A Classic Experience

Appellate Judge Amanda DeWees

February 7th, 2005

Any DVD lover will testify that watching movies at home brings great advantages over watching them in a theater: privacy, convenience, company of one's own choice; you can even watch in pajamas if you wish. But there's nothing like seeing a film on the big screen in the company of other movie lovers; it's then that I feel most transported into something special—always granted, of course, that the film is a good one. That shared experience is part of what makes some films my favorites. I'll never forget seeing A Room with a View during its initial theatrical run on a night plagued by torrential rain. Even though the storm caused intermittent power outages that sometimes brought the movie lurching to a halt, the enthusiastic audience merely laughed instead of growing irritated, and the foul weather just made us feel more than ever that we were sharing something special. Even though this charming film certainly would have stood on its own merits, that warm sense of camaraderie with the other viewers enhanced the experience immeasurably.

Robert Osborne, host of Turner Classic Movies and official biographer of the Oscars, knows this, which is the reason he brought the first annual Robert Osborne Classic Film Festival to Athens, Georgia, this past weekend. Those who associate Athens with only college football and music (the city is the birthplace of REM and the B-52's) may be scratching their heads at the connection between the Classic City and classic films. In fact, the festival was actually the brainchild of University of Georgia professor Nate Kohn, who previously launched Roger Ebert's Overlooked Film Festival and approached Osborne himself with his new idea. In March of 2004 Osborne tested the waters with a screening of Singin' in the Rain, complete with newsreels, cartoon, and Q&A session, and evidently the warm response cemented the plan. From January 27 through 30, Osborne hosted screenings of eight classic films on a big screen installed in the Classic Center specifically for that purpose, so that Athens audiences—and those who traveled to the festival from other cities and even other states, as some did—could experience the unique joy of watching a film on the big screen in the presence of other film lovers.

The wide array of classics, all chosen by Osborne himself, was intriguingly diverse. Osborne notes that although he "used to think that a certain amount of time has to go by" before a film can be considered a classic, he has come to revise that belief, which accounts for the presence in the festival lineup of the 2003 animated tour de force The Triplets of Belleville. The most recent film included in the festival, it was joined by a representative of every decade from the 1930s to the '80s. Selections ranged from the obscure (the 1984 documentary Marlene by Maximilian Schell) to perhaps the classic film, Casablanca (1942). The lineup was carefully calibrated to "earn people's trust," says Osborne—presenting some films that are familiar enough to appeal to many filmgoers, while interspersing some lesser-known gems to introduce them to a wider audience. Thus, the first night of the festival featured a much-loved film, the uproarious 1954 musical Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which started the festival off with a packed house. In order to introduce a new generation of filmgoers to the classics of the past, the festival even offered The Adventures of Robin Hood as a free children's matinee, prefacing the film with the classic Bugs Bunny cartoon "Rabbit Hood" for even more of a classic experience.

Films like Seven Brides for Seven Brothers exemplified another important feature of the festival: showing why some films can only be properly appreciated when seen on the big screen. I'm not a big musical fan and had never seen this vibrant musical before, but in its vast widescreen presentation, the bold Technicolor vistas, and equally bold persona of Howard Keel—together with breathtakingly athletic dance numbers—swept me up along with the rest of the audience. It was then that I began to realize that, with very few exceptions, the movie musicals I like most are ones I first saw on the big screen. It's simply a genre that demands that larger-than-life treatment, and seeing this musical presented that way helped me realize why movie musicals were once so popular. From that point on, I was prepared to do what Osborne had requested at the start of the festival: "Trust us." Every one of the films he had chosen was worth our time, he promised, and I have to say he was right.

Other films that particularly benefited from the big-screen presentation were of course the colorful, visually intricate Triplets of Belleville and the boisterous 1939 classic The Adventures of Robin Hood, with its glorious pageantry and rousing action. The Italian landscapes of Cinema Paradiso, a film whose main subject is the joy of experiencing movies, and the desolate Texas landscape captured by James Wong Howe's Oscar-winning cinematography in Hud, also came into their own when allowed to fill the expanse of a big screen. For me, Hud was the best surprise of the festival, a powerful drama I had heretofore missed, with a tangy screenplay and marvelous performances from all concerned—Paul Newman's work in the title role is justly admired, but equally excellent are Melvyn Douglas (Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House) as his upright father, Brandon de Wilde (Shane) as the teenaged innocent, and Patricia Neal (The Fountainhead), who won an Oscar as the worldly housekeeper. In fact, the greatest disappointment the festival brought was the absence of Neal, who had to cancel her scheduled appearance due to a knee injury. I had looked forward to experiencing that unique, unforgettable voice in person and hearing her talk about her eventful life. (Maybe next year, Miss Neal?)

Even Marlene, a film whose visual impact is limited by its subject's refusal to be photographed, probably caught my interest more in this screening than it would have if I had viewed it on DVD, when I might have found myself reaching for the chapter-advance button during some of the aging star's ramblings. Screen legend Marlene Dietrich (Stage Fright) is the subject of this unusual documentary, made by her Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) costar, Maximilian Schell. Schell's solution to Dietrich's refusal to appear on screen was to combine vintage footage of the actress in performances, interviews, and public appearances with footage of himself and his crew in the process of putting together (and commenting on) the documentary itself. The audio tapes that provide the basis for the film reveal many sides to this intriguing diva—and many contradictions. To make it even more interesting, when director Schell took the stage after the screening, he told us that much of what Dietrich recounted on tape was invented. Although the documentary was entertaining, the appearances at the festival by Schell himself were still more enjoyable: The charismatic Vienna-born actor-director is a masterful raconteur with a deft, often naughty, sense of humor. His story about having turned down the role of Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music was every bit as fun as his documentary. Perhaps most endearing of all, he proved himself to be a true film fan by attending almost every single screening as a member of the audience. That launches him to the top of the list of cool people as far as I'm concerned.

Another celebrity guest, Jane Powell, was also a welcome presence. Still energetic and enthusiastic—and still sporting the beautiful legs of a dancer—Powell appeared to talk about Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and take audience questions. Other celebrity guests who brought their one-of-a-kind perspectives to screenings were Pia Lindstrom (daughter of Ingrid Bergman) and Rory Flynn (daughter of Errol Flynn), both of whom shared insights and surprising anecdotes about their famous parents. Actress Louise Fletcher, immortalized as Nurse Ratched from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, appeared in conjunction with the screening of that classic and also took part in a lively panel discussion called "They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To." Her fellow discussants represented a wide variety of people involved in the film industry, including fellow actor Schell; TCM's executive vice president and general manager, Tom Karsch; Atlanta Journal-Constitution film critic Eleanor Ringel-Gillespie; Richard Neupert, professor of drama at UGA; Bob Longino, entertainment reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution; Athens entertainment reporter Patrick Franklin; and Osborne as moderator. The panelists carried on a spirited discussion about what constitutes a classic film, whether classics are still being made (they are, was the consensus—just not many), and what they felt were the most fortunate and unfortunate changes in the film industry since the golden age. As a DVD Verdict judge, I had to ask the panel what we can do to encourage studios to release more classic films on DVD, and the heartening (if vague) answer boiled down to "Don't worry, they're on their way." Eleanor Ringel-Gillespie added that studios seem to feel they need a gimmick in releasing classic films, so we may expect to see more classics packaged like the Universal Monster Legacy sets and the recent Warner Bros. gangster film collection.

In only one way was the festival inferior to the experience of watching DVDs at home, and that was the problem of simply getting there. Since a winter storm brought a rare accumulation of ice to Athens that weekend, trapping some would-be moviegoers in their homes, audience attendance at the festival probably wasn't nearly as large as it would have been otherwise. I hope that the foul weather won't discourage Osborne from returning to Athens next year with more classic films. It's my fond wish that he'll bring the festival back with, say, a Hitchcock film and Sunset Boulevard, so I can relish the true feeling of being one of "those wonderful people out there in the dark."