I Love The Historic Artcraft Theatre

Today I’d like to do something different and write about my new favorite place: The Historic Artcraft Theater of Franklin Indiana.

It was my brother who first told me about The Artcraft. He went to a showing of To Kill A Mockingbird there with friends and was blown away. For nearly an hour on the phone he gushed over the place, from the old seats to the dings of the projectors to the little old ladies selling popcorn. I knew I had to check the place out.

The view down Main Street.

A few weeks later, The Artcraft was doing an afternoon showing of The Wizard of Oz. My son had never stayed awake past Munchkinland, so I set out with him to go make sure he was one of the greatest films of all time properly.

The Artcraft’s setting is picturesque and perfect. It rests in Franklin Indiana’s quaint downtown. Looking down the street is the beautiful courthouse. Just around the corner are lovely cafes, shops and a great pizza joint. The bright red and white marque is wonderfully retro and it’s blinking lights transport you in time before you even enter.

In preparation for The Wizard of Oz, the volunteers there (the whole theater is run by volunteers) had decorated. On the sidewalk was an enchanting yellow brick road. On the doors were painted poppies and “Surrender Dorothy” written above the entrance. I was told in the evening there were people in costumes.

The Artcraft decorated for The Wizard of Oz.

Inside, we were greeted by some of the friendliest people I’ve met in a cinema. The popcorn is sold at a fair price and is locally grown. As my son and I looked for a seat, one of the friendly volunteers brought us a booster, my kid certainly needed it.

Before the film began, a man came out onto the stage with a microphone. He thanked us all for coming and asked if this was anyone’s first trip to their theater. My son and I and a handful of others raised their hands. He continued to give us a brief history of The Artcraft, explain a few renovations they’ve made over the years and encouraged us to come back for future shows, including a showing of Back to the Future with a free car show, boasting two DeLoreans. I was so bummed that I couldn’t make it to that one.

After his announcements, it was still not time for the film. There are always two main traditions before the feature: everyone stands to sing The Star Spangled Banner (complete with an old film with the words on screen) and then a cartoon is shown, usually of the Looney Tunes variety.

Waiting for an evening show.

Now, I have grown up on The Wizard of Oz and seen it on TV countless times, but seeing it in a theater, on a beautiful 35mm print was awesome! Even my three year old boy was entranced for most of the film. I was so proud that he didn’t cry when he was obviously scared by The Wicked Witch of the West and Oz’s pyrotechnics. I’m thrilled that I could give him a real first look at The Wizard of Oz at such a lovely theater.

We love The Artcraft so much, we came back again and again in the summer for their weekly kid’s summer programs. We saw a few kid friendly films including Babe and Space Jam, each visit a pure delight.

For months I told my brother that we needed to see an evening film there. A few weeks ago, I finally got a Friday evening free to see a movie at The Artcraft with my brother and his lovely fiance. We saw 12 Angry Men, a first viewing for my brother and future sister-in-law. We had dinner down the street and settled in early, watching the theater become nearly full for a black and white courtroom drama from the 1950s.

Lovely tickets and flyers printed for each film.

The pre-film festivities were a bit different in the evenings. There was the cute skit both based on the film and advertising a future event at the theater. There was a raffle, where the winner received a small silly gift to help them be a better juror, since we were seeing 12 Angry Men. But the best part was where they brought out a big map on a board and figured out who came the furthest to visit that night. A burly man from east Texas won that night. They said a couple from Australia had won the week before.

My most recent trip to The Artcraft was to see Mary Poppins with my son on a beautiful Saturday afternoon. Word must be spreading quickly about this amazing little theater, because the house was nearly full. Perhaps the fact that Cosmopolitan recently named The Artcraft Indiana’s coolest movie theater has something to do with the big crowd.

Going to The Artcraft Theater is a film experience like no other. Every showing is an event, warm, inviting and family friendly. The volunteers treat you like family, even if it’s your first visit. The beautiful 35mm prints they find give movies you’ve seen before new life and character. And they have the most wonderful projectionist who let my son and another child see the booth and explain how they show the films.

Sure, sometimes you want to see the latest blockbuster in the new cinema with the reclining seats and are willing to pay $8 for half stale popcorn. But that’s not The Artcraft’s style. You walk into the past and sit at attention in the older seats. You snack on local, delicious, lovingly prepared popcorn. And you see classic, loved and unforgettable films that have shine brighter over time, just as The Artcraft Theater does.

Check out more at their website: http://www.historicartcrafttheatre.org/

*This article was not paid for by The Arcraft or any affiliates. Alyson Krier chose to write about it out of free will and pure love. All pictures were taken by Alyson Krier, who is not a very good photographer. Thanks for reading.

The Story of Louis Pasteur

In our modern world, it can be baffling the way people used to think about modern medicine.  Over and over in The Story of Louis Pasteur we hear doctors and scientists scoff and laugh at Pasteur’s ideas.  Washing your hands after treating a sick patient?  Silly!  Boiling your surgical tools between procedures?  What a waste of time!  Vaccinating to prevent illnesses?  Well…there are a select few who still need to realize how common sense that is, but let’s not dwell on that.

Louis Pasteur was a 19th century French chemist and microbiologist.  This film takes us back to before his ideas were accepted.  He advises doctors to use clean towels, wash their hands and instruments, usually in vain.  He even tells the French Emperor that based on who her doctor’s last patient was, the queen’s sister will be dead in only a few days due to the poor hygienic treatment she got.  When he is right, he and his family leave Paris for the countryside, where he keeps at his work.  There, he develops a vaccine for sheep against the plague.  

One of the more entertaining chapters in the film is when farmers from all over bring their herds of sheep to Pasteur’s land, after the French government claims that his land is free of the plague.  Pasteur has to stop them and explain that it isn’t the land that is keeping the sheep from dying, but rather his vaccine.  To prove it, a grand experiment and wager is made.  They take two groups of sheep, vaccinate one group and see which lives.  The big reveal is turned into a circus, literally, with acrobats and side shows showing up to cash in.  And I think we can all guess which sheep are left standing.  

The film continues to follow Pasteur’s experiments and how he stands firm in the face of so much blind opposition.  The ending conflict is when Pasteur takes a bold risk and gives a boy bitten by a mad dog his experimental vaccine against rabies.  If it doesn’t work, and the boy dies, Pasteur will be seen as a criminal and possibly a murderer.  I think we can all guess how the end will turn out, but the film does a good job of creating suspense.  

In 1936, The Story of Louis Pasteur won three Academy Awards and was nominated for four.  It won both writing awards of the year, Original Story and Screenplay.  Paul Muni won his only Oscar while he was nominated six times over his career, all for lead actor.  The only Oscar the film lost was Best Picture, to The Great Ziegfeld.

What The Story of Louis Pasteur does best is inform us about what great achievements Pasteur brought to our society, despite all the ignorant naysayers he had to endure.  Without him we might still be losing millions to preventable diseases.  Without him, modern vaccinations might not exist.  And without him, hospitals might still be disgusting cesspools of disease and death.  In the end, Muni leaves his audience with words of wisdom that ring true to this day:

“Doctors and scientists of the future – do not let yourselves be tainted by apparent skepticism; nor discouraged by the sadness of certain hours that creep over nations. Do not become angry at your opponents, for no scientific theory has ever been accepted without opposition.”

White Zombie

Horror movies can be scary in many different ways.  Some are full of gruesome deaths.  Others take us into a paranormal scenario our minds can’t completely comprehend or believe.  Still, others are just plain creepy and make our skin crawl in wonderfully horrible ways.  The pre-code era’s White Zombie, believed to be the first zombie film, has a bit of everything.

In 1932’s White Zombie, a young couple, Madeline (Madge Bellamy) and Neil (John Harron), plans to marry in Haiti.  Their host, Charles Beaumont (Robert Frazer), wants the girl, Madeline himself and seeks out the help of local voodoo guru, ‘Murder’ Legendre (Bela Lugosi).  Murder uses zombies to run his sugar mill, an effective source of cheap labor with no chance of forming a union.  Anyway, Murder gives Charles something that will help him win Madeline, but she will become a zombie.  Charles doesn’t want to do that to her, but he knows there is no other way.  Can he handle life with a zombie wife?

While this is a zombie movie, these are not the sort of zombies we see in most of today’s media.  These zombies stem more from the original voodoo legends of Haiti and Africa.  They are raised from the dead by voodoo, or some other means of witchcraft.  And rather than shamble, rot and hunt for human flesh, they don’t do much unless commanded by their master.  You’ll know when zombies are about to do Murder’s dirty work when does his zombie grip.

Though the quality of the film is not very good, there are still some fun tricks up its sleeve.  I loved the use of overlaps and transparencies.  Moments with Lugosi’s creepy staring eyes are always a treat, much like in his previous role, Dracula.  And really, the grainy quality of the film contributes to the creepy atmosphere the film creates.  It takes time and energy to make grainy images you strain to see in modern films.

I believe that White Zombie is the sort of classic horror film that can stand alongside classic greats of its time, like Dracula, The Mummy and Frankenstein.  It’s creepy, has a magnificent set design and wonderfully over acted for all the fun and creeps.  This could be a good first zombie film for kids, if you’re not ready for them to witness the blood and gore of Night of the Living Dead.  Madeline could also inspire a great minimal effort zombie costume, if you can keep from blinking long enough.

“Your driver believed he saw dead men… walking.”

A Thousand Clowns

For nearly four years now I have been searching for A Thousand Clowns.  This film seemed to be always out of my grasp, never on DVD, never on Netflix and never on TCM.  That is, until a little while ago.  During TCM’s 31 Days of Oscar, I was finally able to catch this elusive best picture nominee from 1965.

In A Thousand Clowns, Murray (Jason Robards) is out of work in New York and raising his nephew, Nick (Barry Gordon).  Well, that’s the boy’s name for now.  It’s explained later that he was never given a name and has been free to choose his name over the years, but will have to settle on one soon.  How does a boy go over ten years with no official name?  It seems it just wasn’t something his mother gave him before she left, never knowing who the father was.  These aren’t the most important details of the film, but it helps to understand the characters we are dealing with.  They’re the kind of people with multiple clocks on the walls, but none of them set to the same time.
Anyway, Murray, who used to write for the Chuckles the Chipmunk show, is out of work and not serious about finding a job.  He’s happy being free to roam New York as he pleases, usually taking Nick with him.  This keeps Nick out of school enough for social workers to take notice, they want to visit their home for an interview.  The fact that Murray never officially adopted Nick creates further problems.  If the interview doesn’t go well, Nick may have to go live with a foster family.

During the interview, the things Murray says get to Sandra (Barbara Harris), one of the social workers, affects her in a way she never expected.  Murray’s wayward lifestyle, flying by the seat of his pants suddenly makes sense to her and romance is sparked.  Is it love?  Fate?  Or just recklessness?

What I believe propelled A Thousand Clowns into a Best Picture nomination back in 1965 were two things: the acting and a charismatic portrayal of an alternative lifestyle.  Sure, uncle Murray can be seen as a lazy low life, but at least he’s man enough to support his nephew and not leave him like everyone else did.  And let’s be honest, Nick isn’t a bad kid, he could be doing a lot worse.

In my opinion, A Thousand Clowns isn’t a great film, but it is an enjoyable addition to the nominations of 1965.  The dialogue and characters keep it light in the shadow of a more serious subject.  Though the characters may be difficult to identify with at times, they are likable and draw our sympathies.  In my searching, the sixties seem to be the decade with the most outliers up for best picture and A Thousand Clowns isn’t the worst of them.  And it rivals A Christmas Story for best lamp.

“Well you gotta admit, you don’t see boobies like that everyday.”

The African Queen

After I finally sat down to watch The African Queen, the I immediately wondered why it had taken so long to check it off my list.  I loved it.  It’s the kind of film that feels tailored to me: action and adventure down the wild jungle rivers of Africa with a surprisingly welcome bit of romance.

Rose (Katharine Hepburn) is a British missionary in Africa with her brother in the early twentieth century.  Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart) is a steamboat captain who brings them mail and news, including that Germany and Britain are at war.  By the next time Allnut visits, Germans have burned the village to the ground and Rose’s brother is dead.  Taking pity on the lady, Allnut takes her with him on the river.  Seeing he has a load of explosives and old canisters of gas, Rose gets an idea to make torpedoes and attack a German ship.  The river journey ahead of them is long and treacherous, but along it they may find strength in each other and even love.

This film quickly becomes a thrilling ride of an adventure.  In fact, it’s rumored that Walt Disney was inspired by The African Queen to create the Jungle Cruise ride.  All along the river are wild animals, bugs, Germans and white water rapids.  The rapids scenes are hair raising moments that make you hold on and release you into euphoric celebration alongside our characters.  It’s so much fun!

Inside the boat, there is at first tension between Charlie and Rose.  She, being so straight-laced, despises the way he drinks and he, being more laid back and not the happiest drunk, gets annoyed with her stuffiness easily.  When Rose pours all of Charlie’s gin into the river, the scene rivals Pirates of the Caribbean for angry “Why is the booze gone?” moment.  But after a close call down the rapids, which Rose handles like a champ, a spark is lit between them.

For the next scene or two, the nervous emotion between our leads is electric.  In my mind, it rivals some of the greatest love scenes in its sweet and awkward sincerity.  By the time their new found love and attraction is out in the open, it’s just as much an uplifting relief for the audience as it is for the characters.

The African Queen was nominated for four Academy Awards and won only one.  It was nominated for best screenplay, John Huston for director, Katharine Hepburn for best lead actress and Humphrey Bogart won for best lead actor.  In my mind, this is the best film of 1951.  Okay, I’ll let it tie with A Streetcar Named Desire, but I finally understand how Brando didn’t win that Oscar.

Bogart is so energetic and endearing throughout the film.  He seems to channel a bit of Buster Keaton’s character in The General in the way that he is so in tune with The African Queen.  I love how Bogart gets up on the side of the boat and kicks the boiler with both feet to fix it.  The early scene with his stomach growling is subtly hilarious and makes his character softer than his bristly face would suggest.  His gin swilling side in the beginning of the film is wonderfully rough, yet gels well with his more lovable side later in the film.  In the end, it may have been Bogart’s ridiculous hippo impression that sealed that Oscar envelope.

If you enjoy action, adventure, romance, Bogart and Hepburn (and who doesn’t?) you absolutely must see The African Queen.  Honestly, go now, it’s on Netflix Instant.  I imagine children will eat this movie up, with all the fun and thrilling moments journeying down the river.  They’ll probably get a kick out of the random b-roll of wild animals edited in and the adults can enjoy unforgettable performances by Bogart and Hepburn.

“Never say die.  That’s my motto.”

Dracula

A cornerstone in Universal’s classic monster movies is Dracula from 1931.  Starring Bela Lugosi, the haunting images and story exposed a wider audience to Bram Stoker’s work and vampire lore.  I grew up with classic vampire images based off of Lugosi’s character and rubber bats on strings every Halloween.  To this day, nearly every generic vampire impression (anything Twilight related never counts, obviously) is based off of Lugosi’s voice, movements and looks.

The film begins with Renfield (Dwight Frye), a young man traveling to Dracula’s castle.  On the ride there, all the locals warn him against going.  One old woman even gives him a crucifix.  When he arrives, Dracula’s castle is quite a sight.  The place is a mess, with armadillos wandering in piles of dusty junk and giant spiderwebs sprawled above the stairs.  Renfield can tell something is amiss when it seems that his host has passed through the thick webs without disturbing a single strand.  Unfortunately, he doesn’t turn back and Dracula turns him into a slave, somehow getting him and his coffin onto a ship to England.

Once in England, Renfield is found on the ship and thrown into an asylum while Dracula strolls around town at night like a classy gentleman, complete with a top hat.  It seems that he has a taste for young women.  After sampling a few, Dracula sets his sights on Mina (Helen Chandler), stalking her room and gaining easy entry transformed as a bat.  Mina’s concerned father, Doctor Seward (Herbert Bunston) becomes concerned about his daughter and calls for Dr. Van Helsing (Edward Van Sloan) to investigate.  It isn’t long before Dracula and Van Helsing meet and legends and folklore become reality.

Since I was a small child, there have always been two creepy images from this film that stand out to me.  One is when Dracula is slowly creeping toward Mina asleep in bed.  His hand leads, fingers curved slightly, like a claw.  His face is frozen and fixed on Mina’s, most of his body is shrouded by the dark cape.  He bends over gently, like he could be a benevolent father kissing a child goodnight, but we know he’s about to viciously suck the blood from her neck.  As  kid, I was thankful for having the top of a bunk bed so no one could bend over me like that while I slept.

The second image is Dracula’s hypnotic stare.  This is shown many times throughout the film, with some variation (in a courtyard, with a top hat, without the top hat).  Basically, it’s just Lugosi starring straight ahead with tiny lights shining into his eyes.  This makes his face seem brighter and much more pale, like it glows in the dark.  And his eyes are huge and white with a weird glint that will command you do whatever he asks.  It’s always been one of those images that I could never look away from; truly hypnotizing.

Do the world a favor and show your kids Dracula before they ask awful questions like, “Does he sparkle in the sun?”  This classic version of Dracula can be the perfect film to first expose kids to vampires.  It packs enough scariness with images that are not violent while bringing out classic vampire lore.  Kids will get their fill of creepy castles, coffins, rubber bats flapping around without the blood splatter and hypersexualized images that come with more recent versions.  Plus, Frye has some creepily fun scenes as a raving lunatic under Dracula’s control that kids can really enjoy.

“Listen to them.  Children of the night.  What music they make.”

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Everyone has something they do to give themselves a pick-me-up when the world seems dark.  Some indulge in their favorite coffee house drink.  Others get a workout at the gym.  A hot bath, round of video games, you name it.  For Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, her pick-me-up is looking into the windows of Tiffany’s, at all the fine and expensive things.

Her problem is that she is always on the outside of the lifestyle she wants, looking in.  She lives in a tiny, bare apartment with a nameless cat.  The only money she makes is from visiting Sally Tomato (Alan Reed) in Sing Sing (her happy name for prison).  Yet, she dresses like a socialite and holds loud, swinging parties at her place, with plenty of drinks flowing.  In the moment, she seems to be on top of the world.  When it’s over, she stubbornly keeps her lifestyle going.

When Paul (George Peppard), a young writer, moves in upstairs, he in instantly sucked into Holly’s world.  There is something about this talkative young woman, whom he meets only wearing a men’s tuxedo shirt, he is unable to turn away from.  She’s spunky and confident, yet a total wreck that he feels a need to protect.

But there is much more to Holly than meets the eye.  Buried under all that social elegance and love for finer things is a past that Holly is running from.  We understand later her fear of commitment.  It’s why she can’t name her cat, be with anyone exclusively or even hang get some real furniture (for the record, I love her bathtub-sofa).  She sees any committment as a cage and desperately wants to stay wild and free.  Can Paul tame this girl, or would he even want to?

What Breakfast at Tiffany’s does perfectly, is put the characters first, conflict between them second and romance somewhere towards the back, so it can evolve naturally.  We come away knowing Holly and Paul so well, they feel real.  When we know them like this, their problems become much more compelling, like they’re our friend’s problems.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t care about the budding romance of two strangers, but I genuinely worried if Paul and Holly could find happiness, both together and apart.

At the Oscars, Breakfast at Tiffany’s was nominated for a few awards, but seemed to have come just shy of a best picture nomination.  It picked up awards for both best music scoring and best song, Moon River.  Its nominations were in art direction, adapted screenplay, based off of Truman Capote’s novella, and lead actress by Audrey Hepburn.  If Hepburn had not been nominated, it might have caused outrage to this day.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is not a film I expected to enjoy as much as I did.  While the characters are an odd sort, they feel inviting and compelling.  The twists in Holly’s past were a bit shocking, but only added new layers and deeper understanding to her character.  Same with the revelations in Paul’s character.  Mickey Rooney’s role as Holly’s comically angry landlord is interesting, even if it is over the top and racist.  I would advise all classic film fans to give this one a try.  It’s hard to tell who exactly will enjoy it, but it’s an essential film of the early sixties and Hepburn makes it worth the time.

“Thursday!  It can’t be!  It’s too gruesome!”

East of Eden

Based off the second half of John Steinbeck’s novel and directed by Elia Kazan, East of Eden is a retelling of Cain and Abel set around the beginning of World War I.  The biblical references are easy to notice; Cal and Aron are sons of Adam, competing for their father’s love.  What is surprising, and rather fitting, is where Eve plays in this scheme.

Cal (James Dean) believes that he and his twin brother Aron (Richard Davalos) are opposites, good and bad.  Aron is the obvious good one, always winning his father’s love and going steady with a sweet girl, Abra (Julie Harris).  Cal is self loathing and fixated on the bad he sees in himself.  His father, Adam (Raymond Massey), is the most well loved, righteous Christian men in town.  Cal concludes that all the bad within him must have come from his mother, who died after giving birth, so he and Aron were told.  In his troubled wanderings, Cal finds a businesswoman (Jo Van Fleet), who he finds far too much in common with.  His yearning to find where he comes from and win his father’s approval may destroy his family.

Dean portrays a troubled teen perfectly, with plenty of passion and no cliche.  He shows curiosity, confusion and self loathing in a way that helps us connect with Cal.  He turns Cal into a very sympathetic character, always bringing the audience in, even when it feels like he is pushing away from everything.  He brings the pain of feeling unloved by his father to a heartbreaking climax.  It’s a role Dean similar to his later film, Rebel Without a Cause, yet Dean not at all the same.  Sadly, East of Eden was Dean’s only major film released before his death.  His nomination for best lead actor was the Academy’s first posthumous nomination.

Along with Dean’s Oscar nomination were three others for East of Eden.  Elia Kazan was nominated for best director and Paul Osborn for best adapted screenplay.  Jo Van Fleet won the award for best supporting actress in her role as the secretive business woman who turns out to have quite an impact on Cal’s life.

East of Eden is an essential film of the 1950s.  To think that it lost a best picture nomination to Picnic saddens me.  The story is compelling and thought provoking.  The acting is riveting and the cast works beautifully together.  Kazan’s direction is at the same amazing level as his best picture nominated films.  When discussing James Dean, it’s a shame not to mention his performance here.

“Man has a choice and it’s a choice that makes him a man.”

The Big House

In The Big House, young Kent (Robert Montgomery) has just been sentenced to ten years in prison for manslaughter.  The prison is already overcrowded and he is put in the same cell as the two toughest guys in the joint, Morgan (Chester Morris) and Machine Gun Butch (Wallace Beery).   From them, Kent has to learn the ins and outs of prison life and right away Butch steals his cigarettes.  The food is lousy and the men hold beetle races for fun and bet cigarettes.

The day before Morgan’s parole, Kent pulls a stunt that breaks the prison’s code of honor.  He plants a knife on Morgan, causing Morgan to lose his parole, landing him in the hole and gaining Kent an enemy.  More determined, Morgan breaks out and finds Kent’s sister, Anne (Leila Hyams) at the bookstore.  Instead of turning Morgan in, Anne falls in love with him, but soon he’s back in the clink.  Butch happily greets Morgan and tells him about a big break out he’s got planned, but will someone tip off the guards?

Wallace Beery earned his first acting nomination for his role as Machine Gun Butch.  He’s great at being big and threatening like a wrestler, but when he smiles and laughs he can make the stone walls melt.  We get a sense that his tough side is just a prison survival technique and inside he does have a good heart.  One great example of this is when he receives a letter.  In front of the guys, he pretends its a juicy letter from a girl so he doesn’t have to read it, but still has their respect.  Sadly, the letter is really informing him that his mother has died.

Just like I expected from a thirties prison film, there are plenty of classic lines sprinkled throughout.  There is the repeated dialog in various situations, “Who me?  Yes, you.”  It never seems to get old and has good charm.  Then there’s more pivotal moments with lines like, “I’m warning ya, stay where you are.”  And of course, a classic crime film wouldn’t be complete without, “You dirty double crossers, I’ll get you for this!”

In the end, The Big House feels like a good old cops and robbers film even though the majority is set within the prison walls.  There is plenty of action, double-crossing and sneaking around especially after the big breakout happens.

“Prison doesn’t give a man a yellow streak, but if he had one it’ll bring it out of him.”