The Bishop's Wife, Oliver, and Santa December 12, 2008

'Tis The Season . . .
For Holiday Classic Film & Family Fun

At the Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre
54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ 07306
Tel. (201) 798-6055 Web. www.loewsjersey.org Email. [email protected]
A Not-For-Profit Arts Center

Friday, December 12 at 8PM
The Bishop's Wife Starring Cary Grant, Loretta Young, David Niven, Monty Woolley, Gladys Cooper, James Gleason. Directed by Henry Koster. Produced by Samuel Goldwyn. 1947, 109mins., B&W, RKO. Suitable for all ages. - - - See "Film Notes" below for more info.

One of the Best Remembered, Urbane and Unique Christmastime Movies. A Tradition for Generations.

Saturday, December 13 at 7PM
Oliver! Starring Ron Moody, Shani Wallis, Oliver Reed, Mark Lester, Jack Wild, Harry Secombe, Hugh Griffith. Directed by Carol Reed. 1968, 145 mins., Color, Columbia Pictures / Romulus Films. Rated G. - - - See "Film Notes" below for more info.

Winner of Five Academy Awards -- Including Best Picture. Based on Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist".

Separate Admission For Each Film: $6 for adults, $4 for seniors (65+), children 12 years old & younger, and students with school ID.
Combo discount available for both films.

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PLUS -- On Saturday, December 13 from 12:30 to 3:30 PM: Visit Santa in the Grand Lobby of the Landmark Loew's! Children of all ages and even pets are welcome to enjoy this beloved Holiday tradition in a grander yet more relaxed setting than a mall.
The visit with Santa is free. A digital photo with him is only $3. BUT if you bring a new toy or canned good for the needy, we'll give you the photo for free as our "thank you" for your generosity!

The Loew's Is Easy To Get To: The Loew's Jersey Theatre, at 54 Journal Square, Jersey City, NJ, is directly across JFK Boulevard from the JSQ PATH Center with trains to and from Lower and Midtown Manhattan and Newark's Penn Station, is minutes from the NJ Turnpike & easily reached by car or mass transit from throughout the Metro Area.

Half-price off-street parking is available in Square Ramp Garage adjoining the Loew's. Patrons present a coupon to garage attendant when they leave. Coupon is available at our box office.

What's Special About Seeing A Movie At The Loew's? The Landmark Loew's Jersey Theatre is one of America's grandest surviving Movie Palaces. We show movies the way they were meant to be seen: in a grandly ornate setting -- on our BIG 50 ft wide screen! The Loew's runs reel-to-reel, not platter, projection, which often allows us to screen an archival or studio vault print that is the best available copy of a movie title.

The Loew's Jersey is managed by Friends of the Loew's, Inc. as a non-profit, multi-discipline performing arts center.

For directions or more information: Call (201) 798-6055 or visit www.loewsjersey.org.

Classic Film Weekends are presented by Friends of the Loew's, Inc.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - Film Notes - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Bishop's Wife
Of the countless films made to attract audiences in the Holiday Season, only a very few have stood the test of time and become part of our Yuletide tradition: "The Bishop's Wife" is one of those select perennial favorites, and boasts what is perhaps the most distinctive storyline, together with magnificently urbane and witty performances. Episcopal Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) is working so relentlessly on plans to build a new cathedral that he is losing sight of his family and of why he became a churchman in the first place. Enter Dudley (Cary Grant), a notably suave and handsome angel sent to help the Bishop. Without revealing who he really is, Dudley establishes himself as a Christmastime guest in the Brougham home, charms the Bishop's family and helps everyone he meets, although not necessarily in the way they might have expected. But the Bishop is not happy, coming to suspect that Dudley is trying to supplant him in both his work and the affections of his family – especially those of his wife Julia (Loretta Young). All works out very satisfactorily in the end, of course, but not before a wonderfully charming plot plays out. It's a gentle fantasy that beguiles audiences with warm humor and characters that are quite believable, even Dudley who seems surprisingly human for an angel. The polished finished product is all the more remarkable considering its troubled production history. William Seiter originally directed the film, with Cary Grant in the part of the bishop and David Niven as the angel. But producer Samuel Goldwyn detested Seiter's finished product, fired him, hired Henry Koster to re-direct and started all over again. Still later after initial audience previews went poorly, several new scenes were written, some from an uncredited Billy Wilder. Yet the end product shows none of the seams. (-- Compiled from various sources.)

Oliver!
Charles Dickens wrote long stories filled with some of the most colorful characters in English literature, as well as biting depictions of the harshness of life in Victorian England. In "Oliver Twist", Dickens gave the world Oliver, a naïve nine-year-old orphan who's sold to an undertaker by workhouse officials after he innocently objects to his meager rations. He soon manages to escape from this servitude, and finds his way to the East End slum of 19th century London. There he's befriended by the precocious Artful Dodger, a pickpocket who belongs to a gang of youthful thieves run by Fagin, a veteran cut-purse. This criminal mentor admits Oliver to his academy of larceny, introducing him also to the brutish Bill Sikes and Sikes' kind-hearted companion, Nancy. As time passes, Nancy becomes something of a surrogate mother to Oliver, but when the resentful Sikes falsely accuses the boy of stealing from the gang, the orphan must stand up for himself.
Surprisingly, perhaps, this brooding social melodrama proved to be excellent source material for a great family musical that is spirited and youthful, raucous yet intelligent, with moments of true sadness, tragedy and joy.
The first musical ever directed by Carol Reed, who is best known for such suspenseful dramas as The Third Man and Odd Man Out, Oliver! boasts magnificent sets that reproduce Victorian England in perfect detail, spirited choreography by Onna White, a fine musical score overseen be John Green who was musical director at M-G-M during its "golden age of musicals" in the late 1940s and early '50s, and -- above all else -- great performances. Jack Wild as the Dodger and Ron Moody as Fagin are especially memorable as two of the most beloved of unsavory characters in all of cinema.
As Roger Ebert wrote when the film premiered, "Oliver! is a treasure of a movie. It is very nearly universal entertainment, one of those rare films like The Wizard of Oz that appeals in many ways to all sorts of people." ( - - - Compiled from various sources.)

Official Website: http://www.loewsjersey.org