George Stevens Jr. Presents His Father's Legacy at Bedford Playhouse

There’s no shortage of documentary films about the tricky process of making movies, and those who excelled at it. They can be entertaining and informative, but often you get the sense that only movie buffs will be truly captivated by them.

There are exceptions to this rule, however. Case in point: “George Stevens: A Filmmaker’s Journey“ (1984) profiling George Stevens, a top director from Hollywood’s Golden Age, and directed by his son and namesake, George Stevens Jr. To its great advantage, this “Journey” is a highly personal one, with a son attempting to better understand his father by putting his film legacy in perspective.

Fortunately, enough of his father‘s colleagues were alive to be interviewed in 1984, so in between some glorious clips from his best films, we hear firsthand from luminaries like Katharine Hepburn, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Fred Astaire, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and Frank Capra.

Born to show people in California, George Stevens grew up as the rapidly evolving film industry did, learning his craft in the silent days working for Max Roach and helping launch the Laurel and Hardy comedy team to stardom. Eventually he was spotted by Hepburn, who saw something in him and lobbied hard for him to direct “Alice Adams” (1935), a winning comedy about a young woman determined to marry “up”.

With that initial success, Stevens never looked back, directing a string of hits over the next decade, mostly comedies and lighter fare.

Then, during World War 2, he joined the army and led a photography unit which captured some of the most dramatic footage of that conflict, including the only color films of the D-Day landings as well as the liberation of Paris- and, most devastating, the concentration camps.

This experience forever darkened his outlook. Though Stevens achieved his greatest success after the war, he’d never make another comedy, instead winning best director Oscars for 1951’s “A Place in the Sun” and 1956 ‘s “Giant”.

Widely respected in Hollywood, Stevens was twice elected president of the Screen Directors Guild and, from 1958 to 1959, served as President of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
Stevens’ directing career dried up after the box office failure of his biblical epic, “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (1965). He died of a heart attack 10 years later at the age of 70.

The son who pays him tribute in “Journey” is no slouch himself, having just received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and before that, having scored as a playwright, producer, director, and founder of the American Film Institute and the Kennedy Center Honors.

About this labor of love, he recently said: “I think it remains the most satisfying thing I've ever done, to have been able…to really show who he was and what he did, and to have it respected."

Here’s a special, one-time opportunity for all you residents in the tri-state area: on Tuesday, May 20th at 6:30pm, George Stevens, Jr. will be on-hand to present his film at the Bedford Playhouse in Bedford New York.

Anyone interested in attending should visit the Bedford Playhouse website (www.bedfordplayhouse.org) and book their tickets now.

More Stellar Stevens: “Swing Time”, “Gunga Din”, Woman of the Year”, “The Diary of Anne Frank”.