Adapted by Milton Krims from a novel by Lloyd C. Douglas (whose work also inspired Magnificent Obsession and The Robe), this 1937 feature stars Errol Flynn as a dedicated doctor who abandons his practice. Frank Borzage (A Farewell to Arms) directed, which may be the best reason for seeing this; with Anita Louise. 85 min. (JR) Read more
Film festivals are a lot like travel, in that they can greatly enhance our sense of the world as a diverse yet interactive community in a relatively short time. But I’ve just returned from a spate of actual travel (some of it film-related, some of it not) during which it became more apparent to me than ever that this community is livid about the direction Bush’s so-called war on terrorism is taking–and this is already starting to have an impact on the important cultural exchanges that the festivals foster.
In New York, where I was attending a conference on Iranian cinema at Lincoln Center, word came through that Abbas Kiarostami would not be able to attend the New York Film Festival, which is running concurrently with Chicago’s: he had been told in Paris that because he’s from an Islamic country, under new U.S. security measures a three-month background check would be required before his visa could be approved. While I was in London, an estimated third of a million people–about as many as read this paper–turned out to demonstrate against a U.S. invasion of Iraq. And then, on a brief vacation in Paris, I ran into my old friend Peter von Bagh, a Finnish film critic and programmer, who told me that Finnish filmmaker Aki Kaurismaki had just refused to attend the New York festival himself as a gesture of solidarity with Kiarostami. Read more