Burl Ives’ stage presence and command of the big screen was attributed to his 6-foot-1-inch frame.

“There aren’t too many people like him. He took charge,” said Jerry Eisenhour, professor of theatre arts, about Ives’ commanding roles. “He was a big man to begin with.”

This big man was from Jasper, Ill. and spent three years at Eastern to become a football coach. He left in 1930 to start a career in singing but later advanced onto the big screen gaining name recognition as an actor.

Students, faculty and community members can witness the “big man” on the big screen in four films during the Embarras Valley Film Festival sponsored by the Coles County Arts Council and Eastern’s College of Arts and Humanities.

He was a natural choice for this year’s festival, said Joy Pratte, project director for the film festival.

“He is one of EIU’s most famous students,” she said. “If folks don’t remember him in the film roles, they usually remember him performing ‘Blue Tail Fly’ – everyone sings it in grade school, or as the claymation snowman in ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.'”

The films for the festival are ‘Desire Under the Elms’ today, ‘East of Eden’ Thursday and ‘The Big Country’ and ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ on Saturday.

“The committee’s top two choices were ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and ‘The Big Country,'” Pratte said. “We were lucky to get these movies.”

Pratte said that availability factors into getting films and was glad to get an exceptional collection of Ives’ works.

An introduction will be given before each film and Eisenhour will present the introduction for ‘Desire Under the Elms’.

Eisenhour offered to give an introduction because he is familiar with most of Ives’ films except for ‘The Big Country.’ He also teaches a film class and is fond of Ives especially as an actor.

Some of the parts Ives has played, including his role as Big Daddy in ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof’ and Ephriam Cabot in ‘Desire Under the Elms,’ could not be better played by anyone else, Eisenhour said.

Ives’ played the role of Big Daddy twice, once on the stage and the other for film.

“He played the same role twice, but both are very different,” Eisenhour said.

Eisenhour explained that in the stage version of ‘Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,’ there were innuendos that could not be in film, and the film has scenes that were not in the play.

“It had to be sanitized essentially,” he said.

Eisenhour said it is important for people to see these four films because they are classics and meant to be seen on the big screen.

“These are classic films,” he said. “This is one of the few chances they [students] will be able to see classics like these on a big screen format.”

Although these movies can be rented at local video stores, Eisenhour said that watching them on a big screen is an advantage.

When renting a movie, the viewer can get distracted and push stop but watching the films in a movie theatre allows the viewer to be more focused, he said. The viewer can watch the film all the way through without having to step away.

Pratte agrees with Eisenhour while adding that these classics also allow viewers to appreciate films from an earlier period. The four films are from the 1950’s.

“I would like people to take with them an appreciation for film prior to 1997,” Pratte said. “‘The Big Country’ is a western and that particular genre has fallen out of favor in recent years, unless you consider the ‘Star Wars’ films westerns in space.”

‘The Big Country’ is also a film that Ives won an Academy Award for best supporting actor.

“[It] is a good ‘big picture’ movie – the cinematography is breathtaking,” Pratte said.

She also said that both ‘Desire Under the Elms’ and ‘East of Eden’ are good representations of the late 1950’s film.

These films will allow people to see Ives at his best, but the films also star other known actors in roles for which they are not always recognized.

In ‘Desire Under the Elms,’ Ives worked with Sophia Loren and Anthony Perkins, known for his role in ‘Psycho,’ and people will see nice performances by them, Eisenhour said.

Complimenting the film festival is the “Burl Ives and the American Scene” exhibit in the Tarble Arts Center, which is on display until Sept. 24.

“The relationship is fantastic,” Pratte said.

The exhibit shows art from the time Americanism was prevalent and a lithograph of Ives.

“I am proud that the Tarble has chosen to display (the) pieces as well as the beautiful folk art collection in conjunction with the films,” Pratte said. “It adds a different dimension to the project as a whole.”