A Hitch For Hitch At Doc Films
By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 27, 2011 3:40PM
We were all psyched to tell you about Doc Film's planned screening of Alfred Hitchcock's Under Capricorn tonight, which features several ten-minute-long takes replete with gymnastic camera moves and delirious Technicolor Ingrid Bergman. And a shrunken head. But we've just learned there's been a snag.
Edo Choi gave us the lowdown:
Under Capricorn was last screened at Harvard Film Archive on April 10. HFA was supposed to send it to us, but instead they sent it back to London ... There was an attempt to see if the print could be overnight-ed, but apparently it couldn't be. Doc has its own print of Under Capricorn. However it's 16mm and probably Eastman Color, which means it will almost certainly be faded pretty as pink pink pink. I have prevailed upon the board to reschedule the film in the BFI print for another time later on in the quarter, especially as so many people, myself included, had hyped this up as the biggest screening this season.
In this day and age good film prints, especially of older films, are increasingly rare. A single print is often ferried back and forth all over the world; and similar to how bad weather in one part of the country can snarl airports thousands of miles away, any disruption in the distribution chain can affect screenings straight on down the line.
Shipping snafus happen more often than you might think. Case in point: the May 4 screening of Silver Lode by the Northwest Film Society at the Portage Theater has been canceled because of a shipping error. The good news is that its replacement will be Day of the Outlaw, a magnificent film in its own right, starring Robert Ryan, Burl Ives, and Tina Louise.
As for tonight's show at Doc Films, Under Capricorn will still be shown in either the 16mm print or by projected DVD. We'll let you know when the BFI print has been rescheduled.
Doc Films is located in the Max Palevsky Cinema in Ida Noyes Hall at The University of Chicago, 1212 East 59th Street