Rare Capra Film Has ‘That Certain Thing’

At first Frank Capra’s 1929 silent “That Certain Thing” (at the Vagabond Thursday and Friday) seems a blithe archetypal romantic comedy of the era that could have been directed by anybody. A pretty hotel cigar-counter clerk (Viola Dana) and an industrialist’s handsome son (Ralph Graves) meet by bumping into each other outside the hotel. But just as we assume that all that follows will be predictable they up and marry a mere six hours after their meeting. How Capra handles all that follows, the edge of social awareness he brings to their predicament, reveals how adroit he was so early on in his career. The blandly handsome Graves is quite acceptable here, but the Capra talkie, “Ladies of Leisure,” the following year, cruelly revealed Graves’ inadequacies as an actor in a speaking role. Graves also stars in the 1928 silent “Submarine,” which screens with “That Certain Thing” as part of the Capra retrospective.

Information: (213) 387-2171.

Latino Films: Among the films screening at the Directors Guild over the weekend in the American Cinematheque’s Latino Film Festival are Miguel Littin’s “Sandino” (Sunday at 7:30 p.m.) and Gonzalo Justiniano’s “Toffee or Mint” (Saturday, following the 5 p.m. screening of the Peruvian film “Juliana”).

Littin, an impassioned Chilean best-known for “The Jackal” and “Alsino and the Condor,” now tells the story of Nicaraguan freedom fighter Augusto Sandino on an epic scale with an international cast. Shot magnificently by Hans Burmann and scored hauntingly by Joakin Bello, the film has the sweep and grandeur we would expect of Littin but is curiously flat, lacking in complexity and irony. “Sandino” is one of those long films--136 minutes--that pulls together for a strong finish, but the getting there is far too tedious. Littin’s point in telling Sandino’s story is to call attention to the oppression of the Nicaraguan people caused by nearly eight decades of U.S. interference.

We meet Sandino (Joaquim de Almeida) in 1928, when a sympathetic American journalist (Kris Kristofferson) meets him. The film proceeds to a long flashback and then moves forward until Sandino’s betrayed by General Somoza in 1934. This Sandino is a handsome, dashing good guy, albeit with a fiery co-revolutionary mistress (Angela Molina) to add to the misery of his beautiful ill-fated wife (Victoria Abril); the bad guys are the Americans, represented by Dean Stockwell’s Bible-quoting military leader, and the Nicaraguan governments that we have backed. That’s about it, which is pretty disappointing for a major director.

Unfortunately, “Toffee or Mint” is even less involving. At the start Justiniano tells us that one of out of three young Chileans are “marginals,” people with nothing to do but get into trouble. The film is a work of dogged integrity, a strong indictment of the government’s failure to provide opportunities for its poor young people, but it is punishing to have to spend time with Justiniano’s increasingly vicious layabouts (Mauricio Vega, Aldo Paroli), who have nothing to recommend them whatsoever.

Not as ambitious as either of these films but far more effective is “The Puerto Rican Mambo (not a musical)” (Saturday at 9 p.m.), written and starring Luis Caballero and directed and edited by Ben Model (who also appears in the film). Caballero is a terrific stand-up comedian who zeroes in on the racism and stereotyping that dog Puerto Ricans constantly; he’s wonderful in the way he can transform anger and frustration into humor in a series of consciousness-raising sketches linked by his commentaries and jokes. Caballero has genuine star quality and is a funny, talented man who would be perfect in a Woody Allen movie.

Information: (213) 687-2159.