Tuesday July 12, 7:00pm Historic Everett Theater
"Here's your handkerchief." "Keep it, and blow your brains out!"
In his first film with Columbia Pictures we see the beginnings of what would make Frank Capra the great populist director of the nineteen thirties. That Certain Thing was produced in 1928 with a budget somewhere short of $25,000.00 which shows in the production values but the film also reveals how a true master can make so much from so little. Capra alternately described the studio as a junkyard and a gold mine and his boss Harry Cohn as a bully, but ultimately found the home he needed to flourish and develop what would become his ability to portray the moral common man at odds with an unjust world. His films became a light in the darkness for millions of depression era Americans. Along with his astonishing success Capra brought to the screen a new cinematic grammar taking motion pictures closer to a naturalistic viewpoint and farther from the stage. That Certain Thing is the tale of "a girl from across the tracks", played adorably by Viola Dana, in search of a rich husband. She bumps into the son of a restaurant magnate and is married within hours then disinherited by her rich new father-in-law only to have her good-natured revenge in the end. Fast paced and filled with typical Capraesque humor this film offers a glimpse of the great work to follow. Live accompaniment at the Everett's house organ by Dennis James in this 1902 landmark theater should make for a memorable night. Tickets are sold at the door on show night only so get there early.
"Here's your handkerchief." "Keep it, and blow your brains out!"
In his first film with Columbia Pictures we see the beginnings of what would make Frank Capra the great populist director of the nineteen thirties. That Certain Thing was produced in 1928 with a budget somewhere short of $25,000.00 which shows in the production values but the film also reveals how a true master can make so much from so little. Capra alternately described the studio as a junkyard and a gold mine and his boss Harry Cohn as a bully, but ultimately found the home he needed to flourish and develop what would become his ability to portray the moral common man at odds with an unjust world. His films became a light in the darkness for millions of depression era Americans. Along with his astonishing success Capra brought to the screen a new cinematic grammar taking motion pictures closer to a naturalistic viewpoint and farther from the stage. That Certain Thing is the tale of "a girl from across the tracks", played adorably by Viola Dana, in search of a rich husband. She bumps into the son of a restaurant magnate and is married within hours then disinherited by her rich new father-in-law only to have her good-natured revenge in the end. Fast paced and filled with typical Capraesque humor this film offers a glimpse of the great work to follow. Live accompaniment at the Everett's house organ by Dennis James in this 1902 landmark theater should make for a memorable night. Tickets are sold at the door on show night only so get there early.