Screening a Lost Film

In a previous post I talked about the cinematic history class that I go to every week. Occasionally one of the students (or the teacher) hosts a screening that has more of a party atmosphere. For example, one of the guys in the class -- Joe -- will soon be hosting a movie night at his home where we will be watching Dario Argento's Opera. The teacher -- Keith -- occasionally hosts something similar. For example, he showed The Rolling Stones' Gimme Shelter.

But the one that I found the most interesting was when Keith hosted Ed Wood's The Young Marrieds. And it wasn't even that I liked the film. It was a rip-roaring embarrassment of a film.

A little bit of backstory...

Ed Wood was known as a director who made horror films that were scary for all the wrong reasons. Many people aren't aware, but the last film he made was a porno, The Young Marrieds. For years there was a softcore version available on DVD, but the hardcore version was lost. In 2004 the hardcore version was found in an abandoned porn theater in Vancouver by porn archaeologist, Demetrios Otis. That was released on DVD, but an uncut version was subsequently found -- I'm not clear on the difference, though I think it's supposed to be better quality. It has yet to be released. That print is owned by a friend of Keith's. The two of them arranged a screening, and invited our film class.

It was the right environment to enjoy such a horror of a film. I should point out that I've got a fascination with lost films and with lost footage from films.For example, the lost thirty minutes of circus performances in Tod Browning's 1932 film, Freaks. To be one of the few people to see the uncut version of Ed Wood's last movie was a memorable experience.

Movie Class

Back in 2010, I started taking a cinematic history course at Nassau Community College with a guy named Keith teaching the course. He had several courses -- horror, Spaghetti Westerns, comedy. My favorite was the horror class; I took it several times.

Somewhere along the road Keith got the idea to have an invitation-only class at his house, which would be more advanced and in-depth. It started in 2013, and has been the longest-running class I've ever been in.

I remember the first week, Keith showed us Tod Browning's 1932 classic, Freaks. The second week was King Dinosaur. But after that, I don't remember the exact order of the films he showed after that. For the first two years everything was 16-millimeter, but then we changed to DVDs. The class has been more exciting ever since.

Each session lasts a month -- four classes in a session, one class a week, with each session having a different theme. Some I like better than others. It seems like half of the sessions in a given year are set in stone -- meaning there are certain themes we hit each year. There's Hammer month, Giallo month, Poe month. Spaghetti Western month. and Bring Your Own Movie month (in which each student brings his own movie to show and discuss). For other sessions, Keith improvises, picking themes that he may not get back to. This year, for the first time there will be a crimmi month. And when Christopher Lee died we had a tribute month for him.

Some of my favorite films that he's shown have been:

• Island of Lost Souls
• The Most Dangerous Game
• The Flesh and the Fiends
• Don't Torture a Duckling
• Vincent Price's Masque of the Red Death
• The Witchfinder General
• The Mercenary
• Vincent Price's Fall of the House of Usher
• King Kong

Of course, anything from Hammer Films is a favorite, too.

There are also some movies that I simply would never have seen anywhere else, such as The Beast of Budapest.

For this year, I'm looking forward to seeing a month of crimmis, and whatever surprises Keith has in store.