The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson, an Administrative Assistant at the Packard Campus.
Thursday, March 17 (7:30pm)
Darby O’Gill and the Little People (Disney/Buena Vista, 1959)
Frisky old storyteller Darby O’Gill (Albert Sharpe) matches wits with the king of the leprechauns and helps play matchmaker for his daughter and Michael McBride (Sean Connery), the strapping lad who has replaced him as caretaker of Lord Fitzpatrick’s estate in a small Irish town. Robert Stevenson directed this family fantasy adventure. Leonard Maltin calls the film, “An utter delight, with dazzling special effects–and some truly terrifying moments along with the whimsy.” 93 minutes.
Friday, March 18 (7:30 p.m.)
Our Town (United Artists, 1940)
Sam Wood directed this sensitive adaptation of Thornton Wilder’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Our Town, about life in the fictional New Hampshire town of Grover’s Corners in the years 1900 through 1913. Frank Craven, repeating his stage role as the story’s narrator, chronicles the lives of a handful of the town’s citizens. The film features a top-notch cast including Martha Scott, who was Oscar-nominated for Best Actress, William Holden, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee, Fay Bainter and Beulah Bondi, as well as an evocative score by Aaron Copland and outstanding production design by William Cameron Menzies. Our Town was nominated for five additional Oscars including Best Picture. The 35 mm, newly restored film print is courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archive. Also on the program, the 1935 Vitaphone Keystone Kops comedy short, Keystone Hotel. 110 minutes.
Saturday, March 19 (2 p.m.)
Charley and the Angel (Disney/Buena Vista, 1973)
Fred MacMurray stars in this inspirational family comedy as Charley Appleby, the owner of a small hardware store during the Great Depression who’s so busy with his business that he’s neglected his family. When a shabby-looking angel (Harry Morgan) appears to tell him that “his number is up,” Charley changes his ways to become a better person in the time that’s left for him. The supporting cast includes Kurt Russell and Cloris Leachman, who was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy. The film, directed by Vincent McEveety, is based on The Golden Evenings of Summer, a 1971 novel written by Will Stanton. 93 minutes.
Saturday, March 19 (7:30 p.m.)
The Road to Wellville (Columbia, 1993 – R-rated *)
Based on T. C. Boyle’s novel, The Road to Wellville is a fictional look at Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the Battle Creek Sanitarium, and the health-mania craze that sprang up in the late 19th century, focused in the town of Battle Creek, MI. The story centers on Will Lightbody (Matthew Broderick), who has come to the Sanitarium with his wife (Bridget Fonda), after she has unwittingly damaged his health with a snake-oil cure for drinking. Along with the Lightbodys is Charles Ossining (John Cusack), who has come to Battle Creek to start a breakfast cereal company of his own along with the dubious Goodloe Bender (Michael Lerner). Add to this mix the eccentric staff and clientele of the “San,” including the good doctor himself (played with gusto by Sir Anthony Hopkins), and you have one of the most unique films of decidedly questionable taste ever produced. Directed by Sir Alan Parker, the brilliant cast also includes Dana Carvey, Colm Meaney, John Neville, and Camryn Mannheim. *No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian. 118 minutes.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.