OF MICE AND MEN with Richard Scileppi, film historian

Showings

Cinema Arts Centre - Cinema 2 Mon, Apr 16, 2018 7:30 PM

Description

The Classics
NOT JUST MONSTERS

Lon Chaney, Jr. in
OF MICE AND MEN 


Monday, April 16 at 7:30 pm | Members $11 | Public $16

Join Richard Scileppi, film historian, for an exploration of Lon Chaney, Jr.’s film and television career, highlighted by a rare big screen 35mm screening of Lewis Milestone’s 1939 adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic tale of friendship and innocence

In this acclaimed adaptation of the novella by John Steinbeck, migrant farmhands George Milton (Burgess Meredith) and Lennie Small (Lon Chaney Jr.) begin working at a ranch near Soledad, California, after the mentally handicapped Lennie got the pair in trouble at their last job. George dreams of settling down on their own farm where Lennie can tend his beloved rabbits, but despite George's best efforts to protect his friend, events accidentally take a tragic turn. Burgess Meredith and Lon Chaney, Jr. leave their distinct and indelible imprints on the roles of George and Lennie while around them an array of hard-bitten faces—Betty Field as Mae, Charles Bickford as Slim, Roman Bohnen as Candy—flesh out the desperate, crushing world of itinerant farm work in Steinbeck's Salinas Valley. Director Lewis Milestone's sensitive portrayal of Steinbeck's tragic Depression-era characters remains a powerful exploration of loneliness, labor and the endurance of the human spirit. The film also features the first film score by composer Aaron Copland who was nominated for an Academy Award. Also nominated for Best Picture and Best Sound Recording, this remains the definitive version of Steinbeck's timeless classic. (USA, 1939, 107 min., NR, English | Dir. Lewis Milestone)