Movie festival attracts classic film fans from LA

Crowds of distinguished ladies and gentlemen, some in ’40s-style hats, flooded the iconic stretch of Hollywood Boulevard last weekend from Thursday, April 10 to Sunday, April 13 to attend the 5th Annual Turner Classic Movie Film Festival. Held by the Turner Classic Movies channel, which celebrates its 20th birthday this year, the four-day festival is a bonanza of classical Hollywood cinema that stretches 70-plus years from the earliest film — Why Worry? from 1923 -— to the latest, 1995’s Mr. Holland’s Opus.

 

The festival opened with a red carpet and screening of the recently restored Oklahoma! The festivities included a live appearance by Shirley Jones in the sumptuous TCL Chinese Theatre IMAX. Despite being able to seat almost 1,000 people, lines for films such as Double Indemnity twisted around the block. And at all the screenings, the filmgoers queued up at least half an hour before showtime.

Film screenings, panels and various special events took place in historic venues along the Walk of Fame. Some nostalgic movie palaces played host; the striking Egyptian Theatre, which showed the romantic comedy The Goodbye Girl and politically minded science-fiction thriller Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and the El Captain, complete with its fabulous theater organ, played Phantom of the Opera tunes throughout the night.

Another highlight was the relaxed poolside screenings at the Roosevelt Hotel, such as American Graffiti from 1979 and the original The Muppet Movie. The majority of the films shown, however, were in the three smaller theaters of TCL Chinese 6.

There were also talks hosted in the Montalban Theatre and a horror make-up panel that took place in The Hollywood Museum, which regularly houses a plethora of costumes and props.

“TCM at 20: Inspired by the Classics” was another new component of the festival, which was a display of celebrity artwork at Club TCM. On Thursday, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Charles Busch, Jane Seymour and Kim Novak took to the stage to discuss their art. Busch contributed a strikingly simple illustration of dancers in which one breaks the fourth wall and looks straight at the audience. Novak, known for her performance in Alfred Hitchock’s Vertigo, spoke about how she was able to take control of the film in her Vertigo-inspired artwork. There was art from Tony Bennett, Manolo Blahnik, Charles Busch, Jules Feiffer, Joel Grey, Bruce Eric Kaplan, Kim Novak, Todd Oldham, Jane Seymour and Burt Young interspersed with memorabilia from the classics: Dorothy’s iconic gingham dress from one corner, the piano in Casablanca and a piece of concept art from Gone With the Wind in another.

In a showing of On Approval, film historian Jeffery Vance quoted L. P. Hartley, “The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there.” The entire film festival seemed to launch its viewers into this different place, back when the world was seen through a black and white lens. At the same time, this year’s central theme was “Family in the Movies: The Ties that Bind,” and it succeeded in connecting the films and our lives with this timeless and universal concern.

Movies were grouped into films about single mothers, such as The Goodbye Girl, or daddy/daughter Films, such as Father of the Bride. There were films about sister acts, such as Vincent Minnelli’s Meet Me in St. Louis, which stars Judy Garland and Margaret O’Brien, who was present at the festival. There were films about aging parents, such as Best Boy, directed by Ira Wohl, who holds a master’s degree in social work from USC. Last but not least, there were films about dysfunctional families, exemplified in the twisted dynamics of The Lion in Winter in which a restoration of the original film beautifully showed all the ups and downs of family with too much power.

Time-honored classics, such as Gone with the Wind or The Wizard of Oz were screened alongside what the event called “Discoveries” — lesser-known films such as On Approval and Godzilla (the original Japanese version), which was one of the few non-English films.

The festival paid tribute to the late Charles Heston, who was honored on a stamp at the festival, Maureen O’Hara, Quincy Jones, and  Richard Dreyfuss. Dreyfuss, Jones and Novak shared their anecdotes with audiences at panels and before screenings of their films. On Sunday, there was a tribute to Mickey Rooney with Eddie Muller. Margaret O’Brien spoke and then read a poem written by Rooney, followed by a screening of National Velvet.

Passing the torch is an appropriate way to describe celebrity Anna Kendrick’s appearance at a screening of George Cukor’s The Women at El Capitan.

“This is a film the smart young women have to see and know,” Kendrick said of the classic film education her mentors have given her.

Admittedly, films these days are not made like they used to make them, in that recognizable rhythm and sensibility, and much of the content of classical cinema would not pass in today’s society. Classical films, however, are still relevant as history lessons, as a form of escapism, but also because they are really still just that good whether you are 16 or 60.