FILM SCREENINGS

Sunnyside Up

1929. USA. Directed by David Butler. With Janet Gaynor, Charles Farrell. One of Hollywood’s first movie musicals, this immensely popular film was the first full-length talkie for Gaynor and Farrell, “America’s favorite lovebirds.” And though Gaynor may not have had the voice of a nightingale, her irrepressible charm and waif-like innocence lifted the spirits of Depression-era audiences. Sunnyside Up features wonderful songs by the sterling Broadway team of Buddy DeSylva, Lew Brown, and Ray Henderson—including “If I Had a Talking Picture of You” and “(I’m a Dreamer) Aren’t We All”—and the show-stopping production number “Turn on the Heat,” in which nubile chorus girls transform an Arctic tundra into a tropical jungle (even the bananas get turned on!). Restored by The Museum of Modern Art, with funding from The Film Foundation. 120 min.