Looking back on the golden age of film

Imagine a time when there were no films driven by special effects and the concept of an action movie did not exist. Imagine a time when the movie studios had all the power in the industry and actors were not at all larger than life. Imagine Gene Kelly, Groucho Marx, Marlene Dietrich and Errol Flynn entering their celebrated careers. This is the time when films were just getting off their feet. A special collection of these movies is being shown here in Bloomington.\nThe film serie,s titled the "Golden Age of Hollywood: Screen Gems from the 40's and 50's," will be presented at the historic Buskirk-Chumley Theatre starting this month and ending in December. The theatre and the supporting groups chose to renew the series this year because of its popularity; the films bring in more than one hundred people to each showing on average while educating people to films they might never have heard of before.\nThe popular event helps to expose people to films that are from another time to help us learn about the beginnings of the film industry. Films from the first half of the twentieth century were a mixture of musicals, comedies, dramas, films in color and films in black and white. Special effects were unimaginable, epic films were not really in existence and the performances by the ensemble casts were the core of the films. The movies in the series represent the films from half a century ago with a variety of flicks ranging from 1936 to 1954.\nFilms are shown on both Sundays and Tuesdays. Tickets for Sunday showings are $3 for adults and $1 for children under 12, with the matinee always beginning at 3 p.m. Showings on Tuesday are free with the films beginning at 1 p.m.\nThe Department of Communications and Culture at IU along with Bloomington Parks and Recreation present the films being shown and the series is sponsored by the Bloomington Hospitality House and Pain Management Center.\nThe opening of the series will begin this Sunday with the film "Three Smart Girls," about a girl and her sisters that conspire to reunite their divorced parents before their father marries a gold-digging woman.\nFor more ticket information and a complete list of films, call the Buskirk-Chumley theatre or visit their website at www.buskirkchumley.org.