A different view
The Old Pasadena Film Festival offers classic films in unique settings
By Carl Kozlowski 07/09/2009
Outdoor movie viewing has largely gone the way of drive-in theaters, but not in Pasadena where the Old Pasadena Film Festival is bringing weekend outdoor viewing back in an innovative series of locations Friday nights through July 25.
Following last year’s successful launch, in which the original “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and classic mental-hygiene shorts were shown on the roof of the Schoolhouse parking garage and an Audrey Hepburn festival was shown in the One Colorado Courtyard, this summer’s lineup is more musically oriented.
“We’ve had a couple of different themes, but the idea is the same: joining cinema and urban settings,” explains Steve Mulheim, president and CEO of the Old Pasadena Management Association. “A few travel films are showing inside Distant Lands bookstore, but almost all of the movies are showing outside — and One Colorado is focusing on musicals this year. We’re showing a newly restored version of the silent film ‘Daddy Long Legs’ as well as ‘Gypsy,’ ‘The King & I,’ and ‘West Side Story.’ And then there’s some that might make a fun date evening, like ‘Footloose’ and ‘Twilight.’”
This Saturday’s 8 p.m. showing of “Daddy Long-Legs,” a 1919 silent comedy-drama about a wealthy benefactor who sponsors an orphan girl (the legendary Mary Pickford) in boarding school and then falls in love with her after she becomes an adult, should be the highlight of the festival. Screening in the One Colorado Courtyard, the recently restored film will feature a brand new score written by Maria Newman, the daughter of famed composer Alfred Newman — whose own classic score for “The King & I” can be heard in a showing at One Colorado at 8 p.m. Friday.
Maria Newman and her brother Joey will introduce “Daddy Long-Legs” before Maria conducts a live performance by the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra of her score.
The complete list of films, show times and locations follow:
7:30 p.m. Friday: “Notting Hill” at Distant Lands, 54 S. Raymond Ave.
8 p.m. Friday: “The King & I” in One Colorado Courtyard, 1 W. Colorado Blvd.
8 p.m. Saturday: “Daddy Long-Legs,” One Colorado Courtyard, 1 W. Colorado Blvd.
9 p.m. Saturday: “Footloose,” rooftop of Schoolhouse Parking Garage, 33 E. Green St.
7:30 p.m. Friday, July 17: “Shirley Valentine” at Distant Lands, 54 S. Raymond Ave.
8:30 p.m. Friday, July 17: “Singing in the Rain” at One Colorado Courtyard, 1 W. Colorado Blvd.
8:30 p.m. Saturday, July 18: “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” at One Colorado Courtyard, 1 W. Colorado Blvd.
9 p.m. Saturday, July 18: “Sixteen Candles” at Mills Alley, 38 W. Colorado Blvd.
7:30 p.m. Friday, July 24: “An American in Paris” at Distant Lands, 54 S. Raymond Ave.
8:30 p.m. Friday, July 24: “Gypsy” in One Colorado Courtyard, 1 W. Colorado Blvd.
8:30 pm. Saturday, July 25: “West Side Story” in One Colorado Courtyard, 1 W. Colorado Blvd.
9 p.m. Saturday, July 25: “Twilight” on the rooftop of Schoolhouse Parking Garage, 33 E. Green Street.
Admission is free.
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