The Special Collections Motion Picture Archives Film Series kicks off its fifth year with a bang with its presentation of the 1938 hit crime classic, "Angels with Dirty Faces."
The showing will be held Thursday, Jan. 29, at 7 p.m. in the Harold B. Lee Library auditorium. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Patrons are advised to arrive early as seating is limited. Admission is free, and all 8 years old and older are welcome. No food or drink is permitted in the auditorium.
The film stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien and Humphrey Bogart and tells the story of the return of Rocky Sullivan (Cagney) to his boyhood tenement neighborhood in New York after a stint in prison, ready to continue a life of crime. There he meets his boyhood friend (O'Brien), who is now a Catholic priest, and the teenage gang (played by the Dead End Kids) he is trying to reform.
The film's climax is a memorable piece of cinema history.
It was for "Angels with Dirty Faces" that Cagney earned his first Academy Award nomination for best actor, as his fast-talking, fast-moving mannerisms established him as one of the most popular actors in Hollywood.
The Special Collections Motion Picture Archives Film Series is one of the few regular archival screening series left in the United States. The motion pictures come from the films preserved in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Motion Picture Archives at the Harold B. Lee Library.
The full season schedule may be accessed online at sc.lib.byu.edu or by contacting Special Collections at (801) 422-6371.
