“There’s no place like home.” – Dorothy, The Wizard of Oz

The idea of what makes a house a home, and explorations of how and where Americans live, have powerfully informed many significant films over the years, in ways both subtly thought-provoking and farcically over-the-top. The National Building Museum is proud to partner with the American Film Institute (AFI) Silver Theatre and Cultural Center to present a film series associated with the Museum’s exhibition House & Home. "Reel Estate: The American Home on Film" presents a wide-ranging series of films focusing on the American home, from nostalgic classics like Gone With the Wind, to post-WWII suburban melodramas like No Down Payment, and to subversive comedies like Hal Ashby’s The Landlord.

A Summer Place
March 23, Saturday, 3:30 pm
Introduction by Deborah Sorensen, assistant curator, National Building Museum, on the role played by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Walker Residence.

A sensitive, sensual and passionate film directed by the talented Delmer Daves. Opening in a crumbling Victorian home—disgraced by its conversion into a tourist hotel and the unhappy marriage of its owners—the stage is set for a scandalous chain of events, but, ultimately, rekindled romance. Teens Sandra Dee and Troy Donahue fall madly in love, unaware that her father (Richard Egan) and his mother (Dorothy McGuire), were lovers themselves, 20 years before—and are now once again, though each is married to someone else. By the film’s conclusion, pairs have been re-matched, East coast traded for West, and the promise of a better day is capped by the announcement that “Frank Lloyd Wright designed our house.” Exteriors of Wright’s Walker Residence in Carmel were used extensively, while its angular, stone-filled interiors were recreated on a sound stage. As a location, the unusual beachfront house not only signals the new couple’s progressive attitude towards architecture but also their determination to buck tradition when it comes to love as well. DIR/SCR/PROD Delmer Daves; SCR based on the novel by Sloan Wilson. US, 1959, color, 130 min. NOT RATED

Ticket Information:
BUY TICKETS THROUGH AFI.com/Silver. $8.50 AFI and NBM members | $11.50 General Admission | $9 Seniors (65+), Students (with valid ID), and Military | $7 Children (12 and under).  Tickets may also be purchased at the box office (opens 30 minutes before the first show of the day).  Please note that tickets are not available for purchase through the National Building Museum.

The AFI Silver Theatre is located at 8633 Colesville Road in Silver Spring, Maryland, Silver Spring Metro, Red Line. 

Support for House & Home and related education programming is provided by The Home Depot Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Hanley Wood, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Andersen Corporate Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, MASCO Corporation Foundation, and AARP, among others.