Last month, when we showed Mamma Mia! as part our Friday Film Series, we could not get over the smiles on the faces of our audience members as they left the Community Room. Between the humming and the swaying, we heard many of you say that you'd love it if we showed more musicals. We have heeded the call! During the month of June, we will show a musical every Friday at 7:30 p.m. We do hope you'll join us! Here's the schedule:

JUNE 5

The Band Wagon (1953) Starring Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse; Not rated; 111 minutes

Each song and dance routine, from the lovely "Dancing in the Dark" through the insanely happpy "A Shine on Your Shoes" to the thrilling coda "That's Entertainment" is a slice of cinematic magic in this delightful musical. The original ballet sequence "Girl Hunt" choreographed for Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse by Michael Kidd is especially notable.

JUNE 12

A Hard Day's Night (1964) John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr; Rated G; 85 minutes

A re-release of the 1964 classic musical comedy about four shaggy-haired lads from Liverpool, this is a playful day-in-the-life look at the emerging rock stars: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Pursued by hordes of shrieking girls caught up in Beatlemania, they dash in and out of railways, through London streets, and into a TV recording studio. With concert footage of The Beatles performing "She Loves You," this movie survives as an indelible portrait of a particular time.

 JUNE 19

Funny Girl (1968) Barbra Streisand and Omar Sharif; Rated G; 149 minutes

Marvelous musical biography of the legendary Ziegfield girl, Fanny Brice. Fanny (Barbra Streisand) was all-laughs on-stage, but her personal life was considered a tragedy. Barbra Streisand received an Academy Award® for her leading role.

JUNE 26

Singin' in the Rain (1952) Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O'Connor; Not rated; 102 minutes

Considered by many to be the finest musical comedy of all-time, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is sheer delight. Betty Comden and Adolph Green wrote this wonderful film about the time when movies were changing from silent to talkies. The songs range from the hilarious "Make 'Em Laugh" performed by O'Connor, to the delicate "You Were Meant for Me" and the show-stopping classic "Singin' in the Rain" solo by Gene Kelly.

Our Friday Films Series is in full swing and more popular than ever! Here's a list of our remaining films for this series:

MARCH 27

APRIL 3

Friday Night Film Crew - Me, Drew, Stephanie, and Jane

It is very late, but I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't take the time to talk about what a special night we just had at the Library. Just a few short hours ago, we showed The Secret Life of Bees, the fourth film in our Friday Film Series. The house was packed for  this wonderfully rich and well-told story. Every drop of coffee and every sweet morsel were consumed, as we have come to expect...what was unexpected, however, was the delightful and generous effort of our good friend, neighbor, and beekeeper(!) Kathy Hammell (shown at right). Earlier in the day, she stopped by the Library to drop off her beekeeping suit and a hive (empty, of course) and Stephanie (always ready to make a fashion statement) couldn't resist wearing it when it came time to draw for the door prize (a jar of Kathy's own honey!).  When the film was over, Kathy gave a great talk about bees and beekeeping and she answered lots of questions from a truly engaged audience. (Thank you, Kathy!)

The movie was a hit. The talk was a hit.  What a great start to the weekend!

Fashion-plate, Stephanie

JANUARY 30

The Visitor

Richard Jenkins, Haaz Sleiman, Danai Gurira
Rated PG-13; 108 minutes; (2008)

Walter, a college professor, travels to New York to attend a conference and returns to find a Syrian man and his Senegalese girlfriend living in his apartment. The couple has nowhere to go and when Walter reluctantly allows them to stay with him, they return his kindness by teaching him the exuberant rhythms of the African drum and rekindling his passion for life.

FEBRUARY 6

The Express

Dennis Quaid, Charles Dutton, Rob Brown

Rated PG; 130 minutes; (2008)

Witness the inspirational true story of a real American hero. Rising from the humblest of beginnings, Ernie Davis overcame impossible odds to become the first African-American to win college football’s greatest honor, the Heisman Trophy. His fight for equality and respect forever changed the face of American sports and his story continues to inspire.

FEBRUARY 13

Ghost Town

Greg Kinnear, Ricky Gervais, Tea Leoni
Rated PG-13; 102 minutes; (2008) 

Bertram Pincus dies momentarily but is revived and finds that after his near death experience, he can now see ghosts. However, annoyingly, they all want something from him, particularly Frank Herlihy, who pesters him into breaking up the impending marriage of his widow Gwen. This puts Pincus squarely in the middle of an after-life love triangle in this romantic comedy.

FEBRUARY 20

The Secret Life of Bees

Dakota Fanning, Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Alicia Keys

Rated PG-13; 110 minutes; (2008)

Set in South Carolina in 1964, this film is the moving tale of Lily Owens, a 14-year-old girl who is haunted by the memory of her late mother. To escape her lonely life and troubled relationship with her father, Lily flees with Rosaleen, her caregiver and only friend, to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her mother’s past. Taken in by the intelligent and independent Boatwright sisters, Lily finds solace in their mesmerizing world of beekeeping, honey, and the Black Madonna.

FEBRUARY 27

Man on Wire

Documentary Feature
Rated PG-13; 90 minutes; (2008) (In English and French with English subtitles.)

This is the true story of Philippe Petit, who in 1974 committed the artistic crime of the century. He had done many illegal high wire walks before, including between the towers of Notre Dame and across the Sydney Harbor bridge, but it was his walk between the then-unfinished World Trade Center towers that brought him the most notoriety. He remembers the fateful day, along with the crew who helped him pull off this once-in-a- lifetime event.

MARCH 6

Friday Film Vote!

There are so many great new films from which to choose that we want you to have a chance to be heard! Twice during our weekly series, you’ll have the opportunity to vote for your favorite of three new films. Voters will be directed to the Darien Library website, where they will be able to read about the choices, watch film trailers, and vote for their selection. The films to be voted upon will be announced at least two weeks prior to showing. 

MARCH 13

Frozen River

Melissa Leo, Charlie McDermott, Michael O’Keefe

Rated R; 97 minutes; (2008) 

Set during the Christmas season, Frozen River is the story of a struggling mother in upstate New York who is lured into the world of illegal immigrant smuggling. She meets a Mohawk girl who lives on a reservation that straddles the U.S. - Canadian border and driven by financial hardship, they form a partnership to smuggle illegal aliens across the frozen St. Lawrence River.

MARCH 20

Mamma Mia!

Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth
Rated PG-13; 108 minutes; (2008) 

In this big screen version of the stage musical featuring the songs of ABBA, Donna is the mother to Sophie, who’s on a quest to discover the identity of her father on the eve of her wedding. Donna owns a small hotel on an idyllic Greek island and when three men from her past arrive unexpectedly, it is a trip down memory lane that no one will ever forget.

MARCH 27

Brick Lane

Tannishtha Chatterjee, Satish Kaushik

Rated PG-13; 102 minutes; (2007) 

After an arranged marriage, a young woman leaves her family in Bangladesh to live with her new husband in London. When she finds that life is not at all what she expected, she begins an affair that forces her to take control of her own life. Set against a backdrop of escalating racial tension, Brick Lane is a contemporary love story.

APRIL 3

The Duchess

Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Hayley Atwell
Rated PG-13; 110 minutes;(2008) 

A vibrant beauty and celebrity of her time, the extraordinary 18th-century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, was reviled for her extravagant political and personal lives. Stuck in an unhappy marriage, she fell in love with a young politician and the affair caused a bitter conflict with her husband and threatened to erupt into a scandal.

APRIL 10

Encounters at the End of the World

 Documentary Feature
Rated G; 99 minutes; (2008) 

Director Werner Herzog becomes the first director to film on all seven continents as he takes his camera to the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station, where a hearty crew of eleven hundred people spends the austral summer. This group of researchers, scientists, and assorted adventurers shows us life at the bottom of the world, as we see that we are not as invincible or as dominant as we like to believe.

APRIL 17

Friday Film Vote!

There are so many great new films from which to choose that we want you to have a chance to be heard! Twice during our weekly series, you’ll have the opportunity to vote for your favorite of three new films. Voters will be directed to the Darien Library website, where they will be able to read about the choices, watch film trailers, and vote for their selection. The films to be voted upon will be announced at least two weeks prior to showing.

We are so happy to be back and right on schedule with our annual Friday Film Series! We'll meet in our beautiful new Community Room...and, yes, Jane will be here with cookies!

All movies begin at 7:30 p.m. Doors will open at 7. Admission is free!