** Amazingly -- the AMPAS 1939 Best Picture series in New York is -- as of this moment -- just two days before opening -- NOT sold out! What's wrong with you guys back east?
** Here in Southern California, the two most popular pictures nominated for Best Picture sold out instantly (GWTW and Wizard of Oz). The tickets are dirt cheap, the accommodations are clean and spotless, the Academy screen is gigantic; the prints are the best -- with the only downside being no refreshments allowed inside (but that's always been a plus and THE policy at all AMPAS screenings; I prefer silence to to listening to tourists unwrapping candy bars or eating their smelly, nitrate-filled hot dogs). Anyone in the Tri-state area should get out of work early and treat themselves for a great night at the movies. For more info on the NYC screening at the Lighthouse International on 111 E. 59th St., visit: http://www.oscars.org/events-exhibitions/events/2009/mnwo-bestpics1939.html ** Like others out here, I've attended numerous AMPAS screenings -- and they are a spectacular value -- and they almost always have an extra bonus, e.g., surviving cast or crew members in a post-screening chat, sometimes autographs, etc. Well worth attending for only 5 bucks -- you can even order your tickets online. It's probably the only chance to see these 1939 beauties on a big screen with clean prints! ** Thinking out loud -- I can't think of another year (1939) that comes closest to boasting a list of films that at least have a "ringing familiarity" to MoPoers.... ** 1946 comes closest for me with The Postman Always Rings Twice, It's A Wonderful Life, Gilda, Best Years of Our Lives, The Killers, Notorious, The Razor's Edge, The Big Sleep, The Yearling, My Darling Clementime, Great Expectations, The Stranger, Brief Encounter (which had a 1946 release in the U.S.), Dark Corner, Somewhere in the Night, Diary of a Chambermaid, Bringing Up Father, To Each His Own, The Strange Love of Martha Hyers, and for Alan Ladd fans -- Two Years Before the Mast and the Blue Dahlia -- with Miracle on 34th Street sneaking under there but not really cuz it's a 1947 SUMMER release but I always lop it in there because 1946-1947 were great years for post-war Hollywood (where box-office attendance reached its peak, never to be topped again in America). ** I can think of these titles for 1939 alone; those listed in BOLD were nominated for Best Picture (back then there were 10 nominees in this category): The Women Young Mr. Lincoln Gulliver's Travels Wizard of Oz Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Gone With the Wind Beau Geste Dark Victory Destry Rides Again Goodbye Mr. Chips Drums Along the Mohawk Hunchback of Notre Dame Ninotchka Only Angels Have Wings Of Mice and Men Love Affair Stanley and Livingstone Roaring Twenties Wuthering Heights Alexander Graham Bell Stagecoach Gunga Din Hound of the Baskervilles On Borrowed Time That's a list would ordinarily cover several decades of greatness, let alone a single year. Some films released that year were of course way better than others, and some aren't even classics; but I bet most MoPoer's will recognize nearly every title above -- which I think is remarkable when you consider "nearly" NONE of us were alive in 1939. I'm an Oscar nut/amateur historian and I have to think really hard just to come up with the Best Picture nominees for 2005 -- off the top of my head are Brokeback Mountain, Good Night, Good Luck, Capote (my fave that year) and Crash and I come up one short; I could look it up at IMDB but that would be cheating. -d. Visit the MoPo Mailing List Web Site at www.filmfan.com ___________________________________________________________________ How to UNSUBSCRIBE from the MoPo Mailing List Send a message addressed to: [email protected] In the BODY of your message type: SIGNOFF MOPO-L The author of this message is solely responsible for its content.
