Now Playing at the Packard Campus (November 14 – 16, 2019)

The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.

Thursday, November 14 (7:30 p.m.)
Musical Highlights from NBC’s Late Night with David Letterman (1982-1993)
Late Night with David Letterman premiered on NBC on February 1, 1982, following The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and ran through 1993 when Letterman moved to CBS. Letterman was joined by Paul Shaffer and the World’s Most Dangerous Band and the show hosted hundreds of top musical acts as guests. Featured artists on this exclusive program curated from the video collections of the Library of Congress include Wilson Pickett, Gregg Allman, Iggy Pop, Tom Waits, John Hiatt, Lou Reed, Steve Earle, John Lee Hooker, Bonnie Raitt, Lucinda Williams, The B-52’s, Robert Palmer, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Red Hot Chili Peppers, James Taylor, Chris Isaak, the Pixies, Lindsey Buckingham, Los Lobos, Al Green, Pete Townshend, Leonard Cohen and Bruce Springsteen. Digital presentation, 90 min.

Friday, November 15 (7:30 p.m.)
The White Sister (Metro Pictures, 1923)
Set in an Italian village in the shadow of smoldering Mount Vesuvius, The White Sister stars Lillian Gish as Angela, the daughter of a wealthy Italian prince who is in love with the dashing Captain Giovanni Severini (Ronald Colman). When her father dies and she hears that Giovanni has been killed in the war, Angela decides to devote herself to helping others, becoming a nun. Filmed in Rome, Naples and Algeria over a period of nearly six months, this was Gish’s first starring role after leaving D.W. Griffith and she involved herself in every facet of film production alongside director Henry King. The film was a great success, playing more than six months in New York, in a 13-reel “roadshow” version, as well as a standard ten-reel edition. Live musical accompaniment by Ben Model. 35mm film print produced by the Library of Congress Film Preservation lab in 2019. 143 min.

Saturday, November 16 (2 p.m.)
Chicken Run (Dreamworks, 2000)
Facing mortal peril, Rocky the rooster and Ginger the hen decide to rebel against evil farmers Mr. and Ms. Tweedy and lead their fellow chickens in a great escape from the farm where they are being held captive. This stop motion animated comedy was the first feature-length film produced by the British studio Aardman Animations, known for their popular Wallace & Gromit shorts. It was directed by Peter Lord and Nick Park and features the voices of Julia Sawalha, Mel Gibson, Tony Haygarth, Miranda Richardson, and Benjamin Whitrow. The screenplay by Karey Kirkpatrick spoofs the World War II prison pictures The Great Escape and Stalag 17 with characters who are true eccentrics. Chicken Run became the highest-grossing stop-motion animated film in history. Rated G. 35mm archival film print. 84 min.

Saturday, November 16 (7:30 p.m.)
One, Two, Three (United Artists, 1961)
Director Billy Wilder’s Cold War farce stars James Cagney as C.R. MacNamara, a Coca-Cola executive, who is sent to Berlin to promote the product on the other side of the Iron Curtain. But he soon learns that his real job is baby-sitting his boss’s teenage daughter, Scarlett (Pamela Tiffin), who has secretly married volatile Communist Otto Piffl (Horst Bucholz). Filming took place in West Berlin until one morning when the Berlin Wall went up, forcing the crew to move to Munich. Variety praised the comedy calling it “a fast-paced, high-pitched, hard-hitting, lighthearted farce crammed with topical gags and spiced with satirical overtones.” This was Cagney’s final film until he was coaxed out of retirement for a small role in 1981’s Ragtime. One, Two, Three received an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography for Daniel L. Fapp and a Writers Guild nomination for Best Written American Comedy (Screen) for Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond. Digital presentation. 104 min.

For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: //www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/