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The romantic comedy “Desire” (1936)
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After ten years and more than 400 feature films screened, “Films on the Hill,” a local entertainment institution, is history. With its showings during August at the Black Box Theater of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop (CHAW), the series completed an even decade of presenting classic movies.
From its inception in September 1999, “Films” was an all-volunteer-run film society, and the only venue in the DC area showing exclusively "old" films (i.e. films from the 1910s to the 1950s). All films were in 16mm and most were original prints. The project showed both well-known classics and also rarely-seen films not otherwise available in any format. It also aimed to show them in an informal, old-style movie house manner. The prints themselves came from a variety of private collections.
The original impetus for the program came from Capitol Hill residents, Marilyn Kauffman and Judy and Mike Canning, who teamed up with area film buffs John Stone and Annette Graham. To the very end, Stone and Graham were the series’ inventive programmers. In addition, Stone was the reliable projectionist, overall techie, and source for film prints, while Graham provided abundant and incisive program notes, handled publicity, and maintained the group’s website.
The first showing for “Films” was on September 10, 1999, with director Fritz Lang’s silent classic “Metropolis.” Though that first showing and others featured European pictures, the bulk of movies shown over the years were from Hollywood’s Golden Age (1925-45). Many greats of that era graced the “Films” programs multiple times, stars like Douglas Fairbanks, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Lon Chaney, Charley Chase, John Barrymore, Laurel and Hardy, Gary Cooper, Errol Flynn, Marlene Dietrich, Barbara Stanwyck, and many others. Unique for Washington area screenings, short subjects, usually cartoons of the period, accompanied the feature, just as in the old days.
The series also offered some special moments for area film buffs. In January 2002, the DC premiere of Fritz Lang’s silent feature “Four Around the Women,” was shown with live piano accompaniment by Robert Israel; during July 2006, a special presentation of the silent version of “The Sea Hawk,” was screened. Specialized series were built around the films of W.C. Fields and Cary Grant, Halloween horror classics, WWI and WWII films, as well as aviation films, westerns, film noir, and swashbucklers. For many years, too, “Films on the Hill” has been a venue for D.C.’s annual Environmental Film Festival.
Since CHAW is an educational institution, “Films” programmers also saw the series as educative as well as entertaining, introducing new audiences to film standards of the past and presenting, in its program notes and introductions, elements of film history. With an all-volunteer effort and no personnel costs, all proceeds from “Films” admissions over the years was returned to CHAW to help fund its other educational programs.
“Films on the Hill” was also recognized as a contributor to the cultural life of the Capitol Hill community as a recipient of multiple grants from the Capitol Hill Community Foundation. Over the years, the Foundation underwrote purchases of 16mm projectors, a large screen, and the rental of film prints for showings, contributions that allowed for a more professional presentation in CHAW’s Black Box Theater.
“Films on the Hill” will be missed by many, on the Hill and in the city, who loved to see motion pictures the good old fashioned way. |
