70mm Spectacular, Part 3
August 3-September 2
Surviving 70mm prints are extremely rare; theaters equipped to project 70mm films are even rarer. This year's edition of AFI Silver's popular 70mm series features several rare archival 70mm prints alongside a new digital restoration, sourced from the 70mm negative, of Fred Zinnemann's screen adaptation of the classic stage musical OKLAHOMA!
AFI Member passes accepted at all screenings.
HAMLET (1996)
Hot on the heels of his triumph with HENRY V, Kenneth Branagh wrote, directed and starred in this lavish, four-hour production. The impressive cast includes Kate Winslet, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, John Gielgud, Brian Blessed, Jack Lemmon, Gérard Depardieu, Charlton Heston, Simon Russell Beale, Rufus Sewell, Timothy Spall, Billy Crystal and Robin Williams.
DIR/SCR Kenneth Branagh; SCR from the play by William Shakespeare; PROD David Barron. UK/US, 1996, color, 257 min. including a 15-min. intermission, 70mm. RATED PG-13
THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY
Charlton Heston gamely plays Renaissance artist Michelangelo, strong-armed by warmongering Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) into the long and arduous task of painting the monumental ceiling of Rome's Sistine Chapel. Directed by THE THIRD MAN'S Carol Reed.
DIR Carol Reed; SCR Philip Dunne, from the novel by Irving Stone. US/Italy, 1965, color, 138 min, 70mm. NOT RATED
Sat, Aug 16, 11:05 a.m.; Sun, Aug 17, 4:00
OKLAHOMA!
New DCP Restoration from the 70mm Negative!
The first Rodgers & Hammerstein collaboration to reach the silver screen was nominated for four Academy Awards®, winning Best Score of a Musical Picture. Shirley Jones made her screen debut as a strong-headed country girl who falls in love with equally stubborn cowboy Gordon MacRae in turn-of-the-century Oklahoma Territory. When Gloria Grahame must choose between stable sweetheart Gene Nelson and the noncommittal, smooth-talking Eddie Albert, musical mayhem ensues. Classic songs include "Oklahoma" and "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'."
DIR Fred Zinnemann; SCR Sonya Levien, William Ludwig, from the musical by Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II and the play by Lynn Riggs; PROD Arthur Hornblow, Jr. US, 1955, color, 145 min, DCP. RATED G
Sat, Aug 23, 1:30; Sun, Aug 24, 1:15
RYAN'S DAUGHTER
The third collaboration between David Lean and screenwriter Robert Bolt, after LAWRENCE OF ARABIA and DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, again places complex, even contradictory character psychology against a backdrop of world-changing historical events. A British-occupied village in 1916 Ireland is scandalized when word gets out that Sarah Miles, the much-younger wife of staid schoolteacher Robert Mitchum (puzzlingly miscast, but slyly effective), is carrying on an affair with British officer Christopher Jones. Despite hysteria among the townspeople, Mitchum's reaction is to patiently let the fire burn out. But when Miles' father turns informer for the British, the personal and the political become entwined.
DIR David Lean; SCR Robert Bolt; PROD Anthony Havelock-Allan. UK, 1970, color, 195 min, 70mm. RATED R
Archive 70mm print from the Swedish Film Institute; print is in English with Swedish subtitles.
Fri, Aug 29, 12 noon; Mon, Sep 1, 12:30
CHEYENNE AUTUMN
John Ford's final Western, famously setting out to "tell the story from the Indians' point of view," relies heavily on cavalry officer Richard Widmark and Quaker missionary Carroll Baker for the telling; nonetheless, this is a pivotal film in the raising of consciousness about representations of Native Americans and historical accuracy. After the U.S. government's latest reneging on delivery of treaty-mandated supplies, the Cheyenne tribe protests by marching from their desert reservation 1,500 miles north to their ancestral hunting grounds in Yellowstone. Famed for William Clothier's stunning cinematography of the American West and Alex North's stirring score, the cast includes Karl Malden, Sal Mineo, Dolores del Rio, Ricardo Montalban, Arthur Kennedy, John Carradine, Victor Jory, George O'Brien, James Stewart and Edward G. Robinson.
DIR/PROD John Ford; SCR James R. Webb; PROD Bernard Smith. US, 1964, color, 154 min, 70mm. NOT RATED
Archive 70mm print from the Swedish Film Institute; print is in English with Swedish subtitles.
Fri, Aug 29, 4:00; Tue, Sep 2, 6:30
AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS (1956)
Winner of five Oscars® including Best Picture, this film was the magnum opus of super-producer Michael Todd, also famous for being Elizabeth Taylor's third husband, who died in the 1958 plane crash of his private jet "Lucky Liz." Explorer Phileas Fogg (David Niven) and his valet Passepartout (Cantinflas) set out on a round-the-world adventure in hopes of collecting on a £20,000 bet. Co-starring Robert Newton and Shirley MacLaine; the famous roster of stars making cameos includes Marlene Dietrich, Charles Boyer, Frank Sinatra, Peter Lorre, Ronald Colman, Robert Morley, Buster Keaton, Red Skelton, John Mills, Noël Coward, Trevor Howard, Evelyn Keyes, Cesar Romero, Charles Coburn, George Raft, John Carradine, Joe E. Brown, Victor McLaglen, Glynis Johns, Hermione Gingold, Beatrice Lillie and newsman Edward R. Murrow.
DIR Michael Anderson; SCR James Poe, John Farrow, S. J. Perelman, from the novel by Jules Verne; PROD Michael Todd. US, 1956, color, 197 min. including a 15-min. intermission, 70mm. RATED G