Tenth Festival of Preservation

Friday, August 4
7:30 p.m.

WHEN A MAN LOVES
(1927) Directed by Alan Crosland

This adaptation of Prevost's Manon Lescaut was the feature component of the third film program presented by Warner Bros. in its revolutionary sound-on-disk system, Vitaphone. Like its predecessors, the program consisted of shorts by the leading musical talents of the day, followed by a silent feature with recorded sound effects and musical accompaniment. A lavish romantic adventure set in France during the reign of Louis XV, the feature stars John Barrymore as the tormented Fabien Chevalier des Grieux, who is consumed by desire for the corrupt Manon (Dolores Costello). Herman Heller's rousing score is a highlight.

Screenplay: Bess Meredyth. Based on the novel Histoire du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut by Abbé Prévost. Cinematography: Byron Haskins. Editor: Harold McCord. With: John Barrymore, Dolores Costello, Warner Oland, Sam De Grasse. 35mm, tinted, 110 min.

Preservation funded by Warner Bros. and Tom E. Murray.

Preceded by

Vitaphone shorts shown on the original opening night of WHEN A MAN LOVES at New York's Selwyn Theatre on February 3, 1927.

QUARTET FROM RIGOLETTO
(1927) 35mm, 9 min.
Preserved by The Library of Congress Motion Picture Conservation Center.

CHARLES HACKETT
(1927) 35mm, 7 min.
Preservation funded by George Eastman House.

VAN AND SCHENCK: "THE PENNANT-WINNING BATTERY OF SONGLAND"
(1927) 35mm, 9 min.
Preservation funded by George Eastman House.

Introduced by Robert Gitt, UCLA Preservation Officer

Saturday, August 5
7:30 p.m.

THE PRISONER OF ZENDA
(1937) Directed by John Cromwell

This romantic adventure harks back to a time of chivalry and swordsmanship among gentlemen. Englishman Rudolph Rassendyll's great-great grandmother had an affair with a Ruritanian nobleman, stamping Rassendyll with the unmistakable features of Ruritanian royalty. Ronald Colman puts in a debonair performance in the dual role of Rassendyll and King Rudolf of Ruritania. Cutting an equally dashing figure is Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. in the swashbuckling role of handsome scoundrel Rupert of Hentzau. David O. Selznick's production of Anthony Hope's often filmed 1894 novel remains unrivaled and was added to the National Film Registry in 1991. Preservation funded by The Packard Humanities Institute.

Producer: David O. Selznick. Screenplay: John L. Balderston. Based on the novel The Prisoner of Zenda: Being the History of Three Months in the Life of an English Gentleman by Anthony Hope, and the play The Prisoner of Zenda: A Romantic Play and a Prologue in Four Acts by Edward E. Rose. Cinematography: James Wong Howe. Editor: James E. Newcom. With: Ronald Colman; Madeleine Carroll; Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.; C. Aubrey Smith. 35mm, 101 min.

THE VAGABOND KING
(1930) Directed by Ludwig Berger

Paramount's first all-color, all-talking musical, though slow-paced in typical early talkie fashion, offers sumptuous settings for which opera is (in)famous. A drunken poet is transformed into a lord, and France is saved. In an earth-toned tavern with red-clad wenches and a sandstone palace with pages in green velvet; in white satin gowns, flowing pastel veils and black monk hoods–that is, in glorious two-strip Technicolor–the characters enact the life of medieval French poet Francois Villon. Contemporary reviewers called the film "a top-notch costume picture" that was "beautiful and often quite stirring."

Screenplay: Herman J. Mankiewicz. Based on the operetta by William H. Post, Brian Hooker, Rudolf Friml, and If I Were King, a Romantic Drama in Five Acts by Justin Huntly McCarthy. Cinematography: Henry Gerrard, Ray Rennahan. Editor: Merrill White. With: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, O.P. Heggie, Lillian Roth. 35mm, 104 min.

Preservation funded by The Stanford Theatre Foundation.

Preceded by

THE ROGUE SONG–TRAILER
(1930) Directed by Lionel Barrymore. With: Lawrence Tibbett, Laurel and Hardy. 35mm, 3 min.
Preservation funded by The Carl David Memorial Fund.

THE ROGUE SONG–BALLET NUMBER EXCERPT
(1930) Directed by Lionel Barrymore. With: Albertina Rasch Dancers. 35mm, 5 min.
Preservation funded by Warner Bros.

Sunday, August 6
2:00 p.m.

THE GREAT RUPERT
(1950) Directed by Irving Pichel

The first of PUPPETOONS producer George Pal's feature films was this pleasing entertainment about a trained squirrel and a family of impoverished vaudevillians. Several of Pal's technicians from the PUPPETOONS handled the stop-motion animation of the title character (many reviewers were unable to distinguish the animated squirrel from the real one). The movie was hailed as a return to form for Jimmy Durante (Variety said "it aims at the family trade and hits the target right on the Schnoz."). Its success made possible Pal's second feature DESTINATION MOON (1950), which sparked the '50s craze for sci-fi films. Producer: George Pal. Screenplay: Laslo Vadnay. Based on a story by Ted Allen. Cinematography: Lionel Lindon. Editor: Duke Goldstone. Music: Leith Stevens. With: Jimmy Durante, Terry Moore, Tom Drake, Frank Orth. 35mm, 88 min.

Preservation funded by The Film Foundation.

Preceded by

MINNIE TO DUKE: ANIMATION FROM THE GOLDEN AGE
Animation's "Golden Age" is spotlighted with theatrical releases, promotional shorts and pencil tests by Ub Iwerks, George Pal, Harman-Ising and Walt Disney.

MR. STRAUSS TAKES A WALK (1942) A George Pal PUPPETOON. 35mm, 8 min. Preservation funded by Max Howard; the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. FLYING FISTS (1931) Producer/Drawn by Ub Iwerks. With: Flip the Frog. 35mm, 6 min. Preservation funded by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. A FEATHER IN HIS COLLAR (1946) Community Chest PSA. 35mm, 4 min. Preserved by The Walt Disney Company.

DON ANTONIO (1946) MINITOONS advertisement. 35mm, 2 min. Preservation funded by Coca-Cola. THE THREE BEARS (1946) MINITOONS advertisement. 35mm, 2 min. Preservation funded by Coca-Cola. MINNIE'S YOO HOO (1930) A SING-ALONG cartoon. 35mm, 4 min. Preserved by The Walt Disney Company. HARMAN-ISING PENCIL TESTS (Late '30s) 35mm, 5 min. Preservation funded by the International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood.

JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (1933) Producer: Ub Iwerks. 35mm, 7 min. Preserved through Treasures of American Film Archives, a National Endowment for the Arts Millennium Project, organized by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Additional funding by Tom E. Murray. DAVY JONES' LOCKER (1934) Producer: Ub Iwerks. 35mm, 7 min. Preserved through Treasures of American Film Archives, a National Endowment for the Arts Millennium Project, organized by the National Film Preservation Foundation. Additional funding by Tom E. Murray. A DATE WITH DUKE (1947) A George Pal PUPPETOON. With: Duke Ellington. 35mm, 7 min. Preservation funded by the AFI/NEA Film Preservation Grants Program.

FLYING FISTS

Total shorts running time: 52 min.

Introduced by Jere Guldin, UCLA Film Preservationist

Sunday, August 6
7:00 p.m.

CHEERS FOR MISS BISHOP
(1941) Directed by Tay Garnett

Audiences nowadays may squirm over the message that a woman can't have a career and a family life, but the sentimentality and sweetness of CHEERS FOR MISS BISHOP were not lost on 1941 moviegoers, who voted it best picture in opinion polls. The story spans 60 years in the life of a dedicated schoolteacher, played by the effervescent and beautiful Martha Scott. The films of director Tay Garnett were known for their "flowing narrative and effective integration of background and plot" (Ephraim Katz, The Film Encyclopedia). Reviewing MISS BISHOP, Variety complimented Garnett for "getting the most out of a difficult assignment in spreading story interest episodically for so great a period."

Producer: Richard A. Rowland. Screenplay: Stephen Vincent Benet, Adelaide Heilbron, Sheridan Gibney. Based on the novel Miss Bishop by Bess Streeter Aldrich. Cinematography: Hal Mohr. Editor: William Claxton. With: Martha Scott, William Gargan, Edmund Gwenn, Sterling Holloway. 35mm, 94 min.

Preservation funded by The AFI Challenge Grant.

SOMEONE TO REMEMBER
(1943) Directed by Robert Siodmak

The phrase "They don't make 'em like that anymore" could have been inspired by this heartwarming film, which tells the story of the widow Freeman, a kindly elderly woman awaiting the return of her missing son. When her building is turned into a men's dormitory for the local college, she and the boys get on famously, especially when she learns that one of the freshmen may or may not be her grandson. The film brought Robert Siodmak to the industry's attention for the first time since his arrival in Hollywood in 1940. Also, look for an uncredited Peter Lawford as one of the dorm residents.

Screenplay: Frances Hyland. Cinematography: Jack Marta. Editor: Ernest Nims. With: Mabel Paige, John Craven, Dorothy Morris, Charles Dingle. 35mm, 80 min.

Preservation funded by The Film Foundation and Taurus Film.

Preceded by

TULIPS SHALL GROW
(1942) A George Pal PUPPETOON. Academy Award nominee. 35mm, 8 min.
Preservation funded by the AFI/NEA Film Preservation Grants Program.

Wednesday, August 9
7:30 p.m.

HEARST METROTONE NEWS COLLECTION: NEWSREEL STORIES FROM THE CALIFORNIA HISTORY PROJECT

This program showcases the complete newsreel issues and individual stories released between 1919 and 1948 that have been preserved as part of the Archive's California History Project. Highlights include: the 1925 Santa Barbara earthquake, the opening of Alcatraz prison in 1933, the 1942 Japanese submarine attack off Santa Barbara, the forced relocation of Japanese Americans during WWII, and VJ Day on Market Street in San Francisco. Several stories trace the conviction, imprisonment and eventual exoneration and release of political activist Tom Mooney for a 1916 bombing in San Francisco. And OUR GANG's Spanky and Alfalfa ask Mussolini's son Vittorio for a job.

Total running time: approx. 120 min.

Preservation funded by the Ahmanson Foundation.

Additional funding provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The Joseph Drown Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, and the Stanford Theatre Foundation.

This evening is sponsored by The Ralph and Joan Goldwyn Newsreel Screening Endowment Fund.

Introduced by Blaine Bartell, UCLA Senior Newsreel Preservationist

Thursday, August 10
7:30 p.m.

HOW GREEN WAS MY VALLEY
(1941) Directed by John Ford

The film version of Richard Llewellyn's novel about a Welsh mining family was 1941's big Oscar winner, with awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Donald Crisp), Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration. 30 years later, critic Andrew Sarris maintained that Ford's film was "the best movie, apart from SUNRISE, ever to win an Oscar." There are moments that no one but Ford (who replaced William Wyler) could have achieved, but the film was truly a collaborative effort, orchestrated by 20th Century-Fox production chief Darryl F. Zanuck. Producer: Darryl F. Zanuck. Screenplay: Philip Dunne. Based on the novel by Richard Llewellyn. Cinematography: Arthur Miller. Editor: James B. Clark. With: Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, Donald Crisp, Sara Allgood. 35mm, 120 min. Preservation funded by American Movie Classics and The Film Foundation.

THE INFORMER
(1935) Directed by John Ford

In telling the story of Gypo Nolan, who is expelled from the IRA for refusing to commit a political murder and who then betrays a former comrade for money to escape to America, John Ford dramatizes the moral ambiguity of Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain. Victor McLaglen plays Gypo, a gentle brute who is destroyed by his fundamental innocence as much as by his act of betrayal. Admirers of Ford's spacious westerns have criticized the film's set-bound, claustrophobic look, but it perfectly matches Gypo's growing panic as he feels the consequences of his deed closing in on him. Ford won the first of his four Oscars for THE INFORMER.

Screenplay: Dudley Nichols. Based on the novel by Liam O'Flaherty. Cinematography: Joseph H. August. Editor: George Hively. With: Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster, Wallace Ford. 35mm, 91 min.

Preservation funded by Turner Entertainment Company and the Archive Council.