The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.
Thursday, August 2 (7:30 p.m.)
Mildred Pierce (Warner Bros., 1945)
This quintessential Joan Crawford film features Crawford as a housewife turned successful restauranteur who sacrifices all for her ungrateful daughter (Ann Blyth). Ranald McDougall wrote the screenplay for this melodrama, tinged with film noir, which was directed by Michael Curtiz. Crawford, ably supported by strong performances from Blyth, Jack Carson and Eve Arden, won her only Oscar for this role. The film also received Oscar nominations for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography by Ernest Haller and Best Supporting Actress for both Blyth and Arden. Mildred Pierce was added to the National Film Registry in 1996. 35mm archival print, 111 min.
Friday, August 3 (7:30 p.m.)
When Knighthood Was in Flower (Paramount, 1922)
Marion Davies stars as Mary Tudor, sister of King Henry VIII, whom the king aims to use for political gain by offering her hand in marriage to King Louis XII of France. For period authenticity, no expense was spared on the production’s costumes, armor and tapestries or on Joseph Urban’s huge, lavish sets. The breakout role made Marion Davies a star. This will be a digital presentation of a new restoration that was scanned from an original 35mm nitrate print preserved by the Library of Congress. Live musical accompaniment will be provided by Ben Model who released the film on DVD through Undercrank Productions in cooperation with the Library of Congress. Digital presentation, 115 min.
Saturday, August 4 (2 p.m.)
Tangled (Disney, 2010)
Based on the classic Grimm Brothers fairy tale, this Disney animated feature tells the story of Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), stolen from the palace nursery as an infant and raised by the evil Mother Gothel (Donna Murphy), who locks her up in an enchanted tower and uses Rapunzel’s hair to continuously restore her youth. One day a handsome roguish thief named Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) arrives on the scene and Rapunzel seizes the opportunity to escape. Directed by Byron Howard and Nathan Greno, the film features a music score by Alan Menken. The song I See the Light, music by Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater, was nominated for the Best Original Song Academy Award. Rated PG, 35mm archival print, 100 min.
Saturday, August 4 (7:30 p.m.)
Imitation of Life (Universal, 1959)
In this second film adaptation of Fannie Hurst’s popular and controversial 1933 novel about race, sex, and class in America, Lana Turner stars as Lora Meredith, a career-driven actress with Juanita Moore as her friend Annie Johnson, a good-hearted black woman who shares her life, and whose troubled daughter (Susan Kohner) passes for white. The last film in a series of glossy “women’s picture” melodramas directed by Douglas Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter, this remake offers an effective contrast to the more restrained style used by John Stahl in the 1934 version (previously selected for the National Film Registry), which starred Claudette Colbert and Louise Beavers. Both Juanita Moore and Susan Kohner were nominated for Best Supporting Actress Oscars and the film invigorated the career of Lana Turner who had recently come thorough a particularly trying Hollywood scandal. The film was added to the National Film Registry in 2015. Digital presentation, 125 min.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.