Wednesday, July 13--------About seventy miles north of New York City, nestled in the picturesque Hudson River Valley, sits that citadel of culture.....Bard College. Perhaps no other institution of higher learning has a greater influence in the fields of music, performing arts, painting and sculpture and other artistic disciplines. With its influential faculty, adventurous student body and a world class performing arts spaced designed by architect superstar Frank Dehry, cultural events at Bard take on as great an influence as those occurring in the metropolis two hours to its south.

As part of the annual Bard Summerscape program, which features an eclectic mix of music, dance, theater and performing arts, this year's addition of the Bard Summerscape Film Festival will focus on the influence of Britsh post-war cinema on the world of film. The fllm series celebrates a remarkable decade in the history of British cinema by screening a diverse selection of enduring masterpieces from the immediate postwar era of the 1940 and 1950s. The films' reflect the tenor of their times, capturing a contradictory, post-traumatic mood of relief and disillusionment. Whether they are intense dramas, giddy comedies or sardonic tragedies, these influential films still have the power to shake up an audience.Black Narcissus

The series will include such classics as Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN (1948), a superlative film memorably set in postwar Vienna, and featuring a legendary performance by Orson Welles as a force of corruption, has become a noir classic; the brooding and beautiful BLACK NARCISSUS (1949), the highlight between the collaboration of producer Emeric Pressburger and director Michael Powell; and the comic gems that represented the golden age of the output of the Ealing Studios, best exemplified by the works of its most accomplished director, Alexander Mackendrick.

Also included in the series, which began this past weekend and extends through August 9th, is OLIVER TWIST (1947), the definitive cinematic adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic, directed by the superb David Lean; the rarely seen OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS (1952), directed by Carol Reed and adapted from a story by Joseph Contrad; and the ultimate ballet melodrama, THE RED SHOES (1949), that features some of the most breathtaking cinematography of any film before or since. Other gems to be screened in the coming weeks include: THE BLUE LAMP (1950), a British policier by Basil Dearden; THE FALLEN IDOL (1948), a thriller with Oedipal overtones starring the great English stage actor Ralph Richardson; and, although not strictly a post-war film, the delightful costume drama TOPSY TURVY (1992), directed by Mike Leigh, a gorgeous portrayal of the comic opera composers Gilbert and Sullivan and the theater world they dominated at the turn of the 20th century. This is a great film series, worthy of a great cultural institution.

For more information on the Bard Summerscape Film Festival, log on to the website: http://www.fishercenter.bard.edu/calendar/event/index.php?eid=102395

Sandy Mandelberger, Film New York Editor