On Thursdays in February at 6:00 PM at 33 Bridge Street in Bellows Falls, Stage 33 Live and WOOL.fm will screen a series of films from 1930 newly entered into the public domain. $5 suggested donation at the door, but nobody will be turned away for lack of money.
February 26 at 6:00 PM, runtime 2 hours 50 minutes (includes brief intermission)
· Based on the Marx Brothers’ 1928 stage musical, Animal Crackers is set at a Long Island society party honoring eccentric African explorer Captain Jeffrey T. Spaulding (Groucho), the film serves as a vehicle for the Marx Brothers’ comedy and absurdist routines, with a minimal plot loosely structured around the theft of a valuable painting. The film’s humor and surrealist elements influenced comedy filmmaking and earned recognition from avant-garde critics and filmmakers.
· In Soup to Nuts, Mr. Schmidt’s costume store is bankrupt because he spends his time on Rube Goldberg-style inventions. The creditors send a young manager who falls for Schmidt’s niece Louise, but she’ll have none of him. Schmidt’s friends and some goofy firemen try to help out, and things come to a slapstick head when Louise needs rescuing from a fire. It was the film debut of the original four members who would later go on to become known as The Three Stooges.
