| Movies with Holiday Spirit,
Screwball Comedies & Big Screen Classics http://www.myspace.com/americancinematheque
Portions of this series also take place at the Egyptian Theatre Hollywood!
Friday, December 18 - 7:30 PM
Double Feature: A CHRISTMAS STORY, 1983, Warner Bros., 94 min. Dir. Bob
Clark. This nostalgic cult Christmas comedy, told from the perspective of Ralphie Parker
(Peter Billingsley), focuses on his overwhelming desire to get "an official Red
Ryder, carbine-action, 200-shot range model air rifle," despite the fact that all the
adults around him tell him that he’ll "shoot his eye out"! Trailer
REMEMBER THE NIGHT, 1940, Universal, 94 min.
Dir. Mitchell Leisen. In this romantic holiday classic, Barbara Stanwyck is arrested for
shoplifting during the Christmas season. District Attorney Fred MacMurray is assigned to
prosecute her, but instead falls in love. Preston Sturges (SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS) wrote
the witty and surprisingly nostalgic script just before he turned to directing.
Saturday, December 19 - 4:00 PM
Family Matinee! "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol," 1962, NBC, 52 min. Join us
for a screening of the first animated Christmas special, which premiered on NBC in 1962.
With music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Bob Merrill and the voices of Jim Backus, Jack
Cassidy, Jane Kean and Morey Amsterdam, this 52-minute adaptation of Dickens - cleverly
presented as a play within a play (with the nearsighted Magoo playing Scrooge on Broadway)
- paved the way for a slew of animated holiday specials. The first people to arrive
will get a dvd of "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" to take home. Following the screening, a panel including animator Darrell Van Citters,
author of the new book "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, the Making of the
First Animated Christmas Special" from Oxberry Press and Key Layout Artist
Bob Singer, actors Marie Mathews (Young Scrooge) and Jane Kern (Belle) will examine the
making of the program and its place in television history. Clip
Saturday, December 19 - 7:30 PM
70 mm! LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, 1962, Sony Repertory, 216 min. This
sweeping epic of Arab infighting and British colonialism is as timely as ever, and as
beautiful. In his first feature, Peter O'Toole stars in director David Lean's masterpiece,
lensed to perfection by Freddie Young, set to Maurice Jarre's majestic score. The amazing
cast includes Omar Sharif (in his first major English-speaking role), Anthony Quinn, Jack
Hawkins, Claude Rains and Alec Guinness. Made to be seen on the big screen! Trailer
Sunday, December 20 - 4:00 PM
Family Matinee! IT’S
A WONDERFUL LIFE, 1946, Paramount, 130 min. Director Frank Capra’s inspiring
tale balances pathos and joy in the tale of distraught. George Bailey (James Stewart at
his finest), who is about to commit suicide on Christmas Eve – that is, until the
helpful, elderly angel Clarence (Henry Travers) shows him what that would mean to those
around him. Featuring Donna Reed as the love of George’s life, in the role that
launched her to stardom, and a young, charming Gloria Grahame. If you’ve only seen it
on TV, see it on the big screen, the way it was meant to be seen. Trailer
Sunday, December 20 -7:30 PM
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, 1946, Paramount, 130
min. Director Frank Capra’s inspiring tale balances pathos and joy in the tale of
distraught. George Bailey (James Stewart at his finest), who is about to commit suicide on
Christmas Eve – that is, until the helpful, elderly angel Clarence (Henry Travers)
shows him what that would mean to those around him. Featuring Donna Reed as the love of
George’s life, in the role that launched her to stardom, and a young, charming Gloria
Grahame. If you’ve only seen it on TV, see it on the big screen, the way it was meant
to be seen. Trailer
Saturday, December 26 - 7:30 PM SCREWBALL COMEDIES
Double Feature: THE MORE THE MERRIER, 1943, Sony Repertory, 104 min. Dir.
George Stevens. Jean Arthur reluctantly sublets half her apartment to retired millionaire
Charles Coburn - who promptly sublets half of his half to dreamy soldier Joel
McCrea! Coburn won an Oscar for his inspired performance in this captivating film, which
also was nominated for Best Picture, Director, Actress, Story and Screenplay.
IF ONLY YOU COULD COOK, 1935, Sony
Repertory, 72 min. Dir. William A. Seitzer. Jean Arthur plays a homeless woman who
persuades Herbert Marshall to pose as her husband so they can get maid-and-butler jobs.
(Natch, she doesn’t know that he’s really a millionaire.) Clip
Sunday, December 27 - 7:30 PM SCREWBALL COMEDIES
Double Feature: THE WOMEN, 1939, Warner Bros., 133 min. Dir. George Cukor. When Norma
Shearer discovers her husband is cheating on her, an all-star parade of MGM leading ladies
convenes to gossip and commiserate: Rosalind Russell, Joan Crawford, Marjorie Main, and
Joan Fontaine lead the all-female cast. Filmed in black and white, it features a dazzling
ten-minute fashion parade filmed in Technicolor, with wonderful gowns by Adrian (THE
WIZARD OF OZ, THE GREAT ZIEGFELD). Trailer
THE GOOD FAIRY, 1935, Universal, 98 min. Dir. William
Wyler. Before he became one of the world’s greatest comedy directors, Preston Sturges
scripted this gem about a well-meaning but naïve cinema usherette (Margaret Sullavan) who
inadvertently spreads chaos. Adapted from Ferenc Molnar’s farce, the comedy follows
Sullavan as she juggles men including Herbert Marshall and Frank Morgan, piling up comic
misunderstandings along the way. Trailer
Friday, January 1 - 5:00 PM
SCREWBALL COMEDIES
Marx Bros. Double Feature: HORSE FEATHERS, 1932, Universal, 68 min. Dir. Norman Z.
McLeod. The Marx Brothers’ zaniest film finds Groucho as the new president of Huxley
College, where his son (Zeppo!) is romancing Thelma Todd and Harpo and Chico have to
kidnap the star football players from rival Darwin. Trailer
DUCK SOUP, 1933, Universal, 68 min. Dir. Leo McCarey.
Margaret Dumont appoints Groucho (Rufus T. Firefly) as Prime Minister of Freedonia, and he
promptly declares war on a neighboring country for no particular reason. With the
legendary mirror sequence and Harpo and Chico’s mercurial harassing of the lemonade
vendor. Trailer
Saturday, January 2 - 7:30 PM SCREWBALL COMEDIES
Double Feature: IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, 1934, Sony Repertory, 105
min. Dir. Frank Capra. The first film to win all five major Oscars remains a jewel
of timing and charm, as runaway bride Claudette Colbert finds herself saddled with pushy
reporter Clark Gable, who smells the story of his career. Trailer
PLATINUM BLONDE, 1931, Sony Repertory, 90 min.
Dir. Frank Capra. Reporter Bobby Williams marries heiress Jean Harlow and quickly starts
to realize he’s woefully out of place in this, Frank Capra’s first successful
stab at screwball romantic comedy. Capra’s satire of the rich and celebration of the
working man were tailor-made for Depression-era audiences, and seem strangely timely now
as well…
Sunday, January 3 - 7:30 PM
SCREWBALL COMEDIES
W.C. Fields Double Feature: NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK, 1941, Universal, 71 min.
Dir. Edward F. Cline. W.C. Fields hopes to sell a script to Esoteric Studios. Which
includes Fields falling out of an airplane trying to retrieve a bottle and finding himself
in the home of Mrs. Hemogloben (Margaret Dumont) and a teenage girl (Gloria Jean) who
immediately falls in love with him. Also features Leon Errol and Franklin Pangborn. Clip
New Print! MAN ON THE FLYING TRAPEZE, 1935, Universal, 65 min. Dir.
Clyde Bruckman. Henpecked husband Ambrose Wolfinger (W.C. Fields) concocts a scheme to
leave work early so he can catch the exploits of his favorite wrestler, but is sabotaged
at every turn by his oddball family, especially his domineering wife (Kathleen Howard) and
mooching brother-in-law, Grady Sutton (THE BANK DICK). |
