A true holiday for cinephiles

THE 41st edition of Cinecon, the Labor Day weekend convention of the Society of Cinephiles, showcases vintage cinema today through Monday at the Egyptian. As always, the schedule is studded with rarities and rediscoveries -- there will be 23 features plus numerous shorts -- many of them restored and preserved by the society. This year’s guests, each of whom will appear with one of their films, are Patricia Neal, Diane Baker, Nanette Fabray and director Delbert Mann. A collectors’ show will take place at the nearby Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

Herbert Brenon’s 1927 film of the Warwick Deeping bestseller “Sorrell & Son,” which was recently restored by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences Film Archive, screens tonight. Although a box-office disappointment, it has stood the test of time and emerges as a testament to a father’s unswerving love for his son that transcends some melodramatic conventions of the silent era.

A decorated English World War I captain (H.B. Warner) returns after the Armistice to London to discover his gold-digging wife (Anna Q. Nilsson) walking out on him for a richer husband. Meanwhile, his employer, a banker, refuses to give him his old job. Warner is soon reduced to being a porter in a small-town wayside inn, where he works for a sadistic floozy (Carmel Myers) eager to lure him into her bed. Another former soldier, a colonel (Norman Trevor), rescues him with a job at a hotel he manages, and despite setbacks, Warner manages to raise his young son (Mickey McBan), who grows up to be an eminent neurosurgeon (Nils Asther).

A handsome production that has been exceptionally well cast, “Sorrell & Son” succeeds largely because of the understatement of Warner, who brought that same quality to his portrayal of Jesus Christ in Cecil B. DeMille’s “King of Kings” the same year. Myers, who liked to play villains and vamps because “good girls fade into the background like wallpaper,” gives the genteel film a shot in the arm with her nasty innkeeper.

For pure escape there is nothing like a classic MGM musical, and “The Band Wagon” (1953), screening Friday, is one of the best. Vincente Minnelli directs Betty Comden and Adolph Green’s satirical backstage musical with verve, and Fred Astaire was never more affable as a faded Hollywood musical star whom writer-performers Nanette Fabray and Oscar Levant hope to rescue with their new Broadway show. Unfortunately, they’ve lined up a pretentious Brit (Jack Buchanan) to produce and direct, and he threatens to torpedo the production with his zeal for “significance.”

Shot in Technicolor amid MGM’s trademark opulent sets, “The Band Wagon” features such musical numbers as “Dancing in the Dark”; “That’s Entertainment”; the justly famous “Triplets,” featuring Astaire, Fabray and Buchanan; and the Mickey Spillane-style ballet “The Girl Hunt,” with Astaire and Cyd Charisse. “The Band Wagon’s” glossy make-believe sets off the poignantly real predicament of the middle-aged Astaire falling in love with Charisse, young enough to be his daughter. Fabray will discuss the film after its screening.

The sleek and lively 1933 “Baby Face,” which screens Saturday in its uncut version, is a sterling example of the classic woman’s picture at its most stylish and energetic. Its original story was written by Darryl F. Zanuck (under his usual alias, Mark Canfield) and directed by Alfred E. Green. Barbara Stanwyck’s Lily Powers is her archetypal tough dame who sees the light in the last reel. Lily escapes the Erie flat that her brutal father (Robert Barrat) has long before turned into a speak-easy/gambling den. Arriving in New York, Lily exploits her feminine wiles as she claws her way to the top of a banking conglomerate, leaving in her wake a pile of used or ruined men -- played by John Wayne (in only two scenes), Douglass Dumbrille, Henry Kolker, Donald Cook and finally George Brent.

“Baby Face” is vintage fiery Stanwyck. In her Orry Kelly finery, Lily has the smarts and sex appeal to convince us that she really could vamp all these guys. But she also projects the vulnerability to make it possible to care about her.

“Mirage,” also Saturday, is a crisp psychological suspense drama from 1965 that finds Gregory Peck a victim of amnesia. His life is in danger, but he has no way of knowing why. A chic, enigmatic woman (Diane Baker) turns up from time to time, drawn to Peck but adding to his confusion. Working from Peter Stone’s script from a Walter Ericson novel, director Edward Dmytryk rigorously piles on the mystification, building toward a climactic sequence that is surprisingly relevant in its serious implications. “Mirage,” which makes effective use of Manhattan locations, is intricate and talky, but Dmytryk keeps it taut and vital. (As a droll private eye, Walter Matthau anticipates all his delightful performances to follow.) After its screening, Baker will field questions.

*

Screenings

Cinecon 41

* “Sorrell & Son”: 8:30 tonight

* “The Band Wagon”: 4:40 p.m. Friday

* “Baby Face”: 2:40 p.m. Saturday

* “Mirage”: 10:20 a.m. Saturday

Where: Egyptian Theatre, 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood

Info: (800) 411-0455 or www.cinecon.org