Keepers of the Frame

A Phoenix pick

As the disparate talking heads (Leonard Maltin, Debbie Reynolds, Alan Alda, Stan Brakhage) point out in Mark McLaughlin's wry documentary about film preservation, the feeling that film is immortal is as illusory as the medium itself. From the combustible nitrate of early film stock to the fading color dye of Technicolor, not much of the dominant art form of the 20th century, and its greatest historical record, will survive into the next millennium unless the painstaking efforts of dedicated organizations like the American Film Institute and the Library of Congress are supported and extended.

Fortunately, the makers of this film realize that people prefer entertainment to preaching, and Frame captures much of the magic and beauty of more than 100 years of cinema in snippets ranging from The Great Train Robbery to home movies from the '50s. It also demonstrates a subtle wit when the effects of celluloid disintegration are shown in afflicted footage from Meet John Doe -- the scene, yes, in which Gary Cooper is cut off from speaking his piece on the radio. Not only does Frame make a cogent case for preservation, it is itself an example of what's worth preserving. Screens at the Copley Place Thursday, September 16 at 7:45 and 10 p.m. and Friday, Septmebr 17 at 11:15 a.m. and 1:30 and 4 p.m.

-- Peter Keough

---

Film Festival Feature Films

| The Minus Man | The Tavern | Black Eyed Dog | The Last September | A Wake in Providence | Man of the Century | Pups | Dreaming of Joseph Leeds | Wisdom of Crocodiles | That's The Way I Like It | American Beauty | Mifune | Black Cat, White Cat | Hit and Runway | All the LIttle Animals | Me Myself I | The Alchemist and the Virgin | Trash | Old Man River | The Poet and the Con | Snow Falling on Cedars | Guinevere | East is East | American Movie | Rivers of Babylon | Two Ninas | Rats | Keepers of the Frame | The Runner |

---

More Boston Film Festival information, film descriptions, and show times

---