Twenty years ago (1992), a group of film enthusiasts involved in the restoration of the Marie Dressler house had a wild idea. Why not hold a festival showing the films in which Marie Dressler had starred?
This seemingly fantastic idea grew
into the present form, in which we show a variety of films generally
made before 1950. One film always features Ms. Dressler, but others range
from very old, silent films starring Mary Pickford, Erich von Stroheim
or Douglas Fairbanks, to talkies and musicals. More
on Marie Dressler.
And for even more, go to her own official site here.
Originally held in August, more recently the festival takes place on the last weekend of October.
The venue has changed several times too, making it like "the oldest established floating crap game" but most recently many of the films are shown at the restored atmospheric Capitol Theatre in Port Hope. On the Friday night of the festival weekend, films are always shown at a Cobourg location.
In 2012, the Cobourg location will be Victoria Hall and the Port Hope location will be the Capitol Theatre.
New - Vintage Film Festival Blog - updated regularly
Visit us on Facebook - get the latest updates, tell us you like us!
Follow Chris Worsnop on Twitter for regular updates on the world of Vintage Film and more. With its attractive location in the rolling hills of Northumberland County where accommodation is varied and readily available, the Vintage Film Festival in historic Cobourg and Port Hope is an event not to be missed. Come for one film or for the whole weekend!
The 2012 Festival will be held
October 26, 27, 28, 2012
For updates on the 2012 program, sign up to our email updates
Brown bag lunch-hour discussion
Saturday, October 29th - Capitol Theatre, Port Hope
TOPIC: 1930 Motion Picture Production Code
(The Hays Office Code) (Download copy of presentation here).
Led by: Cathie Houston of Universal Pictures, Canada
This feature has proved popular and we plan to feature it again this year (2012) - most probably on the Sunday and discussing Academy awards. More here.
Marie Dressler book
Special Offer
The Vintage Film Festival has acquired a limited number of copies of the new book by VFF review-writer Victoria Sturtevant, A Great Big Girl Like Me: The Films of Marie Dressler.
Order your copy online now.
The total purchase price is $25.00 (For pickup. Add $4.00 for shipping).
"Help Choose our 2012 Program" Results
We recently asked for help in choosing our program for 2012. We wanted to know which three of six Oscar winning movies we should show. The results are shown below. Our full program will be released in a week or so and the three winners will be included.
| Year | Movie | Winners |
| 1929-30 | All Quiet on the Western Front | #2 |
| 1939 | Gone with the Wind | |
| 1940 | Rebecca | #1 |
| 1946 | The Best Years of Our Lives | #3 |
| 1950 | All About Eve | |
| 1953 | From Here to Eternity |
A big thank you to everyone who participated
Why do we like Vintage Films?
Refresh (F5) to get a new reason!