The following is a guest post by Jenny Paxson of the Packard Campus.
Thursday, November 21 (7:30 p.m.)
Funeral in Berlin (Paramount, 1966)
British Intelligence agent Harry Palmer (Michael Caine) is sent to Germany to arrange the defection of Colonel Stok (Oskar Homolka), a Russian intelligence officer posted to East Berlin, despite Harry’s suspicions of ulterior motives. And,as it turns out, there is much more to the mission than Harry’s cagey boss (Guy Doleman) is telling him. Funeral in Berlin was the second film in the successful trilogy featuring Michael Caine as agent Palmer. Directed by Guy Hamilton (Goldfinger), it was shot on location on the streets and in the outskirts of Berlin as well as near the heavily-patrolled Berlin Wall where the camera crew had to use a telephoto lens from a distance to shoot Caine crossing the border. The Cleveland Press called it “a smooth and slickly done espionage movie that is well ahead of the gimmicky Bond epics with their super-good, super-evil characters.” 35mm archival film print. 102 min.
Friday, November 22 (7:30 p.m.)
Beauty and the Beast (DisCina, 1946)
Jean Cocteau’s sublime adaptation of Mme. Leprince de Beaumont’s fairy-tale masterpiece–in which the pure love of a beautiful girl melts the heart of a feral but gentle beast–is a landmark of motion picture fantasy, with unforgettably romantic performances by Jean Marais and Josette Day. The spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death in Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) have become timeless icons of cinematic wonder. Critic Roger Ebert wrote in his four star review, “Before the days of computer effects and modern creature makeup, here is a fantasy alive with trick shots and astonishing effects, giving us a Beast who is lonely like a man and misunderstood like an animal. Cocteau, a poet and surrealist, was not making a ‘children’s film’ but was adapting a classic French tale that he felt had a special message after the suffering of World War II: Anyone who has an unhappy childhood may grow up to be a Beast.” Rescheduled from January 12, 2019. In French with English subtitles. 35mm restoration film print on loan from Janus Films. 93 min.
Saturday, November 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Alice’s Restaurant (United Artists, 1969 – rated R*)
Arlo Guthrie plays himself in this comedy drama directed by Arthur Penn, based on Guthrie’s 18-minute talking blues ballad The Alice’s Restaurant Massacree. This deadpan protest against the Vietnam War draft follows a comically exaggerated but essentially true story from Guthrie’s own life: he is arrested and convicted of illegally dumping trash on Thanksgiving Day, which later leads to him being rejected by the draft board due to his criminal record of littering. Pat Quinn as Alice Brock and James Broderick as Ray Brock co-star in fictional parts of the story and folk singer Pete Seeger appears as himself, performing Pastures of Plenty and the Car-Car Song with Arlo. Guthrie’s album The Alice’s Restaurant Massacree was added to the National Recording Registry in 2017 and it is a Thanksgiving tradition at many radio stations across the country. Filmed in and around Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Alice’s Restaurant received an Oscar nomination for Best Director. Digital presentation, 111 min.* No one under the age of 17 will be admitted without a parent or guardian.
For more information on our programs, please visit the website at: //www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/