![Larry Jackson, right, with Orson Welles in Boston in January 1977. [Copyright Frank Siteman Photography]](https://www.wellesnet.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/orson_larryjackson-jan1977_copyrightfranksitemanphotography.jpg)
Larry Jackson, former manager of the Orson Welles Cinema in Cambridge and a crew member on The Other Side of the Wind, will host a screening of Chimes at Midnight in Albany.
Jackson is also a former vice president at Samuel Goldwyn Co., Orion Pictures and Miramax and the producer-director of the Welles-narrated Bugs Bunny Superstar. He will speak before the March 3 screening of the Janus Films and Criterion Collection restoration at the Madison Theater at 7 p.m.
“The restoration done by Janus and Criterion is a triumph, in my opinion, better than the 35mm prints I saw in the original release in the 1960s, and infinitely better than any of the poorly produced and bowdlerized version circulated in later years,” Jackson said. “This is finally the way to experience Welles’s Falstaff and a cinematic breakthrough that profoundly influenced films as diverse as Braveheart and Saving Private Ryan.”
He noted that the 1965 film was the culmination of a project Welles began as a teenager to “interpret Shakespeare’s history plays that he had worked and reworked in print and on stage for decades and finally distilled into what many have judged the greatest Shakespeare work on film by anyone ever. Welles’ own Shakespearean tragedy was that this film had only a marginal and substandard release, as a result of a bitter personal vendetta against it by Bosley Crowther of The New York Times.”
The re-release of Chimes at Midnight has been hailed by critics and fans. It is playing at select theaters nationwide.
“If Orson could see now the reaction to the restoration of Chimes At Midnight, I think he’d feel the kind of validation and vindication that sadly eluded him so much of his career, and especially with regard to this film,” Jackson said. “The man I knew might likely be moved to tears.”
Jackson, will introduce Chimes at Midnight and offer a Q&A, sharing rare production stills and behind the scenes stories.
The special screening is possible through a partnership with Capital Cinema Cultural Exchange (CCCE) and the Madison Theater and is preceded by a 6PM cocktail fundraising mixer in support of CCCE’s annual international filmmakers lab held in September 2016.
For tickets visit: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chimes-of- … 1007235206
Discounted general admission tickets for students and seniors are available at the box office for $5 and $10 respectively, with valid ID.
Additional information about CCCE visit: http://www.cinemaexchange.org
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