Warners Rarities

Between the Los Angeles Film Festival, Outfest, and the usual hijinks at the New Bev and Silent Movie Theatre, these summer months suffer no shortage of cool screenings for Angelenos.  But the screenings that most pique this film buff's interest are in UCLA's upcoming series devoted to rarities from the Warner Brothers vaults.  Most of these films have been recently released through the Warners Archive DVD collection, but this series represents a chance to see some genuinely uncommon titles on the big screen.  The series starts this Friday with the silent When a Man Loves, preceded by several shorts and introduced by archival rock star Bob Gitt.  I myself have only seen a few of  the nineteen titles featured, but can recommend two playing this weekend.  Wonder Bar, playing with Fog Over Frisco Saturday night, boasts Busby Berkeley numbers and a once-in-a-lifetime cast including Al Jolson, Dick Powell, and Dolores Del Rio.  On Sunday night, Four Daughters is a film I can't praise enough.  Take Claude Rains as a small town patriarch, a quartet of sweet Warners ingenues as his musical progeny, add the genetically bitter John Garfield and light touch Frank McHugh for flavor; the result is melodramatic magic.  Yeah, that last sentence sounds cheesy, but really, the movie is amazing.  Almost all of the pictures in the series are presented as double features and all can be seen at the Billy Wilder Theater.  Click here for more information.