SILVER

SPRING PARADE (1940) in 35mm
Introduction by film historian David Stenn
Box office singing sensation Deanna Durbin hit her stride in this 1940 musical comedy playing a Hungarian farm girl visiting a romanticized pre-World War I Vienna in search of her dreams. The rest of the plot is too silly to describe, with Robert Cummings as the love interest. This delightful musical features a wonderful supporting cast of Hollywood's best character actors, including Mischa Auer, S. Z. Sakall, Walter Catlett and Franklin Pangborn. The producer-director team of Joe Pasternak and Henry Koster had worked together in Hungary. When they arrived in Hollywood in 1936, their choice to cast radio singer Durbin in her first film led to a string of successful movies along the same lines. They recreated some of their European successes (including SPRING PARADE) for American audiences, and the films captured youth and innocence that would be soon lost to war. SPRING PARADE has never been shown on television or released on DVD due to legal problems that followed the original release. The screening will be followed by a five-minute trailer for FRUHJAHRSPARADE (1934), the original Hungarian version of the story starring Franciska Gaal, also produced by Joe Pasternak. DIR Henry Koster; SCR Bruce Manning, Felix Jackson, from a story by Ernst Marischka; PROD Joe Pasternak. U.S., 1940, b&w, 90 min. NOT RATED
35mm print from the Library of Congress.

SPRING PARADE will be preceded by:
Hollywood Home Movies #2
Presented by Randy Haberkamp, Executive Vice President of Library, Archive and Sci-Tech, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
Hollywood Home Movies #2 features rare footage selected by the Academy Film Archive from the private collections of Hollywood stars and directors. The home movie craze across America extended to Hollywood stars, who captured not only their families and friends, but behind-the-scenes activities on their sets as well. These unique home movies give a personal, entertaining glimpse into the lives of classic Hollywood figures. 10 min.
DCP from the Academy Film Archive.

Part of the Library of Congress Festival of Film and Sound. See every program and save with an all-access pass! Click here to purchase a pass.

No AFI Member passes accepted.