What I’m Seeing This Week: Cornell Cinema kicks off Ithaca’s 12th annual Silent Movie Month on Sunday with a screening of The Toll of the Sea accompanied by an “original, live experimental score” by local ensemble Cloud Chamber Orchestra. This is part of a series that they are presenting in partnership with Cinemapolis and the Wharton Studio Museum called “From Silent Film Star to American Icon: Celebrating Anna May Wong.” In addition to featuring Wong’s first starring roll, Cornell Cinema’s website notes that The Toll of the Sea is also the first-ever two-strip Technicolor film. With a runtime of just 48 minutes, this will only require giving up a small portion of my football Sunday and even less than usual with the Falcons and Jaguars playing in London at 9:30am Eastern, which seems well worth it!
Also in Theaters: A restored version of director Jonathan Demme’s Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense opens at Cinemapolis on Friday to commemorate the film’s 40th anniversary. Oppenheimer enters the final week of its run there and probably the Regal Ithaca Mall (where it’s down to just one screening a day) as well, although it will be coming to Cornell Cinema soon. As reported by The Ithaca Voice, a documentary with local ties called Common Ground will screen at Cinemapolis on Sunday followed by a “talk-back” event.
Home Video: Critic Farran Smith Nehme aka the Self-Style Siren recently tweeted a link to an updated version of an old essay about the Joan Fontaine vehicle Ivy, which is now available on the Criterion Channel as part of their “Noir by Gaslight” series. It contains some striking cinematography by Russell Metty, breathtakingly perfect costume design by Orry-Kelly, effective use of music by Daniele Amfitheatrof, and quite possibly my favorite performance by Fontaine that I’ve seen so far.
Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 