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See the difference 27 years can make

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Times Staff Writer

A revealing pairing of experimental works by structuralist filmmaker James Benning launches the spring Film and Video Series at Disney Hall’s REDCAT. In 1977 Benning shot “One Way Boogie Woogie,” a one-hour film composed of 60 minute-long shots of industrial urban landscapes in his native Milwaukee. For “27 Years Later,” he returned to the same locales with the same people in them to record the changes. They’ll be shown Monday, with Benning in attendance.

The individuals, of course, have changed -- and a few had died. But except for the occasional new structure and several having been razed, the images are pretty much the same. (The most poignant: a vibrant American flag billowing in the wind; 27 years later it is still billowing -- but severely faded and frayed.)

The most revealing difference between the two films is the difference between their stocks: The earlier film has rich hues, whereas the new one has coolly clear realistic coloring, lending it a strongly contemporary feel.

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Once Benning has set up his camera he never moves it, but his images never seem static. He invites us to appreciate the geometric forms of industrial buildings and other structures. His sense of composition is so acute, it’s as if one could feel the tension between the forms of the structures framed or bisected by the strong verticals of telephone poles and smokestacks and the horizontal plinths of sidewalks and streets.

Cars and pedestrians pass by, children play, and through an adroit use of natural sound, Benning suggests that life is not only going on in front of his camera but outside his frame as well.

The presence of human beings also allows him some droll humor. It has been observed that Benning recalls Mondrian’s geometric paintings in form, and the urban landscapes of Edward Hopper in tone and content. Sure enough, in the original film, a man amusingly walks by carrying a Mondrian-like painting; in the sequel, he’s carrying a painting of a horse’s head.

Note: Benning’s “13 Lakes,” composed of 10-minute takes of lakes throughout the United States, will be on the REDCAT bill. It will also be shown Sunday at 7 p.m. at USC’s Eileen Norris Cinema Theatre.

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Stroheim salute

Arguably, no other major Hollywood director made fewer films than Erich von Stroheim, and none of his eight were released -- or exist -- as he intended, except for his first film, “Blind Husbands” (1919). It screens tonight at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and marks the beginning of an exhibition about Stroheim at the academy as well as a film series at LACMA. The series continues Friday with “Foolish Wives” (1922), running through Feb. 12 and including some of Stroheim’s films as an actor.

So acute was Stroheim’s understanding of human psychology, especially between men and women, and so sharp a social observer was he that his view of the world and how it works always seems to be strikingly contemporary. Equally striking is Stroheim’s command of his medium. He brought a European sophistication to American movies that shocked multitudes.

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No less scandalous -- and far more destructive to his directing career -- was his epic extravagance, his endless shooting and passion for details that had no regard for time or budget. It ever remains an unquestionably and incalculably tragic loss that his outtakes were destroyed. This is especially true in the case of his truncated masterpiece of American tragedy, “Greed” (1924), in which Stroheim seemed to have shot every page of Frank Norris’ novel “McTeague.”

“Blind Husbands” and “Foolish Wives” are in effect companion films, set in a post-World War I Europe in which obtuse, preoccupied American husbands are in danger of losing their naive wives to Stroheim’s cynical, calculating military adventurers. The version of “Greed” that will screen Saturday is the 239-minute reconstruction, incorporating stills and some restored footage, made in 2000.

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Screenings

James Benning

“One Way Boogie Woogie” and “27 Years Later”: 8 p.m. Monday

Where: REDCAT at Walt Disney Hall, 2nd and Hope streets, L.A.

Info: (213) 237-2800

Erich von Stroheim

“Blind Husbands”: 7:30 p.m. today

Where: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 8949 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills

Info: (310) 247-3600

“Foolish Wives”: 7:30 p.m. Friday

“Greed”: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: Bing Theater at LACMA, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

Info: (323) 857-6010

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