Anyone ever belong to a good "Great Films" group?

[Bob Pr.]

The Menninger Foundation used to present one monthly and many of us shrinks in the community would go with our spouses and then adjourn to various friends' homes and discuss them -- Hiroshima, Mon Amour; Wild Strawberries; The Seventh Seal, etc.

Having recently switched churches to the Cathedral, I notice our Dean (great guy, great sermons) actively encourages using the Cathedral for musical concerts (at least 2/mo), displays by artists (monthly), etc., open to the whole community. So I thought why not a series of great films, too? I discussed it with him and he was quite supportive -- he seems to like using the facilities of the Cathedral to serve the community.

So I met with a longtime close friend (psychiatrist & longtime Cathedral member) and a friend of his who goes to the Sundance Festival yearly and we tentatively decided to draw films from these rotating categories: Classics, Animated, Independents, Foreign, Comedies. They'd be shown Wednesday evenings, 1st of each month except when holidays interfere and open to everyone.

I've suggested we draw candidates from 2 sources -- IMDb's list of the top 250 <www.imdb.com> and Roger Ebert's listing of Greatest Films on his website.

I'm most interested in seeing films I've not yet seen -- but among those I've seen that I'd be thrilled to discover in a series like this are: any of the Bergman films; Rashomon; Modern Times; The Lives of Others; The Bicycle Thief; My Dinner with Andre; On Being John Malkovitch; Kiki's Delivery Service; Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter....and Spring.

Our public library loans out films and some could come from them (& they could give us free advertising, too). But they don't have many of the greatest films so, maybe, if we have a large enough attendance and free will offering, we could buy those that we need and donate it to the library after our use.

The 3 of us can serve as directors and organizers for awhile but it'd be good to get others to help and to rotate people in (& out) of those positions after serving a term.

Any have experience with such a project? Stumbling blocks? Pitfalls? Things to be aware of?

Will appreciate any words of advice.

[dweck]

No words of advice, but it sounds like an amazing idea, and if I lived closer, I'd join in.

One recommendation if you can pull it off: SCREEN these movies. Don't just present them on a big tv in DVD. They are vastly different when projected, in the dark, as intended. "Gone with the Wind," for example, isn't the same, and I don't care how many pixels of resolution a TV has, it won't do it justice. One of my fondest movie-going experiences ever was seeing a re-release of GWTW, and during the burning of Atlanta, turning around and glancing at the faces of the audience, bathed in an angry orange glow, held absolutely rapt.

Can't do that w/a DVD. No way. No how.

Casablanca is more romantic on the big screen. Duck Soup is funnier. Mary Poppins is more magical.

Go for authenticity.

[Bob Pr.]

Thanks, I wasn't aware of the difference.

Fortunately, the room we'll use has some type of expensive projector for showing DVD and computer stuff on a screen -- probably to cover the very point you made.

[JollyMolly]

My goal has always been to see all the movies listed on AFI's top 100. I only have 4 more to go. Try AFI's website for suggestions too.

[Bob Pr.]

I'd previously looked at AFI's list and, while it's worthwhile, it's biased in having only American major studio productions (no foreign films -- no Kurosawa, no Fellini), and no independent films (as far as I know).

The AFI list DOES include many really great films, including "Sunrise, A Song of 2 (Humans? People?)" which I saw several years ago at the Kansas Silent Film Festival. It's available on DVD and I'll look forward to your comments when you see it.

We want to pick films using a broader net -- foreign, indie, as well as major US studios.

ANY list of great films wil be biased in how it ranks its picks. www.IMDb.com 's list of the best 250 films requires a lot of votes, not just consistently high ratings. Roger Ebert's list depends on his personal taste and critical evaluation and has many ("Mr. Hulot's Holiday", e.g.) that IMDb does not.

I think we'll probably pick mainly from both IMDb and Ebert but publicize the film's rating on IMDb, Ebert, and AFI (whenever a rank # is available).