WHEELING FILM SOCIETY LAUNCHES INAUGURAL SEASON

Film Enthusiasts to Discuss Classic Films

The Wheeling FilmSociety, a new addition to the Ohio Valley arts scene, brings film enthusiasts together to watch and discuss some of America’s iconic films.

Presented through a partnership between Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Cinema, Wheeling Jesuit University’s Fine and Performing Arts Department and the Ohio County Public Library’s Lunch with Books Program, the Wheeling Film Society will present four classic films and host post-screening discussions on each. All programs are free and open to the public.

Those interested in learning more about the Wheeling Film Society can attend an introductory program at noon Tuesday, October 23 at the Ohio County Public Library.  Wheeling Film Society host John Whitehead, professor of film studies at Wheeling Jesuit University and author of Appraising The Graduate: The Mike Nichols Classic and Its Impact in Hollywood, will present the screening/conversation format for the Society, give a sneak preview of the selections as well as provide a specific introduction to the first offering of the season, Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. 



Pictured are program partners John Whitehead, Wheeling Jesuit; Kate Crosbie, Oglebay Institute and Sean Duffy, Ohio County Public Library.

 

Whitehead, who spearheaded this project, says film is “one of the important democratic impulses that we still gather to share with each other.”

“For better or worse, movies also have an enormous influence on us -- they sometimes reflect who we are, but often also shape who we are,” he said. “My hope is that in talking about and thinking about iconic films from America's, and in future seasons, the world's past, we not only gain a deeper appreciation for cinematic achievement, but also learn some things about ourselves.”

The Society’s inaugural season comprises four films – the 1942 romantic World War II drama Casablanca, Woody Allen’s Play it Again Sam, Francis Ford Coppola’s blockbuster The Godfather and the baseball classic The Natural, starring Robert Redford and Glenn Close. All films will be shown on the big screen at Towngate Cinema at 7 p.m. on select Friday evenings, and discussions take place at the Ohio County Library at noon on the Tuesday following each screening.

The complete schedule is as follows:

Noon October 23            Introductionto the Wheeling Film Society, Ohio County Library

The Wheeling Film Society (WFS) announces its inaugural season with a sneak preview of the four classic films to be screened during the year.  WFS Host John Whitehead, professor of film studies at Wheeling Jesuit University and author of Appraising The Graduate: The Mike Nichols Classic and Its Impact in Hollywood, will present the screening/conversation format for WFS offerings as well as provide a specific introduction to the first offering of the season, to be screened later the same week: Casablanca, starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.

7 p.m. October 26                                Screening: Casablanca, Towngate Cinema

Noon   October 30                              Conversation:Casablanca, Ohio County Library

One of the most heartbreakingly romantic films ever made, Casablanca is a miracle of the Hollywood Golden Age and its assembly-line production model – a B-movie of foreign intrigue that transcends the limitations of its genre.  Humphrey Bogart is Rick Blaine in the most iconic role of an iconic career, an American expatriate whose cool and detached intentions to remain uncommitted, both personally and patriotically, melt away in the heat of Ingrid Bergman’s vulnerable presence.  Filled with great character acting from America and particularly from European refugees fleeing Hitler, Casablanca is propaganda that became art.

7 p.m. November 30                           Screening,Play it Again Sam, Towngate Cinema

Noon December 4            Conversation:Play it Again Sam, Ohio County PublicLibrary

Woody Allen originally wrote his relationship-comedy fantasia on Humphrey Bogart’s persona in Casablanca and other films as a stage play, adapted here for the cinema exactly three decades after the Bogart-Bergman classic as the first of many screen-pairings of Allen and Diane Keaton.  Allen’s character, pushed around by his ex-wife and hapless in a series of blind dates, becomes so obsessed with trying to “be like Bogart” that he conjures a Bogie avatar by his side to advise him on his romantic moves and missteps.  Allen’s legendary love of cinema was first introduced on screen in this early film, which pointed the way to Annie Hall and Manhattan later in the 70s.

7 p.m. January 25            Screening:The Godfather, Towngate Cinema

Noon January 29            Conversation:The Godfather, Ohio County PublicLibrary

 

Debates about The Great American Movie usually vacillate between Coppola’s blockbuster (which won the “Big Three” Oscars for a filmmaker – Picture, Director, and Screenplay) and Orson Welles’ 1941 Citizen Kane.  Each is an epic panorama that both reflects and critiques the values of the American political and economic systems.  Each is ultimately a tragic masterpiece.  Coppola’s depiction of the promise and problems of post-WWII prosperity are brought to life by one of the great ensemble casts of Hollywood history, including Marlon Brando, who won Best Actor for the title role; James Caan, Robert Duvall, and Al Pacino, all of whom were nominated for Best Supporting Actor; and Diane Keaton, scandalously neglected in the nominations.

7 p.m. April 19                                     Screening:  TheNatural, Towngate Cinema

Noon April 23                                      Conversation,The Natural, Ohio County PublicLibrary

In honor of the return of spring and a new baseball season, our final screening of 2012-2013 is the adaptation of Bernard Malamud’s modernist novel updating the Fisher King legend to the world of mid-century baseball.  Both novel and film are based in the 1949 scandal of a promising major league ballplayer whose career was altered when he was shot and wounded in his team hotel room by a mystery woman.  Levinson’s film was controversial upon its release: the novel’s downbeat ending received a spectacular Hollywood “makeover,” complete with Randy Newman’s greatest soundtrack score, climactic slow-motion fireworks, and Robert Redford getting the girl.

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Whitehead said this lineup was chosen for the first season because organizers wanted to start off with much-beloved films that people will want to see on Towngate’s big screen, even though they may have seen them many times in the comfort of their own living rooms. He said he was also interested in diversity of genre.

“There's a romantic spy story, a romantic comedy, a crime epic, and a sports drama,” he said. “But more important, I wanted to choose films in this first season that dealt with iconic myths of our shared past: the war hero, the romantic loner, the rags-to-riches businessman, the natural athlete.  And for me, what's interesting about these films we're showing is that they don't present any of these icons without irony.  Part of what makes these films great is that they challenge us to think more deeply about our myths and heroes than we sometimes do.”

Oglebay Institute’s director of performing arts Kate Crosbie said, “This new venture adds another dimension to our already established performing arts schedule.  We are pleased to partner with Wheeling Jesuit and the Ohio County Library to present this new opportunity for film lovers to get together with others who share an interest in film, learn more about the art and history of cinema, view good films and engage in thought-provoking conversation.”

All screenings and conversations are free and open to the public. Guests may attend as many or as few events as their schedules permit.