the screen

The Gold Rush. Perhaps no other film is so lighthearted and yet so moving. Charlie Chaplin's story of a lone prospector during the Alaska gold rush is based on pantomime of amazing finesse; Chaplin's direction exemplifies flawless subordination of camera and technique to the subject's subtleties. Many of Chaplin's most famous scenes are found here: the dance of the rolls, Big Jim McKay thinking Chaplin a chicken, Chaplin's delight at the smile Georgia meant for another man. Every scene, even every slapstick gag, contributes to the film as a whole--that's one reason Chaplin stands so far above the other silent comedians. 1925.

Anatomy of a Murder. The first of Otto Preminger's films in which he tried to raise moral and political questions stars James Stewart as a rustic lawyer who plays jazz piano while thinking out his strategy. Fascinating psychology in a complex courtroom tale. With Lee Remick, Ben Gazzara, and Joseph Welch. 1958.

Othello. Stuart Burge's direction of a British National Theater production, starring Sir Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, and Frank Finlay, is a record of an outstanding stage production. Avoiding, for the most part, the elaborate "filmic" effects of so many Shakespearean films, it shows that straight-forward filming of a play can succeed admirably. 1965.

Far From Vietnam. Chris Marker, a leading French documentarian and former journalist, assembled and edited this film from footage given him by other important film-makers, including Joris Ivens, the Dutch artist who was one of the pioneers of documentary film, and several members of the French New Wave.