The Colonial Theatre » Classic Films

Mrs. Miniver

Kirsten — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:09:56 +0000

This winner of six Academy Awards (including Best Film, Best Director and – of course – Best Actress) played a major role in rousing the American public to an awareness of what �our British cousins� had been enduring, prior to our entry into World War II. It beautifully and powerfully conveys the British people�s will and dignity, as they tried to maintain an air of normalcy on the home front while facing daily bombing raids and other threats. Greer Garson is most affecting as she and her film husband, Walter Pidgeon, seek to deal with deprivations and danger, and conveying a wholesome and happy home environment in the midst of it all. After seeing this rousing and influential film, Winston Churchill was heard to say it was �more valuable to the war effort than the combined efforts of six army divisions.�

Auntie Mame

Kirsten — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:08:56 +0000

Oscar-nominated Rosalind Russell turns in a rollicking performance as the title character, whose philosophy is simply summed up as “life is a banquet, and most suckers are starving to death,” in this award-winning adaptation of the novel and stage play by Patrick Dennis. Her role as young Dennis’� eccentric and free-wheeling aunt, who takes the boy under her wing and helps him to fly, is one of the best of her long career. As reviewer Steven H. Scheuer has stated, “Russell’s comic cyclone of a performance supplies enough centrifugal force to keep a dozen comedies in motion.” If the story and some of the hilarious incidents portrayed seem a bit familiar, this is probably because Auntie Mame was converted, some years later, into Mame, the hit 70s musical comedy of stage and screen. (Bill Roth)

Annie Hall

Kirsten — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:27:31 +0000

This is considered by many to be Woody Allen�s �breakthrough film,� in that it took him beyond the mere comedy tropes and funny one-liners of his earlier films into the domain of true romantic comedy and social insight. In so doing, Allen received Oscars for Best Picture, Best Direction and Best Screenplay, and Diane Keaton won a well-deserved Best Actress award for bringing life (and joy) to the title role (which many folks who know her contend is based upon her own real-life personality and style.) Allen and Keaton are supported by a splendid cast, which includes Tony Roberts, Paul Simon, Colleen Dewhurst and such future stars as Carol Kane, Christopher Walken and Shelley Duval, and the scenes of New York City are rendered as lovingly as Allen has ever done. So, if you are in the mood for some mid-winter laughter, and a glowing performance by one of America�s most delightful female stars at her finest and most natural, come fall in love with Annie Hall. (Bill Roth)

The Ipcress File

Kirsten — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 21:29:26 +0000

Early in his screen career (even before he hit it really big with his breakout role as Alfie in 1966), Michael Caine was becoming quite a well-known actor in his native Britain. One of his most highly-regarded performances from that period was as star of this tense and complex spy thriller. At a time when �spy thriller� generally referred to the wild, over-the- top shenanigans of the James Bond films, this was an exciting, often droll exercise in intelligent intelligence work, based upon the best-seller by Len Deighton. Caine plays the bespectacled Harry Palmer, a somewhat shifty cockney British army sergeant who is caught dealing in the black market and is forced to do penance by serving as a counterintelligence agent in cold-war Berlin. Rather that being a Bondian super-spy, he is more of a regular bloke, thrust into dangerous situations that build tension and rely on his resourcefulness and wit. NOTE: The success of this film led to two sequels, Funeral in Berlin and Billion Dollar Brain, both starring Caine; however, this is roundly regarded as being the best of the bunch. Watch it and find out why. (Bill Roth)

Looney Tunes

Kirsten — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:33:35 +0000

[ Sat, Mar 10, 2:00 pm; ] Selected cartoons from the Warner Brothers catalog featuring Bugs Bunny.

Get Carter

Kirsten — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:07:36 +0000

One would generally never think of calm, impassive Michael Caine as being the hero (antihero?) of a brutal thriller – a grim, amoral killer, bent on revenge. But, then again, one could be wrong. In this exciting, sometimes stunning movie, Caine plays Jack Carter (no relation – whatsoever – to the American funny-man of the 1950s and 60s), a small-time hood from London who goes home to the north of England to attend his brother�s funeral. The more he learns, the more Carter becomes obsessed with finding out the reasons for his brother�s death and with getting revenge. Brilliantly directed by then-newcomer to the screen, Mike Hodges, this is a violent and stylish film, with touches of both modern realism and classic hard-boiled detection, a la Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. Please, please don�t mistake this modern noir classic for the 2000 remake of the same name, starring Sylvester Stallone. The two are as different as….well….as different as Michael Caine and Sylvester Stallone. (Bill Roth)

The Man Who Would Be King

Kirsten — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:09:33 +0000

Famed director and writer John Huston dreamed of bringing Rudyard Kipling�s thrilling adventure story about India in the 1880s to the screen for many years, but he was never quite able to find the right cast or the right amount of funding for the project. Then, in 1975, he was able to secure the services of Michael Caine and Sean Connery, both at the height of their popularity and charisma and, as the saying goes, the rest is cinematic history. In a film filled with brave derring-do, witty banter and fanciful skullduggery, Caine and Connery, as two British army pals, set about bamboozling the people of Kafiristan (an erstwhile province of Afghanistan) into believing that Connery is a god, there to lead that nation into glory, as they scheme to indulge their own greed. However, much to their dismay, and to our entertainment, their best laid plans end up going wildly astray. If you enjoy films of wit and high adventure, along the lines of Gunga Din and Beau Geste, and thrill to clever dialogue and a sense of everyone involved having a jolly-good time, then this is the film for you! (Bill Roth)