Marlon Brando 100 at National Science and Media Museum
Tom Grieve, Cinema Editor
Often imitated but seldom matched, on the centenary of his birth, the National Science and Media Museum pay homage to 20th century screen legend, Marlon Brando. The newly curated season of classic films is set to signal the Museum’s re-opening of the Cubby Broccoli cinema, which has been closed as part of the wider refurbishment programme scheduled to finish next year.
Born in 1924, Brando famously studied in New York under acting teacher Stella Adler, where he practiced the Stanislavski system. Method acting comes wrapped up in mystique and misunderstanding, but along with other proponents such as Montgomery Clift and James Dean, the actor helped shake up mid-century Hollywood, ushering in an era of looser, more naturalistic screen acting while starring in a series of iconic films.
Brando’s career spanned the end of classical Hollywood filmmaking, through to the highs and excesses of ’70s New Hollywood, and beyond.
Aided by matinee idol looks and an intense, often explosive screen presence, Brando’s career spanned the end of classical Hollywood filmmaking, through to the highs and excesses of ’70s New Hollywood, and beyond. The film season at the National Science and Media Museum showcases a series of high points in the actor’s career from early method milestones such as A Streetcar Named Desire (3 – 24 July) and On the Waterfront (4 – 24 July) to later masterpieces such as The Godfather (19 & 25 July) and Apocalypse Now (3 – 24 July).
In between, there’s opportunity to see Brando’s dazzling, underrated performance in Arthur Penn’s fiery 1966 small-town drama The Chase (4 – 18 July); as well as his 1955 appearance alongside Frank Sinatra in Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s 1955 adaptation of the musical Guys and Dolls (6 – 25 July). With everything from brooding dramatic roles, to song-and-dance, to bigger than life cameos, audiences can pick and choose their Brando this July.
