TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL PREVIEW

The TCM Classic Film kicks off its opening night gala, showcasing its theme of “Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film” with the screening of “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” the second film in the “Star Wars” trilogy.

Visionary director George Lucas will be there to present his film that is celebrating its 45th anniversary. Hard to believe that so much time has passed when “Star Wars” films were truly thrilling, rather than what Disney has done with forgettable remakes or reboots.

“The Empire Strikes Back” is like “The Godfather Part II.” Technically, they’re sequels, the second movie is a series. But they are so much more. In fact, they arguably could be stand-alone films.

“Empire” not only “dazzled and delighted ‘Star Wars’ fans, it pushed the boundaries of moviemaking, further deepening its characters and expanding the most popular cinematic universe of all time,” said Ben Mankiewicz, the official host of the festival.

According to Mankiewicz, “The first ‘Star Wars’ picture in 1977 ignited a new era in Hollywood and turned a generation of young people into passionate movie fans for life. Then, somehow, three years later, along comes ‘Empire,’ which might be even better.”

The publicity machine at Turner Classic Movies touts 1980’s “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back” as “widely considered one of the greatest sequels in film history,” winning two Academy Awards and other accolades as time goes by.

The excitement of the space opera franchise began with George Lucas’ creation of “Star Wars” which quickly turned into a pop culture phenomenon in what was to be a trilogy of intergalactic adventure.

Not known at the time in 1977 was that “Star Wars” would result in a series where the film would later be known as Episode IV subtitled “A New Hope,” while “The Empire Strikes Back” maintained the same subtitle and became known as Episode V.

Three years later along came “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” with the beloved characters in the Rebel Alliance fighting the malignant Galactic Empire. Some will contend that the legacy of “Star Wars” would have been best served if “Return of the Jedi” had been the final chapter.

With the festival rapidly approaching its launch on Thursday, April 24th, the schedule is fully formed, though subject to last-minute changes. A movie lover’s dream will be fulfilled, as it has since the first festival in 2010.

The Marx Brothers may be the best-known family comedy team of all time, having success in vaudeville, the Broadway stage, and a slew of movies that have not lost their popularity.

The festival will feature Groucho’s favorite of all his movies that was not available in its original form for more than 80 years. “Animal Crackers,” the Marx Brothers’ second feature from 1930, was also their last film adapted from one of their Broadway productions.

In fact, “Animal Crackers” was the play the brothers were performing at night while filming their debut feature, 1929’s “The Cocoanuts” at Paramount’s New York studio.

Fun fact: There were five Marx Brothers, but youngest, Zeppo, never appeared on film, while Gummo, the second youngest, appeared only in the first five films. While Groucho is the de facto ringleader, Chico was the oldest, followed by Harpo. If you lost count, that makes Groucho the middle child.

A classic from the 1920s, “Beau Geste,” to be shown in a world premiere restoration, was one of Paramount’s most popular films, starring Ronald Colman, Neil Hamilton, and Ralph Forbes as three brothers forced by scandal to flee England and join the French Foreign Legion.

There’s high drama as they deal with a sadistic lieutenant (Noah Beery) and swashbuckling action scenes of desert warfare. The film also features early appearances by William Powell and Victor McLaglen.

The film’s Irish-born director Herbert Brenon was one of the first directors to achieve celebrity status, second only to D.W. Griffith. In a career spanning three decades, Brenon directed more than 120 films.

Another world premiere restoration is 1955’s “The Big Combo,” a film noir billed as a symphony of “chiaroscuro,” which is Italian for “light-dark,” thereby explaining a lighting technique to achieve contrast between the subject and a dark background.

Cornel Wilde’s detective Leonard Diamond is trying to get the goods of Richard Conte’s Mr. Brown, a new breed of criminal who keeps his hands clean and his books dirty. Diamond is also in love with Mr. Brown’s mistress (Wilde’s off-screen wife Jean Wallace).

Like any good film noir, the script is filled with punchy lines like “You can’t tell a jury a man’s guilty because he’s too innocent,” and contained multiple levels of overt and implied adult sexuality.

Conte and Wallace have a love scene that had censors in a tizzy, while Conte’s two cool gangsters, Lee Van Cleef’s Fante and Earl Holliman’s Mingo, seem to be more than just colleagues, putting it imprecisely.

While these films are a brief taste of the cornucopia of great cinema, a future column will feature some of the festival highlights.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.