Mary Pickford Theater

Thursday, May 10th at 7:00 p.m.

711 OCEAN DRIVE (Essaness Pictures / Columbia, 1950). Directed by Joseph M. Newman. Written by Richard English and Francis Swann. With Edmond O’Brien, Joanne Dru, Otto Kruger, Barry Kelley, Dorothy Patrick, Donald Porter, Howard St. John. (102 min, black & white, 35mm).

Lobby card for "711 Ocean Drive" (Essaness Pictures / Columbia, 1950).

A telephone company lineman and electronics expert is recruited by the mob to create a vast illegal wire service for betting on horses. A first-rate gangster picture which cleverly utilizes the rags-to-riches narrative popular during the genre’s heyday in the 1930’s, while at the same time maintaining an up-to-date realistic framework with extensive location shooting and a "ripped from the headlines" angle involving the filmmakers themselves – the producers received anonymous threats before the filming had begun and producer Frank Seltzer testified before Estes Kefauver’s U.S. Senate committee on organized crime. Edmond O’Brien provides another superb characterization following his star turn as a man investigating his own murder in the classic "D.O.A." (1949), and Otto Kruger is the standout among the mobsters as the sinister head of the crime syndicate. "711 Ocean Drive" also had the distinction of being one of the first films to be advertised on television, an experiment jointly undertaken by Columbia Pictures and seven TV stations in Southern California. Preserved by the Library of Congress from original negatives in the AFI/Columbia Collection.

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.