24 April

Before we knew it, Saturday, the 24th was upon us! My mother and I went down to Grauman's to see "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart and Walter Huston. This was a very special event to me because the film was being introduced by John's children, Angelica and Danny Huston. Angelica has always been one of my favorite actresses, from films like, "The Witches" and "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou". John Huston also happens to be one of my favorite directors of all times. In addition to "The Maltese Falcon", he made "Treasure of the Sierra Madre", "The African Queen" and "Moby Dick", starring Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab.
Before the show, I had the wonderful opportunity to meet Ms. Huston. I told her how much I loved her father's work, and her grandfather's films. I was so excited to see her that I completely forgot to tell her how much I like her stuff!
"Treasure of the Sierra Madre" was a great film for the big screen; and, even though the film was filmed in black and white, I could sense the colors of the mountains and all the vegetation.
After "Treasure", was a quick break for lunch, and then we went off to "North By Northwest", introduced by Robert Osborne, Eva Marie Saint and Martin Landau. When Landau was speaking, he stirred the whole theater up in laughter by imitating Hitchcock's voice. Eva Marie Saint said that in one of her favorite moments in the film, the scene where she and Cary Grant are in the cafeteria and shoots Grant with blanks, there was a small boy who had been there during rehearsals who covered his ears before the gun went off. This was a bit of a spoiler, but Hitchcock didn't much care. He viewed the incident as a minor detail and thought that nobody would notice it. Well "everybody" noticed it, especially after Eva Marie Saint brought it to our attention!
After "North By Northwest", we went back to the room for a short nap. Afterwards, we jumped back up and walked over to the Egyptian Theater to see "Singin' in the Rain" introduced by Stanley Donen, who co-directed the film with Gene Kelly who unfortunately, for reasons I dare not share, couldn't make it. Throughout all of the films I saw at the festival, I think that this one got the most applause. Especially when Donald O'Connor jumped through that phome-wall at the end of "Make 'Em Laugh". Well the whole audience was was laughing and clapping as hard as they could.
When the film was over, we literally ran from the Egyptian to Mann's for "The Adventures of Robin Hood" with Errol Flynn. We only just made it, and as I walked to find my seat, I observed that the man introducing the film was Leonard Maltin. I would have loved to have spoken to him, but didn't get the opportunity.
After "Robin Hood", we stayed for a midnight screening of "The Bride of Frankenstein", introduced by Peter Bagdonovich, directors of films such as "What's Up, Doc?". "Bride of Frankenstein" was my first Universal Horror Film, and I was hoping to be scared. Instead, I thought that the film was very funny in parts. Especially at the end, when the monster was rejected by the bride and he said, "She hate me." That got the entire audience.
I felt like the monster as I sauntered across the street back to my hotel room at 1:30 a.m. I just got into bed and fell asleep, realizing that tomorrow would be the last event of the festival, and one of the more memorable.