Busby Berkeley

In 1971, Henri Langlois mounted an impressive Busby Berkeley retrospective at the Cinematheque Française—the first ever held in France—and this episode was made in conjunction with that. Using excerpts from several of his legendary numbers from 42nd Street, Dames and Gold Diggers of 1933, Berkeley discusses the technical challenges he faced: how to set up a shot with 100 women in a swimming pool, how to multiply the image of a couple dancing, how to have the camera dive from the roof of Warner Brothers. (60m)

Screening with: 
A Conversation with George Cukor / Conversation avec George Cukor
Hubert Knapp & André S. Labarthe | 1969 | France | 42m

After the success of the initial episodes of the series, Labarthe and company went to America where they made films with some of the surviving giants of Hollywood cinema. George Cukor is filmed seated next to his swimming pool; the film divides into two parts, the first consecrated to Camille with Greta Garbo, the second to The Philadelphia Story with Katharine Hepburn. In each, he details his work with actors, as well as speculates on some of the key influences on his art.

Images courtesy of WARNER BROS. / THE KOBAL COLLECTION