Projected by the Northwest Chicago Film Society
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Admission: $5
STAGE STRUCK
Directed by Sidney Lumet • 1958
Shot entirely on location in New York City, Sidney Lumet’s loose remake of the 1933 Katharine Hepburn vehicle Morning Glory stars a surreally wide eyed Susan Strasberg as a New England hopeful trying to conquer the Broadway stage. Show business dictates that she must choose between a life of stardom and a life of love with stage producer Henry Fonda, which leads to a really beautiful near-final shot of Strasberg, Fonda, and a floor lamp. Slightly dopey but highly affectionate, Strasberg is endearing, Fonda is similarly cute as a button, and Stage Struck is one of the best looking films Lumet ever made, with lush blues and reds and an ultra saturated view of New York. One of the last pictures produced by RKO (the company was bought by Howard Hughes in 1948, sold to the General Tire and Rubber Company in 1955, and dissolved the year of this picture’s release), the film was distributed by Buena Vista, eventually orphaned, and never really got the second look it deserved … here’s its chance. With Christopher Plummer, Herbert Marshall, and a highly explosive Joan Greenwood. (JA)
95 min • RKO • 35mm IB Technicolor from the Radio Cinema Film Archive
Short: “Stage Frights” (Albert Ray, 1935) – 35mm – 22 min
