The films that will be screened during this month’s Friday Film Night were brought to the Film Society by a young Bay Area singer and film maker named Johnny Villar. Johnny wanted Film Night to feature “The Night of the Hunter” - a classic from 1955 that was so ahead of its time that it never became as famous as it should be. What a great suggestion the film scholars at the Film Society agreed!. Two conditions were set. 1.) Johnny had to agree to act as the master of ceremonies for the night. 2.) The night would start off with a screening of one of Johnny’s own dark and funny silent short films.

(short) The Bicycle (5 mins)

In the peaceful tranquility of Foster City, CA, a dastardly thief steals a bicycle and a hilarious chase ensues. This silent short by Bay Area artist Johnny Villar won the 2011 College of San Mateo Film Festival. It features a unique suburban visual style and frightfully funny over-the-top performances. If you love the films of Chaplin & Keaton or enjoy films that combine humor with menace, don’t miss “The Bicycle”.

(feature) The Night of the Hunter (93 mins)

“One of the greatest of all American films. Compelling, frightening and beautiful, combining horror and humor… A film like no other before or since.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

Robert Mitchum plays Harry Powell, a charismatic and psychotic preacher who marries and murders widows for their money. Shelley Winters plays Willa, a bank robber’s widow destined to be the preacher’s next victim. What no one realizes is that only her kids know where their Dad hid the loot. Lillian Gish plays Rachel Cooper, an indomitable welfare worker who can quote scripture just as avidly as the preacher, but whose determination to save the children is just as steely as the preacher’s plans to bend them to his will.

“The issues are elemental, the morality biblical, the trials Homeric. In terms of cinematic texture, it’s a hound from hell.” Michael Atkinson, The Village Voice

Friday, Aug. 31 at 7:30 p.m.
Community United Methodist Sanctuary, 777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay (corner of Johnston Street)

More info: www.HMBFilm.org

UPDATE: Highway 92 was re-opened at 4:46pm.

Highway 92 is closed near the Half Moon Bay Nursery, due to a collision at about 2:30pm.

It is expected to be closed for several hours, reports the San Mateo County Sheriff.

Messieurs, madames and mademoiselles of all ages will find zemselves laughing uncontrolabee at ze antics of ze Bleu Blanket troupe as ze scènes dramatiques are conjured from audience repartee.  Imcredible!  Nonpareil!  Fantastique!  Vous will pis-pis votre coulettes!
Ze chamber opens at 7PM, with ze artistes mounting ze stage at 7:30PM. Ze reverie is finis at 9:30PM.

In ze best Bastille traditione, “Let them eat cake!” for refreshements pâtisseries and boissons will be for sale on premise.

JULY 14, 2012, 7:30 PM
526 Main Street, Half Moon Bay, CA 94019

8€ ($10) for Messieurs, madames
4€ ($5) for garçons et les filles (under 12)

Ze Liberté, égalité, Fraternité cartes permit 4 to attend for ze price of trois!

Tickets (and informaçion sans sille accent Français) availabel at http://www.blueblanketimprov.com

(Disclaimer legalistique:  Ze Government Francaise surrenders that it has zero to do with ze parution.  il est pure parodie.)

Coastside Adult Day Health Center will hold a Wine and Cheese Reception on Thursday, July 26 from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm at 645 Correas Street in Half Moon Bay.

Community members are invited to meet staff members and learn more about the services that the Center has provided for the last 30 years to keep the frail elderly as healthy and independent as possible.

Don’t miss the screening on Friday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. of two serious works of art in Half Moon Bay.

Short: Taylor, the Latte Boy (4 minutes)

A music video by Rikki Condos and her friends from Pacifica’s Terra Nova High School. Cut to a Kristin Chenoweth song. Who’d have thought that love could be so caffeinated?

Feature: Gold Diggers of 1933 (96 minutes)

“Gold Diggers is as savvy and hip a denouncement of the status quo as hard times can produce.” — Erich Kuersten, Film Experience blog.

This film was recommended to us by a panel of economists who saw it as a superb parable of how smart people should behave during the last jobless recovery.  An 80-year-old Busby Berkeley musical extravaganza that can teach us how to weather the current financial storm? We had to check it out.

The movie opens with Ginger Rogers leading hundreds of showgirls dancing their hearts out while wearing only strategically placed gold coins and singing one of the show’s big hits — “We’re in the Money” — sometimes in Pig Latin. Yes, it is zany, but serious folks also believe that deep currents run underneath all this kaleidoscopic glitter.

John Greco of Twenty Four Frames calls the opening “ironic and iconic ... a brilliant start to what is probably the grittiest musical ever made.” The grit begins when the sheriff arrives to shut the rehearsal down and seize the property and costumes — including the coins keeping Ginger modest — to pay off the show’s debtors. Plenty more goes wrong; after all, “it’s the depression, dearie.”

This opening scene sets up the tone for the rest of the story. The three leads (played by Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondel and Aline MacMahon) are singers and dancers forced to share a tiny apartment with a single bed and one good audition dress. Of course there is a madcap struggle to come up with enough money to bring their show to life. Along the way there are a few mistaken identities, madcap love affairs and lots and lots of outrageously lavish musical numbers.

This a movie that is light-hearted, sexy and witty — but also has an underlying dark undertone and richly drawn characters that gave it enough gravitas to earn it a place in the National Film Registry.

Is Gold Diggers 1933 just a bit of frothy fun? Or as John Greco asserts, is it “One of the strongest political indictments to come from, not just a musical film, but from any film”?  Come to the screening and judge for yourself .

Parents be warned, Gold Diggers was produced before the film code of standards took effect. Lots of chorus girls are shown in various states of dress and undress and the dialog can be risqué in a 1930’s sort of way.

Community United Methodist Sanctuary
777 Miramontes St., Half Moon Bay
(corner of Johnston Street)
Suggested donation: $8 adults, $3 for children and students

More info at: www.hmbfilm.org

Rob Pappalardo, member of the Cabrillo Unified School District board and Measure S co-chair, spoke on the Coastsider Podcast about the bond measure on Tuesday’s ballot.

In our conversation, Rob discusses the school board’s process in putting together the bond, the cost to the public, and addresses some of the criticisms of the bond measure that have been raised by the public.

Coastsiders have come out strongly both in favor of the measure and against it.  Others are confused about claims that are coming from the two sides. We hope that this interview will clarify the issue for those who are still on the fence.

Listen to this podcast (not available in Firefox) [length: 38:20]

Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes to get Coastsider Podcast interviews as soon as they're released, or subscribe using our podcast RSS Feed .

Or you can download Rob Pappalardo on CUSD Bond Measure S directly to your computer.