July 14, 2014 (REVISED July 15, 2014) Packard Campus Features Live Concert, War Films in August

Press Contact: Sheryl Cannady, Office of Communications, (202) 707-6456
Public Contact: Rob Stone (202) 707-0851
Contact: Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ada@loc.gov.
Request ADA accommodations five business days in advance at (202) 707-6362 or ADA@loc.gov

A program of animated shorts selected to demonstrate the concept and basic elements of sound design, as well as a trio of acclaimed international animated features, will be screened the first two days in August as part of the Film Foundation’s “Story of the Movies: The Animation Universe” development workshop for classroom teachers. Held at the Packard Campus in Culpeper, Va., from July 31—Aug. 2, the workshop’s afternoon and evening film programs are open to the public.

Anniversaries of the two world wars will be recognized over the course of two weeks. Three classic films that take place during the period of World War I—including the National Film Registry titles “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “The Big Parade”—will be shown to commemorate the centenary of the start of the Great War.

The beginnings of World War II will be explored with screenings that provide an overview of where the U.S. and the world stood 75 years ago in the months leading up to the German invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939. Frank Capra’s Academy Award-winning “Prelude to War” will open the World War II series. This documentary was the first of seven propaganda films commissioned by the Office of War Information under the banner of “Why We Fight.” The entire series was added to the National Film Registry in 2000. For more information on the National Film Registry, visit www.loc.gov/film.

Western swing, a combination of hot jazz with a little bit of bluegrass and gospel mixed in for flavor, came into being in the late 1920s and remains popular today. The Packard Campus will pay tribute to this musical genre with a special live performance from a new and exciting western swing group—Joey McKenzie and His Western Flyers—as well as two nights of films from the 1940s featuring such performers as Spade Cooley and Bob Wills.

Short subjects will be presented before select programs. Titles are subject to change without notice. Screenings at the Packard Campus are preceded by an informative slide presentation about the film, with music selected by the Library’s Recorded Sound Section.

All Packard Campus programs are free and open to the public, but children 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult. For general Packard Campus Theater information, call (540) 827-1079 ext. 79994 or (202) 707-9994 during regular business hours. For further information on the theater and film series, visit www.loc.gov/avconservation/theater/. In case of inclement weather, call the theater information line no more than three hours before showtime to confirm cancellations.

Seating at the Packard Campus Theater’s free screenings is on a first-come, first-serve basis. However, for a ticketing service charge, patrons can ensure admission to these shows by reserving tickets through the State Theatre website (www.culpepertheatre.org External) or by visiting the State Theatre ticket office at 305 S. Main Street in Culpeper, Va.

The Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation is a state-of-the-art facility funded as a gift to the nation by the Packard Humanities Institute. The Packard Campus is the site where the nation’s library acquires, preserves and provides access to the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of motion pictures, television programs, radio broadcasts and sound recordings (www.loc.gov/avconservation). The Packard Campus is home to more than 7 million collection items. It provides staff support for the Library of Congress National Film Preservation Board (www.loc.gov/film), the National Recording Preservation Board (www.loc.gov/rr/record/nrpb) and the national registries for film and recorded sound.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. It seeks to spark imagination and creativity and to further human understanding and wisdom by providing access to knowledge through its magnificent collections, programs, publications and exhibitions. Many of the Library’s rich resources can be accessed through its website at www.loc.gov.

Library of Congress Packard Campus Theater Schedule

Friday, Aug. 1 (2:30 p.m.)
“Visualizing Sound”

In this animation program geared more toward an adult audience, the way sound effects and music work together to communicate the filmmaker’s vision will be explored. The first half will include the opening scene from WALL•E (Disney, 2008), followed by several shorts including “Gerald McBoing-Boing” (UPA, 1950), which was added to the National Film Registry in 1995. The second part of the program will cover abstract and avant-garde animation and feature works by Len Lye and Oskar Fischinger. It will be followed by the 30-minute impressionistic “The Man Who Planted Trees,” which won an Academy Award for best short film animation in 1988. Part of the Film Foundation’s “Story of the Movies: The Animation Universe” development workshop for classroom teachers, this presentation is open to the public.

Friday, Aug. 1 (7:30 p.m.)
“The Triplets of Belleville”
(Sony Picture Classics, 2003)
Madame Souza goes on a quest to rescue her grandson Champion, a Tour de France cyclist, who has been kidnapped by the French mafia. She is assisted by her obese hound Bruno and the Triplets of Belleville, music hall singers from the 1930s. Sylvain Chomet wrote and directed this charming tale that is told primarily through song and pantomime. It received Oscar nominations for best animated feature and best music for the original song “Belleville Rendez-vous.”

Saturday, Aug. 2 (2:30 p.m.)
"The Iron Giant”
(Warner Bros., 1999)
In this animated family film, a boy makes friends with a guileless and colossal alien robot that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy. Brad Bird directed the sci-fi adventure based on the 1968 novel “The Iron Man” by Ted Hughes. The film features the voices of Harry Connick Jr., Vin Diesel, Jennifer Aniston and Eli Marienthal as Hogarth Hughes.

Saturday, Aug. 2 (7:30 p.m.)
“Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”
(New World, 1984)
After a global war, the seaside kingdom known as the Valley of the Wind remains one of the last strongholds on Earth untouched by a poisonous jungle and the powerful insects that guard it. Led by the courageous Princess Nausicaä, the people of the Valley engage in an epic struggle to restore the bond between humanity and Earth. Famed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki also wrote this animated post-apocalyptic fantasy adventure, based on his own 1982 manga (Japanese comic) of the same name. The film frequently ranked among the best animated films in Japan and is seen as a seminal influence on the development of anime.

THE WAR THAT ENDED ALL WARS BEGAN A BIGGER WAR (Aug. 7-9)
Characterized as anti-war films, this series of movies takes a broad overview of World War I.

Thursday, Aug. 7 (7:30 p.m.)
“Grand Illusion”
(Continental Distributing, 1937)
Jean Renoir directed this classic treatise on war, focusing on French prisoners and their cultured German commandant. Jean Gabin and Pierre Fresnay star as the World War I French aviators from dissimilar social backgrounds who plot an escape, with Erich von Stroheim as the upper-class German officer. The French title “La Grande Illusion” was the first foreign-language film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Sixty years later, renowned film critic Janet Maslin called it “one of the most haunting of all war films.”

Friday, Aug. 8 (7:30 p.m.)
“All Quiet on the Western Front”
(Universal, 1930)
This vivid, poignant adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s eloquent pacifist novel about German boys’ experiences as soldiers during World War I won Academy Awards for best picture and best direction by Lewis Milestone. Starring Lew Ayres, Louis Wolheim, John Wray, Raymond Griffith and Slim Summerville, the film was restored in 1998 by the Library of Congress and added to the National Film Registry in 1990.

Saturday, Aug. 9 (7:30 p.m.)
“The Big Parade”
(MGM, 1925)
The son of a rich businessman joins the army when America enters World War I and is sent to France. He becomes friends with working-class soldiers and falls in love with a Frenchwoman, but has to leave her to move to the front line. The fact that “The Big Parade” was the first war film told from the doughboys’ rather than the officers’ perspective helped explain its enormous popularity. Named to the National Film Registry in 1992, this silent drama was directed by King Vidor and stars John Gilbert and Renée Adorée. Live musical accompaniment will be performed by Donald Sosin.

PRELUDE TO WAR: ON THE EVE OF WORLD WAR II (Aug. 14-16)
The films presented in this series explore the mindset of the various world leaders and the global circumstances that led to a second war, which ravaged the world only a few short years after the First World War.

Thursday, Aug. 14 (7:30 p.m.)
“Prelude to War”
(Twentieth Century Fox, 1942)
The Office of War Information (OWI) and Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall commissioned this first film in the “Why We Fight” propaganda film series. Directed by Frank Capra, it was produced to assure American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis powers during World War II. The film won the Academy Award for best documentary, and the entire series was added to the National Film Registry in 2000. The 52-minute feature will be preceded by a number of short subjects that were made prior to the breakout of global war.

Friday, Aug. 15 (7:30 p.m.)
“Triumph of the Will”
(Universum Film, 1935)
Director Leni Riefenstahl’s infamous documentary on the 1934 Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg contains excerpts from speeches given by Adolf Hitler, Rudolf Hess and Julius Streicher, interposed with footage of Nazi troops and public reaction. Praised for its innovative cinematography, it is regarded as the greatest propaganda film of all time and is both fascinating and frightening to see.

Saturday, Aug. 16 (7:30 p.m.)
“Wings of the Navy”
(Warner Bros., 1939)
Submarine officer Jerry Harrington (John Payne) goes to Pensacola to train as a flying cadet, just like his brother Cass (George Brent), a longtime airman. Competition escalates between the two when Jerry falls for his brother’s girlfriend, Irene (Olivia de Havilland). Like many of the Warner Bros. features in the pre-World War II era, it was intended to serve as propaganda for the U.S. military and received support from the U.S. Navy, which considered the film as a recruiting tool. It shows how, despite the general isolationist stance of the country at the time, America was preparing for war in its own way.

WESTERN SWING: LIVE AND ON FILM (Aug. 21-23)
A combining of traditional western music and hot jazz with a little bit of bluegrass and gospel mixed in, western swing quickly gained acceptance and became very popular in the 1930s.

Thursday, Aug. 21 (7:30 p.m.)
“Rockin’ in the Rockies”
(Columbia, 1945)
The Hoosier Hot Shots—creators of madcap “rural midwestern jazz”—Mary Beth Hughes and the Cappy Barra Boys Harmonica Band, and Spade Cooley and his western swing band provide several toe-tapping tunes in this musical comedy about show biz hopefuls on a Western ranch. The Three Stooges also appear, with Moe playing it straight and Larry and Curly acting as a team.

Friday, Aug. 22 (7:30 p.m.)
“Joey McKenzie and His Western Flyers” (Live Event)

A blend of western swing, vintage country, bluegrass, Texas-style fiddling, jazz and swing standards will be presented on the Packard Theater stage, performed by Joey McKenzie and His Western Flyers. The Flyers consist of Katie Glassman, a two-time national fiddle champion and vintage-style singer, and Gavin Kelso, a world-class upright bass player. On May 10, 2013, McKenzie and Kelso performed in the first-ever live music concert in the Packard Campus Theater as part of the Quebe Sisters Band.

Saturday, Aug. 23 (7:30 p.m.)
Russell Hayden with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys Double Feature

Perennial Western sidekick Russell Hayden launched his own starring series with Columbia pictures as “Lucky,” the same character he’d previously portrayed in Hopalong Cassidy films. Supporting players are Dub “Cannonball” Taylor as his comic assistant and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys providing musical interludes. Filming for the eight features in the series was done in mid-to-late 1942, but the Westerns were released over an extended period from the fall of 1942 through the summer of 1944. They were always slick and crammed full of action.

“Silver City Raiders” (Columbia, 1943)
Lucky tries to prove that crooked land baron Bart Dawson (Paul Sutton) doesn’t have prior claim on the entire territory as he proclaims. When legal methods don’t pan out, Lucky and his pals use a more direct approach to drive Dawson out of town.

“The Last Horseman” (Columbia, 1944)
Lucky Rawlins, foreman of the Bar W ranch, finds himself cheated out of a check for $12,000, the proceeds from a cattle drive. The culprit is the local banker, Cash Watson (John Maxwell), who has learned that the railroad is interested in buying up the local ranches and it is up to Lucky to expose his dastardly deed.

Thursday, Aug. 28 (7:30 p.m.)
“Mystery Movie Night”

The first in a new series at the Packard Theater, this unique film-going experience will provide only the genre and rating for a rarely seen title. Additional clues will be provided at the screenings during the slide presentations. The first clues for the month are: A color crime-comedy with music, rated PG and shown in a 35 mm print. This film has never been released on home video of any kind.

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PR 14-118
2014-07-14
ISSN 0731-3527