Pencil This In: You And Me At The Portage Theater

By Chuck Sudo in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 20, 2012 5:40PM

The influence of Bertolt Brecht is all over Fritz Lang's 1938 film You and Me. Lang's third Hollywood feature experimented with using rhetorical passages to separate the viewer from the film's plot (something Brecht often implemented in his plays) and Lang enlisted in Kurt Weill to write the score for the film.

You and Me tells the story of a department store owner (played by Harry Carey) who makes a point to hire ex-cons as workers. Two such employees, played by George Raft and Sylvia Sidney, fall in love, setting the stage for a series of actions that threaten their relationship. Under Lang's guidance the film moves effortlessly between screwball comedy, crime noir and musical theater, and You and Me's message of redemption makes this one of his most optimistic films, and both Weill's songs and the influence of Brecht among Lang's most German-feeling films. Lang said You and Me was the least favorite of his films, and it was poorly received critically and commercially at the time of its release. As the decades progressed critics have reversed their position on the film.

The Northwest Chicago Film Society is screening You and Me 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Portage Theater, in conjunction with portoluz's ongoing "WPA 2.0 - A Brand New Deal" series looking back at the art, music and politics of the New Deal. Admission is $5.

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