By LiLi Tan
Daily Bruin Contributor
Students and faculty will have an excellent opportunity to see
the distinction between social issues and entertainment diminish
when eight of director Joseph Losey’s films screen at the
James Bridges Theater.
The UCLA Film and Television Archive is currently showing some
of Losey’s works, through May 25. Though two of his American
films, “The Big Night” and “The Prowler,”
already jump-started “A Joseph Losey Sampler” two
nights ago, viewers still have the chance to catch his six European
movies: “The Servant,” “Mr. Klein,”
“The Damned,” “The Boy with Green Hair,”
“The Go-Between” and “Accident.”
“We couldn’t do service to Losey’s entire
career, so we decided to show some highlights from his career in
America and especially in Europe,” said Cheng-Sim Lim, an
Archive programmer.
One reason Losey serves to be a very important figure in
cinematic history is because he was part of a generation of
filmmakers who were blacklisted in the 1950s. While in exile, he
still managed to direct in Europe.
“Losey was born in Wisconsin in 1909 but had to leave this
country because he was blacklisted during the McCarthy era for his
left-wing political convictions and associations,” said
Foster Hirsch, author of the book “Joseph Losey.”
“He relocated his career to Europe and re-made his career
primarily based in London, but also worked in Paris.”
His work in Europe made him more renowned in France and England
than in America. The critical acclaim is heavily due to
Losey’s style of directing.
“He uses stylistic markers that we don’t seem to
approve of anymore such as long takes, gliding takes and slow
camera movement. The setting of the story is always
important,” Hirsch said.
Losey’s fascination with the environment of his films
allowed the settings to accent the characters. The auteur utilized
places to give the film yet another dimension.
“In “˜The Servant,’ the house becomes a
character equal in importance as the master and servant there in
the foreground,” Hirsch continued. “The place always
comments on the characters and achieves a kind of texture and
density of its own.”
Along with the important role that settings played in
Losey’s films, the dialogue was also a big part of his work.
Three of the eight screenplays showing were written by Harold
Pinter, a major British playwright. Pinter’s scripts
influenced Losey’s style greatly, giving his style a very
English tone. Pinter’s screenplays allowed audiences room to
interpret the characters for themselves.
“Pinter’s characters wouldn’t say everything
that was on their minds. There would be long pauses, and the pauses
were filled with potential entrapment,” Hirsch said.
“So, it isn’t so much what was said as what was left
unsaid.”
Pinter’s screenplays offered characters that often would
not complete their sentences, speaking very enigmatically and
cryptically. The real drama occurred during the times of
silence.
Losey’s films did not receive critical acclaim just for
his style. He explored avenues of society that would merge society
and Hollywood together.
“He’s one of those filmmakers who has brought to
bear his passion for social justice and social issues, and
he’s been able to match that passion with inventive
filmmaking,” Lim said. “Losey is one of the rare
filmmakers who has been able to defy the lines between
entertainment and politics.”
The famed director took on issues like social class, which was a
very touchy subject in England at that time. He used the topic of
class lines in England and put those social issues on the big
screen.
“All of his films in England were about social class
because that was the preoccupying subject of English literature at
the time,” Hirsch continued. “Losey’s films were
very much about the relationship across class lines which used to
be very treacherous in England.”
Losey offers films that will allow viewers to experience a part
of the history of film that people may not know about. As Hirsch
puts it, Losey is from a very important chapter in Hollywood
history that does not get a lot of attention, but needs to.
FILM: “A Joseph Losey Sampler” is now screening at
the James Bridges Theater. Admission is $6 ““ $4 for seniors
and students. For more information, call (310) 206-8013 or visit
www.cinema.ucla.edu.