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The Egyptian Theatre Returns to the TCMFF

Posted on February 21, 2024 | Leave a comment

A flurry of excited emails arrived in my inbox yesterday, announcing that for the first time since 2019, the Egyptian Theatre will screen movies for the TCM Classic Film Festival.

This is welcome news for classic film fans, who have worried about the fate of the theatre since Netflix acquired the property in the spring of 2020. Corporate ownership of historic theaters has usually meant that massive overhauls to “modernize” the building are imminent, as corporations try to turn their investment into a profit-making endeavor.

To everyone’s surprise and delight, Netflix’s renovations have stayed in line with the character of Sid Grauman’s original theater, which opened in 1922 amid the Egyptian craze accompanying the discovery of King Tut’s tomb. The historic neon sign has been fixed, the hieroglyphics above the entrance have been restored, and the palm trees (dating from the 1990s American Cinematheque renovations) have been removed.

When Netflix bought the theater, Hollywood experts figured that this was an angle to qualify Netflix films for the Academy Awards–because Academy rules stipulate that nominated films have to be shown in theaters. But the deal is more complex than it seems on its face–while Netflix owns the theater and financed the renovations, it only has control over the programming on weekdays. During that time, it uses the theater for screenings and panels, and other industry special events. On the weekends, control reverts to the American Cinematheque, who uses it for repertory programming. The Egyptian is one of only a handful of cinemas in California that are still licensed to exhibit nitrate film stock, and the American Cinematheque is taking full advantage of this distinction. Their Nitrate Film Festival brought a full house to the Egyptian last weekend for 3 screenings of Rebecca (1940), and they hope to repeat the success with 3 more showings of Winchester ’73 (1950) and Spellbound (1945)–playing this weekend and next, respectively.

This is where the TCM Festival comes in. Partnering with the American Cinematheque (and possibly Netflix, depending on when screenings begin) over the weekend of April 18-21, the festival will be able to show 35mm, 70mm, and nitrate prints. TCM has confirmed that there will be at least one nitrate film shown at the Egyptian, a 35mm presentation of Annie Get Your Gun (1950), and a 70mm presentation of Lawrence of Arabia (1962).

More news here as it comes in, but until then, see you at the Egyptian!

CLFP: “Nothing Sacred” (1937)

Posted on January 5, 2013 | 10 comments

The Carole Lombard Filmography Project is back in full swing, after your humble author took it upon herself to put it on hold until the Dueling Divas Blogathon was finished. I am happy to say that Carole has come back, and the next film to be covered is one of my favorites, and a hallmark film in her career.

Much is made of Carole Lombard’s angelic and ethereal beauty. Despite her tragically short time in movies she was considered to be one of the great beauties of the 1930’s, and never was her beauty more apparent than in Nothing Sacred, the first screwball comedy shot in Technicolor and Carole Lombard’s first and only feature shot using the relatively recent invention. Nothing Sacred holds a place as one of the very first films to have made full use of Technicolor technology, and the visuals are strikingly soft, almost like a watercolor painting.

When discussing this film in film circles, it has become something of an expectation to bring up what a shame it was that Carole Lombard didn’t have a chance to make more movies in Technicolor, as color film was clearly a medium on which she could make her mark. Her gentle features are highlighted and accentuated, and it is difficult for the viewer to look at anyone else when she is onscreen.

Lombard plays Hazel Flagg, a young woman who has been told she is dying of radium poisoning. A New York newspaperman named Wally Cook (Fredric March), demoted to the obituary section as punishment for trying to pass an ordinary Harlem resident off as an African prince at a charity event, learns of her story and decides it would make a sensational news piece. However, little does Wally know that Hazel has just been told by her doctor that the diagnosis was incorrect, and she is actually in perfect health. When Wally goes to her hometown in Vermont, Hazel jumps at the chance to leave her small town in Vermont and go to New York City, not telling Wally that the diagnosis was incorrect. The name of Hazel Flagg becomes synonymous with tragedy, and no one doubts the validity of her story. But when Wally calls in a renowned expert on radium poisoning, everything begins to fall apart in hilarious ways.

Though Nothing Sacred is indeed considered a screwball comedy, it is strikingly dry in comparison to the zany and madcap My Man Godfrey, released the previous year. Nothing Sacred is a far tighter film–instead of being character-driven like My Man Godfrey, the complex satire that makes up the plot is the primary focus in this movie.

Underneath the humor, Nothing Sacred also makes a serious commentary on the influence of the news media and the nature of fame. Hazel Flagg symbolizes the ability of a single person to dupe and manipulate the media in order to achieve recognition, and Wally Cook is an example of the exceptional lengths to which a newspaperman will go to get a story. These are problems that continue to be relevant today, and in the aftermath of some recent political events the movie is all the more poignant. Through screwball humor and comedic antics, with Carole Lombard giving a magnificent comedic performance as Hazel, Nothing Sacred succeeds in touching upon a serious issue in journalism with aplomb, sharp wit, and a fair amount of irony.