35th Anniversary Screening of Electric Dreams

On Saturday, September 7, I had the good fortune to catch a 35th anniversary screening of an obscure 1980s' romantic comedy called Electric Dreams (1984). It was held at a small arthouse theater in Santa Ana, California, the Frida Cinema, about 35 miles from my home in West L.A., in Orange County. Appearing at the screening were the film’s leads—Virginia Madsen and Lenny von Dohlen—as well as the screenwriter, Rusty Lemorande. When I say obscure, I’m not kidding, as the film has never been released on DVD in the U.S. and was only in theaters for two weeks (more on that below).

The film was followed by a Q&A with Madsen, von Dohlen and Lemorande, and then a signing.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere on this blog, I have a special fondness for Electric Dreams, which was the film debut for Madsen and von Dohlen. Though the film did well internationally, it was in theaters in the U.S. only briefly. The film developed a cult following shortly afterwards, thanks apparently to repeated showings on HBO. Its reputation as a hard-to-find film has been boosted by its lack of availability on DVD in the U.S., though it is available overseas. A low-quality version is available on YouTube and I owned it on VHS for many years before burning it onto a DVD (by then, the VHS print had also faded badly).

Set in San Francisco, the film is a romantic comedy featuring a love triangle between a boy, a girl and his computer—Miles is a young, awkward architect who, at the dawn of the desktop computer revolution, purchases a computer to help him with his research on an earthquake-resistant brick, and Madeline is a cellist with a local symphony orchestra. Shortly after the beginning of the story, Madeline moves into the apartment above Miles and the two soon strike up a relationship. However, after a series of mishaps, the computer becomes sentient and falls in love with Madeline through her music. Jealous of Miles, the computer (who we find out later has named himself Edgar) tries to get Miles out of the picture by taking over his life by ruining his credit, putting him on a most wanted list, and trapping him in the house. (Edgar was voiced by actor Bud Cort, who reportedly did his lines on set in a box so that the actors wouldn’t have to interact with a “real” person—the organizers of the show said they did make an attempt to get Cort to come to make an appearance as well.)

As I have mentioned in my own review—and as the actors discussed on stage during the Q&A—the film was a little ahead of its time in demonstrating the threat to privacy and the vulnerability of personal information in our web-connected world. That said, the film is at its heart a romantic comedy not a cautionary tale—a modern-day re-telling of Cyrano Debergerac, with Miles taking credit for music composed by the computer. So the dangers of having our information online is really only a minor side note to the film and played mostly for laughs, adding just a bit of tension and conflict to the final act of the story.

Before the screening started, two members of the film’s programming staff came out to introduce the film—it turned out both were fans of the movie and, based on this shared love, decided on this anniversary celebration. They then brought out Madsen onto the stage, who expressed being touched by the turnout.

At the start of the Q&A that followed, Lemorande and the actors first spoke about their experiences on the film. For Madsen and von Dohlen, because it was their first film project, they bonded closely and have maintained a close friendship over the years, which was clear in their interactions with each other. (The film was actually shot in England, though the exterior shots were filmed on location in San Francisco, where the film takes place). In addition to citing Cyrano as an inspiration, Lemorande also shared some behind-the-scenes information that was new to even the actors.

First, after asking the audience who first saw the film in the theater—only about a third had (as had I)—he said those of us who did were lucky because it was in theaters for only two weeks. He noted in those days films were given time to find an audience, mentioning it took 9 weeks for the popular comedy Caddyshack to catch on. Apparently, the head of MGM, which held the film’s North American distribution rights, pulled Electric Dreams from theaters to give time for the soundtrack (which featured Jeff Lynne and Boy George/Culture Club, who was huge at the time), to make the charts—the plan was to then re-release the film to theaters on the strength of the soundtrack. A week after the film was pulled, however, the head of MGM was fired, effectively killing the plan and the film’s prospects.

During the Q&A, Lemorande also gave full credit to the two leads for their fine work—indeed, the performances and chemistry of the two leads really are the heart of the film. In response to a question from the audience, Madsen said the two had never met before the first day of shooting and there had been no rehearsals; she did mention, however, that the location shooting in San Francisco did give them a chance to bond before the production moved to England. (Lemorande mentioned that one of the first scenes shot for the movie was the last scene, which he said would be done today, but the leads pulled it off wonderfully.)

One of the moderators also noted how progressive and self-possessed a character Madeline is, which was also a bit ahead of its time—rather than Miles being an aggressive suitor, she is the one trying to send Miles signals of her interest, while at the same time also dating a fellow musician.

One other funny tidbit – Bud Cort, who did the voice of the computer, didn't record his lines in post, he did them on set, but from within a box so that the other actors wouldn't be thrown by interacting with a live actor. Both actors thought that was strange but since this was their first film, they didn't question it (von Dohlen said he saw him once on set by accident.) Ironically, the theater’s lobby has a collage of characters from classic movies -- and Bud Cort is on there from Harold and Maude!)

Lemorande also noted that since Virgin Pictures was producing the film, they insisted that only Virgin artists be on the soundtrack. (This is also why the movie was shot in England—though, of course, the exterior shots were done on location in San Francisco, prior to moving the production overseas.)

Though the film is available overseas in digital format, complicated U.S. distribution rights have delayed the film’s availability on DVD/Bluray in the U.S., though Lemorande said he expected them to be sorted out soon (given how long it’s been, I’ll believe it when I see it!)

In any case, it was a lovely evening where the actors and screenwriter got to feel the love from an appreciative audience. After the Q&A, the three went into the main lobby for a signing. Though I had forgotten to bring my VHS copy of the film for them to autograph, the theater had mini-posters on hand for this very reason.