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norfolk — Seventeen years ago, longtime Virginian-Pilot film critic Mal Vincent was asked to host a summer film festival at the Naro Cinema in Norfolk.
No way, he immediately thought.
“I was frightened out of my mind to have to do any public speaking,” he said.
It took some convincing, but Vincent eventually agreed and picked out a handful of films he’d like to share with fellow cinephiles. He — and those fans — have been coming back ever since.
His film festival kicks off Monday night with the 1952 classic, “Singin’ in the Rain.” The festival continues each Monday night through Aug. 23.
This year, Vincent has selected films that pay tribute to our Navy (“Mister Roberts,” “The Caine Mutiny” and “On the Town”), brings a little music to theater, shows off British royalty (“Young Bess”) and introduces one of Norfolk’s earliest Hollywood stars, Margaret Sullavan (“Shop Around the Corner”).
He picks his movies based on people he’s met and interviewed. Or not.
Throughout his career, Vincent has spoken to just about any star he ever wanted to — except Lana Turner, who once canceled their lunchtime meeting because of a headache — and that’s where the material for his speeches before and after the films comes from.
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Vincent also throws in films he thinks didn’t get enough love, have since been forgotten, or spotlight faces we should know — like Sullavan’s. She was born in Norfolk in 1909, and Vincent considers her to be the city’s biggest movie star ever.
Her first performance ever was at the Norfolk Little Theater, he said, and she went on to study at Harvard and appear in 16 films.
Vincent has all kinds of interesting tidbits and personal accounts to share now, but giving speeches wasn’t his only concern way back when.
For his first festival in 2004, his worries quickly shifted from oratory to wondering how many people would show up and what he might say before each film.
He thought it would be great to get 25 to 50 people to come out. For his first show, he arrived at the Naro in Ghent which seats just over 500 people. He saw a line of folks wrapping around the block.
He parked his car and made his way to the venue when he realized he hadn’t prepared anything to say.
“I ad-libbed it,” he said in his distinctive Southern drawl. “But I never did another night of ad-libbing because I learned if you don’t have anything specific to say, don’t.”
Speaking off the cuff can make one meander, he said, and then who knows where you end up.
“One thing leads to another,” he said with a knowing laugh. “And I have a weakness of doing that.”
Over the years, fans have bought up more than 43,000 tickets to his movie screenings.
“I guess they liked it the first time and just kept coming back,” he said.
After the movie, it’s not unusual for attendees to hang around and talk shop with Vincent. Sometimes, the questions aren’t about the films.
“They always ask why I don’t like such-and-such movie or how old I am,” he said, recounting a time when a woman said she read his critiques in the newspaper and how her grandchild does the same.
“I’m forever young,” he said. “It’s just Greta Garbo and me. Though unfortunately, Greta is dead.”
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If you go
When: Mondays, 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30. Matinee showings take place the following Tuesday at 2 p.m., but Mal won’t be present for those.
Where: Naro Cinema, 1507 Colley Ave., Norfolk
Tickets: Senior citizens, $8; other adults, $10. Matinee showings take place the following Tuesday at 2 p.m., but Vincent will not be present for those.
Details: narocinema.com/mals-movies
The schedule:
Weekend Scoop
Monday: “Singing in the Rain”
July 19: “Peyton Place”
July 26: “Young Bess”
Aug. 2: “The Shop Around the Corner”
Aug. 9: “Mr. Roberts”
Aug. 16: “The Caine Mutiny”
Aug. 23: “On the Town”