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Pago 14ReeI UFeCinemaTexas takes the bite out ofBy Anton RiecherCount Yorga. Vampire is possibly the worst movie ever shown by CinemaTexas This was the concensus among the CinemaTexas staff huddled around a tiny projection booth adjacent to their offices As on any average day, a well placed grenade could have removed almost the total vestiges of the CinemaTexas talent pool from this earthI ve watched one reel and decided that it may be the worst movie we've ever programed. Ed Lowry, director and program notes editor for CinemaTexas, said, having been convinced to give up the film after the first reel with no great remorse But I still think I’ll have to watch it just to make sure Despite any reservations about the ultimate worth of Count Yorga, Vampire” as an example of cinematic art, CinemaTexas rises above all adversity as one of the most admired and successful film programs on any American campus It’s fame has spread even farther'We’ve just received a request from the British FilmInstitute to send 50 copies of every set of film notes we turn out They want to send them out to their regional film theaters,” Lowry said.We received a nice letter from a representative of BFI who said he liked what we were doing and wanted to use it as a model for what they hope to do in this project of regional film theaters they hope to set up, he said Fundamentally. CinemaTexas offers films that serve as laboratories for various film appreciation courses taught by the radio-television-film (RTF) department We started strictly as a program to bring films for RTF classes The fall of 1971 was the first semester we ran films, Lowry said CinemaTexas is an arm of the (RTF) department In that way. the purpose of Cinema Texas is to bring movies directly for the classes The program should bring films that are more obscure, films that someone is less likely to see at the Student Union Building, he said CinemaTexas’ first season opened with The Cabinet of Dr Caligari No film notes were offered the first semester with films shown twice a week Admission was 75 centsMost of all. I’d say that George Lellis was the mentor. He was here until I took over two springs ago. For a while it was really like a three-man operation with Ron Policy (a faculty member who has since left Austin), George and his wife. Sue, doing the whole thing together, Lowry saidLellis, a graduate student in film at the time, has since received a PhD and works at Mt. Vernon College in Washington. D C.CinemaTexas offers 60 films each semester Diverse and often rarely seen, CinemaTexas film schedule is the envy of visiting and transfer film studentsWhen I saw this schedule, I was awed. It has so many films that are so different that I think if I were a filmmaker I'd want to see about half of them, said Linda Obalil, a graduate student formerly associated with a simulur film group at Northwestern University.I'm really beginning to feel that just having 60 nights a semester is constricting There's not enough room to put in ail the things you want to see. Lowry said.Films are chosen on the basis of how well they would supplement and illustrate the course of study in RTF film appreciation courses ranging from the evolution of modern Westerns to narratives in foreign filmsThe professors come to us with lists A professor will say I want to teach a course on the horror genre,' so we program horror films on one night a week Lowry’ explainedGraduate students have always had a great deal of im-put into what films are brought because they may need to see a particular film for research for a thesis, he said So, what usually happens if there is a course like that, a lot of us will make suggestions and maybe even draw up a list of 20 or 30 titles and say can you use these The professor is in the position of having the final say, Lowry saidThis semester, the CinemaTexas schedule breaks down into four separate series with one film in each shown every week The Monday night schedule represents a spectrum of the 1930s American screwball comedies, featuring films by directors such as Howard Hawks, Ernest Lubitch and Gregory’ La Cava with a number of films by Frank Capra serving as the cornerstone of the seriesTuesday is laboratory night for RTF 314. a survey course in film history which is semichronological We start with something basic so you can talk about mechanics like moving the camera etc Citizen Kane will be shown early and talked about in terms of film technique. Lowry said Then follow the silents like Birth of a Nation a Russian silent, a German silent then on into early sound films. French films of the 30s and so on. he said Wednesday night films will specialize in examples of the horror genreWe have a list of horror films with some extraordinary things on it Especially films like Robert Wise’s The Haunting which doesn t get shown much. Lowry said Also included on the Wednesday film List are Peter Bogdanovich s Targets the tense story of a sniper, and'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington —coming this fall.
Newspaper Details
Austin Daily Texan
Austin, Texas, US
Tue, Sep 06, 1977
Page 1
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USA 15 Jan 2025
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