Active Retired Screenings Spring 2010

Kerry Film Festival's Active Retired Screenings return with a John Huston season that sees three of Huston's movies playing on the first Wednesday of the month in February, March and April.

Beginning with Huston's debut, THE MALTESE FALCON, on February 3rd, continuing with THE MISFITS, on March 3rd and finishing with ANNIE, on April 7th the films show the director's fantastic range which encompasses everything from Noir to Musicals.

All movies screen in Siamsa Tire at 2:00 pm.

THE MALTESE FALCON
Wednesday, 3rd February

"It has rhyme and rhythm and makes the mind ask questions," said Raymond Chandler about Dashiel Hammett's novel, The Maltese Falcon. The eponymous falcon is "the stuff that dreams are made of," a priceless statuette pursued by a venomous femme fatale (Mary Astor), a scented sybarite (Peter Lorre), and a gentleman villain (Sydney Greenstreet) who oozes avuncular avarice. Caught up in their quest is private-eye Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), who has been hired by the woman on an ostensibly innocent assignment that has led to the death of his partner. With his literary sensibility and his fascination with eccentric characterisation, Huston is in his element: this is one of the cinema's great directing debuts, and the Hamlet of film noir!

THE MISFITS
Wednesday, 3rd March

Sophisticated, but emotionally crippled Roslyn (Marilyn Monroe, giving what many believe to be her strongest performance) has come to Nevada for a quick and easy divorce. When her landlady introduces her to aging, broken cowboy Gay Langland (Clark Gable), she finally finds herself with a worthy partner. Meanwhile, Gay and his fellow horsemen Guido and Perce (Eli Wallach and Montgomery Clift) scheme to capture a herd of wild horses. With megawatt star power and a brilliant script by Arthur Miller, The Misfits critical reputation has only improved over time. It was the last film made by Hollywood icons Gable and Monroe.

ANNIE
Wednesday, 7th April

In the depths of the 1930's, Annie is a fiery young orphan girl who must live in a miserable orphanage run by the tyrannical Miss Hannigan. Her seemingly hopeless situation changes dramatically when she is selected to spend a short time at the residence of the wealthy munitions industrialist, Oliver Warbucks. Quickly, she charms the hearts of the household staff and even the seemingly cold-hearted Warbucks cannot help but learn to love this wonderful girl. He decides to help Annie find her long lost parents by offering a reward if they would come to him and prove their identity. However, Miss Hannigan, her evil relative, Rooster, and a female accomplice, plan to impersonate those people to get the reward for themselves which put Annie in great danger.