Elia Kazan's Splendor in the Grass (1961) will be screened at 2 and 7 pm on Thursday, February 15, at Edmond Town Hall Theatre, 45 Main Street.

Tickets are $3, and the matinée only will be captioned for the hearing impaired.

This month's Someday Cinema Series offering is being sponsored by The UPS Store, 261 Main Street South in Newtown. The series is presented by Newtown Cultural Arts Commission.

Focusing on the frustrations of teen lust and love, Natalie Wood plays Deanie, a young lady from a respectable family who is warned daily by her mother to be chaste. After all, she wants to marry her beau Bud (Warren Beatty), and "spoiled" girls aren't the ones boys marry.

Bud has his own parental pressure to deal with, since his father is now oil-rich and wants Bud to go to Yale and take over the business one day. All Bud and Deanie want is to be together, but it seems that "doing the right thing" can cause torment for these would-be lovers.

Set in the late 1920s in Kansas, during Prohibition and before the great stock market crash, fast times and loose women confront the couple repeatedly. Bud's own sister is perhaps the poster child of the Roaring 20s, dressing like a flapper, drinking to excess, and throwing herself at older men, much to her family's dismay.

No matter what, though, Bud is there to defend her honor, even when there is barely a shred of it left.

Deanie loves Bud so intensely she becomes desperate. Her mother cautions her about obsessive love, painting a very drab picture of wifely duties. As Deanie's mental state begins to unravel, she's willing to do anything Bud wants her to, yet he somehow resists her.

The film's title was inspired by William Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood," in which these lines are quoted:

"Though nothing can bring back the hour / of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower, / we will grieve not, rather find / strength in what remains behind..."

Forced to read these lines aloud in class, Deanie realizes their meaning, that she and Bud may never be able to recapture the innocence of their young love.

Director Elia Kazan, who was nominated for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Motion Pictures from the Directors Guild of America, resided in Sandy Hook while this film was in production.

William Inge won an Oscar for his Story and Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.

Natalie Wood was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for her performance in the film. She won the BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress for this role. Warren Beatty won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Male Newcomer.

The Someday Cinema Series will continue on Thursday, March 1, with screenings of Cinema Paradiso (1988), and Thursday, April 5, with screenings of Field of Dreams (1989). Visit tiny.cc/SomedayCinema2018 or fb.me/somedaycinemaseries for updates and details on the entire series.

Sponsorships are available for several films. Those interested are invited to contact series coordinator Jen Rogers at somedaycinemaseries@gmail.com.

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