American Film Theatre

The profile of a bearded man's head looking upward against a field of stars, nebulae, and the words "Topol/Bertolt Brecht's/Galileo". Below the field there is a billing block of credits and then the text "American Film Theatre/Limited Engagement". At the top of the field is the text "The Ely Landau Organization Inc and Cinevision Ltée/Present".
Poster for the American Film Theatre release of Galileo (1974–75)

From 1973 to 1975, using approximately 500 movie theaters across the US, The American Film Theatre presented two seasons of film adaptations of well-known plays. Each film was shown only four times at each theatre. By design, these were not films of stage productions — they were plays "translated to the film medium, but with complete faithfulness to the original play script."[1] Filmgoers generally subscribed to an entire season of films, as they might if they purchased a season's tickets for a conventional stage theater. About 500,000 subscriptions were sold for the first season of eight plays using direct mail and newspaper advertising. Ely Landau was the producer for the series.[2][3][4]

Eight films were shown in the first season. Five were shown in the second season, after which the American Film Theatre project ended. Raymond Benson summarized, "The American Film Theatre could probably never be repeated, especially within the economic structure that exists in the motion picture industry today. It’s a shame, for even though the AFT was not a perfect product, it was a bold and fascinating experiment that attempted to blend the stage with cinema. It’s the kind of project that reminds us how recklessly courageous—and often artistically brilliant—filmmakers could be in the 1970s."[1]

The films were released on DVD in 2003 by Kino International and again in 2008 as a boxed set.[5] They were again re-released on Blu-Ray in 2018.

  1. ^ a b Benson, Raymond (April 16, 2009). "Remember...The American Film Theatre". Cinema Retro. Archived from the original on 2013-06-01.
  2. ^ "Wide World of Entertainment: The Dick Cavett Show (Katharine Hepburn Interview, Pt. 1) (TV)". October 2, 1973. Summary only; not accessible online.
  3. ^ Barrett, Michael (July 17, 2008). "Canon Fodder: American Film Theatre". PopMatters. Review of The American Film Theatre Complete 14 Film Collection DVD set.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sloane was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ The American Film Theatre : the complete 14 film collection (DVD (region 1)). Kino International Corporation. 2008. OCLC 245535401.