In a week where the topic of lasting fandom is dominating the headlines, let us also turn our attentions to another film, from a similar era, with a similarly devoted following of convention-going, fiction-writing, torch-carrying fans.
We referred, of course, to the Friday, Dec. 18 opening of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which is pretty much the movie event of the decade, and we're happy to go out on that particular limb, even with a half decade to go.
That's in large part because of the saga's intense fandom. But a cinematic work that debuted in 1980 -- right in the heat of the Episode IV-Episode V moment -- also boasts such a spirited fandom, and it, too, is getting a 2015 revisit, just days ahead of the "Star Wars" release.
It's "Somewhere in Time" we speak of, the lush, romantic, Edwardian-lovely time-traveling tale starring Jane Seymour and Christopher Reeve (and a dastardly and delightful Christopher Plummer, too). It's impossible to overestimate the lasting appeal of this movie, which has continually built upon its fan base over the decades, a fan base that regularly travels to The Grand Hotel on Michigan's Mackinac Island, the film's picturesque setting.
A 35th anniversary screening, with star Jane Seymour and director Jeannot Szwarc in attendance, is set for Laemmle's The Royal Theatre on Tuesday, Dec. 15. The Q&A to follow may cover working with writer Richard Matheson's fanciful but deeply emotive material and, surely, performing alongside the great and missed Christopher Reeve.
The Grand Hotel is a few thousand miles away from Santa Monica, and 1912, the time-travel-y year of the film, is more than a century back, but for fans to spend an evening with Ms. Seymour and Mr. Szwarc is a treat of the highest order.
If you do don your giant hat, the kind sported by character Elise McKenna in "Somewhere in Time," please do remove it upon taking your seat in the theater.
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Surely, though, finding some 1912-style clothing shouldn't be a problem. Richard Collier, in the movie, had to locate some old-fashioned duds, though his were a bit too old-fashioned for the period he traveled to, through time. Best not make the same charming mistake.
