The Labor Day weekend marks the third annual HFA all-night movie marathon. This year's twelve-hour feast includes a handful of films featuring the star in the years from her postwar comeback following Mildred Pierce (1945) to her final appearance on the big screen in 1970. Crawford's long career saw her begin as a screen beauty at MGM in the silent era then rise to stardom in the thirties only to be named "box office poison" by the end of the decade. This return to Hollywood's good graces and the longevity of her career give special significance to Crawford's later films, which made of her an iconic presence still instantly recognizable today. We offer this marathon as tribute to her persistence in the face of Hollywood's ageism and the collapse of the studio system. Watch with us all night as a star rages against the dying of the light until the sun comes up. — David Pendleton