NORTH COAST, Calif. — The 18th annual Mendocino Film Fest is here.

Filmmakers and special guests are coming to the beautiful coast from far and wide! Tickets are selling fast, so be sure to snap yours up today.

For insiders, lots of notable locals will be on hand. Directors Ana Blanco and Natasha Benjamin will be attending along with other Noyo Harbor community members to celebrate the local premiere of their fascinating documentary about kelp forests entitled Sequoias of the Sea, showing Friday, May 30, at 1 p.m.

Will Hawkes, local boy made good and the co-writer of the Oscar-nominated short film “The Last Ranger,” will attend with his film in the “Making a Difference” short film program  on Friday May, 30, at 10 a.m.

A dozen more local creatives will be celebrated on the festival’s closing night event on Sunday, June 1, “Reel Mendo.” This showcase of local talent is a yearly festival favorite. 

This year includes a collection of 11 terrific short films by the very own Mendocino County filmmakers. Topics run the gamut from art and architecture to mushroom foraging to bootlegging to murder — with a host of subjects in between.

The festival — which runs May 29 to June 1 — will feature an eclectic selection of 67 local, American independent and international films from 20 countries — all of them riveting, with several made by Oscar and Emmy winning directors and producers. 

Moviegoers will have the rare opportunity to meet and chat with filmmakers following screenings and learn about their inspirations and challenges.

Come and learn about “Women Who Dare,” which showcases six powerful films about visionary and determined women who pursued their passions and defied the odds. For the first time, 55% of the slate of films are directed by women.

Calling all art and music-lovers! The program includes 17 films having to do with the arts, several resonant documentaries about the power of music, ranging from the songs of John Lennon to Giuseppe Verdi to Afro-Cuban jazz, and others focused on several facets of the arts — tapestries, photography, filmmaking, literature — compelling stories conveyed in both documentary and narrative form.

On Friday night, in the Festival’s signature tent, we will feature Coastal, a riveting documentary about one of the greatest rock musicians of all time — Neil Young. The film is directed by Young’s wife, actor/director Daryl Hannah. 

The movie will play Friday, May 30, at 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by a ’70s rock and roll party with five-piece band Moon Rabbit.

Animal and nature lovers will enjoy storytelling featuring sled dogs in the Norwegian Arctic, grey wolves in Yellowstone and flocks of sheep in the Pyrenees. And for all the gourmets and gourmands out there, we have a trio of culinary-themed documentaries — covering cheese, pastries and Italian cuisine — that you surely won’t want to miss.

The festival proudly features 16 environmental and social justice films this year. Current pressing sociopolitical issues like climate change, immigrant rights, LGBTQ freedoms and the Gaza-Israel conflict are an essential part of the programming lineup.

And if you just want to spend an evening laughing — and who doesn’t enjoy a good chortle — come to the Festival Tent on Saturday, May 31, at 7:30 p.m. to hear hilarious Bay Area comedian Natasha Vinik preceding the showing of the perceptive and funny documentary, Anxiety Club.

On Sunday, June 1, the festival offers its Fourth Annual Native Cinema event, one of the fest’s most popular screenings. This year features the Hawaiian film “Standing Above the Clouds” and a short film about the Kashia band of Pomo called “Our Ocean, Our Future.”

Satisfy your most pressing grammar questions and meet grammarian Ellen Jovin at her Grammar Table outside Gallery Bookshop in Mendocino from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, May 31. Don’t miss her film Rebel with a Clause screening on Saturday and Sunday, May 31, and June 1. 

Perhaps watching delicious pastry being baked in “The Sweet Story” (Saturday at 10 a.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.) has whet your appetite? Then come for "Coffee with the Filmmakers” Saturday, May 31, and Sunday, June 1, at 9 a.m. at Cafe Beaujolais Garden and have a chat and a snack with the creative forces behind your new favorite movies.

To purchase tickets, go to MendoFilm.org/tickets. They can also be purchased at Festival Headquarters: Mendocino Film Festival Office, 45062 Ukiah St. To stay up to date all the Festival news, and to peruse this year’s complete program, please visit MendoFilm.org. Connect with us on Facebook and Instagram for announcements, radio interviews, film updates and more.

‘HAVOC’ RATED TV-MA ON NETFLIX

If you ever had the chance over a decade ago to watch the Indonesian crime films “The Raid” and “The Raid 2,” both directed by Gareth Evans, you will have a good idea of the mayhem in store with the film “Havoc” on Netflix.

Brutal fast-paced action scenes and nicely choreographed fights are the trademark style of Evans, and since he wrote as well directed “Havoc,” he’s almost like the Welsh version of Michael Bay (“Bad Boys”) or John Woo (“Hard Boiled”).

It’s not even five minutes in before the action jump-starts with a slew of police cars chasing a stolen semitrailer racing through the streets of a generically dingy metropolis and on to a freeway.

The truck is carrying washing machines loaded with cocaine, and this could be the first time that a major appliance has been used as a weapon, which is something to behold as an expedient utility of destruction.

Much is going on with action from Triad gangsters muscling in on narcotics smuggling; dirty cops seizing drugs for themselves; a corrupt businessman running for mayor; and power struggles in the criminal underworld.

Enter Tom Hardy’s Walker, a dirty cop having second thoughts on his shady dealings, who treats his young daughter as an afterthought on Christmas Eve when shopping for a last-minute gift. Not surprisingly, he’s also estranged from his wife.

Walker is the catalyst for most of the extremely volatile shootouts, and honestly the body count gets so high at times that it’s hard to know who is on what side. The action is so stylized that it verges on losing significant meaning.

Aside from the overly amped-up action, “Havoc” is also a bloody redemption story for Tom Hardy’s Walker, a police officer growing no longer hardened to the systemic corruption that pervades the dystopian landscape he inhabits.

The film benefits also tremendously for its casting of Forest Whitaker as the politically ambitious businessman trying to reconnect with his wayward son; Timothy Olyphant’s ringleader in a band of corrupt officers; Jessie Mae Li’s only honest cop in a crooked system; and Luis Guzman doing his usual thing.

There’s a lot to like with the thriller style of “Havoc” but the downside being not enough character development and a bit too much of some bloody, gory shootouts that might make certain Hong Kong action directors flinch.

At least “Havoc” is streaming so that one could decide either to bail out, hang in for the duration, or take periodic breaks to recover from any sensory overload. Yet, Tom Hardy’s conflicted cop might be the best reason to watch.




‘DOVEY’S PROMISE’ Not Rated

A riveting courtroom drama that brings to life the extraordinary true story of civil rights attorney Dovey Roundtree (Joy White) proves to be of interest, among other reasons, for a footnote in history related to our 35th president.

“Dovey’s Promise” features Black attorney Dovey Roundtree (Joy White) as one of the few women in the legal profession at the time, taking on the case of Raymond Crump (Terrence Mombrun), a poor Black laborer accused of murdering Mary Pinchot Meyer.

Seemingly, Crump was in the wrong place at the wrong time when Pinchot Meyer was taking her daily walk along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal towpath in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C.

Known in the upper crust social circles in our nation’s capital, Pinchot Meyer was allegedly the secret lover of President John F. Kennedy, a romantic involvement that was apparently confirmed years later after her death by various sources.

The death of Pinchot Meyer was not that long after the assassination of President Kennedy. The murder of a well-connected socialite draws the United States Department of Justice into the fray.

The prosecution of Raymond Crump, backed by the federal government, became a flashpoint in American legal history, and Dovey Roundtree found herself in the thick of a momentous civil rights case.

The prosecution presented Crump as the obvious suspect, despite a complete lack of physical evidence tying him to the crime. Against the odds, Roundtree saw the case as a racially motivated attempt to frame an innocent man.

Roundtree took the important case of “United States v. Ray Crump” for a fee of one dollar. With a case that appeared stacked against the defendant, Roundtree was supposedly initially dubious about his innocence.

The government had witnesses and exhibits with so-called facts that were abjectly persuasive. Nevertheless, Roundtree won the case with painstaking dismantling of the evidence, particularly that of the eyewitnesses who apparently never had a solid look at the suspect.

A credible claim could be made that Dovey Roundtree was the Rosa Parks of the legal profession, at a time when civil rights violations were epidemic and landmark cases for desegregation resulted in a push for equal treatment under the 14th Amendment.

“Dovey’s Promise,” if for no other reason, may be of interest for a historical perspective of the civil rights struggle and the connection to President John F. Kennedy.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

NORTH COAST, Calif. — The Mendocino College Theatre Arts Department will present the 18th annual Festival of New Plays on from Thursday, May 15, to Friday, May 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the College’s Little Theatre on the Ukiah campus.

The festival is a beloved Ukiah theatre tradition. This year's festival features eight new plays by local playwrights. Each play is approximately 10 minutes long and will be presented at each performance.

The plays were selected from an impressive collection of 86 scripts submitted by writers from throughout Mendocino and other nearby counties.

The play directors are students in the Mendocino College theatrical directing class taught by Professor Reid Edelman.

Professor and professional writer Jody German is the festival dramaturge, working with playwrights to develop their scripts.

Gehrman and Edelman launched the festival over 18 years ago, and with Edelman’s upcoming retirement after 25 years at Mendocino College, this year’s festival will be particularly special.

Festival actors include students in the college’s conservatory cohort group, as well as other local students and community members. The short plays cover a wide range of topics and performance styles.

The festival features original scenery, props, costumes and lighting under the direction of college professor of Technical Theatre Steve Decker and Theatre Technician David Wolf.

“This annual festival is one of the college theatre program’s most exciting projects, and we are delighted to provide this creative forum for our community,” said Edelman.

This year’s festival opens with Erin Gardiner’s "Full Moon-New Moon.”

In this play, a young college student walks in to discover her grandmother in the process of writing her eulogy.

The conversation that follows is full of honesty, tenderness and humor. The special bond between the two allows them to gently navigate the topic of death and acceptance of inevitable loss.

The cast, directed by Phaedra Swearengin, features Virginia Hanley, Heidi Peterman and Kristin Hills.

Next, “Upcycle” by Bethany Keech and directed by Heidi Peterman, is a memory-like play which touches on the true but dark reality of emotionally abusive relationships.

In this play, we follow a young woman named Chloe, played by Megan Regan, as she heals, and discovers that what is meant for her will find her in the end. The play also features Aria Silveira, Sesilia Rios, Eli Fowler and Lalo Torres.

In Joni McLeod’s adorably funny “If She Wanted To, She Would,” three politely intrusive baristas at "Espresso Yourself" Cafe help Lyra, a patron wanting only to read her books in silence, realize the truth of her current "relationship."

Directed by Aria Eva Silveira, and performed by local actors Kayla Harrison, Joe Swearengin, Skyler Ito-Lutz, Elizabeth Leach, and Eduardo (Lalo) Torres.

Next, “Mother Daughter” by Kyle Whiterock, is a poignant coming of age love story between a proud Mother, who is seeing her baby girl go off to college, and her trepidatious Daughter, who is not so sure she is ready to spread her wings and fly just yet.

The all-Native America ensemble, under the direction of TinaMarie Spagnolo, includes Kelly Alvarez and Sesilia Rios.

Stan Kaplan’s play “Cocktail Hour in Transylvania,” directed by Percival Knutson, explores the complexities of our current health care system. The cast features Eli Fowler, Joe Swearengin, Aria Eva Silveira and Elizabeth Leach.

Kaplan’s title reflects the grim recognition that without medical insurance, those needing to go to the hospital may face the choice of losing everything or facing death. For the most vulnerable, debt collectors may appear as bloodsucking vampires.

Next, John Pegan is directing Bill Stafford’s play “Explicit Language,” which explores the questions of friendship, loss, grief, and what it means to move on — or not. Two friends, Dennis — played by Jim Williams and Bob — played by Rick Williams, try to adjust to life and find answers, after the death of their spouses.

In her comedy “Post Toast,” playwright Audrey Wells bakes up a world of laughter with her director Tom Simons. Postman Bob, played by Eduardo “Lalo” Torres, goes on a wild ride after receiving a questionable “Special Delivery” from the colorful senior Mrs. L’Aura, played by Sharon Gorman.

Finally, the evening concludes with “Two Feet! Two Feet!” This humorous yet disturbingly timely play by Michael Riedell imagines a world in which one’s personal choices and opinions are strictly controlled, in which thinking for oneself could be against the law. Directed by Maria Monti, the cast includes Jasmine Norris, Kayla Harrison, Kristin Hills, Esteban Orozco, and Virginia Hanley.

Tickets are available in Ukiah at the Mendocino Book Co. and online at www.ArtsMendocino.org and at the door as available. This production is recommended for ages 13 and up. Admission is $10.

The performance on Thursday, May 15, is a ”pay what you wish” preview. Audience members are encouraged to purchase tickets early.

For more information, call Reid Edelman at 707-468-3172.​

‘THE ACCOUNTANT 2’ RATED R

“The Accountant 2” is nearly a decade removed from its origin story. Understanding Ben Affleck’s titular role of Christian Wolff requires knowing about his original position of a CPA working out of an Illinois strip mall with a side job befitting an assassin.

In the public realm, Wolff exhibited a tense, rigid behavior, possessed of an inability for normal social interactions, but nevertheless demonstrated a brilliance in mathematics and solving complex puzzles.

The other side of Wolff’s skills, despite his autism or Rain Man-like demeanor, was being wired as a hardnosed killing machine due to childhood training from his militaristic father.

Years later in this sequel, Wolff maintains his low-key demeanor and acts about as socially awkward as Tony Shalhoub’s detective Adrian Monk, albeit prone to violent conduct, while still acting as an accountant for unsavory characters.

The action swiftly kicks in when J.K. Simmons’ Ray King, now a private eye retired from the Treasury Department, is encountered by a blonde female assassin (Daniella Pineda) at a low-rent nightclub.

Gun-toting thugs show up and chaos ensues. Even though taking out some of the bad guys, Ray does not get far. His former assistant, Marybeth Medina (Cynthia Addai-Robinson), discovers that Ray has scrawled “Find the accountant” on his arm.

Ray had been working on a case of a disappearing immigrant family, and Marybeth is tasked to pick up the trail. Having a past with the accountant, she’s not too thrilled having to connect again with the erratic and lethal Wolff.

Even if emotionally stunted, Wolff delivers some humor with his inability to read social cues or to interact in a way that is not clumsy, an amusing example of that is how ineptly he deals with a parade of single women at a speed dating seminar.

Drawn into the investigation of Ray’s death, Wolff must engage his estranged brother Braxton (Jon Bernthal), also an assassin for hire, to leave Berlin and come to the squalid underbelly of Los Angeles.

Apart from the last nine years, the brothers reconnect by sharing beers and conversation on top of Wolff’s Airstream trailer and at a honky-tonk dive bar where Wolff loosens up after unexpectedly joining a country line dance with an attractive cowgirl.

Leading up to the violent, climactic showdown south of the border, Wolff and Braxton take on a righteous mission to hunt down sex traffickers who had a nefarious plan involving a busload of young children, resulting in all hell breaking loose in a blaze of gunfire.

The plot often feels scattershot but the real joy of “The Accountant 2” is the relationship between Wolff and Braxton, which at times is fraught with tension because they are opposites, but otherwise their odd buddy chemistry carries the day.

“The Accountant 2” delivers a good action thriller with the dynamic partnership of siblings prone to violence, who turn out to be the good guys dispatching truly horrible villains.

THE LAST WORD ON THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL

This column submits to a fact-check in relation to what was previously reported about the Marx Brothers. Groucho, Chico, and Harpo are most familiar as the siblings that appeared in all their films.

The youngest of the five brothers were Gummo and Zeppo, with the latter the only one born in the 20th century. This column erroneously reported that only Zeppo never appeared in any of the films, when it was Gummo who performed only in the vaudeville acts and none of the movies.

“Animal Crackers,” which Groucho described as his favorite, was a pre-Code comedy from 1930 that had to be cut for re-release in 1936. The original was thought to be lost, and decades later, a print was found in the British Film Institute and finally screened in 2016.

It was a treat then for the TCM festival to screen “Animal Crackers,” which can only be described as typical Marx Brothers mayhem when a priceless painting vanished during a party honoring Groucho’s explorer Captain Spaulding.

“Animal Crackers” is also one of the five films in which Zeppo Marx played the straight man, while everyone else gleefully embraced the Marx Brothers’ brand of anarchic humor.

Two partners in the film business best known for unusual biopics, Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, introduced the film, with Larry calling it the “Holy Grail for Marx Brothers addicts.”

Scott relayed a humorous story of his childhood admiration for Groucho, and how during the Seventies a special screening of “Animal Crackers” occurred in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Westwood, home of UCLA.

Students from the nearby campus showed up in droves to get a glimpse of Groucho, causing mayhem when they tossed boxes of Animal Crackers in the air. Meanwhile, Scott said that he and his father managed by subterfuge to get into the screening and sat behind the film’s director.

A lesson learned from the TCM festival is the need to catch up on all Marx Brothers films. So far, “Room Service” and “Duck Soup” are personal favorites.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. — Debonaire spies, superheroes, dinosaurs and witches from the Kingdom of Oz — they are all part of the musical program planned for the Lake County Symphony’s Mother’s Day Pop Concert at the Soper Reese Theatre.

John Parkinson, conductor and musical director for the Lake County Symphony, has chosen music from several memorable movies for this year’s concert on May 11.

The concert starts with the 2006 film, “Superman Returns” as Superman, who is back on Earth after an absence of five years, discovers that his love interest, Lois Lane, has moved on from him while his archenemy, Lex Luthor, is planning to kill him and reshape North America. John Ottman was the editor and film score composer for this sequel and used John Williams’ music from the first Superman movie made in 1978. Ottman greatly respected Williams and later told interviewers that the prolific movie composer had influenced his decision to become a musician.

The second piece in the Mother’s Day Concert features a medley of tunes from several James Bond movies: “Goldfinger,” “Live and Let Die,” “For Your Eyes Only,” and “The Spy Who Loved Me.”

“Nobody Does it Better” (sung by Carly Simon) was the theme song for “The Spy Who Loved Me.” It was written by Carole Bayer Sager and composed by Marvin Hamlisch.

“For Your Eyes Only" is the theme to the 12th James Bond movie of the same name, written by Bill Conti and Mick Leeson, and performed by Scottish singer Sheena Easton for the accompanying soundtrack album. “Live and Let Die” is the soundtrack to the eighth James Bond film of the same name, scored by George Martin. The title song was written by Paul and Linda McCartney and performed by Paul McCartney and Wings.

Energetic and dramatic music from “The Magnificent Seven” is the next selection. The 1960 classic Western was directed by John Sturges; stars of the film include Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn and Charles Bronson as a group of gunfighters hired to protect a small village in Mexico from a group of marauding bandits led by Eli Wallach. Elmer Bernstein’s Academy Award-nominated score includes one of the most recognizable pieces of film music, the "Magnificent Seven Theme."

Then comes a change of pace, with music from “Pinball Wizard” by Peter Townshend. It was first performed by The Who, and was featured on their 1969 album, “Tommy,” and in the rock opera of the same name. Elton John performed the song in the theatrical adaptation of “Tommy.” Ken Russell wrote and directed the 1975 film, described as a “psychedelic musical fantasy drama.”

The next selection is music from “Children of Sanchez,” a 1978 Mexican American drama starring Anthony Quinn based on the book by Oscar Lewis. The movie’s well-known soundtrack was created by jazz musician Chuck Mangione. Its opening song won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for that year.

Next the symphony plays music from “The Sea Hawk” a 1940 American adventure film starring Errol Flynn as an English privateer fighting the Spanish Armada. Erich Wolfgang Korngold composed the rousing movie score, which some have said sounds more like a symphony than a soundtrack. In this arrangement, several of the themes from the movie are featured.

“Wicked” is the next selection for the symphony. The original production premiered on Broadway in 2003. It won three Tonys, and the original soundtrack album received a Grammy. Stephen Schwartz, the American musical theatre composer and lyricist, wrote both the music and lyrics for “Wicked.”

Music from “Jurassic Park,” the 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg features music by John Williams, a frequent composer of Spielberg's films. Williams felt his music for “Jurassic Park” needed to convey the sense of awe and fascination that one would have upon seeing live dinosaurs, while more suspenseful scenes involving Tyrannosaurus attacks required frightening themes.

“Apollo 13” is a 1995 American docudrama directed by Ron Howard. James Horner composed and conducted the score, which was a critical success, garnering Horner an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score.

The final piece of the concert is a tribute to John Williams, an American composer and conductor with a career that has spanned seven decades. Music from Star Wars, Jaws, Superman, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, and E.T. are featured in this arrangement by Paul Lavender, with music from the Kennedy Center Honors.

Williams’ film music is some of the most popular, recognizable, and critically acclaimed in movie history and is known for its distinct sound, described as “a mixture of romanticism, impressionism and atonal music with complex orchestration.”

Williams is best known for his collaborations with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. Among his numerous accolades are 26 Grammy Awards, five Academy Awards, seven BAFTA Awards, three Emmy Awards and four Golden Globes. Williams is the second-most nominated person, after Walt Disney, and, at age 93, is the oldest Oscar nominee in any category.

Tickets for the regular 2 p.m. Mother’s Day Concert are $25 for general seating or $30 for premium seating in the balcony. Tickets may be purchased from the Soper Reese website, https://www.soperreesetheatre.com, and are also available at the Soper Reese box office at 275 S. Main St. on the day of the concert.

Please arrive 30 minutes early when buying tickets at the door-especially when attending the 11 a.m. dress rehearsal concert.

The rehearsal concert is still a bargain, although the price has increased to $10 for adults. There is no charge for those who are 18 and under.

TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL ROUNDUP

Just like last year, the concluded four-day celebration of film at the TCM Classic Film Festival offered much more than promised with its theme of “Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film.

The theme worked well for the opening night gala presentation of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.” No one should question that George Lucas created an enchanted world of fantasy in outer space.

Producing events at TCM’s festival, Bruce Goldstein is a fountain of information and insight on pre-Code films, and fortunately he was the presenter for 1932’s “Me and My Gal,” a comic crime tale starring Spencer Tracy and Joan Bennett.

When the Hayes Code, which set a variety of standards to rid films of such things as profanity and sexual perversion, became enforceable in 1934 “Me and My Gal” was kept out of circulation for decades because it could no longer be released.

Spencer Tracy’s Danny Dolan, a wisecracking street cop in pursuit of escaped mobster Duke Castenega (George Walsh), initiates an erratic romance with perky waterfront waitress Helen Riley (Joan Bennett).

Over a cup of coffee at Helen’s hash house, Danny proposes to Helen, saying “Will you marry me so I can get some sleep?” After the screening, Goldstein noted this line was deemed ribald enough to get censored in some jurisdictions even before the Hayes Code kicked in.

While “Me and My Gal” was delightfully funny, Goldstein regaled the audience by quoting film reviews of the era that savaged the film for being smutty. Flopping at the box office, the film got pulled from theaters after a week.

The Los Angeles Examiner noted the film was “real entertainment with the highbrow stuff left out.” One could look at this review as a sort of backhanded accolade, if only because so many other reviews were so brutally negative.

With some irony, Goldstein noted the film also got confused with “For Me and My Gal,” a musical released a decade later and starring hoofers Gene Kelly and George Murphy.

Considering the brilliant wit of Noel Coward, notable for being a playwright, director and actor among other talents, the chance to see the 1945 film adaptation of “Blithe Spirit” proved irresistible.

Coward’s bantering dialogue is evident throughout the film, with Rex Harrison’s Charles informing his second wife Ruth (Constance Cummings) in one exchange, “If you wish to make an inventory of my sex life, I think it only fair to tell you that you’ve left out several episodes.”

Echoing the film’s title, Charles’ flighty deceased first wife Elvira (Kay Hammond) is conjured up during a séance and appears visible only to him, proceeding to hilariously haunt him and induce jealousy from Ruth.

In the role of presenter to the screening, Christine Ebersole, who starred as Elvira on the Broadway stage in “Blithe Spirit,” noted that in the film role Kay Hammond had to be painted a light shade of ethereal green.

The paint job provided the necessary “ghostly quality” needed for a spirit from the beyond, and Ebersole expressed hope that the green coating “didn’t shortened her life” due to the chemicals. Hammond apparently passed at age 71 from undisclosed causes.

“To Be or Not To Be,” a comedy about the Nazi occupation of Poland released in 1942, generated a share of controversy and divided reviews, which are interesting due to the director Ernst Lubitsch coming from a Jewish family and born in Germany.

Jack Benny as Joseph Tura and his wife Maria (Carole Lombard in her last movie role) lead a troupe of Polish actors who turn the tables on Hitler’s lunkheads who have taken control of Warsaw.

Maria copes with her egotistical husband’s comical attempts to play Hamlet on stage and fends off the advances of a lovestruck Polish air force lieutenant (Robert Stack) in her dressing room.

The film turns insanely funny for its sharp dialogue and the clever deceptions against the Third Reich goons by impersonating Nazi officers to save the resistance fighters.

“Jeopardy” host Ken Jennings, who vaulted to celebrity by his record-breaking 74-game winning streak on the quiz show, noted that “To Be or Not To Be” personified the “Lubitsch touch,” which is a sophisticated, cosmopolitan style with an urbane quality.

Jennings observed that the movie raised the question of whether it was in bad taste. At the time, there only two types of films involving Nazis. They were either an “existential threat” or “clowns and buffoons,” and this film straddled the line between these two categories.

A real delight was the 50th anniversary screening of “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” an irreverent, anarchic take on the Arthurian legends, with Graham Chapman as King Arthur and the Python members playing multiple roles.

Presenter Patton Oswalt showed up for the morning screening wearing pajamas and a bathroom, telling the audience that comedians don’t get dressed before noon. As such, Oswalt captured the spirit of what he called the “wellspring of pure absurdity” that came with “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.”

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.