Postwar Germany’s cinema renaissance
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art turns the clock back to before the Berlin Wall came down in its new film series “Torn Curtain: The Two Germanys on Film,” which begins Friday and runs through Feb. 21. The 16 featured films made from the end of World War II and the collapse of the wall shine a spotlight on what life and filmmaking was like in that era in West and East Germany.
The series opens with two rarities -- the 1946 German film, “The Murderers Among Us,” which stars Hildegard Knef and 1947’s “In Those Days,” directed by Helmut Kautner.
The Oscar-nominated drama “The Reader” joins the lineup in a free screening Saturday afternoon. That evening is the acerbic 1948 Billy Wilder comedy “A Foreign Affair,” starring Jean Arthur and Marlene Dietrich, that was banned in Germany by the Defense Department until 1977, and the taut 1948 thriller “Berlin Express,” with Robert Ryan and Merle Oberon. www.lacma.org.
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‘New Hollywood’
The American Cinematheque’s “New Hollywood Strikes Back” series at the Egyptian offers a Jane Fonda double-bill Friday with 1978’s “Coming Home,” for which she won her second lead actress Oscar, and 1972’s ultra-obscure “F.T.A.,” which chronicles the antiwar variety show Fonda and Donald Sutherland led near military bases in 1971-72.
The Cinematheque’s Aero Theatre presents a tribute Friday to the late writer-director Michael Crichton with 1973’s cult fave “Westworld” and 1997’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park.” The theater goes post-apocalyptic Saturday with the “Mad Max” trilogy. www. americancinematheque.com
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Cue the organ
Tom Trenney will supply the live organ accompaniment at the screening Saturday at Royce Hall of the 1928 Harold Lloyd silent comedy “Speedy,” which features a Babe Ruth cameo. www.uclalive.org.
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Only good movies
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