Cassavetes’ ‘Shadows’ Retains Powerful Message on Racism

As the ‘50s gave way to the ‘60s, Hollywood had settled into a rather sedate era with its carefully polished films, and although independent cinema was burgeoning in New York in the ‘40s and ‘50s, none of those films was quite so startling as John Cassavetes’ first feature, “Shadows.” It was a raw, fresh slice of life that also revealed the racism of the era in an understated way, far different from the usual self-important Hollywood approach.

“Shadows,” which screens Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Melnitz Hall’s James Bridges Theater in the UCLA Film and Television Archive’s 14th Festival of Preservation, had an impact at the time of its release that it is hard to convey today.

Some self-conscious moments in “Shadows” and scenes that play like acting-class exercises are more evident today, yet they do not diminish the film’s power or its visually poetic quality; Erich Kollmar was Cassavetes’ gifted and resourceful cameraman. It is also a film for a time capsule, with images of Manhattan mainly at night and a milieu that is somewhat bohemian, somewhat phony and not really Beat, with the main character, Ben, coming closest to an actual beatnik.”Shadows” focuses on a 20-year-old beauty, Lelia (Lelia Goldoni), an aspiring painter who shares an apartment with her brothers Ben (Ben Carruthers), a would-be jazz trumpeter, and Hugh (Hugh Hurd), a singer who resents strip-club bookings but seems to be the only breadwinner. Lelia and Ben may have had a different mother or father than Hugh, for they pass as white whereas Hugh is unmistakably African American.

While Hugh pursues his career steeped in frustration--and surely must face discrimination--Lelia plies the arty party circuit and Ben, who suffers much inner torment, hangs out with pals who drift aimlessly. Naive and affected yet a devoted and caring sister, Lelia meets Tony (Anthony Ray), whose unawareness of her family has painful consequences.

Contrary to popular assumptions, “Shadows” was not improvised but was scripted by Cassavetes with much input from his cast; what was improvised was the film’s great Charlie Mingus score. Goldoni and Gena Rowlands will appear in person. (310) 206-FILM.

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Among the noteworthy offerings of the Latino International Film Festival, which concludes Sunday at the Egyptian and other venues, Laurie Ann Schag and Casey Stoll’s “Great Day in Havana” (today at 5:15 p.m. at the Egyptian’s Spielberg Theater) is a splendid documentary that features interviews with 11 important figures in the arts, including singer Carlos Varela and actor Jorge Perugorria, star of the acclaimed “Strawberry and Chocolate.” In general, all 11 love their country and its culture, concede that they by and large enjoy special status and in general acknowledge a need for their society to change.

Usually the only movies imported to the U.S. from Brazil are art films, so Roberto Santucci Filho’s “Bellini and the Sphinx” (Egyptian, tonight at 9:45) proves to be a departure: a well-made, engrossing, private-eye mystery in which an investigator (Fabio Assuncao) is assigned to locate a missing prostitute on behalf of a rich, elderly physician. The job sends him on a steamy tour of Brazilian lowlife and plunges him into a labyrinthine plot hinging on family secrets reminiscent of a Ross Macdonald Lew Archer novel.

Venezuelan director Alberto Arvelo’s “A House With a View of the Sea” (Egyptian, Saturday at 3 p.m.) is a bleak, overly literary account of injustice heaped upon a peasant (Imanol Arias, a mainstay of the Spanish-speaking cinema) by a corrupt landowner.

Lourdes Portillo’s “Senorita Extraviada” (Egyptian’s Spielberg Theater, Saturday at 11:15 a.m.) documents with low-key persistence the conditions in Ciudad Juarez that make some say, “There is no better place in the world to kill a young woman.” Since the mid-’90s some 230 teenagers and young women have been murdered, and no one ever seems to be brought to justice. Two key factors are that the city is a hub from which drugs are smuggled into the U.S. and that the implementation of the NAFTA accords has greatly accelerated its industrialization. About 80% of the assembly factories are American owned, and they employ 185,000 workers, mainly young women, many of them from rural areas all over Mexico, willing to work long hours for $4 or $5 a day, to a large extent displacing the male work force. Thus, a large population of poor, unsophisticated young women is at the mercy of a city in which corruption of the police and local government is painfully obvious and in which there are many out-of-work men.

Ineptitude and machismo coalesce at every level of the bureaucracy. Chillingly, Portillo informs us that 50 women were killed in the 18 months it took her to make her film.

Sad to say, Robert M. Young’s “Alambrista!” (The Illegal) (Egyptian, Sunday at 10:30 a.m.) is as timely as ever in its depiction of the plight of an illegal immigrant from Mexico. Arguably Young’s most accomplished work, it follows Roberto (Domingo Ambriz) as he bids farewell to his family in Mexico and heads to the U.S., confident of being able to make money to send home. Once over the border, he begins an odyssey more harrowing than he had anticipated. He winds up in Stockton, where he is rescued by a wistful waitress (Linda Gillin) and begins building a new life.

In a fictional narrative with a gritty, spontaneous naturalism, Roberto’s story convincingly becomes an act of protest in which both Americans and Mexicans are depicted as caught up in a corrupt system. The film is studded with remarkable moments humorous and grim, and Ambriz and Gillin are truly touching. The only familiar faces are those of Ned Beatty and the late Julius Harris, stalwart character actors. By the time this powerful film is over, it is clear that a green card is as crucial as the bicycle in Vittorio De Sica’s classic “The Bicycle Thief.” (323) 469-9066.

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The American Cinematheque, in conjunction with the Museum of Contemporary Art, presents “Andy Warhol Does Hollywood,” which commences Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Egyptian with the West Coast premiere of “Tarzan and Jane Regained ... Sort of” (1963), which was unavailable for preview. It will be followed by “Andy Warhol” (1972), David Bailey’s amusing 47-minute documentary. The series runs through Aug. 28. (323) 466-FILM.

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The weekend brings some Hollywood classics. Among the films screening in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s “William Wyler and the Tradition of Excellence” series is “Carrie” (1952), which screens Friday following the 7:30 p.m. presentation of the Bette Davis star vehicle “Jezebel” (1938), which is as well-known as Wyler’s superb film of Theodore Dreiser’s “Sister Carrie” is unjustly neglected. Scripted by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, it emerges as a sweeping, period-perfect, ill-fated romance in which Laurence Olivier’s successful, middle-aged Chicago restaurateur throws his life away for Jennifer Jones’ naive but ambitious country girl. “Carrie” boasts some of Jones’ and Olivier’s finest screen work. (323) 857-6177.

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On Sunday, the Art Directors Guild Film Society will pay tribute to one of the giants of its profession, Hans Dreier (1885-1966), with a symposium and screening of Josef von Sternberg’s highly stylized “The Scarlet Empress,” starring Marlene Dietrich as Catherine the Great and notable for the magnificence of its costumes and settings. Film historian Beverly Heisner will moderate a panel composed of Robert Boyle, Henry Bumstead and Al Nozaki, all of whom worked with Dreier, a Paramount golden era mainstay, early in their own distinguished careers. The event will be held at the Directors Guild of America, with the symposium held at 2 p.m., followed by a reception at 3:30 and the screening at 4. Admission is free and the event is open to the public, but reservations are required. (818) 762-9995.