Canning has long been fascinated by the ways that moviemakers have depicted our nation's capital. With clips from films spanning more than half a century, he'll present amusing examples of mangled geography and cultural tone-deafness, along with some notable cases where the filmmakers actually got it right.
Canning's book, which grew out of an Overbeck lecture he delivered in 2007, examines more than fifty motion pictures of the Sound Era, from Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to J. Edgar, and includes essays on politics and film and on the challenges of location shooting in Washington. His February 5 lecture will be new, not a repetition of the 2007 presentation.
A longtime Capitol Hill resident, Canning worked for 28 years as a press and cultural officer for the U.S. Information Agency both in Washington and overseas, and began writing movie reviews for the Hill Rag upon his retirement from the Foreign Service in 1993. Since 1999 he has also served as a programmer and commentator for the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop's classic films series. In addition, he has published a number of articles on the treatment of Washington and the U.S. Congress in American feature films.
The lecture will be held at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, February 5, at the Naval Lodge Hall at 330 Pennsylvania Ave. S.E. and will conclude with a book signing. As usual, admission is free but a reservation is required due to limited seating. Please email OverbeckLecture@CapitolHillHistory.org and indicate how many seats you will need
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