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The 3rd Annual Lowell Film Festival
"Hollywood and the Great Depression:
10 cent Entertainment During Difficult Times"
Thursday, April 8 - Saturday, April 10, 2010
Exact show times and locations will be released soon!
Join us on Facebook and Twitter!
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The Grapes of Wrath [1940]
In this towering classic of American cinema, common man Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) leads his family on a harrowing journey from the Dust Bowl of Oklahoma to the promise of a better life in California. Based on John Steinbeck's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel and masterfully directed by John Ford, the stirring drama also stars Oscar winner Jane Darwell as Ma Joad and John Carradine as the fallen preacher Casy.
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Modern Times [1 hr 27 mins, 1936]
The Little Tramp (Charlie Chaplin) battles it out with technology, unemployment, jail, demanding customers and more in this classic film, in which he wins some, loses more and, in the end, walks undaunted into the sunrise. Known as Chaplin's last silent film, Modern Times is anything but -- from the opening notes of the rich score to the first and last time the star's voice is heard, the film speaks with a clear, well-rounded resonance.
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Frankenstein [1931]
Bride of Frankenstein [1935]
In Frankenstein, a mad scientist (Colin Clive) creates a monster (the inimitable Boris Karloff) but errs by giving him a criminal brain. In Bride of Frankenstein, the superior and very witty sequel to Frankenstein, the monster (Karloff) gets his own made-to-order (almost!) bride (Elsa Lanchester). Both classic Universal films were directed by legendary horrormeister James Whale, who set the bar very high for all to follow.
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Jezebel [1938]
Bette Davis won a Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal headstrong coquette Julie Marsden, who loves to kindle competition among men in the antebellum South. The machinations cost Julie her fiancé (Henry Fonda), though, after she makes a public display of herself. She vows to win back her man, but her scheming goes awry, resulting in another suitor's demise. Will the self-absorbed Julie rise to the occasion when the chance for atonement arises?
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Snow White [1937]
Walt Disney broke new ground in 1937 with this animated feature-length film, based on the famous fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, about a jealous queen, her beautiful stepdaughter, seven lovable dwarfs and a handsome prince. The Oscar-nominated classic includes the songs "Whistle While You Work," "Heigh-Ho" and "Some Day My Prince Will Come" (which became a jazz standard via trumpeter Miles Davis in the 1950s).
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington [1939]
When idealistic junior senator Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) arrives in Washington, D.C., he's full of plans and dazzled by his surroundings -- qualities he retains despite widespread corruption among his cynical colleagues. Jean Arthur puts in a sharp performance as Smith's streetwise secretary, who helps him navigate his way through Congress, in this Academy Award-winning classic from director Frank Capra.
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Gulliver's Travels [1939]
This animated adaptation of Jonathan Swift's classic story follows the escapades of Lemuel Gulliver, a shipwrecked English sailor who washes ashore in the land of the minuscule Lilliputians. There, he tries to bring peace between his new hosts and their rivals in the land of Blefiscu, but spies, busybodies and other factions thwart his efforts. Animation giants Dave and Max Fleischer are the duo behind this Oscar-nominated, tuneful adventure.
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It Happened One Night [1934]
Runaway socialite Ellie Andrews (Claudette Colbert) is en route to the Big Apple to elope with a fortune-hunting flyboy. Along the way she meets a crusty newspaperman (Clark Gable), who's just been sacked and -- unbeknownst to Ellie -- plans to sell her story to get his job back. But a string of zany misadventures leads them to realize they're madly -- if reluctantly -- in love. It Happened One Night swept every major Academy Award.
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All descriptions courtesy of Netflix.com
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