The holidays come but once a year and, as always, the Dryden Theatre is here to help fulfill your cinematic needs. Foremost on our minds this season are 75th anniversary screenings of two holiday films nominated for Best Picture of 1947: Miracle on 34th Street and The Bishop’s Wife. Both have been re-made in recent years, but it is these original classics that still keep our yule log burning bright.

The Godfather, one of the most celebrated and honored films in history, turns 50 this year. To celebrate, The Dryden Theatre is screening the entire trilogy as it was meant to be seen—on the big screen in glorious 35mm prints. It’s an offer you can’t refuse. Grab your tickets . . . leave the cannoli.

Pulp crime fiction, German Expressionism, nihilism, and postwar malaise all converged in the cinema of 1947. The number of films with characters, styles, and viewpoints that reflected the combination of these elements steadily increased every year from the beginning of the decade.

1947 was an extraordinary year at the Academy Awards. Among the five nominees for Best Picture were two holiday films, a film noir, a British film paving the path for the future, and a traditional Hollywood drama with an established star.

In 2011, film critic and historian Mark Cousins released a massive, fifteen-hour documentary on the history of cinema called The Story of Film: An Odyssey. A decade later, he has released an addendum, The Story of Film: A New Generation, covering trends and highlights of the last ten years.

Michael Lasser, longtime radio host of Fascinatin’ Rhythm, scholar, writer, and expert of The Great American Songbook, returns in 2022 to take us through some of his favorite musicals.

“1947 was the peak year of noir, both in quality and quantity.” —William K. Everson, program notes on Fear in the Night

An autumn tradition at the Dryden Theatre, Silent Tuesdays is a survey of some of the best films in early cinema history, all with live piano accompaniment by Dr. Philip C. Carli.