Jesus Christ Superstar April 4th Bytowne

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) April 4th, 6:40pm, Bytowne Cinema

Directed by: Norman Jewison
Original Music by: Andrew Lloyd Webber
Cinematography by: Douglas Slocombe
Film Editing by: Antony Gibbs
Written by: Melvyn Bragg and Norman Jewison

Starring: Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, Yvonne Elliman, Barry Dennen, Bob Bingham

Vintage 35mm print, anamorphic print 2:35:1, 108 minutes

Norman Jewison's big screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Jesus Christ Superstaris a fun film that pulses with a surplus of musical and visual energy. As far as musicals go, it has all the necessary ingredients of success: catchy tunes, fabulous costumes, and great performances by a talented cast. Standouts include Carl Anderson as Judas Iscariot, and Ted Neeley as Jesus Christ.

As with the stage production, the film embraces anachronism as a virtue. The all-out effort to mix the fashion and music of the early 1970's with Biblical times translates very well to the big screen. Jewison’s choice to film on location in the Holy Land pays off with spectacular scenery that reinforces a production that could easily have been too “far-out” and collapsed under the weight of its postmodern pretensions.

For all of its non-traditional elements, Jesus Christ Superstarmay be one of the best big-screen treatments of the Jesus story, effectively illustrating how an ancient religion is still relevant in the modern era. Coming two years after Jewison’s triumph with Fiddler on the Roof, a more traditional musical, it’s the work of an ambitious filmmaker always willing to set himself big technical challenges in the name of better storytelling. Jewison takes the opportunity to tell “The Greatest Story Ever Told” and tells it well.

Lost films with the HILOTRONS March 28th @ Bytowne Cinema

The HILOTRONS in silent film mode

Lost Films with Live Music by the HILOTRONS, March 28th, 7pm, Bytowne Cinema,  Approx 70mins 35mm and DCP 2K

Collection of vintage & archival short films with brand new music performed and composed live by The Hilotrons.
The Canadian Cult Revue presents its second live music screening of the season with a selection of historically significant ‘lost films’ (well, nearly lost...) from the collection of Library and Archives Canada (LAC). Most of the films are silent shorts from the 1920’s, and will be projected from brand new 35mm prints created at LAC’s film conservation facilities in Gatineau.

To start off the evening, we’re showing a 1946 newsreel featuring many stories from the local area, including: a spectacular fire in Hull that destroyed the interprovincial bridge; the famous Dionne Quintuplets in Grade Five; Barbara Ann Scott at a skating championship; and, a spy ring uncovered by the RCMP. Then, local favourites the Hilotrons will play newly-composed soundtracks to our selection of silent short films with fascinating subjects such as: wireless telephony, preventing tooth decay, and graphite mining in Calabogie (seriously, they’re good!).

 

We will also be playing a reel from The Man From Glengarry (1922), also accompanied by The Hilotrons. The film, a spectacular silent feature shot in Ottawa in the early 1920s by director Henry Macrae, concerns a blood feud between the leaders of rival logging camps along the Ottawa River. This reel is one of only two that remain in existence.

 

The Peanut Butter Solution March 14th @ The Mayfair Theatre

March Matinee of The Peanut Butter Solution
1985, PG, 94mins, Mayfair Theatre, 3pm March 14th, 35mm

From the director of Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller comes this endearing tale about a kid, a couple of friendly ghosts and a magical cure for baldness that comes with one important caveat: take it easy on the peanut butter.