Friday Film Festival - Fall 2003  19th & Early 20th Century British  & American Literature into Film

Series hosted by: Sarah Davis, English Program; Robert Landsman, Mathematics Program

All screenings will be held in the Film Screening Room on the "C" level (Rm. C419) of the CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, NYC. There are 13 films in this series.  Each film will be shown on a Friday evening at 6pm, September 5th through December 12th (with the exceptions of two Fridays, Sept. 26th and Nov. 28th).  Doors open at 5:30pm.  Early arrival is suggested as seating is limited.  The running time of each film is indicated in the table below following the year in which the film was released. Click on each title for additional information within this website. Clicking on titles that are listed after the table will take you to further information on that particular film at IMDB [the Internet Movie Database], the web's premiere movie site.  Some of you may prefer, however, to wait until after you have seen the film to read about the plot and analyze the reviews.         The films to be shown this spring are as follows: [The upcoming film in the series is indicated by the moving red arrow.]

#	Screening Date [Starting Time: 6pm]	Film Title	Year	Running Time
1	Friday, Sept. 5th	Sense and Sensibility	1995	2 hr. 16 min.
2	Friday, Sept. 12th	Emma	1997	1 hr. 47 min.
3	Friday, Sept. 19th	Persuasion	1995	1 hr. 47 min.
- -	Friday, Sept. 26th	[No Film: Rosh Hashanah]	- - - -	- - - - - - - -
4	Friday, Oct. 3rd	Jane Eyre	1997	1 hr. 48 min.
5	Friday, Oct. 10th	Wuthering Heights	1939	1 hr. 43 min.
6	Friday, Oct. 17th	Great Expectations	1946	1 hr. 58 min.
7	Friday, Oct. 24th	Washington Square	1997	1 hr. 55 min.
8	Friday, Oct. 31st	The Wings of the Dove	1997	1 hr. 41 min.
9	Friday, Nov. 7th	A Room With a View	1986	1 hr. 57 min.
10	Friday, Nov. 14th	Jude	1996	2 hr. 3 min.
11	Friday, Nov. 21st	The Age of Innocence	1993	2 hr. 19 min.
- -	Friday, Nov. 28th	[No Film: Thanksgiving Recess]	- - - -	- - - - - - - -
12	Friday, Dec. 5th	Mrs. Dalloway	1997	1 hr. 37 min.
13	Friday, Dec. 12th	The Hours	2002	1 hr. 54 min.

Note: The films in this series will be projected from DVD. Seating is limited; first-come, first-served. Admission is free.  Fresh popcorn and other snacks will be available! [Click on image for larger view.]    Note: This site looks best when viewed on the Internet Explorer browser.

——— The Fall 2003 Film Series ———

Jane Austen Born December 16, 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, England, UK; Died July 18, 1817 in Winchester, Hampshire, England, UK.

1) Sense and Sensibility   (‘95)     [ Novel published in 1811. ] Dir. by Ang Lee.  Starring James Fleet, Tom Wilkinson, Harriet Walter, Kate Winslet, Emma Thompson, Gemma Jones, and Hugh Grant. When Mr. Dashwood dies, he must leave the bulk of his estate to the son by his first marriage, which leaves his second wife and three daughters in dire circumstances.  Their lack of fortune weakens the marriage prospects of both practical Elinor and romantic Marianne.  When Elinor forms an attachment for the wealthy Edward Ferrars, his family disapproves and separates them.  Though Mrs. Jennings tries to match the worthy (and rich) Colonel Brandon to her, Marianne finds the dashing and fiery Willoughby more to her taste.

2) Emma ('97)     [ Novel published in 1815. ] Dir. by Diarmuid Lawrence.  Starring Kate Beckinsale, Bernard Hepton, Mark Strong, Samantha Bond, James Hazeldine, Dominic Rowan, and Samantha Morton. Emma Woodhouse is endowed with intelligence, wealth, good looks, prestige, and is well aware of her advantages.  A well-meaning but ill-directed scheme to manage the lives and hearts of those around her forces Emma to re-examine her own choices and faults.  This elegant depiction of self-realization is considered by many to be Austen’s best work.

3) Persuasion ('95)     [ Novel published in 1818. ] Dir. by Roger Michell.  Starring Amanda Root, Ciarán Hinds, Susan Fleetwood, Corin Redgrave, Fiona Shaw, John Woodvine, and Phoebe Nicholls. In 1813 England, 29-year old Anne Elliot lives the dreary life of a spinster with her father, Sir Walter Elliot of Kellynch Hall, and her elder sister Elizabeth, both of whom are incurable snobs.  Eight years earlier, Anne had been persuaded to refuse an offer of marriage from the man she loved, a young naval officer of no position or fortune.  Now, after the Napoleonic wars, Captain Wentworth has gained both rank and money, and chance has thrown them together again.  Anne finds herself confronted with the consequences of her actions when she sees how she may have jeopardized her last chance for love and happiness.

Charlotte Brontë Born April 21, 1816 in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, UK;   Died March 31, 1855 in Haworth, Yorkshire, England, UK.

4) Jane Eyre ('97)     [ Novel published in 1846. ] Dir. by Robert Young.  Starring Samantha Morton, Ciarán Hinds, Gemma Jones, Richard Hawley, Abigail Cruttenden, and Deborah Findlay. Jane Eyre, a small and plain orphan educated at a charity school for girls, is hired as governess to a French girl, the ward of Edward Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield manor in Yorkshire.  Jane and Rochester, who is twice her age, eventually fall in love, but a dark secret comes to light which clouds the prospects for their happiness.

Emily Brontë Born July 30, 1818 in Thornton, Yorkshire, England, UK; Died December 19, 1848 in Haworth, Yorkshire, England, UK.

5) Wuthering Heights ('39)     [ Novel published in 1847. ] Dir. by William Wyler.  Starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier, David Niven, Flora Robson, Donald Crisp, Geraldine Fitzgerald, and Hugh Williams. Set in the moody Yorkshire Moors of Northern England, the story of the passionate and reckless love between Heathcliff, an adopted gypsy boy from the streets of Liverpool, and Catherine, his foster sister and soulmate, who yearns for a more respectable life than Heathcliff can provide.

Charles Dickens Born February 7, 1812 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, UK; Died June 9, 1870 in Gadshill, England, UK.

6) Great Expectations ('46)     [ Novel published 1860-61. ]     Dir. by David Lean.  Starring John Mills, Anthony Wager, Valerie Hobson, Jean Simmons, Bernard Miles, Francis L. Sullivan, Finlay Currie, Martita Hunt, and Alec Guinness Phillip Pirrup, called “Pip,” is expected to become a blacksmith, but secretly dreams of becoming a gentleman.  Through a mysterious inheritance, the acquaintance of an strange, bitter old woman, Miss Havisham, and her beautiful but haughty ward Estella, Pip learns the rewards that come from both vindictiveness and gratitude.

Henry James Born April 15, 1843 in New York, New York;    Died February 28, 1916 in London, England, UK.

7) Washington Square (‘97)     [ Novel published in 1880. ] Dir. by Agnieszka Holland.  Starring Jennifer Jason Leigh, Albert Finney, Maggie Smith, Ben Chaplin, and Judith Ivey. Set in the mid-19th century, Catherine Sloper, a plain and socially awkward young woman, lives with her father, Austin Sloper, a prominent New York physician, in their townhouse in Greenwich Village, along with her aunt Livinia, since Catherine's mother died in childbirth.  Catherine believes that she has found the man of her dreams in Morris Townsend, a handsome but pennyless young idler who courts her.  Dr. Sloper, believing that Morris is only interested in his daughter for her money, tries to dissuade Catherine from her plan to marry Morris, going so far as to threaten to disinherit her if she should disobey him.  Catherine is nonetheless determined to follow her heart…

8) The Wings of the Dove (‘97)     [ Novel published in 1902. ] Dir. by Iain Softley.  Starring Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roache, Charlotte Rampling, Alex Jennings, Michael Gambon, Alison Elliott, and Elizabeth McGovern.      An impoverished British woman, Kate Croy, feels trapped by and dependent upon her wealthy aunt.  Kate and her lover Merton Densher see an opportunity to break free of their poverty when they befriend a fatally ill, rich American woman.  Traveling with her to Venice, they plot to deprive her of her inheritance and her heart.

E. M. Forster Born January 1, 1879 in London, England, UK; Died June 7, 1970 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, UK.

9) A Room With a View (‘86)     [ Novel published in 1908. ] Dir. by James Ivory.  Starring Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, Denholm Elliott, Julian Sands, Simon Callow, Patrick Godfrey, and Judi Dench. Lucy Honeychurch, a respectable young woman from a good family, is visiting Florence during a grand tour of Europe with her chaperone Miss Bartlett.  When they find themselves in rooms without views, fellow guests Mr. Emerson and his quiet and eccentric son George step in to remedy the situation.  Upon her return to England, Lucy must decide whether to follow through with her earlier plan to wed her fiance, Cecil, or to follow her heart and pursue her growing attraction to George.

Thomas Hardy Born June 2, 1840 in Upper Bockhampton, Dorset, England, UK;    Died January 11, 1928 in Dorchester, Dorset, England, UK.

10) Jude ('96)     [ Novel, Jude the Obscure, published in 1895. ] Dir. by Michael Winterbottom.  Starring Christopher Eccleston, Kate Winslet, Liam Cunningham, Rachel Griffiths, June Whitfield, Ross Colvin Turnbull, and James Daley. Jude Fawley, a working-class stonemason who dreams of going to university and becoming a scholar, is crushed by the British social class system.   He lives out of wedlock with his cousin Sue Bridehead whom he loves, but is rejected by the townspeople because he and Sue are already married to others; this causes them to struggle bitterly in abject poverty.  Note: This bleak and shocking tale created such an uproar when it was published in 1895 that Hardy never attempted another novel.

Edith Wharton Born January 24, 1862 in New York, New York; Died August 11, 1937 in St.-Brice-sous-Forêt, France.

11) The Age of Innocence ('93)     [ Novel published in 1920. ] Dir. by Martin Scorsese.  Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder, Alexis Smith, Geraldine Chaplin, Mary Beth Hurt, Alec McCowen, Richard E. Grant, Miriam Margolyes, Robert Sean Leonard. Society luminary Newland Archer is engaged to May Welland, but his well-ordered life is upset when he meets May's unconventional cousin, the Countess Olenska.  At first, Newland becomes a defender of the Countess, whose separation from her abusive husband makes her a social outcast in the restrictive high society of late-19th Century New York, but his growing feelings for her soon threaten his own future.

Virginia Woolf Born January 25, 1882 in London, England, UK;    died March 28, 1941 in Lewes, Sussex, England, UK.

12) Mrs. Dalloway ('97)     [ Novel published in 1925. ] Dir. by Marleen Gorris.  Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Natascha McElhone, Rupert Graves, Michael Kitchen, Alan Cox, Sarah Badel, Lena Headey, and John Standing. Clarissa Dalloway sets out on a beautiful morning in 1923 to buy flowers for a party she is hosting that evening.  She reflects upon the fleeting passions of her youth and her choice of a life with the reliable Richard Dalloway.  At the same time in London, Septimus Warren Smith suffers from recurring hallucinations after his traumatic experience in the First World War.  In one day, the characters examine the meaning of the life they have lived as they contemplate an uncertain future.

13) The Hours ('02)     [ Novel by Michael Cunningham, published in 1998.                                          Inspired by the writings of Virginia Woolf. ] Dir. by Stephen Daldry.  Starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, Meryl Streep, Stephen Dillane, Miranda Richardson, George Loftus, Michael Culkin, John C. Reilly, Jack Rovello, Toni Collette, Margo Martindale, Ed Harris, Claire Danes, and Jeff Daniels. In 1929, Virginia Woolf is starting to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway, under the care of doctors and family.  In 1951, Laura Brown is baking for her husband's birthday, but is preoccupied with reading Woolf's novel.  In 2001, Clarissa Vaughn is planning a party for her friend, an author dying of AIDS.  Taking place over one day, all three stories are interconnected by the themes of Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway, as one woman writes it, one woman reads it, and one woman lives it.

GC Friday Film Festival - Fall 2003 "19th & Early 20th Century British  & American Literature into Film " Our Seventh Semester Featuring Free Films for the GC Community Return to the CUNY Ph.D. Program in Mathematics. This site was last updated on December 8, 2003. You are visitor #    Our previous film festivals, F.Y.I.