To Kill a Mockingbird

New 35mm Print! 50th Anniversary! ► Directed by Robert Mulligan and scripted by Horton Foote, Universal Pictures’ sterling adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel mixes Southern Gothic eccentricity, lyrical coming-of-age tale, and powerful racial-injustice drama to memorable effect, and remains one of Hollywood’s most beloved movies. The film is set in a dusty, Depression-era Alabama town. Gregory Peck, in perhaps the signature performance of his career, plays principled lawyer Atticus Finch, who agrees to defend a black man (Brock Peters) accused of raping a white woman. Events unfold through the eyes of Scout (Mary Badham) and Jem (Phillip Alford), Finch’s young children, who learn much about their community’s fears and prejudices as the trial proceeds — and much about their own fears and prejudices through their encounters with mysterious neighbour Boo Radley (Robert Duvall, in his film debut). Peck earned the best actor Oscar for his performance; To Kill a Mockingbird also won Academy Awards for adapted screenplay and art direction, and was nominated in five other categories. “A bewitching indication of the excitement and thrill of being a child” (Bosley Crowther, New York Times). “Few films make a more searching plea for childlike innocence in the modern world” (Richard Armstrong, The Rough Guide to Film). B&W, 35mm. 130 mins.