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The free public film series THE SCREENING ROOM: CLASSICS, CROWD-PLEASERS AND NEGLECTED GEMS celebrates the spirit of the season with an uplifting pair of vintage holiday films.

The long-overlooked THREE GODFATHERS (1948) – a mystical, offbeat Western directed by John Ford (Stagecoach, The Grapes of Wrath, The Searchers) – will be screened at 2 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Florence-Lauderdale Public Library, 350 N. Wood Ave., downtown Florence.

The poignant frontier parable focuses on a good-natured trio of wanted bandits (played by John Wayne, Pedro Armendariz and Harry Carey Jr.) who risk their lives by adopting an orphaned newborn baby they discover while fleeing across the Arizona desert.

THREE GODFATHERS marked Ford’s remake of his own 1916 film, which starred silent Western hero Harry Carey in the role later played by Wayne. Ford dedicated his Technicolor remake to the memory of Carey (who died in 1947), calling him a “Bright Star of the Early Western Sky.”

Ford also cast the actor’s son, Harry Carey Jr., in his breakthrough role as the Abilene Kid, one of the three title characters in the 1948 THREE GODFATHERS. Ford’s remake also features Ford favorites Ward Bond, Ben Johnson, Jane Darwell, Mildred Natwick and Jack Pennick.

The second holiday showcase for THE SCREENING ROOM – scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14 – stars inimitable British character actor Alastair Sim as the screen’s definitive Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1951 film version of A CHRISTMAS CAROL.

The Screening Room is sponsored by the library and Pillar of Fire. Screenings are free and open to the public.

For more information, call Pillar of Fire at (256) 366-4512 or the library at (256) 764-6564, or e-mail pillaroffire@bellsouth.net.

“Hey, Bob. I just remembered what tomorrow is. … Feliz Navidad.” – Pedro “Pete” Rocha Fuerte (Pedro Armendariz) in John Ford’s THREE GODFATHERS (1948)
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