Are You Ready for Joan Crawford on Bristol’s Biggest Cinema Screen?

Bristol-based South West Silents and its sister company Film Noir UK are joining forces to bring two of Hollywood’s Golden Age stars to the Bristol Megascreen (the former IMAX in the Aquarium) for a pair of double-bils.

First up is Joan Crawford, with that great Oscar-winning melodrama Mildred Pierce (1945) and Nicholas Ray’s Johnny Guitar (1952). Both Films come from the second wave of Crawford’s Hollywood success.

“Mildred Pierce tells the story of a single mother hell bent on freeing her children from the stigma of economic hardship in America; another iconic film from 1940s Hollywood, with plenty of film noir undertones such as murder and betrayal all thrown in,” says James Harrison, co-director of South West Silents.

“Then we jump nearly a decade and we find Crawford in Nicholas Ray’s melodramatic, almost noirish western Johnny Guitar. This is very much the starting point of the end of this second wave of success for Crawford. It’s a fascinating film however with plenty of undertones on every level. And Johnny Guitar has been a film I’ve wanted to screen at the Megascreen for years. The use of colours in that film are amazing and it’s going to look amazing on that massive screen.”

The double-bill is screened on Saturday 15 November at 12pm. Go here for tickets.

Next up is a Gloria Swanson double-bill on Saturday 6 December. “It’s really hard to describe how massive Gloria Swanson was as a Hollywood star in the 1920s,” says James. “There’s a line in Sunset Boulevard (1950), which we’re screening as part of this double bill, which Swanson’s Norma Desmond character says: “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.” Well, that really can be said about Swanson herself as well. She was one of the key stars who established film studios in the first place; in this case of Swanson, she very much built Paramount Studios with just her films alone.”

Firstly, there’s the 1925 silent comedy/drama Stage Struck, screened with live musical accompaniment. This tells the story of a daydreaming waitress Jennie (Swanson) who wants to become an actress, but not just any actress, Jennie wants to become a star!

“Stage Struck is a film which jumps between comedy and drama… and to be honest, not many stars of Swanson’s calibre could have done that. Garbo couldn’t; but Swanson could,” says James. “She is just incredible in Stage Struck. And given its story about the rise of a star, it’s a perfect accompaniment for the second film”

Which is, of course, Billy Wilder’s Sunset Boulevard: correctly billed as one of the great Hollywood films about Hollywood, with Swanson as fading star Norma Desmond.

“Wilder needed a legendary star to play Desmond. And he found it with Gloria Swanson, who pulls it off incredibly. In fact, when watching Sunset Boulevard, you begin to think, is she playing Desmond or is she just playing herself? There are some wonderful cameos throughout the film as well; particularly with a famous card scene with Buster Keaton. I know there’s a massive following for the film; especially given the success of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical. But the film is the better of the two.”

Go here for tickets to this double-bill.

Main pic form ‘Mildred Pierce’: BFI Collections