Check out the link below for great ideas in Western Michigan!

https://www.wmta.org/2019/07/22/welcome-to-muskegon-westmichigan/

Summer Movie Series

World War II comedies.

Become a historian for a few hours, laugh, cry and look at propaganda, the role of Hollywood in the war effort. 

Take a moment to step back in time to discover comedy of a by gone era. These films were written and produced during a tumultuous time in American history, WWII. These films show a slice of life from different from our own. The United States of America was entering into a dark period, all of the nation’s problems continued to exist with the addition of new ones. Please pay particular attention of Societies interpretations and historical perspectives.

June 2 to June 8, 2019 The Great Dictator

After dedicated service in the Great War, a Jewish barber (Charles Chaplin) spends years in an army hospital recovering from his wounds, unaware of the simultaneous rise of fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel (also Chaplin) and his anti-Semitic policies. When the barber, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Hynkel, returns to his quiet neighborhood, he is stunned by the brutal changes and recklessly joins a beautiful girl (Paulette Goddard) and her neighbors in rebelling.

Rated G,  1940  2:05

June 9 to June 15, 2019  Hail the Conquering Hero

Woodrow is discharged from the military for hay fever, but fabricates receiving a heroic honorable discharge before returning home.

1:41 Not rated 1944

June 16 to June 22, 2019 Anchors Away

Frank Sinatra, Gene Kelly and Jerry the Mouse star in this charming musical mix of live action and animation.Two sailors (Sinatra and Kelly)in Hollywood looking for glamorous movie starlets find romance, dance with a cartoon mouse and help a young starlet get discovered all during one shore leave.

June 23 to June 29, 2019 Here Comes the Waves

Show business twin sisters Rosemary and Susie, one serious and the other a scatterbrain, join the WAVES and both fall in love with crooner Johnny Cabot.

1:39, Not Rated 1944

June 30 to July 6, 2019 In the Navy

Russ Raymond, America's number one crooner, disappears and joins the Navy under the name Tommy Halstead. Dorothy Roberts, a magazine journalist, is intent on finding out what happened to Russ and she tries everything she can to get a picture of him to prove he's Russ Raymond. Tommy's friends, Pomeroy Watson and Smokey Adams,help him while Pomeroy writes love letters to Patty Andrews. But because Smokey makes Pomeroy lie about himself in the letters, and when Patty comes to the Navy base, she's furious at Pomeroy. When Pomeroy, Smokey, Tommy and the Andrews sisters set sail for Hawaii, Pomeroy discovers there's a tomato in the potato locker, and she's been snapping shots of Tommy the whole trip. Whether Pomeroy's proving that 7 x 13 = 28 - three different ways, having Smokey help him play ship captain for Patty, or falling out of his hammock, it's an Abbott and Costello classic.

July 7 to July 13, 2019 I was a Male War Bride

After marrying an American lieutenant with whom he was assigned to work in post-war Germany, a French captain attempts to find a way to accompany her back to the States under the terms of the War Bride Act.

1949. 1:45 Not Rated

 July 14, to July 27, 2019 Ghost on the Loose

Ghosts on the Loose -  Glimpy's sister, Betty (Ava Gardner), is getting married and the gang offers to fix up the house they've purchased in the suburbs. Unfortunately, the boys mistakenly go to the house next door and discover its being used as the headquarters for a Nazi spy ring headed by Emil (Bela Lugosi). Muggs (Leo Gorcey), Glimpy (Huntz Hall) and the gang spend the rest of the tale find themselves running from the Nazis… and then chasing the Nazis themselves!

1943, 1:07 Not Rated

July 28, to August 3, 2019 Buck Privates/Muskegon’s own Boogie Woogie Buggle Boy

Slicker Smith and Herbie Brown (Abbott and Costello) are sidewalk peddlers who hawk neckties out of a suitcase. They are chased by a cop (Nat Pendleton) and duck into a movie theater, not realizing that it is now being used as an Army enlistment center. Believing that they are signing up for theater prizes, they end up enlisting instead.

84 Minutes, 1941 Not Rated

Special showings of Muskegon’s Own boogie Woogie buggle Boy

August 4 to august 10, 2019 Caught in the Draft

Famous Hollywood actor Don Bolton (Hope) is a vain movie star whose biggest fear is to be drafted into the US Army. He definitely lacks the qualities of a good soldier, and he is so afraid of loud noise that he would not last a day in the service, let alone cope with hearing a single gunshot when he is on set shooting a war film at the studio. Colonel Peter Fairbanks (Clarence Kolb) visits the studio set as a consultant for the war film, and with him he has brought his beautiful daughter Antoinett, known as "Tony" (Dorothy Lamour). Don is smitten by Tony, and also realizes that his ticket out of the Army is to marry the colonel’s daughter to avoid the draft.

82 Minutes, NR 1941

August 11 to August 17, 2019 To Be Or Not To Be

A dark comedy.  In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it's being delivered to the Germans. 

1942 1:39 Not Rated

 August 18, to August 24, 2019 Four Jill’s in a Jeep

This star studded musical is a cinematic tribute to the successful USO tour of Kay Francis, Martha Raye, Mitzi Mayfair and Carole Landis who entertained soldiers from England to North Africa. Embellished with some fictional romance, striking choreography and plenty of laughs, this patriotic film salutes all the entertainers who did their part for "the boys." Includes special appearances by Alice Faye, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, George Jessel and the Jimmy Doresy Orchestra.

1:29, March 1944. Not Rated

August 25 to August 31, 2019 The Private War of Major Benson

As a disciplinary measure, the Army transfers a heavy-handed Major to a ROTC academy where he must shape-up cadets and improve the school's overall ratings.

1:45, December 1955, Not rated