William Holden, Robert Duvall, Peter Finch in Sidney Lumet's Network
Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, William Holden, Ava Gardner, John Wayne, Boris Karloff, Bette Davis, Burt Reynolds, Faye Dunaway, Robert Ryan, Grant Williams, Miss Piggy, and the recently deceased Kathryn Grayson. Murder, madness, mayhem, mutants, muppets, satanists, and singers.
All that and more will be offered movie fans in the March film series at the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation in Culpeper, Va., starting March 4. [Film Schedule] My chief recommendations are:
- Sidney Lumet's totally out-of-control drama Network, the best Hollywood movie of 1976 and featuring two of the greatest male performances of the '70s: Peter Finch, the Oscars' first posthumous acting winner, as a crazed newscaster, and William Holden as a TV executive.
- George Sidney's Showboat (1951), a color musical with the best that MGM had to offer. Ava Gardner had her singing voice dubbed in the movie, but she's great as the part-white, part-black young woman who happens to be very unlucky in love. Kathryn Grayson hits a career high here and so does Howard Keel as Grayson's gambler husband. Grayson is also good in Sidney's Kiss Me Kate (1953), co-starring once again with Howard Keel and this time supported by show-stealer Ann Miller.
- The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957), directed by Jack Arnold and starring Grant Williams as a man who, thanks to some sort of radioactive poisoning, starts shrinking and shrinking until he becomes one with the universe. A very curious film. So is Edgar G. Ulmer's The Black Cat (1934), a tale of satanism and revenge starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Don't expect spooks. The film is just plain weird — and for that reason The Black Cat is a must-see.
- The Set-Up (1949), eons more hard-hitting than Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull, is in my invariably humble opinion the greatest boxing movie ever made. Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter are both superb. Don't expect Million Dollar Baby-style melodrama, even though Robert Wise (of The Sound of Music) directed.
From the Packard Campus press release:
Programs are preceded by an informative slide presentation about the film, with music selected by the Library’s Recorded Sound Section. Some screenings will also include short subjects before the main feature. Titles are subject to change without notice.
All Packard Campus programs are free and open to the public. For reservation information, call (540) 827-1079 extension 79994 or (202) 707-9994 during business hours, beginning one week before any given screening. In case of inclement weather, call the theater reservation line about three hours before showtime to confirm cancellations. For further information on the theater and film series, visit www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/.
The Packard Campus is a state-of-the-art facility where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of films, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings.
Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov and via interactive exhibitions on a personalized website at myLOC.gov.
Photos: Courtesy of the Library of Congress