Steinbeck Featured in Film Classics Series

Steinbeck film series borrows movies from Key Biscayne Library collection. (Nancy Beth Jackson/Key News)

John Steinbeck fans can catch some of the Nobel Prize winner’s black-and-white film adaptations on the big screen this month in the Key Biscayne Community Center’s Classics Movies on Fridays series.

The movies — shown at noon in the Lighthouse Room — are free. There is no popcorn, but cookies are served.

The series began last June with a Doris Day retrospective and features a different theme each month. 

“The most popular themes have been movies based on classic novels or playwrights,” said Roxy Lohuis, Adult and Senior Services Coordinator and the “total movie fan” who organizes the series. 

Lois Greenberg of ASK (Active Seniors on the Key) proposed the series after a friend died, leaving a collection of film classics. The collection proved unusable because of deterioration and antiquated technologies, but that didn’t derail the project. The Key Biscayne Public Library turned out to have a treasure trove of films available for borrowing.

“The library has the largest collection of classic movies around,” Lohuis said.

Seventeen of Steinbeck’s literary works have made it to the screen. Lohuis chose five based on her research and what was available for library loan. 

Steinbeck himself started writing for films in the 1930s, winning three Academy Award nominations for screenwriting. 

If nostalgia itself isn’t enough of a draw, here are some highlights:

Of Mice and Men (1939) – Jan. 3

The first film treatment appeared only two years after the novella was a Book of the Month Club selection. Lon Chaney Jr. played the mentally challenged migrant Lenny and Burgess Meredith his protector George.  Aaron Copland won an Academy Award nomination for the score. If you need color, check out Gary Sinise’s 1992 adaptation. 

The Grapes of Wrath (1940) – Jan. 10

Steinbeck’s realistic Great Depression novel made it to the Silver Screen just a year after it was published, winning Oscars for Director John Ford and Actress Jane Darwell.  Henry Fonda was nominated for his role as the migrant patriarch Tom Joad. 

The Red Pony (1949) – Jan. 17

Steinbeck wrote both the original tale and the screenplay about a boy and his horse. The cast included Robert Mitchum as a laconic hired hand, Myrna Loy as the mother and a very young Beau Bridges as a cute neighborhood kid named Beau.

Viva Zapata! (1952) – Jan. 24

Marlon Brando starred as the sombrero-wearing Zapata, winning Best Actor at Cannes, but it was Anthony Quinn who won an Oscar (his first) for his supporting role. Steinbeck’s screenwriting got him an Academy Award nomination. Elia Kazan directed. The film also stars Raymond Massey and Julie Harris.

East of Eden (1955) – Jan. 31

James Dean became the first actor to receive a posthumous Academy Award nomination for his first film and the only one he saw in its entirety.  Elia Kazan cast the unknown actor after seeing him onstage in New York and created an instant cult star.