A Preview of Cinecon 2025
July 31, 2025
The 61st Cinecon Classic Film Festival kicks off in late August. Unfortunately, I can’t make the event, but let me tell you—Cinecon is making it super hard to miss this year. From three fantastic Legacy Award honorees (Ann-Margret, Mamie Van Doren, and Juliet Mills) to special guests (Pat Boone, Maxwell Caulfield, and more) to countless films screening that have not been shown on TV or released on home video, it feels like this year the Cinecon team has gone above and beyond!
Cinecon 61 poster designed by CJ Wallis. (Photo from cinecon.org)
My childhood friend sure picked a great weekend to get married! If you’re close to the LA-area and love classic films, please check out my fest preview below, pick up tickets HERE, and enjoy all of these rarities for me.
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FRIDAY, AUGUST 29
New Movietone Follies of 1930: I thought this was a short at first. Nope! It’s just a rarely-seen pre-Code Fox musical—screened on 35mm!—and I really don’t need to know anything else. (It’s also said that there was a scene filmed in Multicolor, a short-lived color format. I wonder if that sequence survives in color? Someone please let me know.)
Marion Davies in It's A Wise Child.
It’s A Wise Child (1931): If I were attending Cinecon, this would be my most anticipated screening. Pre-Code: Check! Risque elements that warranted banning in some countries: Check! Marion Davies: Check! I’m extremely bummed to miss this spicy comedy centering around a woman (Davies) who pretends to be pregnant, which gets all the small-town tongues wagging. It’s A Wise Child never played on TV due to rights issues, and I’m hoping this will be screened more now that the legal matters have been cleared up. Like maybe TCM Classic Film Festival? Please?
Modern Love (1929): I’m not very familiar with comedian Charley Chase’s work, which is enough reason for me to be interested in this comedy about a woman who has to keep her marriage a secret to her boss, which becomes an issue with her husband (Chase, of course) when a client from Paris wants to whisk her away to Europe. This was Chase’s his first sound film, and for a long time, only two reels were thought to survive. Per Cinecon's website, “thanks to some private collectors, enough of the footage was found and utilized to create this restoration, which premiered in 2008.” Modern Love is not available on home video, so this 35mm screening will certainly be a treat!
The Rare Breed (1966): I’ve seen this Jimmy Stewart-Maureen O’Hara Western a long time ago, but I wasn’t aware it was Mills’s first American film. Cinecon will be projecting a rarely-screened 35mm print, which, in addition to Mills’s appearance, is definitely something to look forward to!
The Blue Danube (1928): When a movie is screening at Cinecon that doesn’t even have an average rating on IMDb, like this one, you know you should see it—because not many people alive have! This Leatrice Joy silent romantic drama also boasts the following tagline, which is quite intriguing: “DECEIVED by those she trusted, she became the spite-bride of the creature she loathed. Don't fail to see this, the most enthralling love romance ever screened.” (Listen to the tagline!)
SATURDAY, AUGUST 30
Gangs of Chicago (1940): This recent Paramount restoration sounds more like a pre-Code than post-Code film! Lloyd Nolan goes to law school after his father’s death by the police—not really to uphold law, but rather use “his knowledge of the law for his not-very-legal purposes,” per IMDb. I’m assuming that won’t end well for him, but it certainly sounds compelling to see it go down.
The Pleasure Seekers (1964): In addition to Ann-Margret’s presence, this is a world premiere of a new restoration! I haven’t seen The Pleasure Seekers or the original Three Coins in the Fountain (1954), so I would have loved to catch this and hear Ann-Margret speak. (Also, I didn’t know this was Gene Tierney’s last movie...)
Taxi! Taxi! (1927): Anytime I spot Edward Everett Horton advertised in a starring role, the movie becomes an instant must-see for me. The antics of this silent film, in which architect Horton, who frequently finds himself in trouble at work, falls for his boss’s niece and “spontaneously buys a taxicab to take her home on a rainy night,” per IMDb, sounds right up my screwball alley.
While New York Sleeps (1920): I’m very intrigued by this premise. While New York Sleeps presents three short NYC episodes. Each is set in different parts of the city—Long Island, Times Square, and the East Side—starring the same set of actors, Estelle Taylor, Harry Southern, and Marc McDermott, though they play different roles in each episode. This was shot on location, so I’d be equally interested in seeing footage from those areas of NYC over a century ago.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31
Kinecon at Cinecon: This longstanding Cinecon event showcases rare kinescopes, recordings of early TV programs taken directly from the original broadcast. Oftentimes, these are the only surviving evidence of some of television’s earliest offerings, which is why they are so important to preserve and share.
Stranded (1927): This new restoration centering around a naïve girl (Shirley Mason) who tries her luck at Hollywood sounds amusing. I love behind-the-scenes peeks at the industry—especially at this landmark time between silent cinema and sound. Plus, Anita Loos, who wrote Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and countless scripts, including Red-Headed Woman, penned the story.
Guns, Girls and Gangsters (1959): I’m not really familiar with Mamie Van Doren’s career, but I read this is a noir cult classic about a singer (Van Doren) who plans a robbery with her jealous husband’s former cellmate. As I’d guess, chaos and violence ensue from there! I can only imagine the stories Van Doren star has; it would be a joy to hear them.
Beau Geste (1926): This silent adventure flick played at TCMFF this past year, and I unfortunately missed it. With a cast including Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, Mary Brian, William Powell, Victor McLaglen, and then some, this would be hard to turn down a second time!
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 1
The Evil Eye (1917): I don’t know too much about this super rare silent film except that it stars Blanche Sweet as a female doctor (!) “sent to a little Mexican settlement after an epidemic has broken out in the vineyards,” per Cinecon’s website. That in itself sounds intriguing!
Sharpshooters (1938): A mythical European country. An assassination. A newsreel cameraman who captures it (I think) and has to get the negatives out of the country. Seems like chaos, which I like—along with a super rare title.
City Girl (1938): Ricardo Cortez post-Code still playing the bad guy—here, a racketeer—who would've thought?! What I’m more interested in, though, is Phyllis Brooks’ trajectory as a waitress who wants more from life, which means dropping her DA boyfriend for Cortez and turning to a life of crime and plastic surgery to escape the authorities. Wow. Another rarity from the Fox (now Disney) vaults!
Little Miss Roughneck (1938): I’m not familiar with child star Edith Fellows, but she headlines this comedy in which she plays a child star onscreen who uses some devious methods to try to get back into the business after some bad behavior got her on the industry’s bad side. Sounds like a fun, rowdy tale.
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Inside Story (1939): I had no idea pre-Code bad boy Ricardo Cortez (co-star of City Girl!) also tried his handing at directing. This was his debut in the director’s chair, which would be reason enough to see it. But this flick, about a reporter who falls for a woman he thinks is a murderer, also simply sounds thrilling.
That’s the Spirit (1945): Musicals aren’t really my favorite genre, nor is Jack Oakie as a performer, but this plot—with Oakie a vaudevillian returning from the dead to help his wife and daughter—sounds like there’s plenty of room for laughs. Plus, it’s not played often and not available on home video. What an entertaining way to end Cinecon 2025!
If you’ll be attending Cinecon, let me know what you’re most excited to see in the comments below.
thanks for stopping by!
I See a Dark Theater is a website dedicated to classic movie-going—and loving—in the City of Angels. Whether it's coverage on screenings, special presentations, or Q&As around Los Angeles that you're looking for, or commentary on the wonderful and sometimes wacky world of classic cinema, you've come to the right place for a variety of pieces written with zeal, awe, and (occasionally) wit. Enjoy.
