Library screens movies on small towns, race
“Strangers in Our Midst” will be the theme of four films shown at 1:30 p.m. Thursdays in February at the Waupaca Area Public Library.
The series will feature four classic movies in which a newly arrived or newly committed person disrupts the social order and comfortable assumptions of a small American town.
Dr. Jack Rhodes will introduce each of the four pictures in this 11th year of the library’s February Film Series.
The selected movies are:
Feb. 7: “Stars in My Crown” – A parson arrives in a rural 19th century village, builds a church and faces headwinds that include skepticism, a typhoid epidemic and organized bigotry.
Joel McCrea, Ellen Drew, Dean Stockwell and Juano Hernandez star in this 1950 slice of Americana directed by Jacques Tourneur.
The movie also features James Arness and Amanda Blake, both of whom would soon make their reputations in TV’s “Gunsmoke” series.
Feb. 14: “Intruder in the Dust” – A young boy grows up fast when he becomes involved in a murder accusation against a black man in the Deep South of the 1940s.
This 1949 film, based on the novel of the same name by William Faulkner, was directed by Clarence Brown and stars David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr., Elizabeth Patterson and Juano Hernandez, as the murder suspect.
Feb. 21: “Bad Day at Black Rock” – Shortly after World War II, a one-armed and business-like figure steps off the train in a small desert village to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a Japanese-American farmer.
Spencer Tracy won an Oscar nomination for his performance as the investigator in this taut 1955 melodrama directed by John Sturges.
Others in the notable supporting cast are Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Walter Brennan and Lee Marvin.
Feb. 28: “In the Heat of the Night” – A police officer from Philadelphia tries to change trains in the sleepy town of Sparta, Mississippi, only to become involved in a murder investigation that consistently baffles the local police.
This movie won the Oscar for Best Picture for 1967.
Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Lee Grant and Warren Oates star, under the direction of Norman Jewison.
Steiger was honored as that year’s Best Actor for his role as the police chief.
All screenings are free and open to the public.
Complimentary popcorn, sodas and theater treats will be served.
For more information about this series, call the library at 715-258-4414.