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Posted by: Mike Mashon
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen. But do you recall that the most famous reindeer of all was the creation of a Montgomery Ward copywriter? And did you know we have that celebrity reindeer’s first appearance on film, in a version rarely seen before? In …
Posted in: Christmas, Film/Video, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Mike Mashon
Thursday, October 2 (7:30 p.m.) National Newspaper Week Double Feature Five Star Final (Warner Bros., 1931) Edward G. Robinson stars as a corrupt newspaper editor who uses exploitation to bolster the paper’s circulation. Nominated for an Oscar as the year’s best film, Five Star Final was a condemnation of yellow journalism. This archetypal newspaper movie …
Posted in: Motion Pictures, National Film Registry, Packard Campus Theater
Posted by: Mike Mashon
Thursday, September 18 (7:30 p.m.) Raintree County (MGM, 1957) Elizabeth Taylor was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress for her portrayal of a spoiled Southern belle in this Civil War epic. As Susanna Drake, she lures the pacifist abolitionist John Shawnessy away from his high-school sweetheart and into an unhappy marriage. Frustrated, John …
Posted in: Motion Pictures, National Film Registry, Packard Campus Theater
Posted by: Mike Mashon
The following is a guest post by Film Preservation Specialist Carol Galbraith, who programmed the Packard Campus Theater September schedule. It’s not as easy as you’d think to program a theater schedule, even for just one month. I wanted to please a lot of people. Everyone had an idea of what to show, and all …
Posted in: Motion Pictures, National Film Registry, Packard Campus Theater
Posted by: Mike Mashon
The following is a guest post by Donna Ross, Assistant to the National Film Preservation Board. Yesterday, as we enjoyed our last barbecue or beach party of the summer, work was probably the last thing on our minds. Who wants to think about labor on Labor Day? But if you had thought about the principles …
Posted in: Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Mike Mashon
A Robin Williams tribute and the always-wonderful Jack Benny in his best screen performance highlight this week at the Packard Campus Theater. Thursday, September 4 (7:30 p.m.) To Be or Not to Be (United Artists, 1942) Jack Benny stars as “that great, great actor” Joseph Tura, whose Polish theater troupe is put out of business …
Posted in: Motion Pictures, National Film Registry, Packard Campus Theater
Posted by: Mike Mashon
So let’s do the math. If a picture is worth a thousand words and a 100 minute film, at 24 frames-per-second, has 144,000 pictures, that means a movie is worth 144 million words, or more than 26 copies of War and Peace. Ah, the joys of false equivalency. Literary adaptations have been on my mind …
Posted in: Film/Video, Motion Pictures, National Film Registry
Posted by: Mike Mashon
PRELUDE TO WAR: ON THE EVE OF WORLD WAR II The films presented this week explore the mindset of the various world leaders and the global circumstances that led to World War II, which ravaged the globe only a few short years after the “the war to end all wars.” Thursday, Aug. 14 (7:30 p.m.) …
Posted in: Motion Pictures, National Film Registry, Packard Campus Theater
Posted by: Mike Mashon
A program of animated shorts selected to demonstrate the concept and basic elements of sound design, as well as four acclaimed animated features, will be screened this week as part of the Film Foundation’s “Story of the Movies: The Animation Universe” development workshop for classroom teachers. Held at the Packard Campus from July 31—Aug. 2, …
Posted in: National Film Registry, Packard Campus Theater