The annual TCU Classic Film Series kicks off this fall with the first film night taking place Thursday, September 19. The series is hosted by Dr. Joan McGettigan and admission is free. Each screening begins at 7 p.m. and takes place in room 164 of the Moudy South building on the TCU Campus (2805 S. University Drive). For additional information, please call the Film, Television and Digital Media department at 817-257-7630 or 817-257-6690.
9/19 STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951)
In a chance encounter on a train, tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) meets the charming Bruno Antony (Robert Walker), who shares his plans for committing the perfect crime. Alfred Hitchcock directed this thriller which is adapted from Texan Patricia Highsmith’s novel.
9/26 QUIZ SHOW (1994)
In the early years of American television, producers of a popular game show pressure contestants to cheat in order to enhance the drama of the weekly program and ensure high ratings. Ralph Fiennes and John Turturro play two of the show’s big-money winners, and Rob Morrow is the lawyer who discovers the deception.
10/3 SORRY WRONG NUMBER (1948)
Barbara Stanwyck plays Leona, a wealthy woman who has used her failing health as a way to manipulate her unhappy husband, Henry, played by Burt Lancaster. One night, alone and confined to bed, Leona hears a phone conversation in which a man plots his wife’s murder. Is it only her imagination, or does the man sound very much like Henry?
10/10 FALL BREAK
10/17 BATTLEGROUND (1949)
A squad of American soldiers is trapped near Bastogne, Belgium, in the winter of 1944. They’re threatened not only by the Germans, who alternately attack them and encourage them to surrender, but by limited fuel, food and ammunition. Military historians and many survivors of the Battle of the Bulge have declared this movie among the most authentic Hollywood depictions of World War II. The ensemble cast includes Van Johnson, John Hodiak, James Whitmore, Leon Ames, Ricardo Montalban, and George Murphy.
10/24 THE HARVEY GIRLS (1946)
Judy Garland joins a group of young women headed west in the 1870s to staff a “Harvey House” restaurant/hotel and in the process to civilize a remote railroad town. Angela Lansbury plays the dance-hall girl who intends to keep the west “wild,” with gambling, hard liquor, and no competition from Judy for her man, John Hodiak.
10/31 THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD (1951)
At a remote arctic post, a U.S. Air Force crew discovers a real flying saucer and unwisely take its pilot back to their base where scientists can “observe” it.
11/7 MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974)
Hercule Poirot (Albert Finney) is on board the Orient Express when a snowstorm forces the train to stop. Fortunately, there is plenty to occupy him, since a fellow passenger is killed overnight, and he bravely takes on the investigation. Suspects include Lauren Bacall, Ingrid Bergman, Sean Connery, Vanessa Redgrave, Anthony Perkins, Richard Widmark, and Michael York.
11/14 ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
Audrey Hepburn won an Oscar for this portrayal of a princess on an official visit to Rome who rebels against her hovering servants and her schedule of boring public appearances. She escapes for a few days, exploring the city with a sympathetic American newspaperman, played by Gregory Peck. But she is unaware that he and his photographer friend (Eddie Albert, who is wildly funny) have a scheme to sell her story.
11/21 THE CAINE MUTINY (1954)
Humphrey Bogart plays Captain Queeg, a distinctly unlikeable and potentially unstable naval captain. Queeg’s behavior becomes increasingly erratic, until Lt. Steve Maryk (Van Johnson) feels forced to confront him. Fred MacMurray, Robert Francis, and Jose Ferrer also star.