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The American Cinematheque celebrates the 85th Anniversary of the Egyptian Theatre with a year-long series of films that originally premiered or opened at the Egyptian. The Egyptian Opened October 18, 1922 with ROBIN HOOD starring Douglas Fairbanks. Click for more Egyptian Theatre history.

WINGS, 1927, Paramount, 139 min. Join us to celebrate th 85^th Anniversary of the Egyptian Theatre with a screening of William A. Wellman’s classic, the first movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture. This WWI epic features breath-taking aerial stunts blended with real battle footage. But there isalso a struggle of the heart as two pilots/friends (Richard Arlen, Charles "Buddy" Rogers) rival for the love of the samewoman. Meanwhile, "It Girl" Clara Bow waits patiently for the man she loves. With an early Gary Cooper appearance. Booksigning with William Wellman, Jr. in-person for The Man & His Wings: William A. Wellman and the Making of the First Best Picture. [WINGS did not originally premiere at the Egyptian Theatre]. Live musical accompaniment by Dean Mora. Join us for a toast and cake prior to the screening. Sponsored by Copolla Vineyards.

Wednesday, November 14 – 7:30 PM

Egyptian 85^th Anniversary Screening!

THE COVERED WAGON, 1923, Paramount, 98 min. Dir. James Cruze. Join us for this classic silent western, the second film ever to open at the Egyptian Theatre -- 85 years ago! Mostly shot-on-location in Utah and Nevada, with a swelling cast of thousands of extras, this is a sterling example of what a big budget blockbuster looked like nearly a century ago. Its success spurred more epic westerns to come, such as John Ford’s acclaimed early effort THE IRON HORSE. Based on Emerson Hough’s then-popular novel, The Covered Wagon, Paramount bankrolled this $782,000 spectacular (a gargantuan amount in early 1920s dollars) about beleagured pioneers on their long trek of westward expansion and settlement. Local families were paid $2 a day for rental of their heirloom covered wagons. With James Cruze behind the camera, a tapestry of individual stories unfolds, centering on pioneer characters played by then popular J. Warren Kerrigan, Lois Wilson, Ernest Torrence (TOL’ABLE DAVID) and Alan Hale (who went on to a prodigious career as a much-loved character actor in scores of 1930’s and 1940’s Warner Brothers classics.) Live musical accompaniment on piano by Daniel Redfield. Paramount's AC Lyles to introduce the screening.

Thursday, December 13 – 8:00 PM

50^th Anniversary: PAL JOEY, 1957, Columbia, 111 min. Dir. George Sidney. Celebrating yet another film that played at the Egyptian on its initial release (50 years ago!) Kim Novak stars alongside Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth in this musical tale of showbiz romance. When "mousy" chorus girl Linda English (Novak) holds out against the advances of womanizing crooner Joey Evans (Sinatra), his interest in her increases ten-fold. Wealthy widow and financier Vera Simpson (Hayworth) meets Joey and agrees to underwrite his private nightclub venture, but has a jealous change of heart when she learns of his affections for the young Linda. A Kinoscope transfer of KABC's 6 minute press preview coverage of the premiere of PAL JOEY will be shown prior to the film. Featuring Frank Sinatra, Betty White, Harry Cohn & High O'Brien.

OKLAHOMA!, 1955, IDP Distributions, 145 min. Dir. Fred Zinnemann. Zinnemann (A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS; HIGH NOON) directs Shirley Jones, Gordon MacRae, Rod Steiger, Eddie Albert and Gloria Grahame in this dynamic, showstopping version of the famous Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, OKLAHOMA! Two turn-of-the-20th-century cowboys find love with Grahame and Jones and stubbornly deal with their feelings while an evil hired hand and a common peddler try to ruin the romance. The Oscar winner for Best Music also features astonishing, revolutionary choreography by Agnes de Mille. OKLAHOMA! originally premiered at the Egyptian Theatre, and is another one of Robert Surtees’ (BEN-HUR, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) sixteen Academy Award nominations for cinematography. The Egyptian Theatre was extensively renovated by producer Michael Todd in preparation for OKLAHOMA!’s widescreen premiere. Discussion following the film with actress Shirley Jones.

THE IRON HORSE, 1924, 20th Century Fox, 133 min. Director John Ford, already no stranger to silent film westerns, helms his biggest to date. The picture made George O’Brien, a former stuntman, into a silent movie idol, and he went on to become a Ford stock player (with prominent supporting roles in such films as FORT APACHE). Perfectly cast as Davey Brandon, a surveyor who dreams of constructing a transcontinental railroad, O’Brien joins a gigantic cast of both real (Abraham Lincoln, Buffalo Bill) and fictional characters, all co-mingling in this epic saga of western expansion. Fox Studios commenced the production more than willingly, hoping to out-gun Paramount’s huge western box-office hit, THE COVERED WAGON from the previous year. And like that sprawling frontier behemoth, THE IRON HORSE took on a life of its own, mushrooming into the biggest film the studio had yet produced. Ford and his crew traveled all over, shooting on authentic locations in Mexico, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. "John Ford's first American epic is not a birth of a nation, but its physical and symbolic unification in the wake of the Civil War. It is, in many ways, the birth of Ford's essential themes: the meeting of cultures (the Irish, the Italian, and in a rather token way, the Chinese laborers of the West Coast), the sprouting of civilization (at least as defined by the American settlers) in the wilderness, and the building of a community in a shared purpose." – Sean Axmaker, Turner Classic Movies Presented on our new d-cinema projector system, courtesy of DMX, Inc. Introduction by historian/author Robert Birchard who did the commentary for THE IRON HORSE DVD.

SHOW BOAT, 1951, Warner Bros., 107 min. Director George Sidney helmed this lavish color remake of the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein musical, an update of the Edna Ferber novel. It offers comedy and drama aboard the Cotton Blossom, a floating entertainment venue plying the Mississippi River in the 1890s. When someone informs the authorities that Julie LaVerne (Ava Gardner), star attraction singer of the Cotton Blossom show boat, is of mixed race parentage, the then-in-place miscegenation laws kick in, and she and her husband (Robert Sterling) are suddenly out of their jobs. Magnolia Hawks (Kathryn Grayson), daughter of the ship's captain (Joe E. Brown), replaces Julie and is soon bringing in her own huge fan base, as well as admirers like Gaylord Ravenal (Howard Keel), a suave, reprobate gambler who eventually marries her. Unfortunately, when the money runs out, Ravenal decides to skip town, not realizing he has left Magnolia pregnant. With Marge and Gower Champion, Agnes Moorehead, Leif Erickson. "SHOW BOAT...launched as a novel...and as a Broadway musical hit a year later, has steamed across the screen twice before, in 1929 and 1936, but never with such a lavish hand at the helm. M-G-M poured $2,400,000 into the latest voyage, refitted the venerable Cotton Blossom with a bright profusion of crisply Technicolored costumes, sets and vistas. The memorable Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein II score ("Ol' Man River," "Make Believe," "Why Do I Love You?") is as dependable a mainstay as ever." -- Time Magazine

THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, 1964, Warner Bros., 128 min. Dir. Charles Walters. This big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical earned Debbie Reynolds many critical accolades, including an Oscar nomination. When the charming, hard-working hillbilly Brown finds herself vaulted to high society after her husband (Harve Presnell, in his movie debut) strikes it rich, gaining the respect of her new peers proves to be a grand struggle. In the title role, Reynolds plays the legendary woman who, after rising from rags to riches, went on to famously survive the sinking of the Titanic. Includes the songs, "I Ain’t Down Yet", "Belly Up to the Bar, Boys" and "He’s My Friend." THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN originally premiered at the Egyptian.