Friday Night Film Series

 
Strangers on a Train

March 1, 2013

6 :30 P.M.

When Bruno meets tennis star Guy Haines aboard a train, he confesses he wants his rich father dead, prompting Guy to reveal that he wants to divorce his shrewish wife--so Bruno suggests that they "trade" murders in this Alfred Hitchcock classic. A tale of dreadful possibilities--with Robert Walker as BRUNO and Farley Granger as GUY in one of Hitchcock's most diabolical thrillers.

Friday Night Film Series

Anna Karenina

February 22, 2013

6:30 P.M. 

This rendering of author Leo Tolstoy's classic stars Greta Garbo as the married Russian woman who falls in love and runs off with dashing soldier Vronsky (Frederic March). Upon Anna's return, her icy and distant husband (Basil Rathbone) prevents her from seeing her son. To make matters worse, Vronsky deserts her to join a regiment heading to the Turkish-Serbian war. Garbo is unforgettable. Her final scene is haunting.

Friday Night Film Series

                                                        
Waterloo Bridge

February 1, 2013                                                                                                       
6:30 P.M.   

After falling madly in love, ballerina Myra (Vivien Leigh) and British officer Roy (Robert Taylor) unwillingly part ways during World War I. Driven to a life of prostitution, Myra battles shame and struggles to reconnect with Roy when he unexpectedly returns from combat. Based on a play by Robert E, Sherwood, this wartime romance received Academy Award nominations for cinematography and original score. Vivien Leigh's first film after Gone With the Wind.

                                                        

Friday Night Film Series

                           
The Talk of the Town

 January 25, 2013

 6:30 P.M.  

 The dashing Cary Grant stars as Leopold, an activist wrongfully imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit. To avoid execution, Leopold breaks out of jail and takes a job as a gardener for a teacher named Nora (Jean Arthur). Nora's other house guest (Ronald Coleman) is a legal scholar who learns Leopold's true identity. His two new friends end up helping him find justice--and perhaps even love. The film earned seven Oscar nods, including Best Picture.                                                                         

                                                     

Friday Night Film Series

   Midnight

    January 18, 2013

    6:30 P.M.    

Eve Peabody has just arrived in Paris with only the gown on her back. So what's a girl to do? Pretend to be a Hungarian baroness, of course! Claudette Colbert stars as the lovely lass who ditches a smitten cabbie (Don Ameche) to crash a regal affair. There, she meets the aristocratic John Barrymore, who gives her a royal disguise and hires her to lure away his cheating wife's lover. The result is a classic screwball comedy with a touch of romance.  

                  

Friday Night Film Series

The Court Jester

January 11, 2013

6:30 P.M.

When the infant king of England is deposed by a wicked pretender, the man charged with tending to the baby monarch tries to set things right by wriggling his way into the castle and impersonating a court jester--with zany results. With Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Angela Lansbury, Mildred Natwick and Basil Rathbone. 
  

Friday Night Film Series

The Rules of the Game

August 10, 2012

7:00 P.M.

 Jean Renoir's most revered film combines his love for the outrageous with his stinging disdain for the French privileged class. The plot is set on the eve of World War II. Today, Rules of the Game, stands as the director's finest condemnation of a corrupt society, where appearances are everything and values mean nothing.

Friday Night Film Series

Small Change

August 3, 2012

7 P.M.

A boy finds a few coins in an amusement park. A shy girl sneaks a glance at the even shyer boy she fancies. They are small events, but not for a child. "A child invents life." says Francois Truffaut, who brilliantly captures the joys, pain, and wonder of childhood in Small Change.

Friday Night Film Series

Warm Springs

July 27, 2012

7 P.M.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt (Kenneth Branagh) faces personal and political crises in this biopic that begins not long after the future U.S. president is paralyzed by polio. Roosevelt endures the stigma of the disease and is moved by the plight of America's disabled. As he searches for a miracle cure, he regains his confidence as a leader with help from wife Eleanor (Cynthia Nixon) and therapist Helena (Kathy Bates). Wonderfully acted by all.

Friday Night Film Series

Babe

July 20, 2012

7 P.M.

The story of Babe Didrickson, who won two gold medals in track and field at the 1932 Olympics and returned to become a world champion golfer, as she battled to be accepted in a man's world of sports. Her fight against cancer was the one battle she was ultimately to lose. Susan Clark won an Emmy for her portrayal of Babe.

Friday Night Film Series

The Secret Life of Words

July 13, 2012

7 P.M.

After surviving the war in Yugoslavia, taciturn nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) heads to Ireland for some relaxation. But when she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast, she agrees to tend to a heroic burn victim, (Tim Robbins). The encounter changes both their lives. A compelling and critically acclaimed film, directed by Pedro Almodovar.

Friday Night Movies

Temple Grandin

July 6, 2012

7:00 P.M.

Emmy winner Claire Danes stars as Temple Grandin, a brilliant young woman coping with the stigma of autism. With the support of her loving family, Temple dedicates herself to learning and becomes a famed animal behaviorist. Her passion for animals gives her a unique ability to understand them, and she fulfills her love by teaching about autism and the most humane ways to treat livestock.

Friday Night Movie Series

Terror by Night

May 25, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Affluent widow Lady Margaret (Mary Forbes) and her son Roland (Geoffrey Steele) enlist the help of Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to keep a huge diamond from being stolen on a trip to Edinburgh. Holmes watches the precious jewel with help from Dr. Watson (Nigel Bruce) and Inspector Lestrade (Dennis Hoey), but all is turned upside down when the stone vanishes and Roland is killed. Now, Holmes must find the murderer among the train's passengers.

Friday Night Film Series

Dressed to Kill

May 18, 2012

6:30 P.M.


Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) looks into two surprising deaths, one of which was Dr. Watson's friend Julian (Edmund Breon). When both victims are found dead after buying the same kind of music box at an auction, Holmes tracks down the origin of the items to a convict serving time for stealing printing plates from a bank. Holmes begins to unravel a scheme that placed a secret code on the music boxes, revealing the location for stolen goods.

Intergenerational Book Club Announcement

On May 15th the Thomaston Intergenerational Book Club will discuss Spoonhandle by Ruth Moore. When originally published in 1946, Richard Sullivan wrote in the New York Times Book Review: 

    "A genial, easy-going novel which spreads engagingly out over the lives and affairs of some half dozen residents of a sea-coast community in Maine that is Ruth Moore's pleasant accomplishment in Spoonhandle.

This was her second novel of life on the Maine coast and was made into a Hollywood movie Deep Waters, starring Jean Peters, Dana Andrews and a young Dean Stockwell.

Please note that this meeting will begin at 2:00 P.M. to allow time to show the video after the discussion.


On the third Tuesday of each month, this group of men and women of all ages come together to share their opinions and ideas. Extra copies of the books are purchased by the Friends of the Thomaston Public Library from the Annual Appeal funds. We thank you for all donations. Please come and join us at the Thomaston Library on May 15th at 2:00 P.M. in room 208.

This event is free and open to the public.


 

Friday Night Film Series

The Woman in Green

May 11, 2012 

6:30 P.M. 


Four women are killed and fo8und without their right forefinger, causing Scotland Yard to recruit sleuth Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) to solve the mysterious case. Holmes tracks the murders to a group of hypnotists and a puzzling but stunning woman named Lydia Marlow (Hillary Brooke). Pretty soon, Holmes uncovers a tangle of hypnosis and lies devised by his nemesis, the malevolent Professor Moriarty (Henry Daniel).

Friday Night Film Series

 
Sherlock Holmes and the Secret Weapon

May 4, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Sherlock Holmes (Basil Rathbone) and Doctor Watson (Nigel Bruce) once again set out to foil the nefarious Moriarty (Lionel Atwill)--and save humanity in the process. This time, they must prevent a Swiss-made bomb from falling into the hands of the Gestapo. Unfortunately, Moriarty has captured the bomb's inventor and intends to slowly bleed him to death unless he reveals the secret behind his handiwork.

Friday Night Film Series

Open City

April 27, 2012

6:30 P.M.

Director Roberto Rossellini's unsettling drama portrays the harrowing struggle of everyday women and children as they try to shield resistance forces from the Nazis and to maintain compassion and self-respect despite Rome's de facto occupation during World War II's waning days. Rossellini's landmark film, which received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay, brilliantly depicts the Italian people's weary despair and collective resolve.

Friday Night Film Series

The Bicycle Thief

April 20

6:30 P.M.

Poverty-stricken Antonio needs his bicycle to do his new job. But the same day he buys it back from a pawnshop, someone steals it, prompting him to search the city in vain with his young son.

Friday Night Film Series

Umberto D

April 13

6:30 P.M.

Bankrupt and lonely, an old man (Carlo Battisti) considers committing suicide. Since he has only a devoted dog and a maid (Lina Genneri) as his companions, things look bleak--until one day when the old man's luck changes, giving him new hope. Director Vittorio De Sica's touching portrait of one man's effort to retain his pride in the face of adversity is a treasure of Italian post-war cinema.