations
of Blanche du Bois and Stanley Kowalski haven't stopped since. It's interesting
to note that Kazan himself describes it as "a beautiful play that I shot
without softening or deepening it, filming it as it was because there was nothing
to change." –Pacific Film Archive. (122 mins.)
MAY 6 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
VIVA ZAPATA!
US 1952
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN VIVA ZAPATA! tells the story of the rise to power, exploits
and final assassination of Emiliano Zapata (Marlon Brando), the Mexican peasant
leader who, with Pancho Villa, helped overthrow the Diaz regime in 1911. This
is the most exciting of all Kazan's films; the two assassination scenes - first
President Madero, then Zapata himself - are beautifully handled and the long,
build-up sequence in which hundreds of peasants appear silently from the hills
to rescue their leader is a tour de force. The supporting cast includes Anthony
Quinn as Zapata's brother, Joseph Wiseman as a treacherous revolutionary, and
Frank Silvera as General Huerta. –R.A.E. Pickard.
(113 mins.)
MAY 13 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
ON THE WATERFRONT
US 1954
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN “One of the most talked-about films of the 50’s,
ON THE WATERFRONT was (and is) the center of great controversy for its implication
that the dockers' union was run by gangsters, coming at a time when the union
was hounded by McCarthyism; and for its defense of informing, coming from Elia
Kazan, a ‘friendly witness’ at the HUAC hearings (as were author Budd
Schulberg and actor Lee J. Cobb, who plays the vicious union boss Johnny Friendly).
It also remains an enduring classic, for Marlon Brando's performance as the forlorn
dockworker Terry Malloy, who would have been a contender and almost ends up a
dead pigeon when he sings to the government investigatory committee about the
death of a fellow dockworker, and for the gritty realism of the waterfront and
inner city caught by the superb cinematography of Boris Kaufman.” –Pacific
Film Archive. (108 mins.)
MAY 20 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
EAST OF EDEN
US 1955
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN Based on John Steinbeck’s novel and adapted for the
screen by Paul Osborn, Kazan’s 20th century allegory of the Cain and Able
story is set in California in 1917. James Dean (in his debut) and Richard Davalos
star as the two sons, one good and one bad, competing for the love of their patriarchal
father (Raymond Massey). Typical of Kazan’s films, EDEN features classic
performances, here set against a strikingly atmospheric cinemascope landscape
and a sure sense of the period. The film features Jo Van Fleet, who won a Best
Supporting Actress Academy Award for her portrayal as the brothel Madame, and
Burl Ives as the local sheriff. (115 mins.)
JUNE 3 MON 7 P.M.
whitsell auditorium
WILD RIVER
US 1960
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN WILD RIVER is a striking film, a study in the conflict between
the old rugged individualism and the march of progress set in the Tennessee Valley
during the Depression. The film is plush with fine acting, fine photography and
especially fine direction. Kazan has a feeling for human drama, a deep sympathy
for men's hearts and an almost omniscient tolerance. Although everyone has gone
to great pains to leave the impression that Clift's government man has a profound
respect for the individuality and gallantry of Miss Van Fleet's fine old pioneer
woman (whom he must dispossess to make room for a TVA reservoir), he is nevertheless
a peculiarly tactless, sometimes unfeeling fellow. This is evidence of the subtle
style of Kazan, who manages to make understandable, if not always sympathetic,
the actions taken by the townspeople, actions that in a more melodramatic context
would appear merely brutish and unfeeling”. —Paul Beckley. (110 mins.)
JUNE 10 MON 7 P.M.
GUILD THEATRE
AMERICA, AMERICA
US 1963
DIRECTOR: ELIA KAZAN AMERICA, AMERICA, Kazan’s most personal film, is based
on the life of his uncle. Shot in Greece and Turkey, it is a film about the idea
of America, but also very much about the oppression of Greeks and Armenians in
Anatolia and the furious drive to leave that absorbed the energy and dream life
of a whole generation. Kazan avoided the sentimental clichés associated
with American films about immigration of this period by the sheer intensity of
his main character, Stavros (Stathis Giallelis), who will do almost anything to
achieve his goal. All of it is captured by Haskell Wexler’s exceptional black-and-white
photography. (183 mins.)
