The Big Night
With John Barrymore, Jr., Preston Foster, Joan Lorring.
US, 1953, 35mm, black & white, 75 min.
Print source: George Eastman House
Among Losey's most powerful and personal films are those that deal, like The Big Night, with youth and the difficult passage into the adult world. John Barrymore, Jr. gives the performance of his tragically foreshortened career in this story of a young man shaken to the core by the sight of his father's humiliation at the hand of a sadistic mobster. Wandering through seedy nightspots, the boy encounters a frightening and fascinating nocturnal world that he has never known. By carefully refusing expected stereotypes, the refreshingly awkward and unpredictable characters in The Big Night reveal the complexity and nuance of character and motivation that stands among the important achievements of Losey's cinema.
PRECEDED BY
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A Child Went Forth
Directed by Joseph Losey.
US, 1941, 35mm, black & white, 20 min.
Print source: Museum of Modern Art
An early expression of Losey's fascination with alternate perspectives of childhood, this rarely screened poetic documentary depicts life at a progressive camp where rote education is replaced by unsupervised interaction. A product of Losey's association with the seminal leftist film group Frontier Films, A Child Went Forth features the poignant music of noted composer Hans Eisler and the able photography of John Ferno (The Spanish Earth). Losey sold the film to the US government, who saw the short as an effective tool to prepare parents for the possible evacuation of children from cities to rural areas, should that become necessary during the upcoming World War, as it did in London during the Blitz.
