The Columbus Moving Picture Show

You may not have heard of the Columbus Moving Picture Show, but you no doubt heard of the Cinevent Film Festival. After fifty years, the latter closed doors and the baton was passed on to Samantha Glasser, who re-christened the film festival and carried the tradition of bringing cinephiles together for four days. The contents of the program guide received a modern font, revealing little bits of trivia for each movie screened throughout the weekend. All of the movies were presented via 16mm masters, not digital, evident during the Saturday morning cartoon showing when a bulb burned out and needed to be replaced. (In fairness, no one in the screening room expressed complaint. A bulb burning out is just one of the factors that can happen during the weekend and is part of the fun of watching films by 16mm.) 

Among past year's offerings was the rarely-seen Behind the News, a 1940 crime caper starring Lloyd Nolan as a crusading newspaper reporter who needed a small jab to revive his interest to cover the arrest and murder of a notorious racketeer. Another rarely-seen film was the 1953 comedy, Marry Me Again, co-starring Robert Cummings and Marie Wilson. Fans of Frank Tashlin knew of this movie that has never been released commercially or screened on television in the past few decades. 

Alan K. Rode was among the celebrated authors throughout
the weekend signing copies of their books.

Perhaps the rarest film of the past year was The Little Cafe, a silent 1919 film starring comedian Max Linder has been elusive to many cinephiles who have been determined to see every movie Linder starred. No weekend would have been complete without a film noir so Samantha and her friends pulled out the 1948 Eagle Lion production, Canon City, with Scott Brady and Jeff Corey. These are just examples of what you can see at the annual film festival. 

Invisible Ghost was a late-night offering that provides no ghost
and nothing invisible... but who can deny the fun of watching
Bela Lugosi in a room full of film buffs who go so far
as to clap when "The End" appears on the screen?

If you are asking yourself where you can find these same films on DVD, the short answer is: you cannot. The majority of the films screened over the weekend are films not available commercially, offering fans of old movies a cocktail of classics worthy of the price of admission.

Jason Edgerly was among the vendors selling movie
memorabilia throughout the weekend. 

The different types of merchandise and collectibles
you can find in the vendor room.

More than five decades ago, Steve Haynes and his friends assembled what would become an annual tradition in Columbus, Ohio, every Memorial Day weekend. The tradition continues with a new spearhead and I am pleased to report to the skeptics that the film festival is in good hands. If you live within driving distance of the event, I recommend you check it out at www.ColumbusMovingPictureShow.com