Famous Film Festival

Overview

Famous Film Festival was an American television prime-time movie series that aired Sunday nights from 7:30-9:00 pm on ABC during the 1955-56 television season. In 1955, ABC obtained the rights to broadcast 35 British movie titles. These included Great Expectations, Brief Encounter, Odd Man Out, Caesar and Cleopatra, The Red Shoes, and Hamlet. Many of these, such as Hamlet, ran two full hours or longer, and were either drastically cut to fit a ninety-minute time slot or shown in two parts. Other British films from J. Arthur Rank Productions obtained at the same time were shown as part of ABC's daytime Afternoon Film Festival, which aired weekdays from 3:00-5:00 pm. This show premiered January 16, 1956 and ended August 2, 1957, replaced by American Bandstand, which introduced Dick Clark to network television audiences and went on to become one of daytime's most popular programs, especially for teenagers.