Movie/Film

In person: Introduction by Artel Great, associate professor, San Francisco State University School of Cinema, and author of The Black Pack: Comedy, Race, and Resistance. Q&A with Great, The Five Heartbeats cast member Tico Wells and UCLA Associate Professor Scot Brown, Department of History.

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In person: Introduction by Artel Great, associate professor, San Francisco State University School of Cinema, and author of The Black Pack: Comedy, Race, and Resistance. Q&A with Great and photographer Bruce Talamon. Harlem Nights marks the only film written, directed, produced by and starring Eddie Murphy. Set in 1930s Harlem, the film imagines a world of Black nightlife, entrepreneurship and survival amid gangsters and corrupt cops. Anchored by a jazzy score blending big band and Duke Ellington standards, the film unites three generations of Black comedy — Redd Foxx, Richard Pryor and Murphy — alongside an overflowing ensemble cast. Often misunderstood on release, Harlem Nights stands as a bold assertion of authorship and creative control, envisioning Black autonomy over space, style and destiny. Director/Screenwriter: Eddie Murphy. With: Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Jasmine Guy, Della Reese.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office will open one hour before the event. Introduction by Archive Director May Hong HaDuong. Q&A with writer J. E. Franklin. Screening 1 of 2 Hearst Metrotone News: "Porgy & Bess Opening" (excerpt) Year: 1959 Country: U.S. Runtime: 2 min. Digital. B&W. Silent. Screening 2 of 2 Black Girl Year: 1972 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 97 min. Digital. Color. West Coast Premiere of New Restoration Named by Film Comment as one of the best restorations of 2025, director Ossie Davis’ third feature is finding its audience more than 50 years after its original release. The play on which the film is based, Black Girl, by J. E. Franklin, who wrote the screenplay, was already a landmark of Black theater after a record-setting off-Broadway run in 1971 that earned Franklin the Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Playwright. Actor-turned-director Davis was coming off the box office success of his Cotton Comes to Harlem (1970), an adaptation of Chester Himes’ politically charged detective novel that helped spark the Blaxploitation wave of the 1970s. In a contemporaneous interview, civil rights icon Davis nevertheless lamented the lack of films about the “trials and tribulations of the Black middle class.” For the family in Black Girl, the personal and cultural politics of upward mobility are central to the conflicts among three generations of Black women. The youngest, Billie Jean (Peggy Pettitt), strives to become a dancer, earning taunts from her half-sisters (Gloria Edwards, Lorette Greene). Their mother, Rose (Louise Stubbs), still stinging from her own mother’s indifference, has seemingly given up on her own children, placing her hopes in Netta (Leslie Uggams), a neighborhood girl she took in now studying for law school. Every member of the ensemble cast — including a swaggering Brock Peters as Rose’s ex — rises to the occasion as their characters clash in a cramped Venice, California, home, prompting Variety to declare Black Girl the best depiction of Black family life “since Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun.” The film’s distributor, however, gave it an exploitation-style release, booking it in action houses with posters promising the same, leading the trade paper to complain the strategy would “keep away serious filmgoers who would have been rewarded by the fine directing and acting.” Black Girl now stands ready for rediscovery.—Paul Malcolm DCP. Production: Marconlee. Distribution: Cinerama Releasing. Producer: Robert H. Greenberg. Director: Ossie Davis. Screenwriter: J. E. Franklin. Based on the play by J. E. Franklin. Cinematographer: Glenwood J. Swanson. With: Brock Peters, Claudia McNeil, Leslie Uggams, Louise Stubbs, Peggy Pettitt. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation from 35mm acetate original picture and track negatives. Laboratory services by illuminate Hollywood, Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound, Fotokem. Special thanks to J. E. Franklin, Malika Nzinga.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Your seat will be assigned to you when you pick up your ticket at the box office. Seats are assigned on a first come, first served basis. The box office will open one hour before the event. ...& Beautiful Year: 1969 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 60 min. Digital. Color. World Premiere of New Preservation With original commercials Hosted by comedian Redd Foxx, …& Beautiful was the first syndicated television special produced for African American audiences to be sponsored by a Black-owned company (Johnson Products, makers of Afro Sheen). Directed by trailblazer Mark Warren, the first African American to win an Emmy Award in a directing category (for his work on Laugh-In), the groundbreaking music-variety special offered viewers a rare primetime showcase foregrounding Black excellence and pride. Dynamically stylized with Afrocentric and psychedelic designs and costuming, the vibrant production represents an invaluable late-’60s audiovisual time capsule documenting the joy, liberation and empowerment of the Black Is Beautiful movement.—Mark Quigley DCP. Syndicated. Production: Western Video Production. Executive Producer: Richard Gottlieb. Producer: Mark Warren. Director: Mark Warren. Writer: Cal Wilson. With: Redd Foxx, Della Reese, Donald McKayle Dancers. Preservation funding provided by the John H. Mitchell Television Preservation Endowment. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from an original 2 in. videotape. Engineering services by CBS Media Exchange.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. The box office will open 30 minutes before the screening. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by animation historian Jerry Beck and Senior Film Preservationist Miki Shannon. Screening 1 of 3 The Mouse of Tomorrow Year: 1942 Country: U.S. Runtime: 6 min. Digital. Color. World Premiere of New Restoration Riffing off Fleischer Studios’ successful feature-length animation Superman (1941), Terrytoons Studio debuted the first film in the Mighty Mouse series, The Mouse of Tomorrow, the following year. While Terrytoons was known as the “budget” studio or the “Woolworths” of animation, Mighty Mouse lifted the studio into Oscar-nominated status. The animation earned a “swell” from the Showmen’s Trade Review upon debut. While many saw Mighty Mouse’s first flick on black-and-white, 8mm home reels from Castle Films or on CBS television reruns, the Festival presents a restoration of the beautiful color original.—Jackie Forsyte DCP. Production: Terrytoons. Distribution: 20th Century Fox. Producer: Paul Terry. Director: Eddie Donnelly. Writer: John Foster. Restoration funding provided by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 35mm nitrate successive exposure positive and nitrate print. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to Paramount Pictures Archive. Screening 2 of 3 Copy Cat Year: 1941 Country: U.S. Runtime: 6 min. 35mm. World Premiere of New Restoration Although a pioneer in the animation field, here Dave Fleischer played the role of the smaller “copycat” to MGM’s Hanna-Barbera team, creators of another cat-and-mouse duo first seen in Puss Gets the Boots (1940). Copy Cat was distributed by Paramount Pictures in the Animated Antics series, just a year before Paramount bought Fleischer Studios. On display is Fleischer’s characteristic rotoscoping technique, patented by Max Fleischer in 1915. The lively technique of painting over motion pictures, frame by frame, creates smooth and compelling movements. When the patent expired in 1934, competitor animation studios, including Disney, adopted the process.—Jackie Forsyte Production: Fleischer Studios. Distribution: Paramount Pictures. Director: Dave Fleischer. Animation: Myron Waldman, Willian Henning. Writer: Bob Wickersham. Restoration funding provided by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 35mm nitrate original picture negative and 35mm safety prints. Laboratory services by the PHI Stoa Film Lab, Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to Paramount Pictures Archive. Screening 3 of 3 Adventures of Casanova Year: 1948 Country: U.S. Runtime: 83 min. Digital. B&W. West Coast Premiere of New Restoration Who do you call when you want to liberate Sicily? Who else but Casanova? Spanish-English-language cross-market leading man Arturo de Córdova and Lucille Bremer of Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) star in this swashbuckling B-movie that has extraordinarily little to do with the real-life Giacomo Casanova. Summoned by a band of insurgents to lead a Sicilian rebellion against the Austrian Empire, Casanova seduces, swordfights and twists romantic complications into revolutionary intrigue. You can expect plenty of adventure, high romance, some light cross-dressing, production design that rivals major Hollywood studios, and George Tobias’ unmistakable thick Brooklyn accent. From a historical perspective, Adventures of Casanova is more than the sum of its rather shlocky parts. The film represents a major step in collaboration between the Mexican and American film industries at the height of their respective power and prestige, a level of partnership possibly unmatched until the Nuevo Cine Mexicano movement of the 1990s and 2000s. Adventures of Casanova was also among the first films to make use of Mexico City’s Estudios Churubusco, one of the last legacy Mexican production studios still operating today. Although critics at the time cited budget outlay as the motivation behind the partnership, Adventures of Casanova does stand in contrast to the Mexploitation usually served up to the Anglo-American audiences of the period. Roberto Gavaldón, an icon of Mexican cinema, was perhaps the first Mexican director hired to lead an American crew outside the United States. Gavaldón would go on to make one more English-language feature, The Littlest Outlaw (1955), before returning fully to Mexican cinema. His film Macario, another work shot at Estudios Churubusco, would compete at Cannes in 1960 alongside La Dolce Vita and earn a nomination for Best Foreign Language Film at that year's Academy Awards.—Noah Brockman DCP. Production: Bryan Foy Productions. Distribution: Eagle-Lion Films. Producers: Bryan Foy, Leonard S. Picker. Director: Roberto Gavaldón. Screenwriters:

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Associate Motion Picture Curator Steven K. Hill. Screening 1 of 4 Hearst Metrotone News: “Famous Wind-jammer Wrecked on British Coast” Year: 1936 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 30 sec. Digital. Screening 2 of 4 Hearst Metrotone News: “U.S. Ambassador Has John Bull All Excited” Year: 1938 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 1 min. Digital. Screening 3 of 4 Hearst Metrotone News: “??Town Criers’ Championship” Year: 1953 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 1 min. Digital. Screening 4 of 4 Lorna Doone Year: 1922 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 81 min. Digital. B&W and tinted/toned. Silent. World Premiere of New Restoration French-born director Maurice Tourneur’s adaptation of R. D. Blackmore’s 19th-century novel Lorna Doone offered audiences a romantic drama of love and revenge set amid the picturesque landscapes of Exmoor in southwest England. Influenced by his background in painting and illustration, Tourneur approached filmmaking with a pronounced sensitivity for pictorial design, treating the frame as a carefully organized visual field that could convey mood and meaning. After moving to the United States in 1914, he firmly established his reputation through works such as The Wishing Ring (1914), The Poor Little Rich Girl (1917), The Blue Bird (1918) and The Last of the Mohicans (1920), all admired for their visual sophistication and cinematic storytelling. Lorna Doone is supported by a cast aligned with Tourneur’s preference for naturalistic, non-theatrical performances. Madge Bellamy’s spirited portrayal of Lorna proved to be one of the defining roles of her career and showcased her distinctive, luminous presence, earning her the nickname “the exquisite Madge.” She would later star in the John Ford epic The Iron Horse (1924) and the cult-classic White Zombie (1932), the latter of which has been restored by UCLA. John Bowers, one of the top leading men in early 1920s Hollywood, imbues the hero John Ridd with a quiet physicality and sincerity. Anchoring the drama are strong supporting turns by Frank Keenan as the fallen-nobleman-turned-outlaw Sir Ensor Doone, and Donald MacDonald as the brutal Carver Doone, whose menacing physique and explosive intensity lend weight to the film’s central conflict. While much of the production was shot at the Thomas H. Ince Studio in Culver City (reportedly with four cameras, instead of the customary two), Tourneur supplemented the studio-bound sets with outdoor location photography to heighten the film’s sense of authenticity. A critical success when released, Lorna Doone remains one of the most visually and dramatically accomplished American silent films of the early 1920s.—Steven K. Hill. DCP. Production: Thomas H. Ince Corp. Distribution: Associated First National Pictures. Producer/Director: Maurice Tourneur. Screenwriters: Katherine Reed, Cecil G. Mumford, Wyndham Gittens. Based on the novel by R. D. Blackmore. Cinematographer: Henry Sharp. With: Madge Bellamy, John Bowers, Frank Keenan, Donald MacDonald, May Giracci. Restoration funded by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation from a 35mm dupe picture negative, 35mm nitrate fine grain sections and 16mm prints. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., FotoKem. Special thanks to Academy Film Archive, Kevin Brownlow, Dan Bursik, Jere Guldin, National Film Preservation Foundation.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Head of Preservation Jillian Borders and Women’s Film Preservation Fund co-chair and restoration consultant Kirsten Larvick. Q&A with co-director Gini Reticker. the heart of the matter Year: 1994 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 56 min. Digital. Color. West Coast Premiere of New Restoration Shot on 16mm by an all-women crew, the heart of the matter is a tender portrait of AIDS activist Janice Jirau and a landmark in feminist documentary history. The film traces Jirau’s transformation from devoted wife to fearless public health advocate after she contracts HIV from a husband who refused to practice safer sex, a story told with devastating clarity. Her journey is braided with a Greek chorus of HIV-positive women from diverse backgrounds whose testimonies dismantle the comforting myth that only “certain kinds” of women are at risk. In a pivotal scene, Jirau delivers a poignant account of surviving abuse from the pulpit of a Black church, and directors Gini Reticker and Amber Hollibaugh linger on the congregation’s embrace — an image that cuts through the stigma and stereotypes that defined the era. Completed at the edge of feature length, the production itself was a political struggle, shaped by a protracted fundraising battle in a culture that routinely devalued women’s stories, and people with AIDS. That tension gives the film its palpable urgency. It is direct and unafraid to ask viewers to reflect on their own relationship to HIV transmission risk, a conversation the filmmakers also carried into public screenings. The collaboration brought together a remarkable team, including cinematographers Ellen Kuras and Maryse Alberti early in their careers, whose camera work gives the film both tenderness and resolve. Premiering at Sundance, where it won the Freedom of Expression Award, and later broadcast on PBS in 1994, the heart of the matter ultimately helped change policy through a grassroots impact campaign — and became a model for activist filmmaking for generations to come.—Beandrea July Directors: Gini Reticker, Amber Hollibaugh. Producers: Gini Reticker, Amber Hollibaugh. Cinematographers: Ellen Kuras, Maryse Alberti. Editor: Ann Collins. With: Janice Jirau. Restoration funding provided by Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Restored by Women’s Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film & Television and the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 16mm A/B original negative rolls, D2 and U-Matic tapes. Laboratory services by Colorlab, Endpoint Audio Labs. Special thanks to Gini Reticker, Kirsten Larvick.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by animation historian Jerry Beck and Senior Film Preservationist Miki Shannon. Screening 1 of 3 Way Back When a Triangle Had Its Points Year: 1940 Country: U.S. Runtime: 8 min. Digital. B&W.  West Coast Premiere of New Restoration Way Back When a Triangle Had Its Points was the first of 12 in Fleischer Studios’ Stone Age cartoons. It features a fabulous Betty Boop-style, Stone Age working girl on the hunt for a typist job. Paramount Pictures announced the series in the Miami News in June 1939, saying, “it will be based on the absurdity of modern life and modern inventions.” A rock-solid attempt, it wasn’t quite the smash the studio was looking for. However, Dan Gordon, one of the Fleischer animators on the project, later joined Hanna-Barbera and was a key creator of The Flintstones.—Jackie Forsyte DCP. Production: Fleischer Studios. Distribution: Paramount Pictures. Director: Dave Fleischer. Animation: David Tendlar, Thomas Golden. Writer: William Turner. Restoration funding provided by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 35mm nitrate original picture and track negatives. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics. Special thanks to Paramount Pictures Archive. Screening 2 of 3 The Nutty Network Year: 1939 Country: U.S. Runtime: 6 min. Digital. Color. World Premiere of New Restoration Just a year earlier, the 1938 radio broadcast of H. G. Wells’ The War of the Worlds stunned the public, convincing many that Martians were invading Earth. Terrytoons’ The Nutty Network cleverly spoofs the radio play, transforming public anxiety into slapstick comedy. The short exemplifies animation’s ability to respond quickly to contemporary culture with a playful critique of mass communication at a time when radio dominated American media. Although Terrytoons adopted Technicolor later than other studios, this short’s vibrant use of color showcases the expressive power of the technology, even in humorous satire.—Jackie Forsyte DCP. Production: Terrytoons. Distribution: 20th Century Fox. Producer: Paul Terry. Director: Mannie Davis. Writer: John Foster. Restoration funding provided by ASIFA-Hollywood. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from 35mm nitrate successive exposure positive, acetate track negative and track positive. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics. Special thanks to Paramount Pictures Archive. Screening 3 of 3 Merrily We Live Year: 1938 Country: U.S. Runtime: 95 min. Digital. B&W. World Premiere of New Restoration Debuting near the end of the screwball comedy trend, Merrily We Live is one of the zaniest. When novelist and ladies’ man Wade Rawlins’ (Brian Aherne) car breaks down he seeks help at a mansion inhabited by a family of eccentrics. Mistaken for a tramp by the well-meaning matron of the house, Mrs. Kilbourne (Billie Burke), Rawlins finds himself hired as the family chauffeur. His protests fall on deaf ears, and the handsome young man soon becomes embroiled in romantic encounters and family crises. Throw in a large white rabbit, reproducing goldfish, a raucous parrot and two rambunctious Great Danes, and you have another hit from Hal Roach Studios, “Laugh Factory to the World.” Based on the 1924 novel The Dark Chapter: A Comedy of Class Distinctions and often compared to My Man Godfrey (1936), this spoof of social conventions never takes itself seriously; as one reviewer wrote, “Insanity runs rampant!” Roach, director Norman Z. McLeod and cast members Burke, Constance Bennett and Alan Mowbray from the hit Topper (1937) team up once again and, as a poster proclaimed, Merrily We Live “tops Topper by a hundred howls!” Best known for short comedies starring Laurel and Hardy and the Our Gang kids, Hal Roach Studios earned accolades when this film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Burke, Best Cinematography, Best Art Direction, Best Music, Original Song, and won for Best Sound Recording. Roach would further prove his prowess the next year, receiving critical acclaim for Of Mice and Men (1939). Cinematographer Norbert Brodine and art director Charles Hall give the film a stunning look with depth of focus, shades of gray and an overall visual style not often seen in a comedic production. And we’d all like to know how many takes were needed to film the opening ensemble song!—Miki Shannon DCP. Production: Hal Roach Studios. Distribution: MGM. Producer: Milton H. Bren. Director: Norman Z. McLeod. Screenwriters: Eddie Moran, Jack Jevne, E. J. Roth. Cinematographer: Norbert Brodine. With: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Alan Mowbray, Billie Burke, Patsy Kelly. Restoration funding provided by the Century Arts Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Arch

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Head of Preservation Jillian Borders. The Magnificent Matador Year: 1955 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 95 min. Digital. Color. World Theatrical Premiere of New Restoration Trained as a matador in Mexico, director Budd Boetticher frequently returned to the topic of bullfighting in his films, from his start in Hollywood as a technical advisor on Rouben Mamoulian’s Blood and Sand (1941) to his first major film, The Bullfighter and the Lady (1951). Unsatisfied with the final editing of that film, Boetticher revisited his toreador past with The Magnificent Matador. In Boetticher’s words, “the story … isn’t just bulls. It’s really a love drama about a man on top who falters through fear, and an American woman who restores his faith in himself.” Mexican-born star Anthony Quinn was a natural to play “El Numero Uno,” having prior experience portraying matadors in Blood and Sand and The Brave Bulls (1951). Maureen O’Hara plays opposite him as his wealthy pursuer who becomes a possible means to his redemption. Acclaimed cinematographer Lucien Ballard (The Wild Bunch, 1969) brought his well-trained eye to the striking vistas and big action in the ring. Filming entirely on location, Ballard utilized the large CinemaScope format in its full width to capture Mexico’s countryside, bustling Mexico City and its giant arena in vibrant Eastmancolor. Legends of Mexican bullfighting are featured in the corrida, including Jesús “Chucho” Solórzano, Antonio Velásquez and Jorge “El Ranchero” Aguilar. Action sequences were staged to avoid any gore (to man or bull) to satisfy the Production Code, with ballet-like choreography and masterful passes that Variety called “some of the best bullfight scenes yet captured on film.” Prominent matador Carlos Arruza offered technical advice as well as the shooting location of Pastejé, his bull-breeding ranch. Boetticher would later direct the documentary Arruza (1971), narrated by Quinn, chronicling the matador’s life and tragic death.—Jillian Borders DCP. Production: National Pictures Corporation. Distribution: 20th Century-Fox. Producer: Edward L. Alperson. Director: Budd Boetticher. Screenwriter: Charles Lang. Based on a story by Budd Boetticher. Cinematographer: Lucien Ballard. With: Maureen O’Hara, Anthony Quinn, Manuel Rojas, Richard Denning. Restoration funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation from the 35mm color separation master positives and a 35mm Cinemascope print. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., FotoKem, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Inc. Special thanks to George Eastman Museum, Ignite Films.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Si muero antes de despertar (If I Should Die Before I Wake) Year: 1952 Country: Argentina Language: Spanish with English subtitles. Runtime: 72 min. Digital. B&W. A complex father-son relationship is at the center of this Argentine film noir directed by Carlos Hugo Christensen. Originally meant to be included in a noir trilogy with No abras nunca esa puerta (Never Open That Door, 1952), previously restored by UCLA, the Grimm’s fairy-tale-like Si muero antes de despertar was instead released as a stand-alone feature. In this suspenseful adaptation of a Cornell Woolrich short story, the disappearance of several young girls, presumed to be victims of a sexual maniac, has the local population on edge. Police inspector Santana (Floren Delbene, a popular leading man in Argentina through the 1950s) is stymied by a lack of clues, while his wife (Blanca del Prado) simply says, “Those monsters ... They should leave them to us mothers.” Unknown to either parent, their obstreperous son, Lucho (Néstor Zavarce, who for an earlier Christensen film had earned the title of a “Child Prodigy of Venezuelan Cinema”), has vowed to keep a secret that might be of vital importance. Plagued by guilt, Lucho suffers through a feverish nightmare, courtesy of production designer Gori Muñoz, as surreal as the one concocted by Salvador Dalí in Hitchcock’s Spellbound (1945). The climax of the film, eerily lit by cinematographer Pablo Tabernero (a German émigré), with aspects too strong for North American censors, is nothing short of terrifying and was likely responsible for many sleepless Argentine nights. Archivist Fernando Martin Peña, responsible for finding the original complete version of Metropolis (1927), has championed Argentine films for decades. In 1969, a large fire destroyed most of the country’s nitrate negatives, and it is hoped that a cinematheque can be built to house their remaining treasures. We have Peña, our collaborators at the Film Noir Foundation and Eddie Muller to thank for this restoration made from scant surviving materials nearly lost to decomposition.—Miki Shannon DCP. Production: San Miguel Studios. Distribution: San Miguel Studios. Director: Carlos Hugo Christensen. Writer: Alejandro Casona. Adapted from a short story by Cornell Woolrich. Cinematographer: Pablo Tabernero. With: Néstor Zavarce, Blanca del Prado, Floren Delbene, Homero Cárpena. Restoration funding provided by the Film Noir Foundation and Eddie Muller. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm acetate composite print. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc, Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to Argentina Sono Film, Luis Scalella; Malba Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires; Fernando Martin Peña.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by UCLA Distinguished Professor Chon Noriega, School of Theater, Film and Television, and Processing Conservator Yesenia Perez. Co-presented by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center. World Premiere of New Preservations In his piece Destructivism: A Manifesto (1962), artist and filmmaker Raphael Montañez Ortiz states: “The art that utilizes the destructive processes will purge, for as it gives death, so it will give to life.” A key figure in the Destruction in Art movement of the 1960s, Ortiz is best known for his object-based work and performance art, most notably his piano destruction concerts. However, his expansive oeuvre of time-based media art also merits revisiting. Ortiz experimented with film starting in the late 1950s, creating found-footage films that deconstruct/reconstruct conventional Hollywood, newsreel and instructional films as a means of combating the xenophobia, classism and repression manifested within them. Decades later, Ortiz revisited this practice of partition and random reassembly; 1984 to 1997 was a fruitful period resulting in over 50 works Ortiz termed “computer-laser-videos.” The rise of consumer video formats and new technologies brought renewed opportunities for deconstruction — this time, in a realm that merged analog and digital. These videos were made by using films on laserdiscs (mainly titles from the 1930s to 1940s), selecting segments ranging from one to 10 seconds, editing and distorting clips via computer, and using joysticks to move footage back and forth at various speeds. Once it was finalized, Ortiz would transfer the footage to 3/4 in. videotape. This practice resulted in a new visual landscape of disjointed movement that was further heightened by the use of a wave-form generator to alter sound, creating a cacophony of words, music and disembodied noises. In expanding the length of these clips, Ortiz dissects and scrutinizes the whiteness, hegemony and gendered behaviors presented on-screen, reconstructing them as satire, performativity and artifice. These four selected works are Ortiz’s final computer-laser-videos, marking a significant point in his career as an interdisciplinary artist and pioneer of the Destructivism movement.—Yesenia Perez Screening 1 of 4 That's Too Much Year: 1996 Country: U.S. Language: Swedish with English subtitles Runtime: 6 min. Digital. B&W. DCP. Director: Raphael Montañez Ortiz. Source: Dollar (1938), directed by Gustaf Molander. Preservation funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center from the director’s Betacam master. Laboratory services by The MediaPreserve. Special thanks to Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Chon Noriega. Screening 2 of 4 Ring Ring Ragtime Year: 1996 Country: U.S. Language: Italian with English subtitles Runtime: 12 min. Digital. B&W and color. DCP. Director: Raphael Montañez Ortiz. Sources: unidentified Italian film, undated footage from the Olympics. Preservation funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center from the director’s Betacam master. Laboratory services by The MediaPreserve. Special thanks to Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Chon Noriega. Screening 3 of 4 Busy Bodies Year: 1997 Country: U.S. Runtime: 9 min. Digital. B&W and color. DCP. Director: Raphael Montañez Ortiz. Sources: A Night at the Opera (1935), directed by Sam Wood; Gone With the Wind (1939), directed by Victor Fleming. Preservation funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center from the director’s Betacam SP master. Laboratory services by The MediaPreserve. Special thanks to Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Chon Noriega. Screening 4 of 4 It's Coming Up Year: 1997 Country: U.S. Runtime: 5 min. Digital. B&W and color. DCP. Director: Raphael Montañez Ortiz. Sources: unidentified exercise video, c. 1930s; The Bride of Frankenstein (1935), directed by James Whale; unidentified footage of a volcano eruption. Preservation funding provided by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center from the director’s Betacam SP master. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Special thanks to Raphael Montañez Ortiz, Chon Noriega.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. The box office will open 30 minutes before the screening. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Film Preservationist Brian Belak. Screening 1 of 2 Doctor Cupid Year: 1911 Country: U.S. Runtime: 14 min. 35mm. B&W and tinted. Silent. World Premiere of New Restoration Alice Linton and poet Percy Primrose (Carlyle Blackwell) are in love, against her father’s (John Bunny) wishes. When Alice falls ill with grief over the forbidden relationship, Percy disguises himself as “Doctor Cupid” to trick Alice’s father into approving the marriage. Celebrated stage actor and comedian John Bunny starred in over 150 short films for the Vitagraph Company, often paired with Flora Finch in a series of “Bunnyfinch” comedies, from 1910 to his untimely death in 1915. Despite Bunny’s popularity, only a portion of his work survives.—Brian Belak Production: Vitagraph Company of America. With: John Bunny, Carlyle Blackwell. Preservation funding provided by Louis B. Mayer Foundation. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm tinted nitrate print. Laboratory services by the PHI Stoa Film Lab. Special thanks to the Irish Film Institute. Screening 2 of 2 Trailin' Year: 1921 Country: U.S. Runtime: 56 min. 35mm. B&W and tinted. Silent. Los Angeles Premiere of New Restoration In the early decades of American cinema, few figures loomed as large, or rode as boldly across the silver screen, as Tom Mix. As an actor, the former frontier lawman and Wild West show performer brought genuine horsemanship and the ability to do his own stunts to his film roles. He also cultivated an instantly recognizable identity punctuated by a white 10-gallon Stetson, ornate costumes and a confident grin, establishing a colorful vision of the American cowboy that captivated audiences throughout the 1920s. This persona reflected both the mythologizing of the Old West and the desires of a modern, urban audience seeking escapism in the aftermath of World War I. Based on the Max Brand novel, the mystery-melodrama Trailin’ was helmed by Mix’s favorite director, Lynn Reynolds, and co-starred Eva Novak in one of her 10 feature film appearances opposite Mix. Novak was a popular actor in her own right, appearing in 48 films from 1921 to 1928, and reportedly learned to perform many of her own stunts from Mix himself. In order to play the wealthy young hero Anthony Woodbury, Mix shed his familiar flamboyant Western regalia in favor of the refined garments of an aristocrat-in-training. Dissatisfied with his privileged position in life, Anthony longs to discover the identity of his mother — a secret that his father refuses to reveal. When his father is killed in a mysterious duel, Anthony embarks on a quest for justice and self-discovery, confronting danger, intrigue and the charms of the spirited Sally Fortune (Novak). As expected, the film performed well at the box office, and contemporary reviews were generally enthusiastic. Wid’s Filmdom hailed it as “a different Tom Mix and a different Mix picture,” while Moving Picture World declared, “Mix at his best. A splendid Western that has the thrills and plenty of action.”—Steven K. Hill Production: Fox Film Corp. Director: Lynn F. Reynolds. Screenwriter: Lynn F. Reynolds. Based on the novel by Max Brand. With: Tom Mix, Eva Novak, J. Farrell MacDonald, Sid Jordan. Preservation funding provided by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm nitrate print. Laboratory services by the PHI Stoa Film Lab.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler. Lela Swift began her career in television during the early 1940s as an assistant to the chief television engineer at CBS, where she was at the forefront of an evolving broadcast industry. By 1945, she had moved into production as a writer and studio assistant floor manager, and in 1950, she was promoted to director. During a decades-long career, Swift directed a variety of genres, including early 1950s television anthologies such as CBS’ prestigious Studio One, ABC’s Wide World of Mystery and NBC’s Purex Specials for Women, and won three Emmy Awards for directing the daytime series Ryan’s Hope. Swift’s prolific creative output traces television’s history of innovation, imagination and changing audience taste.—Maya Montañez Smukler Screening 1 of 2 The Web: “Time For Hate” Year: 1953 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 30 min. Digital. B&W. World Premiere of New Preservation With original commercials As a pioneering staff director at CBS Television in New York, Lela Swift helmed episodes of the live anthology mystery The Web on alternating weeks, trading duties with series producer Herbert Hirschman. In this Swift-directed installment, a mysterious man (John Baragrey) seemingly returns from the dead to upend the lives of a domineering mother (Jessie Royce Landis) and her tormented daughter (Marian Russell). Punctuated by close-ups and a gently foreboding atmosphere, this early effort by Swift anticipates her later innovative work directing hundreds of episodes of the cult-classic gothic soap opera Dark Shadows (1966–71).—Mark Quigley DCP. CBS. Production: A Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production in association with the CBS Television Network. Producer: Herbert Hirschman. Director: Lela Swift. Writer: Art Wallace. With: Jessie Royce Landis, John Baragrey, Marian Russell. Preservation funding provided by the John H. Mitchell Television Preservation Endowment. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm kinescope. Laboratory services by Endpoint Audio Labs. Screening 2 of 2 Justice: “House of Hatred” Year: 1955 Country: U.S. Runtime: 30 min. Digital. B&W. World Premiere of New Preservation Produced live, this Dragnet-style series explored social justice cases adapted from the files of the Legal Aid Society of New York City. Lela Swift directs this tense installment starring Gary Merrill (All About Eve, 1950) as an earnest lawyer attempting to help an innocent family being unfairly persecuted following the murder conviction of their son. At a time when the Hollywood Blacklist dictated many hiring practices in the film and television industry, the episode, written by Anne Howard Bailey (The Adams Chronicles, 1976), boldly examines the immorality of “guilt by association” and prejudice.—Mark Quigley DCP. NBC. Production: Talent Associates-John Rust Production. Producer: David Susskind. Director: Lela Swift. Writer: Anne Howard Bailey. With: Gary Merrill, Glenda Farrell, Frank McHugh. Preservation funding provided by the John H. Mitchell Television Preservation Endowment. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm kinescope. Laboratory services by Endpoint Audio Labs.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by producer-director José Luis Ruiz and John H. Mitchell Television Curator Mark Quigley. Special thanks to our community partner: UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center The Unwanted Year: 1975 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 50 min. Digital. Color. World Premiere of New Restoration “They come in search of the American Dream, only to find they have become the unwanted,” begins this groundbreaking television documentary on the troubles faced by Latino immigrants in the United States. Amid calls for broader governmental reform of the immigration process, the film focuses on human roles in the everyday drama, casting immigrants’ plight as powerless political pawns in a game that exploits undocumented migrants’ labor while criminalizing them at the same time. As Pablo, Gabriel and Yolanda Lopez and the Garcia family seek to improve their livelihood in a new country, away from economic troubles at home, they face repeated profiling, raids and deportation by border patrol and immigration enforcement officers, creating a revolving door of frustration for all involved. Producer-director José Luis Ruiz produced programs for KABC, KNBC and KCET throughout the 1970s, establishing a Latino presence in film and television, and was later executive director of the National Latino Communications Center (NLCC) and a founding board member of the National Association of Latino Arts and Culture (NALAC). Writer Frank del Olmo was the first Latino listed on the masthead of the Los Angeles Times, where he worked as a reporter for decades covering issues of illegal immigration and the Latino community, earning a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. The Unwanted won an award for Current Affairs Special at the 1975 Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards after its primetime airing on KNBC Channel 4. Praised at the time by the Los Angeles Times for the choice to “minimize statistics, to humanize stereotypes,” the documentary and the discussion around who gets the privilege to be American is as relevant as ever 50 years later, as immigration policy remains hotly debated and deportations continue. This revolving door has yet to stop spinning.—Brian Belak DCP. KNBC. Producer: José Luis Ruiz. Director: José Luis Ruiz. Writer: Frank del Olmo. Cinematographer: Larry Mitchell. With: Barry Newman. Restoration funding provided by the John H. Mitchell Television Preservation Endowment. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from multiple 16mm reversal prints, a 16mm work print and a 35/32mm track negative. Laboratory services by Prasad Corp. and Endpoint Audio Labs. Special thanks to José Luis Ruiz.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Research and Public Access Coordinator Nicole Ucedo. California glows on- and off-screen as our warm home and the dreamy backdrop to countless Hollywood and independent films from the 20th century. The Archive is honored to house and restore hundreds of productions set in California, including UCLA student work, news programs and home movies. This program features short films and excerpts filmed by and about Californians around the Golden State from the 1920s to the 1990s.—Nicole Ucedo Screening 1 of 10 California Scenics Presents Hollywood (excerpt) Year: circa 1920s Country: U.S. Runtime: 10 min. Digital. Tinted. Silent. Take a trip through Hollywood in this travelogue from the latter half of the 1920s. Documenting architectural relics, some still standing, some gone, the footage guides us through Los Angeles history at the height of the studio system. Featuring the Carthay Circle Theatre, Mary Helen Tea Room, Hollywood Storage Company Building and other historic sites. DCP. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm print in The Packard Humanities Institute Collection at the Archive. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Special thanks to The Packard Humanities Institute. Screening 2 of 10 A Southland Scenic: “Fairyland Trails” Year: circa 1920s Country: U.S. Runtime: 9 min. 35mm. B&W and tinted. Silent. The “Switzerland of California,” as the film phrases it, Clear Lake and its surrounding parks and towns were the ideal vacation location for the San Franciscan family of the 1950s. In this travelogue we cruise through Northern California’s redwoods, lakes and clear skies. The magical allure of California is captured in these images, many of the natural phenomena still existing today. Production: Richard P. Young Studios. Preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 35mm nitrate print. Laboratory services by Film Technology Company, Inc. Screening 3 of 10 Sylvia Ashley’s Home Movies (excerpt) Year: 1937–1939 Country: U.S. Runtime: 3 min. Digital. Color. Silent. The Lauretta Edlund Home Movies collection was donated to the UCLA Film & Television Archive by Lauretta Edlund. Her aunt, the 1930s socialite Sylvia Ashley, was married five times, one of them to Douglas Fairbanks Sr. The home footage was taken during their married years. Compiled out of chronological order, the 16mm film documents the couple lounging poolside with friends at their Pacific Coast Highway home as well as some travel footage. A brief scene shows Fairbanks walking on a hillside within the Edmund Goulding estate in Palm Springs. Guests to the Fairbanks home included Charlie Chaplin, Gloria Swanson, Fay Wray and many others. DCP. Director: Sylvia Ashley and friends. Digitally preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from a 16mm original picture reversal. Laboratory services by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Special thanks to Lauretta Edlund and Kerry Edlund Morris. Screening 4 of 10 Hearst Metrotone News: “California Gets Famed Estate” Year: 1957 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 1 min. Digital. B&W. Hearst Corporation founder William Randolph Hearst’s palatial castle in San Simeon opens up to tourism after his passing. DCP. Screening 5 of 10 Hearst Metrotone News: “Rocket Town U.S.A.!” Year: 1948 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 2 min. Digital. B&W. A small town near Death Valley, dedicated to the research and production of rockets, gets its news camera close-up. DCP. Screening 6 of 10 Popular Science: “Frozen TV Dinners; Mechanical Brain at UCLA (The World’s First Mechanical Computer); The Flying Wing Northrop Jet” (excerpt) Year: 1947 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 4 min. Digital. Color. This segment of Popular Science shows campus life at UCLA in 1947 as students lounge outdoors while studying an early computer design. Two decades later on this same campus, another group of students and faculty would launch the first messages sent via the internet. DCP. Production: Paramount Pictures. Writer: George Brandt. Digitally restored by The Packard Humanities Institute from an original nitrate 35mm print at the PHI Stoa Film Lab. Screening 7 of 10 Ifé Year: 1993 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 5 min. Digital. B&W. West Coast Premiere of New Restoration Ifé is an ode to the city of San Francisco in the 1990s as well as to the women in the narrator, Ifé’s, life. Ifé cruises around San Francisco in her car, admiring the city, her new home. Through a relaxed, diaristic monologue, Ifé pays tribute to the freedom and joy the city offered for queer life in the ’90s. DCP. Distribution: Frameline. Director/Screenwriter: H. Len Keller. With: Celine Allouchery, Nsomeka Gomes. Restoration funding provided by Rachael Reiley and the UCLA

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Archive Director May Hong HaDuong and television writer-producer and author David Stenn. Screening 1 of 4 Hearst Metrotone News: “The Wellesley Crew!” Year: 1947 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 1 min. Digital. B&W. Screening 2 of 4 Hearst Metrotone News: “Wellesley Girls Crew Race” (excerpt) Year: 1957 Country: U.S. Runtime: 30 sec. Digital. B&W. Silent. Screening 3 of 4 Hearst Metrotone News: “Water Skiing In Mountain Resorts, Lake Arrowhead, Calif.” (excerpt) Year: 1936 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 1 min. Digital. B&W. Screening 4 of 4 Eight Girls in a Boat Year: 1934 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 85 min. Digital. B&W. World Premiere of New Restoration At an all-girls school in Switzerland, Christa Storm (Dorothy Wilson) is a star pupil and stroke seat on the rowing team, but her clandestine affair with young chemist David Perrin (Douglass Montgomery) from another college leads her into trouble when she discovers she’s pregnant. As Christa’s attention in school slips, she incurs the discipline of the team’s steely coach, Hannah (Kay Johnson), who removes her from the boat and threatens expulsion. Worse, Christa’s businessman father (Walter Connelly) objects to marriage between Christa and David over concerns that David’s studies doom him to a life of poverty. How will Christa and her coming baby keep an even keel through all this choppy water? This pre-Code film was a remake of a 1932 German original (Acht Mädels im Boot) and billed as “America’s daring reply to Mädchen in Uniform (1931).” Paramount’s advertising played up the salacious suggestion of a female-only school where men are forbidden. Most of the cast members were selected through a nationwide beauty contest aimed at filling out the ensemble with new faces to Hollywood, including Jean Rogers of Flash Gordon (1936). Silent film star Peggy-Jean “Baby Peggy” Montgomery (also known as Diana Serra Cary), now a teenager, appears as one of the students. Mostly filmed on location at Lake Arrowhead in the San Bernardino Mountains, Eight Girls in a Boat shines during its rowing scenes as sunlight dapples on the water. The New York Times praised director Richard Wallace’s “considerable delicacy and tact” around the illicit motherhood theme and Dorothy Wilson’s “genuinely and shyly touching” portrayal of “the girl’s loneliness, her sense of ostracism and shame.” Wilson, known for being cast as the lead in The Age of Consent (1932) while working as a secretary at RKO, eventually married Eight Girls screenwriter Lewis R. Foster and largely retired from film roles just a few years later.—Brian Belak Production: Charles R. Rogers Productions, Inc. Distribution: Paramount Pictures. Producer: Charles R. Rogers. Director: Richard Wallace. Screenwriters: Helmut Brandis, Lewis R. Foster, Casey Robinson. Cinematographer: Gilbert Warrenton. With: Dorothy Wilson, Douglass Montgomery, Kay Johnson, Walter Connelly, Peggy-Jean “Baby Peggy” Montgomery. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Packard Humanities Institute from the 35mm original nitrate picture negative, acetate composite fine grain positive and nitrate print. Laboratory services by The PHI Stoa Film Lab, Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to the Library of Congress, NBCUniversal, David Stenn.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Screening 1 of 5 Hearst Metrotone News: “Now They're Mr. and Mrs. Dick Powell” Year: 1936 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 30 sec. Digital. B&W. Screening 2 of 5 Hearst Metrotone News: “That ‘New Look’ In Men's Hats!” Year: 1948 Country: U.S. Runtime: 1 min. Digital. B&W. Silent. Screening 3 of 5 Hearst Metrotone News: “Those He-Men Are Here Again!” Year: 1948 Country: U.S. Runtime: 30 sec. Digital. B&W. Silent. Screening 4 of 5 Hearst Metrotone News: “Police Test TV — Cops Play Robbers” Year: 1954 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 1 min 30 sec. Digital. B&W. Screening 5 of 5 Pitfall Year: 1948 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 86 min. Digital. B&W. World Premiere of New Restoration Described as “tight, swift and sexy” by the Los Angeles Daily News, Jay Dratler’s 1947 novel The Pitfall was a perfect vehicle for Hungarian émigré and hard-hitting genre director André de Toth. Despite jettisoning the novel’s more salacious moments due to Hays Code restrictions, screenwriter Karl Kamb and an uncredited William Bowers perfectly capture the trappings of infidelity, larceny and obsession, played out in sun-drenched post-war Southern California (as opposed to the rainy back alleys typical of the noir genre). The Regal Films production was shot at General Service Studios in Hollywood by longtime RKO cinematographer and frequent noir contributor Harry J. Wild. Iconic Los Angeles locations such as Santa Monica Bay, the downtown May Co. Building and the Hall of Justice were also utilized. Former Warner Bros. song and dance man Dick Powell had already proven his noir chops as hard-boiled private detective Philip Marlowe in 1944’s Murder, My Sweet, and he is impeccably cast as bored, married insurance man John Forbes, whose life is about to spiral out of control after meeting the alluring Mona Stevens, played by Lizabeth Scott. Raymond Burr had mostly been relegated to bit parts in the nine films he completed in 1948; Pitfall provided a breakout co-starring role, as private investigator J. B. MacDonald, which he plays with subversively kinky malice. Aided by a script that flips the traditional femme fatale archetype, Scott’s luminous portrayal reveals a more textured and sympathetic victim of circumstance, given that her character is the target of three wildly different and problematic men. The New York Times heralded Scott as “provocative, and acting better than she has ever done before,” and the performance is now considered one of her greatest. Despite some of its atypical attributes, Pitfall is a deftly executed meditation on the degeneration of mid-century masculinity, and it stands as one of the great entries in the noir genre.—Todd Wiener Production: Regal Films, Inc. Distribution: United Artists. Producer: Samuel Bischoff. Director: André de Toth. Screenwriter: Karl Kamb. Based on the novel by Jay Dratler. Cinematographer: Harry Wild. With: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt, Raymond Burr. Restoration funding provided by the Century Arts Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from acetate dupe picture negatives and track negatives. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics.

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Part of the 2026 UCLA Festival of Preservation. Free admission. No advance reservations. Ticketing is on a first come, first served basis. Seats will not be assigned. Introduction by Head of Preservation Jillian Borders. The Other Love Year: 1947 Country: U.S. Language: English Runtime: 99 min. Digital. B&W. World Premiere of New Restoration Based on an unpublished short story by Erich Maria Remarque, The Other Love explores the existential themes of love and death that recur throughout his novels, such as Three Comrades and Arch of Triumph. The plot concerns a concert pianist, Karen Duncan (Barbara Stanwyck), convalescing from tuberculosis in the Alps, who is tempted by a short, adventure-filled life as opposed to the sedate existence in the sanatorium that offers her a chance at a future. She must choose between two lovers: her doctor (David Niven) and an impetuous race car driver (Richard Conte). Director André de Toth, though better known for helming gutsy and tense low-budget Western and film noir projects than for high-fashion “woman’s pictures,” guides his stellar cast, as well as cinematographer Victor Milner and composer Miklós Rózsa, to deliver a moody and melodramatic gem. An early feature from Enterprise Productions, The Other Love was released to significant fanfare with an equally large marketing pitch. The independent production company was founded as an alternative to the vertically integrated major studios, with the egalitarian hope that talent partnerships would yield larger profit participation for all involved. The rollout for The Other Love spared no expense, with months of advance print and radio advertising, extensive promotional tie-ins and a U.S. premiere aboard a DC-6 airliner. Unfortunately, Enterprise’s bloated budgets took a toll, and the studio only lasted three years until its bankruptcy — though not before releasing such classics as Body and Soul (1947), Ramrod (1947) and Force of Evil (1949). After the premiere and preview screenings of The Other Love, the original longer ending was replaced with one deemed more palatable to American audiences for its general U.S. release. This original version, now restored, has not been seen by audiences since the 1940s.—Jillian Borders DCP. Production: Enterprise Productions, Inc. Distribution: United Artists. Producer: David Lewis. Director: André de Toth. Screenwriters: Ladislas Fodor, Harry Brown. Based on a story by Erich Maria Remarque. Cinematographer: Victor Milner. With: Barbara Stanwyck, David Niven, Richard Conte, Gilbert Roland, Joan Lorring. Restoration funding provided by the Century Arts Foundation. Restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive from the 35mm original nitrate picture negative, nitrate fine grain positive and original nitrate track negatives. Laboratory services by Roundabout Entertainment, Inc., Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound. Special thanks to Paramount Pictures Archive, FotoKem, Deluxe Media Audio Services.

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In person: chef and restaurateur Alice Waters. Director Alfonso Arua’s Like Water for Chocolate was an arthouse sensation when first released and still defines the evocative power of food in film. Based on Laura Esquivel’s novel, its sensuous tale of forbidden love unfolds in early 20th-century Mexico when Tita is bound by family tradition to remain unmarried to care for her mother. Prevented from acting on her love for the handsome Pedro, she pours her passion and heartbreak into her cooking which has a magical, intoxicating effect on those who consume it. The intimacy of the heart and the intimacy of the kitchen transform culinary preparation into a powerful expression of desire, rebellion and yearning.—Senior Public Programmer Paul Malcolm Director: Alfonso Arau. Screenwriter: Laura Esquivel. With: Lumi Cavazos, Marco Leonardi, Regina Torné. 35mm print courtesy of the Sundance Collection at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

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In person: Q&A with actor David Selby and historian Jim Pierson, editor of Dark Shadows Noir: Classic Black and White Photography From the Dan Curtis Productions Archive. Book signing with Pierson before the screening. Guest speaker Made possible by the John H. Mitchell Television Programming Endowment. Premiering on June 27, 1966, on ABC-TV, Dark Shadows (1966–71) represented an outré experiment in daytime television that became an unexpected breakout hit and evergreen cult classic. Created by horror-maestro Dan Curtis (The Night Stalker, Trilogy of Terror), the innovative soap opera, which initially struggled in the ratings, expanded greatly in popularity in its second year with the addition of a 175-year-old charismatic vampire character named Barnabas Collins (Jonathan Frid). As the eerily atmospheric series evolved to fuse gothic supernatural elements and romance into complex storylines, it developed a passionate youth following and became a pop culture phenomenon. In the process, the videotaped series earned the distinction of being the first soap to spawn a theatrical motion picture spin-off, House of Dark Shadows (1970), and several additional feature films and reboots. The beloved original series ran for over 1,200 episodes before its abrupt cancellation in 1971. In the ensuing decades, the aura surrounding Dark Shadows has only intensified, with the influential program enjoying nearly constant reruns in syndication, luring an influx of new viewers into the mysterious, shadow-drenched world of the wealthy Collins family of fictional Collinsport, Maine. Join us for a celebration of Dark Shadows, exactly 60 years to the day of its premiere, including the debut episode and rare archival footage. Before the screening, historian Jim Pierson will sign copies of Dark Shadows Noir: Classic Black and White Photography from the Dan Curtis Productions Archive. Following the screening, there will be a Q&A with Dark Shadows star, actor David Selby, and Jim Pierson. Programmed and note written by John H. Mitchell Television Curator Mark Quigley.

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Presented by UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum. The Billy Wilder Theater opens 15 minutes before each Family Flicks program.

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In person: director Karen Arthur; editor Carol Littleton; Paula Chambers, daughter of screenwriter and actor Joan Hotchkis; Eric Morris, acting teacher and director of the theatrical production of Legacy. Guest speaker Legacy is the story of Bissie Hapgood, a woman unraveling under the pressures of a vapid and materialistic society consumed with dinner-plate settings, soap operas and sexual frustration. The material originated as a one-woman show in 1973, written and performed by Joan Hotchkis, a versatile talent celebrated for her roles on television series including The Odd Couple and The Life and Times of Eddie Roberts. Karen Arthur, a first-time filmmaker, saw Hotchkis on stage and convinced the actor to adapt the screenplay and star in the film. Independently produced and financed, Legacy, like its peers Wanda (1970) and A Woman Under the Influence (1974), confounds 1970s Hollywood’s expectations with the introduction of a new kind of cinematic woman. Bissie stuns audiences with her honesty that is confrontational, yet heartfelt and a vulnerability that is never sentimental and always surprising. Legacy features an exceptional crew at the start of what would become a set of accomplished careers. Arthur, who would go on to direct The Mafu Cage (1978) and become a prolific television director, winning an Emmy Award for Cagney & Lacey, collaborated with cinematographer John Bailey (Ordinary People, 1980, In the Line of Fire, 1993) and editor Carol Littleton (E.T., 1982, The Manchurian Candidate, 2004). Note written by Archive Research and Study Center Officer Maya Montañez Smukler.

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Presented by UCLA Film & Television Archive and the Hammer Museum. The Billy Wilder Theater opens 15 minutes before each Family Flicks program.

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