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Event: “Young Polanski: Cul-De-Sac and More” Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present the rarely screened 1966 Roman Polanski feature Cul-De-Sac with the early Polanski student film Two Men and a Wardrobe, plus Jan Lenica’s animated short Rhinoceros. Cul-De-Sac was Polanski’s third feature (second in English) and features Donald Pleasence, François Dorléac (sister of Catherine Deneuve), Lionel Stander and Jack MacGowran in a brilliantly biting black comedy. Stranded in their tidal island chateau, a mismatched neurotic and troubled couple and two injured gangsters on the run play a cat and mouse game while they attempt an air of normalcy when unexpected visitors arrive. Inexplicably unavailable in the US since its initial release, Cul-De-Sac will be shown on a specially imported DVD- the two shorts in rare 16mm prints.
Date: Friday, December 4, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Cul_De_Sac_PR.pdf

“Young Polanski”
Cul-De-Sac Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, December 4, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present the rarely screened Roman Polanski feature film Cul-De-Sac . Out of print and unavailable in the US in any format, Cul-De-Sac will be shown on a specially imported European DVD.  Also showing will be a rare 16mm print of Two Men and a Wardrobe, the 15 minute short made by the young Polanski while still living in communist Poland, plus the animated short Rhinoceros by the brilliant Polanski colleague Jan Lenica.  Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00.  Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to:  info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Cul-De-Sac (B+W, 1966, Dir. Roman Polanski)
Fresh from the success of Repulsion and based on a 1963 screenplay whose title “When Katelbach Comes” was a conscious nod to Samuel Beckett’s bleakly absurdist farces, Cul-De-Sac was also inspired by Polanski’s brief and unhappy marriage to Polish film star Barbara Kwiatkowska, echoed here in the stormy, sometimes kinky relationship between bald businessman George (Donald Pleasence) and his much younger French wife Teresa (Françoise Dorléac, Catherine Deneuve’s older sister).

Unexpectedly cut off by the tide, two gangsters stumble upon their island chateau. One (Jack MacGowran) dies, and the other (Lionel Stander) begins an increasingly eccentric and menacing cat-and-mouse game with the couple while all three feign normality when unexpected visitors call instead of the mysterious Katelbach, the kingpin whose Godot-like arrival is keenly awaited.

Cul-de-sac’s off-kilter visuals are reminiscent of Polanski’s more surreal student films, notably Two Men and a Wardrobe, Mammals and The Fat and the Lean, which are recalled in a virtuoso eight-minute take in which Stander and Pleasence run through assorted odd-couple permutations on the shoreline. Despite a difficult shoot (plagued by weather delays, crew and cast difficulties and injuries), the film was a huge critical hit and won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Cul-De Sac Official Trailer

Two Men and a Wardrobe (B+W, 1957, Dir. Roman Polanski)
Two men emerge from the ocean with a mysterious wardrobe- and are promptly rejected by ‘socialist’ society no longer in need of (possibly dangerous) miracles. A pioneering work of the Polish “thaw” of the late fifties by the then unknown Polanski.

Rhinoceros (Color, 1935, Dir. Jan Lenica)
When the storied film journal Sight and Sound asked a younhttp://www.flarerecord.com/wp-admin/post-new.phpg Roman Polanski to name his favorite Polish filmmakers, he cited only two—Andrzej Wajda and Jan Lenica.
A master illustrator and animator (he designed the poster for Cul-De-Sac), Lenica had a flair for the absurd- Rhinoceros borrows the title and spirit of lunatic despair and pessimistic dystopia from the Ionesco play.

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Dec 4 – Polanski & The Eastern Europe Aesthetic – Cul De Sac & More
Fri Dec 11 Weirdsville 9 More Oddities From The Archives
Fri Dec 18 Oddball’s Greatest Hits Highlights From 6 Months of Programming

About Oddball Films

Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “Banned! Censored! Cartoons!”.  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of banned or censored cartoons. Racism, sexism, drug references and more were routinely featured in American animation- many of these cartoons were shown on TV through the late 1960’s until they were pulled from distribution. Swept from the public eye as an embarrassment and considered a danger to the public, these cartoons are nonetheless a part of American cultural and artistic history, should be available, and perhaps need to be seen.
Titles include: “Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarfs”, “Tokio Jokio”, “Little Black Sambo”, “All This and Rabbit Stew”, The Rasslin’ Match (Amos and Andy), “Minnie the Moocher”, “Bacall To Arms”, “Lumber Jerks”, “Buried Treasure” and more.
Date: Friday, November 27, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com
Web: http://www.oddballfilm.com/oddballftp/Banned_PR.pdf

“Banned! Censored! Cartoons!”
Screen at Oddball Films

On Friday, November 27, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of banned and censored cartoons from the not-so-distant past.  Racist, sexist, “immoral” and certainly controversial, sweeping them under the rug is the response, but confronting them is better. Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00.  Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to:  info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Highlights Include:

Coal Black and The Sebben Dwarfs (Color, 1943)
Considered by many one of the greatest animated films of all time, Coal Black has been officially banned from circulation since 1968 and is one of the so called “Censored 11”, the group of cartoons pulled by United Artists due to racist content.  A parody of Snow White, (called So White in the film), the blackface imagery and stereotypes are shocking to witness today (including a nasty dig at the Japanese). Nonetheless, Coal Black is a cultural tour de force snapshot of 1940’s America, ugly stereotypes and all.

Tokio Jokio (B+W, 1943)
Venomous anti-Japan propaganda short produced at the height of WWII portrays the Japanese as incompetent, weak, cowardly and primitive utilizing patently offensive portrayals, along with a raspberry or two for Hitler, Mussolini, Hess and others.

Little Black Sambo (Color, 1935)
Pre-war cartoon from two-time Academy Award winner Ub Iwerks and adapted from the controversial children’s book (and “inspiration” for the 1960’s-70’s restaurant chain Sambo’s).  Despite the innocent theme, blackface representation and stereotypes prevail. Portions of the audio from this short were sampled by Public Enemy on their Fear of a Black Planet album.

All This and Rabbit Stew (Color, 1941)
You didn’t think the rabbit would escape unscathed, did you?  Bugs Bunny at his worst tormenting a Stepin Fetchit –esque hunter. Another of the “Censored 11” pulled from distribution in 1968.

Minnie The Moocher (B+W, 1932)
All time classic featuring Cab Calloway and his Orchestra (seen live briefly at the beginning), Betty Boop and Bimbo. The main controversy here is the veiled drug and sex references: Minnie gets caught up with a pot headed coke-sniffing junkie who teaches her how to “kick the gong” (mainline heroin). Later she meets up with a pimp, the king of Sweden, who gives her “somethin she was needin’”…

Bacall To Arms (Color, 1946)
Directed by an un-credited Bob Clampett, this Merrie Melodies release features some great Hollywood star caricature- and a nasty final blackface gag (which hit the cutting room floor in modern times).

Lumber Jerks (Color, 1955)
Featuring the “Goofy Gophers”, who have been called the first openly gay gophers in Hollywood. Aside from the intimation of behind-closed-doors cross-dressing, a scene where gas is siphoned from a truck was censored in later versions of this cartoon.

Buried Treasure (B+W, 1928)
The Granddaddy of pornographic cartoons, persistent rumors suggest that Max Fleischer (Betty Boop and others), Paul Terry (of TerryToons) and Budd Fisher (Mutt & Jeff) were responsible for this bawdy masterpiece.

PLUS- Private Snafu, WWII training/propaganda cartoons meant for soldiers only.

For further reading on Coal Black and The Sebben Dwarfs and the debate over these censored cartoons, read Martin Goodman’s essay here: http://www.toontracker.com/coalblack/coalblack.htm

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Nov 27 -  Banned! Censored! Cartoons!
Sat Nov 28 -  Strangest Strange Sinema Oddest Oddities From The Archives
Fri Dec 4 – Polanski & The Eastern Europe Aesthetic – Cul De Sac & More
Fri Dec 11 Weirdsville 9 More Oddities From The Archives
Fri Dec 18 Oddball’s Greatest Hits Highlights From 6 Months of Programming

About Oddball Films

Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.

Event: “Weirdsville: Oddities from the Archives”.  Guest curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of rare, weird and some highly entertaining 16mm shorts, movie trailers and commercials culled from the 50,000+ archive at Oddball Films.  This month’s highlights include: “Tempo Twelve”, a swing sixties travelogue; “Revenge of the Kinematograph Cameraman”, pioneering stop motion animation of insects; “Doubletalk”, what people really think in everyday conversation; “I Was A Thanksgiving Turkey”; “Mondo Cane”, excerpts from the cult classic; “The Baby Sitter”, a bizarre Little Lulu cartoon; another episode of “Hot Dog”; plus movie trailers and commercials straight out of Weirdsville!
Date: Friday, November 13, 2009 at 8:30PM
Venue: Oddball Films, 275 Capp Street, San Francisco 94110
Admission: $10.00 RSVP Only to: 415-558-8117 or info@oddballfilm.com

“Weirdsville”
Oddities From The Archives
Screens at Oddball Films

On Friday, November 13, Guest Curator Pete Gowdy and Oddball Films present an evening of the strange, the bizarre, and the sometimes baffling short films, commercials and trailers from deep within the Oddball archive. These “found” films surface in the process of research for other programs: too good to languish on the shelves, they demand to be screened!  Weirdsville is a monthly companion program to the Strange Sinema series.  Showtime is 8:30PM and admission is $10.00.  Seating is limited so RSVP is preferred to:  info@oddballfilm.com or 415-558-8117.

Highlights Include:

Tempo Twelve (Color, 1964)
Delta Airlines promotional film with pre-Laugh In Arte Johnson as a comic jetsetter. 12 different swinging locations are highlighted, including SF, LA, Vegas, Dallas(?) Jamaica, Puerto Rico, New Orleans and Washington DC. Remember when jet travel was this glamorous? Neither do we.

Revenge of the Kinematograph Cameraman (B+W, hand tinted, 1912)
Wildly inventive landmark of early cinema and stop motion animation, insects star in this Kafkaesque love triangle.  Polish director Ladislas Starévich, working in Russia, started out as an entomologist when he tried to replicate a bug battle he had witnessed. His experiment was so successful and satisfying that he continued with animation.  A must see!!

Doubletalk (Color, 1975)
Hilarious short!  A boy picks up his date at her home and meets the parents- and we hear what everyone is really thinking over the niceties and conversation. Originally broadcast on Saturday Night Live, this forgotten gem plays like a distilled Meet The Parents and is also notable as the film debut of  Robert Picardo (Star Trek: Voyager).

I Was A Thanksgiving Turkey (Color, 1986)
Thanksgiving from the turkey’s point of view- roasted, carved and devoured.

Mondo Cane Excerpts (Color, 1962)
Several excerpts from the first Mondo Cane film that became a cult sensation, documenting strange rituals around the world.  First scene is painter Yves Klein and his “human brushes”- nude women dipped in blue paint which he uses on a large canvas, while a live symphony plays!!  Next is the Western culture-clash ritual of old folks learning to hula in Waikiki.  Then the most (in)famous sequence- Cargo Cults- primitive tribes that worshipped airplanes as gods…

The Babysitter (Color, 1947)
Bizarre Little Lulu cartoon- Lulu is taking care of a very naughty baby who won’t stay in his crib.  When Lulu hits her head while chasing him, she dreams a visit to the fabled Stork Club night spot- where all the famous Hollywood guests and musicians are babies… a weird one for the ages!

PLUS- Another episode of Hot Dog with our pals Jonathan Winters, Jo Anne Worley and Woody Allen, movie trailers and commercials straight out of Weirdsville!

Curator Biography:
Pete Gowdy (aka DJ Chas Gaudi) is host of San Francisco’s Shellac Shack, a weekly 78 rpm listening party and a DJ specializing in vintage sounds: soul, jazz, country, punk and new wave.  A graduate of the Vassar College Film Program, he is an associate producer of Marc Huestis Presents, the long-running movie legend tributes at the Castro Theatre.

Upcoming Programs
Fri Nov 13 – Weirdsville – Oddities From The Archives
Sat Nov 14 – Feast Your Eyes – Films About Food with Guest Curator Jeremy Menzies
Fri Nov 20 – Mess w/Erik Davis+Gerry Fialka, Plus clips of Anton LeVey, Aleister Crowley, Led Zepplin IV+more
Sat Nov 21 – From Canada! The Best of the Super 8 Challenge
Fri Nov 27 -  Forbidden, Not Forgotten – Banned & Censored Cartoons

About Oddball Films

Oddball films is the film component of Oddball Film+Video, a stock footage company providing offbeat and unusual film footage for feature films like Milk, documentaries like The Summer of Love, television programs like Mythbusters, clips for Boing Boing and web projects around the world.  
Our films are almost exclusively drawn from our collection of over 50,000 16mm prints of animation, commercials, educationals, feature films, movie trailers, medical, industrial military, news out-takes and every genre in between. We’re actively working to present rarely screened genres of cinema as well as avant-garde and ethno-cultural documentaries, which expand the boundaries of cinema. Oddball Films is the largest film archive in Northern California and one of the most unusual private collections in the US. We invite you to join us in our weekly offerings of offbeat cinema.