SCHROEDER’S ‘TRICHEURS’ AT NUART

Barbet Schroeder, currently realizing his own dream in filming Charles Bukowski’s “Barfly,” has always been attracted to dreamers, those who live on the edge and risk self-destruction. The subtle and complex “Tricheurs” (“Cheaters”), at the Nuart Wednesday and Thursday only, is quintessential Schroeder: His hero--or antihero--is a compulsive gambler (Jacques Dutronc), at once caught up in a professional cheating scheme (with an intense, crazed Kurt Raab, a Fassbinder favorite) and an unexpected romance (with Bulle Ogier, also playing a compulsive gambler) as he dreams of owning the castle once in his father’s care. In a sense, “Tricheurs” is an existential love story that also laments the loss of honor and meaning in contemporary life. Shot by Robby Mueller in harsh, muted tones primarily in the coldly futuristic Oscar Niemeyer-designed casino on the island of Madeira, “Tricheurs” has a look as striking as its performances.

Information: (213) 4788-6379, 479-5269.

The County Museum of Art’s splendid “Before Hollywood” series concludes Thursday in Bing Theater at 8 p.m. with three from 1915: Wallace Carlson’s “Dreamy Dud,” a cartoon as surprisingly contemporary in style as in its anti-smoking sentiments; an episode from the 12-part serial “Who Pays?,” which instead of being the expected cliffhanger is a “Dynasty”-like soap opera in which an unscrupulous impoverished aristocrat pursues an heiress (Ruth Roland), adored by a decent but unglamorous astronomer (Henry King, who helped direct); and best of all, William C. DeMille’s enchanting, sepia-toned “Young Romance,” in which the exquisite and witty Edith Taliaferro and the likable Tom Forman are department store clerks trying to fool each other--and everyone else--into believing they’re rich swells on a holiday. A gem.

Information: (213) 857-6010.

The UCLA Film Archives joins with the Goethe Institute in presenting this Saturday and Sunday at 7:30 p.m. in Melnitz Theater a pair of delightful 1932 films co-written by Billy Wilder and two rarely seen silent features, all four of them preserved by the Kinemathek Berlin. The event is part of the 750th anniversary celebration of the founding of Berlin.

Light and sophisticated, Hans Steinhoff’s “Scampolo, Child of the Streets” and Victor Janson’s “The Blue in the Heaven,” both of which Wilder wrote with Max Kolpe (later Colpet), belie the imminent Nazi takeover. The first is a frothy romantic musical starring Marta Eggerth as a beautiful blond ticket seller who falls for a postal service pilot (Hermann Thimig) who, unfortunately for her, works nights. The second is a classic Depression fantasy with songs in which Dolly Haas, whose spontaneity and freshness bring to mind Louise Brooks, plays a street urchin whose only shelter is a telephone booth. These charming period pieces with their everyday people have sly touches that seem pure Wilder.

Sunday’s offerings are far more serious. Inspired by the sketches of Heinrich Zille, who depicted the lives of Berlin’s poor, “The Outcasts” (1925) effectively combines a melodramatic plot with settings of a documentary-like realism. Lantern-jawed, haunted-looking Bernhard Goetzke plays an ex-convict facing a harsh struggle in rebuilding his life at a time when Germany was in the grip of spiraling inflation. Directed by Gerhard Lamprecht and written by him with Luise Heilborn-Korbitz, “The Outcasts” is a highly involving “Lower Depths”-like saga so impressive it’s hard to understand why it’s not better known. Playing with it is “Wally of the Eagles” (1921), a Bavarian mountain tale as ponderous as its heroine (Henny Porten, a major star of the time), whose love for a handsome peasant (Wilhelm Dieterle, later an important Warner Brothers director) is thwarted by her crass father. Also screening is Wilfried Basse’s warmly observant, beautifully shot short, “Berlin Market” (1929), which charts a day in the lives of the food merchants of Wittenberg Square. Synopses in English will be provided.

Information: (213) 825-2581.