Academy to Visit the Fantastic World of George Pal

Beverly Hills, CA – Invading Martians will hit the screen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ “George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic” event on Wednesday, August 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The centennial celebration, hosted by director Joe Dante (“Gremlins”), will feature a panel discussion with several Pal collaborators as well as a screening of two Pal “Puppetoons” and “The War of the Worlds” (1953) in its entirety.

Barbara Eden (Greta Heinrich in “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and Angela Benedict in “7 Faces of Dr. Lao”), Ann Robinson (Sylvia Van Buren in “The War of the Worlds”), Russ Tamblyn (Tom Thumb in “Tom Thumb”) and Alan Young (Woody in “Tom Thumb” and David/James Filby in “The Time Machine”), Bob Baker (Puppetoon animator), Jim Danforth (special effects on “The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm” and “7 Faces of Dr. Lao”) will participate in an onstage discussion following screenings of new prints of “Rhythm in the Ranks” (1941) and “John Henry and the Inky Poo” (1946), which earned Pal two of his seven Oscar® nominations in the Cartoon Short Subject category. The films were restored by the UCLA Film & Television Archive in cooperation with the Academy Film Archive.

George Pal’s fantasy films as a producer, director and animator featured a wide range of subjects and styles that cleverly bridged artistic imagination with technical ingenuity despite limited budgets. Pal’s Hollywood career began with Puppetoons – animated shorts that featured stop-motion wooden puppets in fairy tale worlds – and continued with live-action feature films that created indelible images of “futuristic” space flights, invading Martians, journeying through time, and a one-of-a-kind traveling circus. His pioneering efforts in visual effects spectacles inspired the films that are today’s box office blockbusters.

Tickets to “George Pal: Discovering the Fantastic” may be purchased online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office or by mail. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. All seating is unreserved. The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.