Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills, the classic movie theater built in 1937, now celebrating its 85th Anniversary, will present a Two-Day Exclusive Exhibition Premiere of the newly 4K Digital Restoration of George Stevens’ 1956 classic film, GIANT, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean on Friday and Saturday, July 8 and 9, 2022 at both 4:00 p.m. And 8:00 p.m. Advance tickets purchases are highly recommended.
Jerry A. Blackburn, Programmer of Public Programming and Sr. Manager of Theatre Operations for the Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills said, “The 8:00 p.m. Screening on Friday, July 8, 2022 will start with a 30 minute Panel Discussion about the restoration of the film GIANTmoderated by Randy Haberkamp, Sr. Vice President of Restoration for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences with Daphne Dentz, Sr. Vice President of Emerging Formats, Mastering & Content Acquisition for Warner Bros. and George Feltenstein, WarnerMedia Library Historian.”
The 4K Digital Restoration of the Texas-set family saga, based on Edna Ferber’s best-selling novel of the same name, was made possible by Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, and Turner Classic Movies.
Warner Bros., Post-Production Creative Services: Motion Picture Imaging and Post-Production Sound completed the restoration by sourcing the original camera negatives and protection of the Red, Green and Blue (RGB) separation master positives for the best possible images. Then everything was color corrected in high dynamic range in accordance with today’s latest picture display technology. Audio for the restoration was sourced from a 1955 protection copy of the Original Magnetic Mono soundtrack.
George Stevens won an Oscar for Best Director and the Directors Guild of America Awards for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures for his work on this film. The film was nominated for a total of 10 Academy Awards, GIANT is an epic portrayal of a powerful Texas ranching family confronted by changing times and the coming of big oil. Subplots in the film deal with racism of Anglo-European Americans in Texas during the mid-20th century and the discriminatory social segregation enforced against Mexican Americans.
In GIANT a wealthy Texas rancher, Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) shakes things up at home when he returns from a trip to the East Coast with a love interest, the refined Leslie Lynnton (Elizabeth Taylor). Bick and Leslie get married, but she clashes with his sister, Luz Benedict (Mercedes McCambridge), while at the same time winning the admiration of the ambitious young Jett Rink (James Dean). Bick and Jett form a tense rivalry that continues to surface as the years pass, and fortunes change, in this sweeping drama.
The cast also includes: Jane Withers at Vashti Hake Smyth, Robert Nichols as Mort “Pinky” Snythe, Chill Wills as Uncle Bawley, Carroll Baker as Luz Benedict II, Dennis Hopper as Jordan “Jordy” Benedict III, Fran Bennett as Judy Benedict, Earl Holliman as Robert “Bob” Dace, Elsa Cárdenas as Juana Villalobos Benedict, Paul Fix as Dr. Horace Lynnton, Judith Evelyn as Mrs. Nancy Lynnton, Carolyn Craig as Lacy Lynnton, Rod Taylor as Sir David Karfrey and Sal Mineo as Ángel Obregón II. The screenplay was adapted by Fred Guiol and Ivan Moffat from Edna Ferber’s 1952 novel of the same name. William C. Mellor served as Cinematographer and Dimitri Tiomkin served as the film’s Composer.
The Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills is located at 8556 Wilshire Boulevard (at La Cienega Boulevard), Beverly Hills, CA 90211. Tickets are available on the Fine Arts Beverly Hills website, http://www.fineartstheatrebh.com and on the Fine Arts App available on Google Play Store and the Apple App store, as well as at https://www.fandango.com/ and https://www.atomtickets.com/ Tickets are $15 for Adults 13 and older, and $13 for Children 12 and under. The film is rated G and runs for 193 minutes.
For further information, please call the Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills at 424-438-4013 or visit online at http://www.fineartstheatrebh.com The Fine Arts Theatre Beverly Hills has limited Box Office Hours. For the screening of GIANT, the Box Office will be open to purchase tickets in person on: Sunday, July 3rd from 10 a.m. – 5:00 p.m., Monday, July 4th from 2:30 – 9:00 p.m. On both Friday, July 8th and Saturday, July 9th the Box Office will open at 3:30 p.m., 30 minutes prior to the first screening of GIANT each day.
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Free Parking is available the Beverly Hills City Garage, 321 South La Cienega Boulevard, Beverly Hill, CA 90211 after 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday and all-day Saturday and Sunday. Free Parking is available at Parking Meters after 6:00 p.m., or after 7:00 p.m.
About The Panel Discussion Moderator, Randy Haberkamp:
As Senior Vice President of Preservation and Foundation Programming for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Randy Haberkamp has direct oversight of the Academy’s Margaret Herrick Library, the Academy Film Archive, Public Programming and the Academy’s Oral History Project. He received his Master’s in Motion Picture Production from UCLA and worked for the CBS Television Network for 14 years culminating as Director of Specials and Feature Films. Haberkamp has worked as a freelance television producer and as a talent agent and is the founder of The Silent Society, a silent film preservation and appreciation group that has presented and preserved silent films in Los Angeles for more than 30 years. He is originally from Ohio.
About The Panelists: Daphne Dentz and George Feltenstein:
Daphne Dentz serves as Senior Vice President, Emerging Formats, Mastering & Content Acquisition, Warner Bros. Discovery Content Creative Services. In her role, Dentz oversees the delivery of new feature films, episodic television, and catalog masters for the Warner Bros. Pictures Group and Warner Bros. Television Group for first and future windows across OTT and linear markets both domestically and internationally. Her team works directly with content creators and Warner Bros.’ business units to deliver high-quality, in-home service masters for global sales and distribution. With over 25 years of experience in digital post-production and mastering, Dentz continues to be an industry leader, working closely with Warner Bros. Post-Production Creative Services and mastering facilities worldwide.
George Feltenstein, WarnerMedia Library Historian, has been involved in the marketing and distribution of classic films for many years, having started his career marketing films to repertory and revival theaters in New York. Thereafter. he was hired by MGM to bring their classic film library to the burgeoning home video market, where he eventually became the Senior Vice President and General Manager of MGM/UA Home Video for several years, overseeing the release of hundreds of films and television series on videocassette and laserdisc.
While at MGM/UA, Feltenstein also was the executive in charge of the 1994 theatrical motion picture THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT! III. Feltenstein joined Time Warner in 1997 to lead various initiatives involving the studio’s classic film library, including serving as producer for over 100 restored soundtrack CDs derived from the company’s ample holdings, and was Executive Producer for many documentaries seen on PBS, TCM, BBC and other entities including CARY GRANT: A CLASS APART and STARDUST: THE BETTE DAVIS STORY for which he earned Emmy Award nominations, and JUDY GARLAND: BY MYSELF, a co-production with PBS/American Masters which earned him an Emmy Award for his role as Executive Producer.
In 2002, Feltenstein officially joined the executive ranks at Warner Home Video (now Warner Bros. Home Entertainment) as Senior Vice President of Theatrical Catalog Marketing, where he initiated a long running initiative involving the restoration and marketing of the studio’s massive classic catalog. As part of those responsibilities, he helped develop and continues to oversee marketing and programming of the Warner Archive Collection, a specialty label dedicated to film enthusiasts which has released more than 3000 films and television shows on DVD and Blu-ray disc. Most recently, the company has broadened his responsibilities as WarnerMedia Library Historian, which enables him to dedicate his acumen to work across many divisions of Warner Bros. Discovery. In 2005, the National Board of Review presented him with the William K. Everson Award for his contribution to film preservation.