This Strange Passion: Arturo de Córdova-A Medal for Benny & Hostages

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A Medal for Benny (1945) directed by Irving Pichel and Hostages (1943) directed by Frank Tuttle


Monday, February 3, 2014
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Billy Wilder Theater (Hammer Museum)
10899 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90024


A Medal for Benny (1945)

Directed by Irving Pichel

The paisano residents of a small California town recall young rascal Benny with mixed affection and approbation, as he left town under a cloud following a fracas with a policeman. News that Benny has been posthumously named a war hero sets folks reassessing their relationships to him. Actor Arturo de Córdova, cast as a would-be suitor to Benny’s girlfriend (Dorothy Lamour), is a rascal whose get-rich-quick schemes are displaced by a newfound nobility in the wake of Benny’s apotheosis.

Paramount Pictures, Inc. Screenwriter: Jack Wagner, based on a story by Jack Wagner and John Steinbeck. Cinematographer: Lionel Lindon. Editor: Arthur P. Schmidt. Cast: Dorothy Lamour, Arturo de Córdova, J. Carrol Naish, Mikhail Rasumny, Charles Dingle.

77 min.


Hostages (1943)

Directed by Frank Tuttle

Actor Arturo de Córdova portrays Paul Breda, Czech resistance leader in the struggle against the Nazi occupation of his country. In this suspenseful anecdote, Breda and a group of Czechoslovakian hostages are held under suspicion of killing a Nazi officer, a sham procedure that could end in execution for all. De Córdova is an effective ensemble player, winning over to the opposition the apolitical Milada (Luise Rainer), daughter of a Czech collaborator.

Paramount Pictures, Inc. Producer: Sol C. Siegel. Screenwriter: Lester Cole, based on the novel by Stefan Heym. Cinematographer: Victor Milner. Editor: Archie Marshek. Cast: Arturo de Córdova, Luise Rainer, William Bendix, Paul Lukas, Katina Paxinou.

88 min.
 
 
 

Parking is available in the lot under the Billy Wilder Theater. Enter from Westwood Blvd., just north of Wilshire. Parking for people with disabilities is provided on levels P1 and P3. Mon-Fri: After 6 p.m.: $3.00 flat rate. Mon-Fri: Before 6 p.m.: $3.00 for first 3 hours with Museum validation and $1.50 per 15 minutes thereafter. Sat-Sun: $3.00 flat rate. To obtain validation stamp show your ticket stub at the security desk in the Wilshire Lobby.


Cost : $10

Nancy Gomez
310-825-4571
ngomez@international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Center for Mexican Studies, Film and Television Archive, Center for Mexican Studies, Morelia International Film Festival, Consulate General of Mexico in Los Angeles, Secretaria de Relaciones Exteriores de México, Filmoteca de la UNAM, Cineteca Nacional de Mexico.

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