Robert Wise was a sound effects editor, a film editor, and an Academy Award-winning American film producer and director. He directed Boris Karloff in The Body Snatcher, Steve McQueen in The Sand Pebbles and Michael Renee in The Day the Earth Stood Still.  Other of his noteworthy films include:  West Side Story, The Andromeda Strain, Run Silent, Run Deep, The Sound of Music, Star Trek: The Motion Picture,

Few directors were as successful as Wise and virtually no director equals the span of his work

CCA is working with Professor Robert Keenan, biographer of Robert Wise, to create a film festival honoring the work of one of America’s greatest directors.  Dr. Keenan will  introduce  Odds Against Tomorrow at its May 24 screening and he will take questions from the audience following the film.   Scroll down to see information about each film and instructions on how to purchase tickets for the seven wonderful Robert Wise Films that make up the festival.

All screenings take place at the Chincoteague Senior Center on Church Street.  Show times are 7 p.m.  The second feature on double bills begins at 9 p.m.  Ticket prices for the double bills cost $6.00 whether you see one or both films

June 27 - The Day the Earth Stood Still (20th Century Fox, 1951)
Show Time 7 p.m.
Classic anti- war science fiction based on Farewell To The Master by Harry Bates. Klaatu (Michael Rennie), an almost Christ –like alien lands  a large flying saucer in Washington D.C. to deliver  a warning – stop using nuclear weapons or the earth will be destroyed. The Einstein character  (Sam Jaffe) and Patricia Neal’s little boy (Billy Gray from FATHER KNOWS BEST), seem to be the only ones convinced until Klaatu  causes all power  to stop around the world for an hour. The powerful score is by Bernard Herrmann. Gort, the coolest 50s movie robot (along with Robby) was played by a 7’7” doorman from Grauman’s Chinese Theater. Also with Hugh Marlow and Francis Bavier  (Aunt Bee on The ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW). 92 minutes.

Films Previsouly Shown in the Robert Wise Film Festival      

May 24 - Odds Against Tomorrow - 1959
Show Time 7 p.m.
This still powerful and multi leveled  heist movie is considered one of the last great film noir  classics. A racist ex cop (the always excellent  and intense Robert Ryan) and a black singer (Harry Belafonte, just after his top 40 run of calypso hits) who is being blackmailed  are both part of an upstate New York robbery scheme. Everything  goes violently wrong and the unforgettable ending involves  oil tanks. The great cast includes Gloria Grahame, Shelly Winters, and Ed Begley, all Oscar winners. The John O Killen and Nelson Gidding script is based on the novel by William P. McGivern. The jazz score is by John Lewis. 95 minutes

May 30 - Boxing Double Bill!!!

THE SET UP (RKO, 1949)
Show Time 7 p.m.
An over the hill prize fighter (Robert Ryan,  who was  a college boxing champ) is sold out by his manager (George Tobias),  but refuses to throw a fight. This down and dirty film noir classic featuring cinematography  by Milton Krasner plays in real time with a ticking  clock (a much copied concept). Art Cohn’s screenplay is based on a poem (!) by Joseph Moncure March. With Audrey Totter, Wallace Ford, and Percy Helton. 72 minutes 

SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME (MGM. 56)
Show Time 9 p.m.
Paul Newman,  in only his second film,  stars as famous boxer Rocky Graziano.  The popular biography co - stars Pier Angeli and Sal Mineo (who both died tragically in the 70s), Everett  Sloan (from Orson Welles radio programs and movies), Eileen Heckart,  and Steve McQueen,  making his feature debut. Screenwriter  Ehrnest Lehmen  (known for his work with  Hitchock),  went  on to write  both WEST SIDE STORY and THE SOUND OF MUSIC directed by Wise. The Oscar winning cinematography is by Joseph Ruttenberg. Martin Scorsese studied this and THE SET UP before making RAGING BULL.  80 minutes.

Several of these film descriptions are condensed versions from The Psychotronic Encyclopedia Of Film (Ballantine – 83) and The Psychotronic Video Guide (St. Martins’ – 96).  Thanks to author and CCA member Michael Weldon (Psychotronic Music and Movies)  for permission to use the text

June 13 - HORROR Double Bill!

THE BODY SNATCHER (RKO, 1945)
Show Time 7 p.m.
Russian born producer/write Val Lewton  was the first person to hire editor Wise as a (replacement)  director, for CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (44). Wise’s third project for Lewton  is a classic historical/horror movie based on Robert Lewis Stevenson’s short story. In 19th century Edinburgh Gray (Boris Karloff) the cabdriver  supplies corpses to Dr. Macfarlane (Henry Daniel) at the medical school. The two British stars are excellent and the famous ending still provides a shock. With Bela Lugosi (in his last film with Karloff) as a dull witted  servant who tries to blackmail  Gray, Edith Atwater ,  and Rita Corday. 77 minutes.

THE HAUNTING (MGM, 63)
Show Time 9 p.m.
In the tradition of the Val Lewton  horror movies of the 40s, this atmospheric black and white  Panavison hit (filmed in England) is based on The Haunting Of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. You don’t see any phantoms, but pulsating walls, loud pounding noises, a little girl’s cries, and Julie Harris’ hysteria help make this possibly the scariest ghost movie ever made. A lonely woman who had a traumatizing supernatural experience  as a child (Harris), a cool lesbian with ESP (Claire Bloom), a wisecracking  heir (Russ Tamblyn), and an anthropologist  (Richard Johnson) a spend the night in a New England mansion. 112  minutes

June 20 - West Side Story (United Artists, 1963)
Show Time 7 p.m.
It's the Jets vs. the Sharks in one of the greatest  dance musicals ever made,  featuring excellent  Leonard Bernstein music, Stephen Sondheim lyrics, and choreography by (fired co- director) Jerome Robbins.  The Technicolor Super Panavision 70mm hit,  based on the 1957 Broadway musical about New York City gangs, won 10 Oscars and was a major influence on Coppola’s RUMBLE FISH (83), and other movies with  street fights. The songs Maria and America were  both later radio hits by others and the Alice Cooper group recorded several of the songs, but I’m waiting for a hit cover of Gee Officer Krupkee.  Natalie Wood (whose singing voice was dubbed by Mari Nixon) and Richard Beymer star with Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, Russ Tamblyn as Riff, Simon Oakland and John (Gomez) Astin.  The West 64th St. area used for location work is now the site of the Lincoln Center. 151 minutes