May 3–10, 2001

movies

Screen Picks

by Sam Adams

Scout’s Honor

(Sun., May 6, 7 p.m., William Way Community Center, 1315 Spruce St., 215-732-FEST, www.pridefestamerica.com, $10)

Pride and Honor: Steven Cozza in Scout’s Honor

As that other festival — you know, the one with all the movies — winds down, PrideFest is cranking up a few of its own filmic events. Chief among them is the Philly premiere of this well-argued documentary, which takes on the Boy Scouts of America’s anti-homosexual politics. There aren’t many emotional moments in this hour-long film (which will also kick off PBS’ P.O.V. series in mid-June), but director Tom Shepard sure has a story to tell. Rather than focus on oft-told tales of oppression, Shepard focuses his attention on the efforts of Scouting For All, an anti-discrimination group that was founded by a 70-year-old man and a 13-year-old boy, both straight. Especially interesting is the story of founder Steven Cozza, an adolescent scout whose anti-discrimination sentiments are delivered with more conviction and grace than those of men four times his age. PrideFest will also premiere Gay Pioneers, a documentary on gay civil rights activism in the years before Stonewall. WHYY’s Glenn Holsten directed, and the film will screen at their studios on North Sixth Street at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Features at the Five

(Mon., May 7, 8 p.m., The Five Spot, 5 S. Bank St., 215-901-3771, www.armcinema25.com/ fivespot.html)

File under "unexpected" the arrival of this five-week film series, curated by Magdalen/A Chronicle of Corpses director Andrew Repasky McElhinney. And that goes double for the location. Through June 4, the series will screen two features every Monday, one at 8 and one at 10, all for the low-low price of $5. Of course, not every one of the features, most shot on video, more than a few with local connections, looks like a winner. But the series kicks off with a pleasant enough entry. The Auteur Theory, starring Mrs. Dalloway’s Alan Cox, starts with themes oh-so-familiar: At a student short film festival, the competition turns literally cutthroat as filmmakers start dropping like flies in anticipation of the closing-night cash prize. (That the film screens the same night as PFWC’s awards ceremony is a rather wry coincidence.) But a fine cast, including Natasha Lyonne and Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Armin Shimerman, wrings out some clever humor, and director Evan Oppenheimer does as good a job of parodying pretentious film students as anyone since The Big Picture. (Watch for the recreation of the Kennedy assassination, staged with 8-year-olds.) It’s paired with Auditions, another ain’t-this-a-tough-business comedy.

Hitchcock on Screen

(May 8-10, Grand Opera House, 818 N. Market St., Wilmington, DE, 302-652-5577, 1-800-37-GRAND, or www.grandopera.org/ shows/grandfilms.htm)

Three days of Hitchcock on the Grand’s giant screen — not a shabby way to spend your midweek. At 11:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. each day, you’re treated first to Rear Window, then The Birds, and finally North by Northwest. If you haven’t seen any (or all) of them on the big screen, it’s the only way to do it — even for the grating The Birds, whose limited virtues come across best that way.

Fiend Without a Face

($39.95)

It’s always a little odd to see horror cheapies issued under the prestigious Criterion Collection banner, but once you get over expecting any kind of masterpiece, Fiend Without a Face is enjoyable in its own limited way. The plot of this 1958 thriller, shot in England but set on the U.S./Canada border, makes so little sense you wish it made none at all — at least if they stopped trying to figure it out, you could as well. It’s got something to do with nuclear power, and spy planes, and invisible monsters created out of pure thought and a bunch of other hooey. (Once the monsters do show themselves, the movie does pick up, for about five minutes.) What’s really interesting about the Fiend disc is the wealth of vintage supplemental materials, from a history of British horror to vintage lobby card and advertisements. The main course may be skimpy, but the side dishes are delicious.