The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present three classic Hollywood films as part of its Some Like it Cool film series Dec. 9, 10 and 11.
Held in conjunction with the exhibition Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury, the festival will feature screenings of Rebel Without a Cause (Dec. 9), Anatomy of a Murder (Dec. 10) and North by Northwest (Dec. 11).
All screenings are free and open to the public and begin at 7 p.m. at the Tivoli Theatre, 6350 Delmar Blvd.
Birth of the Cool — which explores the broad cultural zeitgeist of “cool” that emerged in Southern California in the 1950s and early 1960s — remains on view at the Kemper Art Museum through Jan. 5. The museum is located on the campus of Washington University, near the intersection of Skinker and Forsyth boulevards. Regular hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Fridays; and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. The museum is closed Tuesdays.
For more information about the film festival or the exhibition, call (314) 935-4523 or visit kemperartmuseum.wustl.edu.
Media support for the Some Like it Cool film series is provided by KWMU-FM.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9
Tivoli Theatre
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Directed by Nicholas Ray
This iconic film of adolescent rebellion stars James Dean as Jim Stark, a restless teen whose quarrelling parents move to the Los Angeles suburbs. There he befriends Plato (Sal Mineo), a worshipful but unstable 15-year-old, and Judy, (Natalie Wood), a coolly ironic girl whose high school gang is led by local bully Buzz Gunderson. Things come to a head when the gang challenges Jim to a disastrous game of “chickie run,” racing stolen cars towards a nearby cliff.
7 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10
Tivoli Theater
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Directed by Otto Preminger
One of the first films to feature a full jazz score — written by Duke Ellington and performed by his orchestra — this Oscar-winning courtroom drama stars James Stewart as Paul Biegler, a small-town lawyer called to defend an army lieutenant, Frederick Manion (Ben Gazzara), charged with murder. Manion admits to the crime but claims the dead man, bartender Barney Quill, had raped and beaten his wife, Laura Manion (Lee Remick). Biegler, lacking hard evidence and matched against big city prosecutor Claude Dancer (George C. Scott), launches a daring defense, claiming that Manion was seized by a kind of temporary insanity.
7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 11
Tivoli Theater
North by Northwest (1959)
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
This breathless thriller stars Cary Grant as Roger Thornhill, a middle-aged advertising executive who is mistaken for government agent George Kaplan. Kidnapped by a gang of spies, Thornhill is interrogated by their leader, Phillip Vandamm (James Mason) but manages to escape, only to find himself framed for murder. Realizing the only way to clear his name is to find the real Kaplan, Thornhill begins a 3,000-mile cross-country chase, aided only by a mysterious young woman, Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint), whose help almost costs Thornhill his life.
MILDRED LANE KEMPER ART MUSEUM
The Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, part of Washington University’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, is committed to furthering critical thinking and visual literacy through a vital program of exhibitions, publications and accompanying events. The museum dates back to 1881, making it the oldest art museum west of the Mississippi River. Today it boasts one of the finest university collections in the United States.