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Thursday, March 29, 2012

UCLA Celebrates Universal Centennial Beginning May 4th

UCLA has announced plans to celebrate the centennial of Universal Pictures with screenings of nearly three dozen films spanning Universal's history.

The series will run from May 4th through June 24th, 2012.

Titles will include the silent film PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1925), the horror classic DRACULA (1931), Frank Borzage's rarely seen LITTLE MAN, WHAT NOW? (1934), the Claudette Colbert version of IMITATION OF LIFE (1934), Irene Dunne in SHOW BOAT (1936), Doris Day and Rock Hudson in PILLOW TALK (1959), the modern fantasy classic SOMEWHERE IN TIME (1980), and the outstanding Tom Hanks film APOLLO 13 (1995).

I fell in love with SOMEWHERE IN TIME when it was first released and enjoyed it on the big screen at least one more time in the '80s; it would be a real treat to see it again on a big screen. For that matter, I'd enjoy seeing the majority of the films in the series!

The studio would very likely not exist today were it not for Deanna Durbin, who saved the studio from bankruptcy in the '30s, so I was glad to note her film THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP (1939) will be screened -- although this sequel to THREE SMART GIRLS (1936) seems a bit of a curious choice for the sole Durbin film in the festival.

For the complete list of titles please visit the UCLA website.

2 comments:

  1. Laura, This sounds sooo amazing! I wished I lived closer to UCLA.

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  2. It does look great! :)

    The one disappointment, which was mentioned to me earlier today, is that there is only *one* Universal '50s Western in the entire series...that does seem like quite an oversight. Although there's also only one Durbin film, one Sirk, one Day, etc. But a lot of horror, which they probably calculate will draw crowds.

    Best wishes,
    Laura

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