Skip to content
OKCMOA Oklahoma City Museum of Art
  • Visit
  • Art
  • Film
  • Store
  • Search
Menu
  • Visit
  • Art
  • Film
  • Store
  • Search
Hamburger Menu Icon
Hamburger Menu Icon
  • Tickets
  • Membership
  • Donate
Menu
  • Tickets
  • Membership
  • Donate

Follow

Instagram LinkedIn Facebook Twitter YouTube
Instagram Facebook Twitter YouTube
  • Museum Blog
  • Museum Films Blog
  • Press
Menu
  • Museum Blog
  • Museum Films Blog
  • Press
  • August 5, 2016

Her Man (1930) & the August-September Museum Films Program

Share on facebook
Share on twitter
Share on linkedin
Share on email

Before I introduce the next two months of Museum Films programming at OKCMOA, let me first offer a few enthusiastic words for Tay Garnett’s Her Man (1930), which screened in newly restored 4K last night in the Noble Theater. Produced in the very early years of sound synchronization, at a time when the expressive camerawork of silent film’s late-twenties decadence had largely given way to static, sound-stage set-ups, director Garnett (The Postman Always Rings Twice) and his cinematographer Edward Snyder’s camera strides and glides, craning through the film’s disreputable gin joints, flop houses, and back alleys. The camera travels with the film’s lowlife cast of characters, and in one superlative example, the tin-plated tray that carries their spirits through the swarming space of the Thalia nightclub. It is a film, indeed, where the figures and more notably, the camera, consistently travels and moves forward through space–so much so that Her Man, in effect, makes an argument for cinema’s unique character among the visual arts, as a plastic art that presents physical movement. Her Man does the same with its deft manipulations of on and off-camera space, where the camera both discloses and withholds to dramatic effect, as when the film’s prime antagonist/villainous pimp Johnnie (a commendable Ricardo Cortez) tosses a knife in the back of a sex-trade rival off screen. Her Man’s camerawork, in other words, speaks not only to the expressive possibilities of film art, but also displays a sophisticated understanding of a cinematic space that includes both what the camera shows, and also what it hides again. This, once more, is largely a product of its spectacular movement through space, of a camera that does not sit back and observe action as if set back from a theatre stage–as again was so common in the very early sound era. Her Man is a marvel of mobile, long-take filmmaking and elegant framing; it anticipates not only the dizzying, subsequent experimentation of pre-Code Hollywood, but also the great European (cf. Jean Renoir and Max Ophüls) and Asian masterpieces that emerged later that decade.

Her Man is not all style and technical achievement. It is also a sweltering and exceptionally vivid love-triangle melodrama brought to life by Cortez and the film’s two flaxen lovebirds, petty thief/prostitute Frankie (Helen Twelvetrees) and sailor Dan (Phillips Holmes). Twelvetrees (her married name at the time) brings great allure, charm, and pathos to her tragic victim of circumstance; in one of the film’s most stirring moments, Dan arranges for Frankie to celebrate her birthday for the first time, after a life spent in dives like the Thalia, and without knowing the names of her parents or even her date-of-birth. Blowing out the nineteen matches with which Dan has decorated her cupcake, Frankie clicks her tongue in a throwaway gesture of jubilation that reveals the life that these performers give their down-and-out characters. Dan, on the other hand, is at once an instrument of audience desire in his pursuit of the comely young criminal, and is also a force and even object of spectacle in his own right: in a moment familiar to many 1930 features, he sings with his sailor friends; and, following a stem-winding fight- scene that culminates in Johnnie’s comeuppance, we see the cut young hero Dan’s striped sailor’s shirt ripped to smithereens. As is true of so many of the best films from Hollywood’s most invigoratingly disreputably moment, Her Man is a fantastically bizarre mash-up of various forms of excess.

Let me stop right there except to say that I sincerely hope the Oklahoma City reader was one of the more than fifty in attendance last night to see this marvelous example of wildly inventive pre-Code filmmaking. If not, at least the extremely belated reappearance and 4K digital restoration of Garnett’s masterpiece gives us reason to believe that this lost gem of the early sound cinema will finally surface, amazingly for the first time, on home video. For more on Her Man, see R. Emmet Sweeney’s contextualization and analysis at Movie Morlocks, TCM’s film criticism website.

***

Don’t despair–too much, you should despair a little–if you missed Her Man: Museum Films is also presenting two of Taiwanese martial arts maestro King Hu’s more entertaining masterworks, Dragon Inn (1967) and A Touch of Zen (1971), also in 4K digital. A Touch of Zen famously inspired Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s treetop ballet, while Dragon Inn provided the namesake (and appears in the background) of my own favorite film of the 2000s, Goodbye Dragon Inn (2003). August also brings, among other titles, tonight’s rousing double-feature of Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made and Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation, with a guest Skype Q&A featuring Indy himself, Chris Strompolis; deadCenter audience favorite, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, directed by What We Do in the Shadows’s Taika Waititi; the latest from art-house animation specialist GKids, Phantom Boy; and an exploration of our current technological landscape, Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World, conceived and narrated by the most distinctive “voice” in documentary, Werner Herzog.

Museum Films opens September with the top prize-winner at the 2015 Locarno Film Festival, and one of my own choices for the past year’s ten best, Right Now, Wrong Then, directed by the Piet Mondrian of the Korean art-house cinema, Hong Sang-soo; later on, we also will be bringing Oklahoma audiences My Love, Don’t Cross That River, a sentimental and moving documentary juggernaut that broke records in Hong’s native country of South Korea. September also features a tribute to the recently deceased Abbas Kiarostami with The Wind Will Carry Us (1999), the late, great Iranian master’s rumination on the human soul (and one of the best films of the prior two decades); easily one of the better American indies of 2016, Ira Sach’s wise and touching Little Men; and Italian auteur Nanni Moretti’s latest critical favorite, Mia Madre, which co-stars John Turturro.

Finally, and most exciting for me personally, is Museum Film’s original program of six new features from the world’s most populous nation, “Marginal Geographies: Independent Masterworks from China,” which opens with Kaili Blues (2015) on September 22. As I will write more in this space about this extraordinary program of fresh discoveries next month, let me simply point out that with the opening night film, Kaili Blues, we once again encounter a breathlessly inventive use of the moving camera.

Explore

Plan Your
Visit Now

Loading...
Go to page

Dale Chihuly: Magic & Light is Closed

Chihuly Glass Will Return! Dale Chihuly: Magic & Light is now closed. Check out our current exhibitions and learn more about the new Chihuly reinstallation, Chihuly Then and Now: The Collection at Twenty, opening in June 2022.

Loading...
Go to page
Currently On View

Current Exhibitions

View our open exhibitions at the Oklahoma City Museum of Art. From delicate glass pieces to painted portraits and hand-carved statues, we have everything you are interested in.

Loading...
Two women looking at bright colored floral arrangments.
Go to page
Upcoming

Calendar

From film screenings to fundraisers to community events, there's always something exciting happening at OKCMOA.

Store

Shop Now

Adler Torino Bar lifestyle

Creative Gifts

Person holding brightly colored bag

Chihuly Art

Phaidon multi book image

Books & Collectibles

Instagram Created with Lunacy Facebook Created with Lunacy Twitter Created with Lunacy
Search
OKC MOA logo

415 Couch Drive
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

405.236.3100
Hours
Wednesday- Thursday:11 am-5 pm
Friday:11 am-8 pm
Saturday:10 am-5 pm
Sunday:12-5 pm

Closed: Monday, Tuesday, and Major Holidays (New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day)

  • Visit
  • Art
  • Film
  • Store
  • Private Events

Support

  • Season Sponsors
  • Fundraisers

Community

  • Moderns
  • Film Society
  • Outreach
  • Membership
  • Corporate Partnership

About

  • Departments
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • History
  • Careers

Programs

  • Families
  • Educators
  • Adults
  • Outreach

News

  • Press
  • Blog
  • Films Blog

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, Oklahoma City, OK, 73102, http://www.okcmoa.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Select list(s) to subscribe to


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: Oklahoma City Museum of Art, 415 Couch Drive, Oklahoma City, OK, 73102, http://www.okcmoa.com. You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

© Copyright OKCMOA

  • Visit
  • Art
  • Film
  • Shop
Menu
  • Visit
  • Art
  • Film
  • Shop
  • Get Tickets
  • Become a Member
  • Donate
Menu
  • Get Tickets
  • Become a Member
  • Donate
  • Calendar
  • Learn & Engage
  • FAQs
  • About
  • Support OKCMOA
  • Press
Menu
  • Calendar
  • Learn & Engage
  • FAQs
  • About
  • Support OKCMOA
  • Press
Instagram Created with Lunacy Facebook Created with Lunacy Twitter Created with Lunacy
Museum and Store Hours

Wednesday- Thursday:11 am-5 pm
Friday:11 am-8 pm
Saturday:10 am-5 pm
Sunday:12-5 pm

Closed: Monday, Tuesday, and Major Holidays (New Year’s Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day)

Location

415 Couch Drive
Oklahoma City, OK 73102

Cafe Hours

Centre Bistro is closed. Follow us on social media and sign up for our newsletter for more information.

Film Admission
$5Film Society
$6Members
Military
Adult Groups of 15+
Children (5 & under)
$8Seniors (62+)
School Tours
College Students
Teens (13-18)
$10Adults
Museum Admission
FREE

Members
Children 17 & Under

$12Adults
$10Seniors (62+)
College Students
$5Military
Tours
Free

P-12th Grade School Groups

Children 17 and younger

$7/personAdults (10 or more)
$6.50/personSeniors (10 or more)
$3/person

College Students (10 or more)

Contact Us

(405) 236-3100

Instagram Created with Lunacy Facebook Created with Lunacy Twitter Created with Lunacy

Visit

Art

Exhibitions

Collection

Film

Virtual Cinema

Upcoming Screenings

Store

Cafe

Tickets

Membership

Donate

Calendar

Learn & Engage

Families

Private Events

Learn

  • Families
  • Educators
  • Adults
  • Accessibility
  • Virtual Field Trips

About

  • Departments
  • Contact
  • Annual Reports
  • History
  • Careers

Support

  • Season Sponsors
  • Fundraisers

Follow

  • Museum Blog
  • Museum Films Blog

Community

  • Moderns
  • Film Society
  • Outreach
  • Membership
  • Corporate Partnership

Press

  • Press
  • Artworks
  • Collections
  • Films
  • Events
  • Blog Posts

Admission

Currently on View

Dale Chihuly: Magic & Light is CLOSED.

Loading...
Loading...

From the Golden Age to the Moving Image

The Perfect Shot

Perception and Technique in Abstract Art

CALENDAR

General

Free

  • Members
  • Children (17 & Under)

$11.95 + tax

  • Adults

$9.95 + tax

  • Seniors (62+)
  • College Students

Free

  • Military
BUY TICKETS

Tours

(Per Person)

Free

  • p-12th Grade School Groups
    Children 17 and younger

$7
/person

  • Adults (10 or More)

$6.50
/person

  • Senior Tours
    (10 or More)

$3
/person

  • College Students (10 or more)

PLUS TAX

Schedule Tour

Film

Now Playing

Loading...
May 2, 2022
- May 31, 2022
Go to page

Museum Films in May 2022

View All Showtimes
FILM Tickets

Film Admission

$5

  • Film Society

$6

  • Military
  • Members
  • Adult groups of 15+ people
  • Children (12 and under)

$8

  • Seniors (62+)
  • School Tours
  • College Students
  • Teens (13-18)

$10

  • Adults

PLUS TAX

Current Screenings

Upcoming Screenings

Virtual Cinema