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Sunday, May 13, 1984
7:30PM
State Fair
Henry King was probably Hollywood's chief exponent of Americana; his evocation of rural southern life in his masterpiece Tol'able David (1921) has been compared to films by Sjöstrom and Renoir, and is said to have influenced Soviet directors, in particular Pudovkin. State Fair is among King's finest films; like Tol'able David, it rings true in its unpretentious charm. Will Rogers infuses the film with his humor as the father of a “typical” midwestern family; Louise Dresser plays his wife, whose pickles are prize-winning, and Janet Gaynor and Norman Foster their offspring, each of whom turns an important corner on the day of the state fair. Clive Denton (The Hollywood Professionals) writes, “King's great achievement here is to characterize the family as a unit...close and loving, picking up each other's ways, sometimes getting on each other's nerves but united by a warm, unspoken fellowship....” He adds, “State Fair has something of a musical's joie de vivre, without the need for music.” (In fact it was remade twice as a musical.) British Film Institute's John Gillett notes that the film “contains remarkable camerawork by Hal Mohr, including some location footage at an actual Kansas State Fair, shot with a special 25mm lens in order to get scope.”
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