SALUTE TO FRENCH FILMS CONTINUES

The UCLA Film Archives’ “Homage to the Cinematheque Francaise” in honor of its 50th birthday continues Thursday at Melnitz Theater with two landmark films, Alberto Capellani’s justly admired 1913 version of “Les Miserables” (7:30 p.m.) and Andre Antoine’s highly innovative 1920 “The Swallow and the Titmouse,” (5:30 p.m.), which was edited only in 1983 by Alain Resnais’ distinguished colleague, Henri Colpi.

With an original running time said to be five hours, “Les Miserables” may well have been the longest film made up to that time. At its current length of 142 minutes (117 minutes at sound speed), it remains an epic saga of survival and redemption, true to the spirit of Victor Hugo classic. “Les Miserables” is a stunning period piece, spanning 1817 to 1832 and possessing true pictorial grandeur. (Scenes depicting the impoverished have the look of a Jacob Riis photograph.) Although occasionally melodramatic and overly declamatory in its acting style, it is actually fairly restrained for its era, and it shares with many important early silents a view of life as something extremely harsh and precarious. (Interestingly, Capellani received his training in Antoine’s theatrical company.) We are actually able to experience the spiritual transformation of Hugo’s hero Jean Valjean (played by the massive, dignified Henry Krauss), so cruelly punished for the theft of a loaf of bread.

“The Swallow and the Titmouse” takes its title from the names of a pair of joined barges plying the canal between Antwerp and Paris. On board are their sturdy, good-natured owner (Ravet), his pretty wife (Maylianes), her sister (Maguy Delyac) and a deceptively pleasant newly hired first-mate (Alcover). Alas, the film’s distributor found its documentary-like quality so avant-garde that he refused to release it. The 78-minute film, which Colpi assembled from six hours of rushes found by the Cinematheque in 1982, is both an enchantment and a revelation. Although it’s true that the story is simple, not requiring much psychological complexity, it is acted with an easy naturalism so revolutionary for its time that one can’t help but speculate what the film’s impact might have been had it been released in 1920. “The Swallow and the Titmouse,” which certainly anticipates Renoir, is also exceedingly beautiful, as the barges pass through the ancient splendor of Antwerp and Ghent and into landscapes immortalized by generations of painters. Information: (213) 825-9261.

“The ’87 L.A. International Gay & Lesbian Film/Video Festival” continues at the Four Star Theater, 5112 Wilshire Blvd., with a wide variety of offerings. Eric de Kuyper and Paul Verstraten’s “A Strange Love Affair” (Wednesday at 7:30 p.m.) is a heady, hilarious homage to vintage Hollywood romanticism involving a film teacher’s muted passion for his handsome new student that develops unexpectedly into a triangle; this Dutch film shot in English could stand as the very definition of camp.

In “A Virus Respects No Morals” (Thursday at 7:30 p.m.) West Germany’s ever-outrageous, ever-challenging Rosa Von Praunheim takes aim at the hypocrisy, ignorance, politics and economics surrounding the AIDS crisis. Leave it to Von Praunheim to treat AIDS as the ultimate bad joke in this savage, imaginative, scattershot Brecht-like allegory. Playing with it (at 9:30 p.m.) is “Dear Boys,” Dutch director Paul de Lussanet’s coruscating tale about a rich, celebrated 40ish writer, as brilliant as he is vicious, drowning his sorrow over his writer’s block with drink and hustlers. It’s a portrait of a personality as unpleasant as it is oddly compelling. French film maker Christine Ehm’s “Simone” (Friday at 9:30 p.m.) is an elegant, elliptical and witty enigma centering on a chic woman of mystery who captures the imagination--and heart--of a pretty young woman. Ehm, who has the confidence and discipline of a Rivette or a Rohmer amazingly is only 19. In contrast to all these films, director Enrique Dawi takes a broad, commercial and quite entertaining approach in “Adios, Roberto” (Saturday at 7:30 p.m.), a robust yet tender romantic comedy starring two of Argentina’s most popular (and certified macho ) stars, Carlos Andres Calvo and Victor La Place. For full schedule, including seminars: (213) 273-2675; the Four Star, (213) 936-3533.