See film classics “The Barefoot Contessa” (1954) and “Letter from an Unknown Woman” (1948) — both of them recognized for their use of the flashback technique as a storytelling method — from 7:30 - 11:05 p.m., Monday, Nov. 16 at the Billy Wilder Theater. Jonathan Kuntz, professor of film and television at UCLA's School of Theater, Film and Television, will moderate the event, which is presented by the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
Humphrey Bogart and Ava Gardner star in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s “The Barefoot Contessa,” the story of a Spanish nightclub dancer, Maria (Gardner), from Madrid who is transformed into a movie star by Hollywood trio Harry (Bogart), Oscar Muldoon and Kirk Douglas. The film opens at Maria’s funeral with her lovers in attendance. Her rise to stardom and tragic decline are traced through a series of flashbacks narrated by Harry. Mankiewicz portrays the postwar film industry as an empty and destructive system through the story of Maria.
Max Ophüls' second American feature, “Letter from an Unknown Woman” (1948), set in fin-de-siècle Vienna, follows a woman's obsession with a charming, womanizing concert pianist. Following an evening of dining and dancing, Lisa is left hopeful that a relationship will develop between them, but Stefan’s womanizing ways are nowhere near over. Ophüls’ unravels this unrequited love through time via flashbacks, long takes and intricate narrative and visual repetitions.
Professor Kuntz is an expert on Hollywood cinema and the development of the studio system who has appeared in numerous documentaries on American film history as an expert on film production and exhibition, and contributed to The New York Times. He has been quoted in the media on topics ranging from the careers of Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe to the effects of the Disney purchase of Lucasfilm.
This event is open to the public, but tickets are required: Click here for more information.
