Ernst Lubitsch's delightful Ninotchka, starring Greta Garbo and Melvyn Douglas, will be screened as the next feature in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ series "Hollywood’s Greatest Year: The Best Picture Nominees of 1939” on Monday, July 13, at 7:30 p.m. at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills.
The evening will begin at 7 p.m., with the ninth chapter of the 1939 serial Buck Rogers, starring Buster Crabbe and Constance Moore, and the animated short The Autograph Hound, featuring Donald Duck.
In Ninotchka, Garbo (above, with Lubitsch) plays a Russian agent out to retrieve three other agents who have been corrupted by the decadent lights of Paris. While in the French capital, Ninotchka meets up with a local bon vivant who tries to defrost the staunch Communist. Garbo laughs in this sparkling romantic comedy, and most likely so will you.
Ninotchka received four Academy Award nominations: Best Picture (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer), Actress (Garbo), Writing – Original Story (Melchior Lengyel), and Writing – Screenplay (Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder, Walter Reisch).
Tickets for Ninotchka and other individual films in the series are $5 for the general public and $3 for Academy members and students with a valid ID. Tickets may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, by mail, in person at the Academy during regular business hours or, depending on availability, on the night of the screening when the doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Curtain time for all features is 7:30 p.m., and pre-show elements will begin at 7 p.m. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 247-3600. For the latest updates on guests, cartoons, and other films in the series, visit www.oscars.org.
Photos: Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library