by Elisa Leonelli
April 10, 2017
The TCM Classic Film Festival, launched in 2010, was held for the eighth year in Hollywood from Thursday to Sunday April 6 to 9, 2017. Crowds of movie lovers of all ages lined up to watch their favorites films on the big screen at the Chinese, Egyptian and Arclight theaters, they gathered for social events at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Live appearances by movie stars and film directors peppered the program and delighted the fans. Sydney Poitier, Lee Grant and director Norman Jewison attended the opening night 50th anniversary screening of In the Heat of the Night.
In the Heat of the Night
Mel Brooks had everyone laughing when introducing the 40th anniversary screening of High Anxiety. The theme of this year’s festival was “Make ‘Em Laugh: Comedy in the Movies.”
Michael Douglas sat for a live interview with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz at the Ricardo Montalbán theatre (opened January 19, 1927 as a venue for stage plays, converted to a movie theatre in 1931). He said about the festival: “I imagine the audience is growing, because I find that there’s a bunch of kids who like old films, so it gives you continuity from one generation to the other.” Douglas also introduced a screening of The China Syndrome (1979) by James Bridges where he costarred with Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon.
Michael Douglas (c) TCM
Father and son Carl Reiner and Rob Reiner were honored with a Hand and Footprint ceremony in front of the historic Chinese Theater, opened May 18, 1927 with a premiere of Cecil B. DeMille’s The King of Kings.
More 50th anniversary screenings were The Graduate by Mike Nichols starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, Bonnie and Clyde by Arthur Penn with Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, Barefoot in the Park from the play by Neil Simon with Robert Redford and Jane Fonda.
Other screenings honored actors and filmmakers who passed way in 2016: Gene Wilder with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) from the 1964 children novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Debbie Reynolds with Singin’ in the Rain (1952) co-starring Gene Kelly. Carrie Fisher with Postcards from the Edge (1990) directed by Mike Nichols, starring Meryl Streep and Shirley MacLaine. She wrote the screenplay from her 1987 semi-autobiographical novel.
For the first time at the TCM festival screenings of rare nitrate prints took place at the Egyptian theater, built by Sid Grauman and opened October 18, 1922 with a premiere of the silent Robin Hood starring Douglas Fairbanks. The venue was restored in 1998 by the American Cinematheque, and was renovated this year with a $500,000 grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The HFPA also partnered with Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation contributing $350,000 to retrofit the nitrate projection booth. Scorsese introduced a screening of Alfred Hitchock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) starring Peter Lorre (in Black & White). He said: “Retrofitting a theater to make it capable and safe to project nitrate is an enormous undertaking, so these films are rarely seen.” Cellulose nitrate was the highly flammable film stock used until 1952, when it was replaced by the more stable acetate.
he Man Who Knew Too Much 1934. Peter Lorre
The other three film presented on nitrate prints were. in Black & White Laura (1944) directed by Otto Preminger starring Gene Tierny and Dan Andrews, in color Black Narcissus (1947) with Deborah Kerr and Jean Simmons and Lady in the Dark (1944) directed by Mitchell Leisen from the 1941 Broadway musical by Kurt Weil and Ira Gershwin starring Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland.
Read article by Yoram Kahana about the HFPA screening of Casablanca (1942) directed by Michael Curtiz starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, in a shimmering B&W nitrate print at the Egyptian. This movie was also presented at TCM Classic Film Festival on its 75th anniversary (but not on nitrate).
Casablanca 1942 Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman
This edition of the TCM festival was dedicated to Robert Osborne, TCM host from its inception in 1994, who passed away on March 6, 2017 at age 84. A journalist, he wrote his “Rambling Reporter” column for the Hollywood Reporter from 1982-2009.
Click here for edited version on the Golden Globes website