SEPTEMBER’S CLASSIC MOVIE NIGHT

Featuring a New Audio-Visual System

On September 16 at 7 pm, Old City Hall will feature the classic “Hollywood” western films of the twentieth century. This double feature bill presents two of the greatest box-office draws of that era… Hopalong Cassidy and Gene Autry.  Their reputation was founded in clean-cut and wholesome western images, something which the school of realism later brought to an end.  However, clean-cut doesn’t mean boring, and THREE MEN FROM TEXAS, our Hoppy film, clearly demonstrates this with the heroine shot to death and a group of the bad men lynched by vigilantes.  THREE MEN FROM TEXAS was the main feature at the Lone Pine Film Festival three years ago when it played to a packed house.

It has been three-quarters of a century since these two western icons first blazed across the silver screen.  The world they entertained is long dead, but the values they represented are the ones people wistfully wish for today.  This double billing is a chance get reacquainted with those earlier and simpler times.

Thanks to Mike Royer, we have a magnificent copy of the Gene Autry film, MULE TRAIN.  The print could not be sharper or superior in its blacks and whites on the screen.  I haven’t watched the entire film, but what I did see was first-rate and makes me even happier that I didn’t select a Republic Studios Gene Autry production from the thirties.  The early ones have very little in the way of production values.

As is the case with our feature presentation, THREE MEN FROM TEXAS, MULE TRAIN was filmed in Lone Pine, California.  By the time the evening ends you may feel as if you have already visited the place.  However, if you feel adventurous, this coming Columbus Day weekend will see Mike giving the historical tours at Lone Pine for several film productions during their annual celebration this year.  Lone Pine celebrates their history each year with a big parade, tours, lectures by the people who made the films, and film presentations.  It is a weekend you would always remember.

I realize the difficulty we have with seating and we are working on the problem as I said earlier.  Because of the length of this double feature, I have scheduled the starting times for each film so that you may choose one or both.

THREE MEN FROM TEXAS with Hopalong Cassidy screens at 7 PM
MULE TRAIN with Gene Autry screens at 8:30 PM (after a break)