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FOUR SEASONS BREEZE | DECEMBER 2022 37 Classic Film Group The Classic Film Group will be showing four-time Best Director winner John Ford's Donovan's Reef, a romantic Christmas movie, at The Lodge Theater on Dec. 27 and Jan. 3, 2023 at 6 pm. Three World War II Navy veterans, Donovan (John Wayne), Doc Dedham (Jack Warden) and Gilhooley (Lee Marvin) converge on the French Polynesian island of Haleakaloha and team up to deceive Dedham's prim daughter (Elizabeth Allen), who has just learned of her father's existence and his inherited stock from the company of which she is chairman, and hopes to find cause to reclaim his shares. In this ideal society on a picturesque South Sea island, people of several races and backgrounds live together in harmony. Donovan is a WWII hero who worked hard to own a shipping company. "Guns" Donovan prefers carousing with his pals Doc Dedham and "Boats" Gilhooley until Dedham's high-society daughter Amelia shows up in their South Seas paradise. The plot revolves around "Guns" Donovan and "Boats" Gilhooley trying to prevent snooty Bostonian Amelia Dedham from discovering that her estranged father, Dr. William Dedham, married a Polynesian woman and had three children by her. Of course, things go somewhat awry, especially when she and Donovan become romantically involved and he finds his true love. The heart of the film is a charming, touching, and funny Christmas pageant. The mere spectacle of Lee Marvin as the King of the United States of America, the baby Jesus, a wind-up gramophone, and Dorothy Lamour gravely singing Silent Night in a very leaky chapel is priceless, but the whole movie is a delight. John Ford's Donovan's Reef (1963) is a bona fide Christmas movie if ever there was one — but with the unusual setting of a South Seas island (filmed in Kauai, Hawaii, with studio work at Paramount in Hollywood). The truth is that while this is housed in a John Wayne vehicle in the John Ford barroom brawling mode, it is also a deeply felt statement on racial tolerance. Happy holidays. ~ Paul Plamondon, 4seasonsmoviegroup@ gmail.com The club has screenings on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. We screen films you won't find at the big Cineplexes: documentaries, indie films, foreign films, and other little gems that don't get wide release. Due to the Christmas holiday falling on our second screening date in December, there will only be one screening this month. Our screening for the month, on Sunday, Dec. 11 at 6 pm, is the film The Man Who Invented Christmas (Ireland 2017, 1 hr. 44 min., English). Here is a brief description from IMDb.com: "In 1843, celebrated British novelist Charles Dickens is at a low point in his career with three flops behind him and family expenses piling up at home. Determined to recover, Dickens decides to write a Christmas story and self-publish it in less than two months. As Dickens labors writing on such short notice, his estranged father and mother come to bunk with him. Still haunted by painful memories of his father ruining his childhood by his financial irresponsibility, Dickens develops a seemingly-unsolvable writer's block. Dickens must face his personal demons epitomized through his characters, especially in his imagined conversations with Ebenezer Scrooge. With a looming deadline, Dickens struggles for inspiration against his frustrations and his characters' opinions in a literary challenge creating a classic tale that would define the essential soul of modern Christmas." All of our screenings are followed by lively discussion about the film. We'd love to have you join us. The Lodge Theater has very limited seating, so if you're interested in our screenings, come early. We hope to see you there. Please note that all films announced are subject to availability. If you have any questions about the Counter Culture Cinema Club or want to recommend a film, please email Micki Rosen at michelesrosen@gmail. com. ~ Micki Rosen Counter Culture Cinema Club

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