Seed
Chazen Museum of Art 750 University Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: USA | 1931 | 35mm | 89 min.
Director: John M. Stahl; Cast: Lois Wilson, John Boles, Bette Davis
One of the greatest of all early talkie melodramas, Seed is the story of a discontented writer who abandons his wife and children for an old flame who is now a successful publisher. Director Stahl, after establishing himself with a series of successful silent films that examined marriage and relationships, takes an approach that is “self-effacing to the point of invisibility, and the film is all the more piercing for its simplicity, restraint, and bracing dryness” (Imogen Sara Smith). Print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Sunday Cinematheque at the Chazen: It’s a Universal Picture
This lineup of movies released by Universal Pictures from 1928-1936 shows how one of the smallest of the major studios, under the leadership of head honcho Carl Laemmle Jr., held their own with a variety of fun and fast-paced features that delivered innovation in a number of genres: melodramas, comedies, thrillers, war stories, musicals and horror movies. Our series partly focuses on Universal’s top-flight, best-known directors like William Wyler, John Stahl and James Whale, but you will also have a chance to discover the expressive and riveting work of Edward L. Cahn, Paul Fejos, and others. As a bonus, many of the features will be preceded by animated preludes starring Universal’s top cartoon star of the day, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Special Thanks to Dave Kehr, whose series of Universal discoveries curated for New York’s Museum of Modern Art and Bologna’s Il Cinema Ritrovato provided significant inspiration.
Admission free for all screenings, seating limited. No admission 15 minutes after scheduled start times.