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08/30/2016 02:07 PMThe Clinton Family Film Festival, an initiative to bring free classic movies back to the big screen, will host its fourth—and possibly final—movie at Andrews Memorial Town Hall at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 10.
Peggy Adler, who coordinates the film series, says the future of the film festival hinges on attendance at the upcoming film, Alfred Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (1955). The turnout for the previous two showings—the musical comedy Merry Andrew (1958) and The African Queen (1951), starring Katharine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart—was weak, numbering around 13 to 15 people, according to the town.
According to Adler’s records, attendance was closer to 15 to 21 people, and she estimates that the first film in the series—The Adventures of Robin Hood, with Errol Flynn (1938), shown in January—drew close to 50 people. Many of those were families from Deep River, whose Parks & Recreation Department was preparing for its 5th- and 6th-grade musical production of Robin Hood the following month. The Town of Clinton puts the estimated attendance at that showing closer to 21.
Adler got the idea for the Clinton Family Film Festival last August, after organizing the four-day Edgar Rice Burroughs Bibliophile Convention in Clinton, nicknamed “Dum Dum,” which included a Tarzan movie marathon.
“Former first selectman Willie Fritz had the town buy a professional, theater-size, rear-projection movie screen and a new sound system with a subwoofer to be installed in the auditorium at Town Hall in time for the movie marathon,” says Adler. “After Dum Dum was over, I was casting around for something to do that might be fun and would benefit the town and thus approached Willie about screening movies at the Town Hall that would be appropriate for kids and adults alike and could be attended for free.”
For each movie night, the town has waived auditorium fees, projector fees, and custodial time. The licensing fee for a single movie with up to 100 audience members is $150, a cost also borne by the town.
At the Aug. 10 Board of Selectmen meeting, Adler requested $450 in town funding to cover licensing fees for the remaining three movies in this year’s series—Hitchcock’s The Trouble with Harry (Sept. 10), The Prince and the Pauper (Saturday, Oct. 8), and Empire of the Sun (Saturday, Nov. 12). While the selectmen granted her request for the September film, which had already been advertised, they declined to make a decision on the final two films scheduled for 2016, citing concerns about poor attendance.
Adler says she understands.
“Where on the one hand I believe the town has a responsibility to give back to the people who live here, they also have a responsibility to spend money prudently. And in my mind, to spend $150 plus the custodial fee for up to a dozen folks to attend a movie is not prudent, in which case the remaining 2016 movies will be canceled and the Clinton Family Film Festival will no longer exist,” she said.
In response to questions from the selectmen about whether the films she has chosen are too old to have broad appeal for today’s families, Adler said she is not interested in showing contemporary movies or those geared toward very young children. She is committed, she says, to bringing the classics back to the big screen.
“Almost every movie screened will have premiered at least 20 to 70 years ago and all will be suitable for kids as well as adults,” she said.
Adler is investigating the possibility of a reduced licensing fee of $85 per film for audiences under 50 individuals. In order to receive the discount, however, she would have to book a minimum of six movies per year. She has reached out to the Board of Selectmen to see if there is any interest in pursuing the offer.
The next movie scheduled, based on a novel by Jack Trevor Story, is the mystery behind Harry Worp, whose body is found on a hillside above a small Vermont village. Three of the four main characters in this dark, quirky, romantic comedy believe they’re personally responsible for Harry’s demise, and no one is sure what to do with the body.
The cast of The Trouble with Harry includes John Forsythe, Shirley MacLaine (in her motion picture debut), and Leave It to Beaver’s Jerry Mathers.
Children under 14 must be accompanied by an adult.
For more information, follow Clinton Family Film Festival on Facebook.