Celebrate Jane Austen: The Jane Austen Book Club
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
7:00 p.m. Dole Branch
 

Bette, Bogie, and Max: The Film Scores of Max Steiner
Jezebel (1938)
Monday, June 16, 2008
2 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Max Steiner (1888-1971) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian-American composer of hundreds of Hollywood movie scores, ranging from King Kong and The Searchers to A Summer Place and Gone With the Wind. In addition to being a key founder and pioneer of movie music as we know it today, Steiner was also one of the most prolific and admired composers of the "studio period." Though his musical compositions may now seem manipulative or clichéd to some modern ears, most contemporary film-lovers continue to find his work lush and inspiring. As the most prominent composer at Warner Bros. during the 1930s and '40s, Steiner created many memorable scores for two of that studio's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The films in this series are free and open to the public.

In Jezebel Bette Davis is a selfish, spiteful Southern belle whose defiance of conventions shocks mid-19th Century New Orleans society and may cause her to lose her fiancé, Henry Fonda. Davis won her second Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in this role. 105 minutes. Directed by William Wyler.
 

Bette, Bogie, and Max: The Film Scores of Max Steiner
The Letter (1940)
Monday, June 23, 2008
2 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Max Steiner (1888-1971) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian-American composer of hundreds of Hollywood movie scores, ranging from King Kong and The Searchers to A Summer Place and Gone With the Wind. In addition to being a key founder and pioneer of movie music as we know it today, Steiner was also one of the most prolific and admired composers of the "studio period." Though his musical compositions may now seem manipulative or clichéd to some modern ears, most contemporary film-lovers continue to find his work lush and inspiring. As the most prominent composer at Warner Bros. during the 1930s and '40s, Steiner created many memorable scores for two of that studio's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The films in this series are free and open to the public.

In The Letter Bette Davis, the wife of a Malaysian rubber plantation owner, shoots and kills her lover, then claims the man attacked her. Her husband defends her in this fast-paced film noir until the victim's wife comes forward with a letter. 95 minutes. Directed by William Wyler.
 

Bette, Bogie, and Max: The Film Scores of Max Steiner
Now, Voyager (1942)
Monday, June 30, 2008
2 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Max Steiner (1888-1971) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian-American composer of hundreds of Hollywood movie scores, ranging from King Kong and The Searchers to A Summer Place and Gone With the Wind. In addition to being a key founder and pioneer of movie music as we know it today, Steiner was also one of the most prolific and admired composers of the "studio period." Though his musical compositions may now seem manipulative or clichéd to some modern ears, most contemporary film-lovers continue to find his work lush and inspiring. As the most prominent composer at Warner Bros. during the 1930s and '40s, Steiner created many memorable scores for two of that studio's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The films in this series are free and open to the public.

In Now, Voyager Bette Davis plays a repressed, lonely spinster who is transformed into a vibrant young woman by therapy. She comes out of her shell to have a romantic affair with a suave, unhappily married European architect. 117 minutes. Directed by Irving Rapper.
 

Bette, Bogie, and Max: The Film Scores of Max Steiner
Casablanca (1943)
Monday, July 7, 2008
2 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Max Steiner (1888-1971) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian-American composer of hundreds of Hollywood movie scores, ranging from King Kong and The Searchers to A Summer Place and Gone With the Wind. In addition to being a key founder and pioneer of movie music as we know it today, Steiner was also one of the most prolific and admired composers of the "studio period." Though his musical compositions may now seem manipulative or clichéd to some modern ears, most contemporary film-lovers continue to find his work lush and inspiring. As the most prominent composer at Warner Bros. during the 1930s and '40s, Steiner created many memorable scores for two of that studio's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The films in this series are free and open to the public.

Casablanca is the film that rocketed Humphrey Bogart from gangster roles to playing romantic leads. Bogie's an American expatriate who meets up with old flame Ingrid Bergman while running a nightclub in Nazi-occupied French Morocco during World War II. 103 minutes. Directed by Michael Curtiz.
 

Bette, Bogie, and Max: The Film Scores of Max Steiner
The Big Sleep (1946)
Monday, July 14, 2008
2 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Max Steiner (1888-1971) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian-American composer of hundreds of Hollywood movie scores, ranging from King Kong and The Searchers to A Summer Place and Gone With the Wind. In addition to being a key founder and pioneer of movie music as we know it today, Steiner was also one of the most prolific and admired composers of the "studio period." Though his musical compositions may now seem manipulative or clichéd to some modern ears, most contemporary film-lovers continue to find his work lush and inspiring. As the most prominent composer at Warner Bros. during the 1930s and '40s, Steiner created many memorable scores for two of that studio's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The films in this series are free and open to the public.

In The Big Sleep, a film based on a Raymond Chandler pulp fiction thriller, Humphrey Bogart is down-at-the-heels private eye Phillip Marlowe. Hired to protect a wealthy young woman from her own indiscretions he falls for her older sister, played by Lauren Bacall, while also uncovering murders galore. 114 minutes. Directed by Howard Hawks.
 

Bette, Bogie, and Max: The Film Scores of Max Steiner
Key Largo (1948)
Monday, July 21, 2008
2 p.m. Veterans Room, Second Floor, Main Library
Max Steiner (1888-1971) was an Academy Award-winning Austrian-American composer of hundreds of Hollywood movie scores, ranging from King Kong and The Searchers to A Summer Place and Gone With the Wind. In addition to being a key founder and pioneer of movie music as we know it today, Steiner was also one of the most prolific and admired composers of the "studio period." Though his musical compositions may now seem manipulative or clichéd to some modern ears, most contemporary film-lovers continue to find his work lush and inspiring. As the most prominent composer at Warner Bros. during the 1930s and '40s, Steiner created many memorable scores for two of that studio's biggest stars, Bette Davis and Humphrey Bogart. The films in this series are free and open to the public.

In Key Largo Bogie is a bitter ex-Army officer returning from the war when a notorious gangster (Edward G. Robinson) and his henchmen hold the residents of a Florida Keys hotel hostage during a hurricane. 102 minutes. Directed by John Huston.