September 14, 2010

6:30

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Albert Lewin's 1945 film,The Picture of Dorian Gray, is the definitive adaptation of Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel of the same name. Dorian Gray, played by Hurd Hatfield, is a young aristocrat in 19th century London. While posing for a painting by his friend Basil Hallward (Lowell Gilmore), Dorian meets Lord Henry Watton, devilishly played by George Sanders.  Lord Watton convinces Dorian that the only life worth living is one dedicated entirely to pleasure. When Dorian makes an idle wish that his portrait could age instead of him, it is mysteriously granted. Angela Lansbury and Donna Reed also star, as young women courted by Dorian.  Lansbury won a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. The film won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography, Black and White, and a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.  (110 min.)

October 12, 2010

6:30

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This 1923 adaptation of Victor Hugo's epic novel is notable for the grand sets that recall 15th century Paris, as well as for Lon Chaney's performance as the tortured bell-ringer of Notre Dame, Quasimodo. Ordered to kidnap a young gypsy girl, Esmeralda (Patsy Ruth Miller), Quasimodo is caught and publicly whipped. Esmeralda brings him water, and earns his eternal loyalty. When she is later unjustly sentenced to death, Quasimodo comes to her rescue.  He carries her to the Notre Dame Cathedral, where he rains stone blocks and molten lead on the crowds below. Chaney's great performance in this silent film made him a major film star.  There are no surviving 35mm prints of the film. It exists only because Universal released it as a 16mm Show-at-Home Library print in the 1920s, and all extant prints derive from these 16mm prints. (110 min.)

November 9, 2010

6:30

Being There

Being There, a 1979 adaptation of Jerzy Kosinski’s novella, stars Peter Sellers as Chance, a guileless, middle-aged man who has spent most of his life as a live-in gardener. When Eve Rand (Shirley MacLaine) hits him with her car, she and her tycoon husband, Ben (Melvyn Douglas), take Chance into their home. His simple observations are interpreted as pearls of wisdom, and he rises to a position of fame and power at the top of Washington society, which he doesn't understand or care about in the least. Douglas won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role and Sellers was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The screenplay won the 1981 BAFTA Best Screenplay Award and the 1980 Writers Guild of America Award for Best Comedy Adapted from Another Medium. (130 min.)