National Film and Sound Archive

SPRING SILENTS: SILENT SCREWBALL

Mantrap (1926, Unclassified 18+)

Dir: Victor Fleming, USA, 71mins, 35mm

Gentle giant Joe Easter runs the store in Mantrap, a sleepy Indian trading post in southern Canada. Fondly remembering the US city of Minneapolis was the place of 'my last thrill … in 1906—when I seen a girl’s ankle’, he decides to head over the border to catch up on life in the big smoke. To his own surprise more than anyone else’s, he catches flirty good time girl manicurist Laverne (Clara Bow) on the rebound from taking too many lumps from too many Sugar Daddies. Joe takes her back to Mantrap as his bride. She’s deeply fond of the big lug. But cut off from her natural role as the centre of male attention her head is bound to be turned when jaded New York society divorce lawyer Ralph Prescott stumbles into Mantrap – under the illusion it’s the best place to get away from women. Flapper embodiment Clara Bow was best known as the ‘It’ girl, but this was her favourite amongst comedies she made in the late ‘20s, many with Victor Fleming (of course later credited for 1930s Hollywood’s two great blockbusters, The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, but with a career that went back to the 1910s). The source was the now largely forgotten novel Nobel prize winner Sinclair Lewis published between Arrowsmith and Elmer Gantry, later both the subject of much tonier screen adaptations. However screenwriter Ethel Doherty (one of the new unappreciated corps of women screenwriters who specialised in this sort of sparkling comedy at the end of the silent era) is wisely kinder and more forgiving to the characters than was Lewis, especially its women. Almost as dazzling is the cinematography of the great James Wong Howe, in the film where Bow’s luminous lighting helped establish his reputation as an ‘actor’s cinematographer. Live musical accompaniment. Courtesy the Library of Congress.

Presented with the support of the Embassy of the United States.

Time: 7:00pm

Venue: ARC Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive, McCoy Circuit, Acton

Cost: Adults $11; Concessions $9; Thursday matinée $5

Bookings: (02) 6248 2000

For More Information Visit the National Film and Sound Archive Website

Dur to rain, this walk has been rescheduled for Friday 5th October. If you would like to attend please contact us

Acton Walkways

Architecture at The Australian National University

The Australian National University (ANU) has a veritable smorgasbord of architectural styles, reflecting important eras in the history and planning of the campus. Ranging from some of the earliest buildings in Canberra to the modern College of Sciences Precinct, Amy Guthrie, Heritage Officer will lead you on a tour of the campus highlighting key buildings, and their significant attributes.  

Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm

Meeting Point:Old Canberra House, Lennox Crossing, ANU.

Cost: Free

Bookings: Essential - numbers limited.

Contact: Email: info@actonwalkways.com / Phone: 0437 301 390

ANU School of Music / The Street Theatre

Albert Herring

ANU School of Music and The Street Theatre Present a deliciously witty comic opera by BENJAMIN BRITTEN (28 - 30 September 2012)

Country virgins, if there be such, think too little and see too much.

One of Benjamin Britten's most admired works Albert Herring is a musically inventive coming-of-age story. Unable to find a worthy girl to be crowned May Queen, a small town elects the unquestionably virtuous Albert Herring instead . This lively opera filled with comical characters charts the meek and stumbling Albert’s journey from a fearful and submissive son, to one who steps out into the world, and is transformed.

Melodies abound amidst colourful music of rich imagination, freshness and subtlety with a chamber ensemble of thirteen players led by Melbourne-based conductor Rick Prakhoff joined by The Street Theatre’s artistic director Caroline Stacey. Albert Herring features a mix of professional singers and students from the ANU School of Music and follows the popular and critically acclaimed presentation of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas in 2010.

Featuring soloists and chamber orchestra from the ANU School of Music.

Music by Benjamin Britten
Libretto by Eric Crozier based on Le Rosier de Madame Husson by Guy de Maupassant
Conductor Rick Prakhoff
Director Caroline Stacey
Set Design Gillian Schwab  
Costume Design Imogen Keen
Lighting Design PJ Williams

Starring Madeline Anderson, Patrick Baker, Nick Beecher, Liv Brash, Joshua Burke, Alexandra Dalman, Keren Dalzell, Laura Griffin, Jessica Harper, Krystle Innes, Kathryn Jenkinson, Elora Ledger, Norman Meader, Dianne Prince, Robert Shearer, Jennifer Tabur, Rohan Thatcher, Rachael Thoms, Julia Wee, Jessica Westcott

Dates
Friday 28 – Saturday 29 September 7.30pm
Sunday 30 September 2:00pm and 7:30pm

Tickets
Full $30
Concession/Student $25

More Information: www.music.anu.edu.au/albertherring

ANU School of Music

International tri-institution guitar series no. 2

The ANU School of Music joins the Manhattan School of Music and Eastman School of Music for an exciting peer exchange program featuring guitar faculty members Timothy Kain (ANU), David Leisner (MSM), and Nicholas Goluses (Eastman). Students from each institution will have the opportunity to engage with experts across the world via high-definition videoconference.

These masterclasses are open to the general public.

Dates:

Friday, 21 September: Masterclass No. 1 with Tim Kain (ANU)

Friday, 28 September: Masterclass No. 2 with David Leisner (Manhattan)

Friday, 5 October: Masterclass No. 3 with Nicholas Goluses (Eastman)

Read more about this series and the guitarists