The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, September 23-29
Lonesome (1928)
Directed by Paul Fejos
“Hello.” A full thirty minutes into Lonesome, and we finally hear its first audible dialogue, a novelty for its time. In the scheme of first lines, it’s unremarkable, but it satisfies the film’s central romance: clumsy, insecure Jim (Glenn Tryon) has been pining over the gleeful, equally lonely Mary (Barbara Kent) from afar, his prolonging to break the silence mirroring that of early cinema. Plus, in the bustling mechanics of straphanger life, how can one make their voice truly heard? Falling in love on Fourth of July weekend, Coney Island-style, gives Fejos room to flex other then-emerging innovations for pure spectacle. How better to capture the Wonder Wheel at the time than to tint it a dreamy pink glow, or the jolting rush of a coaster than by strapping a camera to the front? Summer’s gone, so preserve the memory one last time. Max Kyburz (September 26, 6:30pm at the Museum of the Movie Image’s “See it Big! New York in Film”)
