'Wings' - silent w/live organ accompaniment - & 'Stairway To Heaven' November 17, 2012

Flights of Fantasy, Love & War
On Screen

At The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel. (201) 798-6055 Fax: (201) 798-4020 Web: www.loewsjersey.org

A Not-For-Profit Arts Center in a Landmark Movie Palace

On our BIG 50ft Wide Screen

Saturday, November 17 6PM
"A Matter of Life and Death"Starring David Niven, Kim Hunter, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey. Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. 104mins. 1946 Color and B&W.
- - - Shown In Sony Pictures' Archive Print - - -

"A Matter of Life and Death" (released in the U.S. as “Stairway to Heaven”) is one of the most unusual and complex – not to mention entertaining, touching and ultimately uplifting -- movies to come out of World War II. It is a comedy that often leaves its viewers in tears; a romantic drama that makes audiences laugh; a literate movie with nods to Shakespeare and Schiller that is also so dazzling in its visuals that it requires more than one viewing to absorb fully. It was the first motion picture ever chosen for a Royal Command Performance, yet critics in England panned it, calling it anti-British.

The work of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, the writer/director team who spent the years from 1940 to 1955 enthralling moviegoers on both sides of the Atlantic while outraging British officials and movie critics, "A Matter of Life and Death" was inspired by awareness of the deteriorating relations between the British and the Americans as WWII neared its close, a real life account of a Royal Air Force sergeant who had jumped out of a burning plane without a parachute and escaped with only minor injuries, and the deep sense of passion and devotion felt by so many couples separated during the war. The filmmakers wove these threads together into a fantastic screenplay that presented its action against infinitely large and intimately small canvases, often in the same scene.

David Niven is a World War II RAF pilot who is forced to bail out of his crippled plane without a parachute. He wakes up to find that he has landed on Earth utterly unharmed...which wasn't supposed to happen according to the rules of Heaven. But even as a celestial agent is sent to correct this mistake, the pilot has a chance encounter with an American girl, and the two promptly fall in love. And it is this new love that the pilot insists is an extraordinary extenuating circumstance that requires Heaven to reconsider his destiny. Along the way, there are ruminations on friendship, fate, sanity, madness and devotion. The film’s denouement is a celestial trial during which the virtues and vices of the British and American peoples are satirized, culminating in the discovery of a common belief in justice and a recognition of the universal need for love.

All of this could have come off as unredeemably hokey. But thanks to a remarkable script that perfectly balances wry wit with real drama, deft direction, pitch-perfect acting, and those wonderful visuals, it is one of the most charming and memorable films ever made.

$7 for Adults, $5 for Seniors (65+) and Children (12 & younger).

Saturday, November 17 8:40PM
"Wings" Starring Clara Bow, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Richard Arlen. Directed by William Wellman. 139 mins. 1927 B&W Color.
- - - Winner of the first Academy Award for Best Picture - - -
With LIVE ORGAN Accompaniment

- - - Shown In Paramount Pictures' Archive Print - - -

Actor and author William Wellman, Jr. will introduce "Wings" and hold a Q&A about his father and the making of the film after the movie.

PRESS NOTE: Mr. Wellman is available for phone interviews. Please call (201) 798-6055 to arrange.

If you think that thrilling air and ground combat scenes can only be found in such relatively modern movies as Top Gun and Saving Private Ryan, you have to watch the silent-era Wings. The plot may now be comfortably familiar because it’s been reused in whole or part in dozens of later war movies: Two young recruits initially can’t stand each other but become fast friends during their training as aviators, only to fall out again over a girl. Each must face fate in the Great War while one earns the selfless dedication of a pretty virtuous army nurse.
But what is still very fresh and truly unique about Wings are the spectacular aerial “dogfight” sequences. Director William Wellman had been a wartime aviator himself and managed to gain the full cooperation of the U.S. War Department. The result was flying scenes that many pilots even today believe are the most thrilling and accurate ever filmed -- nothing has ever come close. And the brilliance of the flying sequences is matched by spectacular ground combat scenes.
The movie’s leads gave strong performances which ensured that the plot wasn’t overshadowed by the extraordinary effects and production values. Interestingly the nurse was played very effectively by Clara Bow, the quintessential flapper of the 1920s who may have been a model for Betty Boop and who was famously known as “The It Girl”. And Gary Cooper has a small appearance that helped put him on the road to stardom.
Today it may be hard to imagine an epic war movie without booming, precisely mixed explosions, screams and other sound effects. But the late silent era Wings set the standard for grand-scale war epics without any of our familiar sound effects. What it did have when it premiered however was live organ accompaniment -- which added a dimension equally as vital, moving and thrilling as any recorded soundtrack. And that’s how Wings will be shown at the Loew’s Jersey – with sound provided live by our Wonder Morton Organ.

$9 for Adults, $7 for Seniors (65+) and Children (12 & younger).

- - - Combo discounts available for multiple screenings in a weekend. - - -
**Film descriptions are compiled from various sources.

The Loew's Is Easy To Get To: The Loew's Jersey Theatre, at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ, is directly across JFK Boulevard from the JSQ PATH Center with trains to and from Lower and Midtown Manhattan and Newark's Penn Station, and is minutes from the NJ Turnpike, Rts. 3 and 1&9 and the Holland & Lincoln Tunnels. We're easy to reach by car or mass transit from throughout the Metro Region.

Discount off-street parking is available in Square Ramp Garage adjoining the Loew's at the foot of Magnolia Avenue off of Tonnelle Avenue, behind the Loew's. Patrons must validate their parking ticket before leaving the Theatre.

What’s Special About Seeing A Movie At The Loew’s? The Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre is one of America’s grandest surviving Movie Palaces. We show movies the way they were meant to be seen: in a grandly ornate setting – on our BIG 50 ft wide screen! The Loew’s runs reel-to-reel -- not platter -- projection, which often allows us to screen an archival or studio vault print that is the best available copy of a movie title.

PLUS – Live organ entrance music (from the Loew’s magnificently restored pipe organ) before most screenings.
The Loew’s Jersey is managed by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc. as a non-profit, multi-discipline performing arts center.

Classic Film Weekends are presented by Friends of the Loew’s, Inc.