Famous Film Festival was an American television prime-time movie series that aired Sunday nights from 7:30-9:00 pm (et) on ABC during the 1955-56 television season.
In 1955, ABC obtained the rights to broadcast 35 British movie titles. These included Great Expectations (1946), Brief Encounter (1945), Odd Man Out (1947) , Caesar and Cleopatra (1945), The Red Shoes (1948), and Hamlet (1948). 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 the network's daytime "Afternoon Film Festival", which aired weekdays from 3:00-5:00 pm (E.S.T.). 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.
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