Friendswood Library flicks

Friendswood Library flicks is an ongoing movie series held every other Thursday evening in the Friendswood Public Library Activity Room.  Films are shown on an 8 X 10 ft. screen.  Movies are free and begin at 6:20pm.  Refreshments provided.

When Episcopalian bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven) prays for divine guidance in his efforts to raise the necessary funds for a new cathedral, his prayers are answered in the form of a handsome, personable guardian angel named Dudley (Cary Grant). Establishing himself as a Yuletide guest in the Brougham home, Dudley arouses the ire of Henry, who, unaware that his visitor is from Up Above, assumes that Dudley has designs on the bishop's wife Julia (Loretta Young). Eventually, the lives of both Henry and Julia are agreeably altered by the presence of the affable angel: He regains the "common touch" he'd almost lost, while she realizes anew how much she truly loves her husband.  (Rotten Tomatoes)

Holiday classic still charms. ---Steve Crum

Not rated: 1948: 109 minutes

Thursday, December 18 at 6:20pm

Astaire plays doctor—a shrink, of all things—in Mark Sandrich’s Carefree (1938), a little-known screwball comedy gem as antic and goofy as Howard Hawks’ Bringing Up Baby (1938) with dance. And what dance! Accompanied by an Irving Berlin score, Astaire and Rogers are at the top of their game in the tale of a therapist (Astaire) who must find the root of the commitment phobia that plagues his new patient (Rogers)... Ginger is funnier and lovelier than ever. Together, their chemistry is undeniable, and their dancing—captured in full-length, full-body shots with the barest hint of editing—is sublime. --Livia Bloom (Filmmakermagazine.com)

Not Rated: 1938: 83 minutes

Thursday, January 8 at 6:20pm

 The recipient of seven Oscar (R) nominations, this film version of Jane Austen's classic 1811 novel stars Emma Thompson as Elinor Dashwood. With her mother and sisters, Elinor struggles financially after the death of her father, who bequeathed the Dashwood estate to his oafish son by an earlier marriage. Thompson won the film's sole Oscar (R) for her screenplay adaptation of Austen's novel. (Rotten Tomatoes)

PG: 136 minutes: Directed by Ang Lee: 1998

We need no further proof that this material is ageless.     ~Janet Maslin, New York Times

Thursday, January 22 at 6:10pm

 

A British wartime aviator who cheats death must argue for his life before a celestial court. IMDb

What today's audiences will find amazing is the sheer energy of its invention. –Roger Ebert

(The filmmakers') creativity is both fantastic and organic, their imagery spellbinding and gorgeous, and their scripting clever and witty. –Sean Axmaker

#90 on the British Film Institute Critics’ Top 250 Films

In 2004, a poll by the magazine Total Film of 25 film critics named Stairway to Heaven the second greatest British film ever made.

104 minutes: Not Rated: 1946: Technicolor

                         Thursday, February 5 at 6:20pm