<<< 2005 >>>

Please check this page before coming to the theatre to make sure that scheduled events will take place as planned.

Wednesday, January 19 – 7:30 PM

CASQUE D’OR, 1952, Janus Films, 96 min. For those of you who missed it during our Jacques Becker Retrospective in May ’99 at the Egyptian Theatre, here’s another chance to see this sublime masterpiece of romantic French cinema – simultaneously a heartbreaking adult fairy tale and an impressionist rendering of the turn-of-the-century Parisian apache underworld. The fleeting moments of shared love and erotic passion between Serge Reggiani and Simone Signoret are genuine poetry – moments cut short by the jealous machinations of others. We’ve imported this rare 35 mm. print from France just for this screening, so be sure not to miss it! [Also screening 1/16 at the Egyptian]

Wednesday, February 9 – 7:30 PM

Los Angeles Premiere:
Martin Scorsese Presents: THE FALL OF OTRAR (GIBEL OTRARA), 1990, Seagull Films, 165 min. Director Ardak Amirkulov’s 1990 historical epic about the intrigue and turmoil preceding Genghis Khan’s systematic destruction of the lost east Asian civilization of Otrar is unlike anything you’ve ever seen. The movie that spurred the extraordinary wave of great Kazakh films in the 90s, Amirkulov’s movie is at once hallucinatory, visually resplendent and ferociously energetic, packed with eye-catching (and gouging) detail and B-movie fervor, and traversing an endless variety of parched, epic landscapes and ornate palaces. But THE FALL OF OTRAR is also one of the most astute historical films ever made, and its high quotient of torture and gore (Italian horror genius Mario Bava would have been envious) is always grounded in the bedrock realities of realpolitik: when the Kharkhan of Otrar is finally brought before the Ruler of the World, he could be facing Stalin, or, for that matter, any number of modern CEOs. The movie that has everything, from state-of-the-art 13th century warfare to perfumed sex, THE FALL OF OTRAR is a one of a kind experience. Shot in a sepia-toned black and white with occasional splashes of color, and written by none other than Alexei Guerman and his wife Svetlana Karmalita. Program notes courtesy Kent Jones/Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Wednesday, February 16 – 7:30 PM

THE SANDGLASS (SANATORIUM POD KLEPSYDRA), 1973, Film Polski, 124 min. With Gustaw Holoubek, Tadeusz Kondrat. A truly remarkable find, this unknown gem from the late Polish director Wojciech Has is a companion piece to his more-famous THE SARAGOSSA MANUSCRIPT. Like Has’s earlier masterpiece, THE SANDGLASS is an hallucinatory, Moebius strip experience in which notions of external "reality" dissolve into a surreal continuum where past and present co-exist in the same time and space. Based on a collection of stories by one of Poland’s greatest authors, Bruno Schulz (who was tragically murdered by the Nazis during WWII), whose work has been compared to Franz Kafka, THE SANDGLASS follows a young man, Joseph, taking a train journey to visit his father, Jakob, who is being treated inside a huge, dilapidated sanatorium. Images and memories of his youth growing up in a small Jewish village flash through the son’s mind – and more disturbing, once he arrives, we learn that his father is already considered "dead" in the outside world, but inside the Gothic walls of the sanatorium, he is still very much alive … We’ve imported this incredibly rare subtitled print from Poland just for this screening. Our enormous thanks to Film Polski for making it available. [In Polish, with English subtitles.]

>> Also playing at the Egyptian on February 19.

Saturday, February 26 – 5:00 PM

PANDORA’S BOX (DIE BÜCHSE DER PANDORA), 1929, Kino Int’l, 110 min. As Henri Langlois once thundered, "There is no Garbo! There is no Dietrich! There is only Louise Brooks!" Here she proves it with one of the wildest performances of the silent era, as the dancer-turned-hooker Lulu who attracts men like moths to a candle. The combination of Brooks and director G.W. Pabst ("It was sexual hatred that engrossed his whole being with its flaming reality," she once said) is still astonishing. Silent with live musical accompaniment.

>> Also playing at the Egyptian on February 18.

Saturday, February 26 – 8:00 PM

DIARY OF A LOST GIRL (DAS TAGEBUCH EINER VERLORENEN), 1929, Kino Int’l, 100 min. Dir. G.W. Pabst. Seduced and abandoned by her father’s assistant, Brooks descends into a lurid hell of reformatories and whorehouses. For a debauched party scene, Pabst insisted on realism – so Brooks complied by playing "the whole scene stewed on hot, sweet German champagne." Silent with live musical accompaniment.

>> Also playing at the Egyptian on February 18.

Wednesday, March 16 – 7:30 PM

BRONCO BULLFROG, 1970, 83 min. Director Barney Platts-Mills’s long-lost classic of late 1960’s British indie filmmaking is like an early Kinks or Pretty Things song brought to life: rude, raw and defiantly downbeat, with an amazing cast of non-pro actors headed by Del Walker as the diffident, welder’s apprentice "hero" of the film, and Anne Gooding as his 15-year old girlfriend, a dark-haired, East End version of Julie Christie hidden behind long tresses and a shy smile. There’s nowhere to go, nothing to do in this bleaker-than-bleak portrait of London teenagers – but strangely, the film has an uplifting feel to it as you find yourself rooting against all odds for these beaten-down kids to somehow pull through. Call it a rough-trade QUADROPHENIA, or THE 400 BLOWS filtered through the no-illusions sensibility of early Mike Leigh or Ken Loach. By any standards, this is a real discovery – our thanks to the British Film Institute for restoring this long-overlooked gem. "A smashing Cockney film" – Penelope Gilliatt, New Yorker. "Crude and defiant, full of angry energy" – Jay Cocks, Time Magazine.

>> Also playing at the Egyptian on March 17.

Wednesday, March 30 - 7:30 PM

DONKEY SKIN (PEAU D’ÂNE), 1970, 100 min. Director Jacques Demy's screenplay adapts Charles Perrault's 17th-century fable about a devoted king (Jean Marais) promising his dying wife (Catherine Deneuve, a Demy favorite) that he'll only take a new queen who's equal to her in beauty – which happen to be the king's own daughter (also played by Deneuve). Taking the advice of a bizarre fairy godmother (Delphine Seyrig), the princess hopes to put off her father's immoral advances via a series of impossible dressmaking challenges (find me a gown that is "the color of the weather," she says) which sends her running away cloaked in a filthy Donkey skin until she can be rescued by a love-struck prince (Jacques Perrin), who reaches out to her in "Cinderella" fashion. Demy's (THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG; THE YOUNG GIRLS OF ROCHEFORT) fairy-tale third musical, released in 1970 has been restored and re-mixed to show off its delicious lollipop colors and wonderful Michel Legrand tunes. For all age, a unique experience!!

Aero Theatre Exclusive!

MAY

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

Saturday, May 14 – 7:30 PM

AN EASTERN WESTERNER, 1920 Columbia, 20 min. Dir. Hal Roach. Arguably the flat-out funniest of early movie comedians, Harold Lloyd stars in one of his greatest shorts as a complacent city dweller sent out west to live with his uncle. Lloyd makes the most of this 'fish-out-of-water'-type scenario, especially in the scenes where he must go up against the town bully (Noah Young).

SPEEDY, 1928, Columbia, 86 min. Dir. Ted Wilde. Harold Lloyd makes his last silent film appearance in this classic about a baseball-obsessed soda jerk who becomes a cab driver. Soon he's desperately trying to rescue the last horse drawn streetcar line in town -- which belongs to the father of his girl (Ann Christy) -- from greedy railway magnates. Chaos ensues, including some of the most spectacular real-life chases ever filmed. Look for the legendary Babe Ruth as a nervous passenger in Lloyd’s cab. [Both films silent with pre-recorded musical accompaniment.]

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

May 14 – June 23 : Four by Bergman

Master Swedish director, Ingmar Bergman, was born in 1918, the son of a Lutheran minister, and his subsequent laudatory career in first theater, then film, highlight the enormous influence his strict, austere upbringing had on his sensitive personality. From Bergman's initial films in the late-1940's (especially pictures like THE DEVIL'S WANTON), he exhibited an unusual probing of the conflicts astir in the inner soul of the individual. As his repertoire of films increased, through such masterpieces as THE SEVENTH SEAL, THE MAGICIAN, THE VIRGIN SPRING and on through HOUR OF THE WOLF, PERSONA and PASSION OF ANNA, Bergman became ever more incisive and rigorous in his study of the human psyche. These excavations into the spirit show how internal torment manifest themselves through all manner of behaviors -- depressive, sexual, sometimes self-destructive, and always searching for meaning. To augment and collaborate with LACMA's series of the early classic films of Ingmar Bergman (april 8 - 23), we are offering a handful of his best later films with new 35 mm prints, including AUTUMN

Sunday, May 15 – 4:00 PM

New 35 mm print!

FANNY & ALEXANDER, 1982, Janus/Criterion, 188 min. Dir. Ingmar Bergman. It’s Christmas at the mansion of the pleasure-loving Ekdahl Family in 1907 – and Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) and Alexander (Bertil Guve) watch as their massive clan gathers for one of cinema’s greatest holiday celebrations, among its highlights their lovably rapscallion uncle Jarl Kulle. But after their theatre manager father dies and their actress mother (Ewa Froling) marries tombstone-faced Bishop Jan Malmsjo, their world darkens radically to one of harsh family terrors. Designed by Bergman as a kind of valedictory to the cinema, FANNY & ALEXANDER touches on a kaleidoscope of his favorite themes: the theatre, male/female tensions, the wonders and terrors of childhood, repressive religion, etc. A dazzling period re- creation – sumptuously photographed by Sven Nykvist – and a tremendous re-affirmation of Bergman as one of film’s greatest masters. "Bergman, a classical giant, is essential for all ages..." Village Voice.

Notes courtesy of Film Forum, New York.

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

Thursday, May 26 – 7:30 PM

Ingmar Bergman - Les Classiques du Cinema - New 35 mm print!

AUTUMN SONATA (HOSTSONATEN), 1978, Janus/Criterion, 92 min. In a long-planned collaboration with director Ingmar Bergman (ironically no relation), actress Ingrid Bergman (CASABLANCA) returned to Swedish cinema after forty years to play a concert pianist coming home to an anguished reunion with neglected daughter Liv Ullmann. Bergman was nominated for an Oscar for her performance, in what turned out to be her last feature film role. "The best Bergman film in years, filled with his liberating mixture of violence and tenderness that is the sign of emotional truth." – Jack Kroll, Newsweek. Notes courtesy of Film Forum, New York.

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

JUNE

>> Also playing at the Egyptian on May 28.

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

Thursday, June 30 – 7:30 PM

Sneak Preview Of Ingmar Bergman's Newest Film!

SARABAND, 2004, Sony Pictures Classics, 107 min. The latest acclaimed film from three-time Academy Award-winning director, Ingmar Bergman. Bergman film veterans, Liv Ullmann and Erland Josephson, reprise their roles from the director's 1973 television mini-series, SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE (which was also released internationally as a motion picture). Lawyer, Marianne (Liv Ullmann) feels a sudden need to make contact with her ex-husband, Professor Johann (Erland Josephson) whom she has not seen in thirty years. But Marianne finds an atmosphere of tension in the household, with Johann in conflict with his widower son, Henrik (Börje Ahlstedt). Both are protective of Henrik's daughter, Karin (Julia Dufvenius). "SARABAND can be seen as a concerto grosso, a concert for full orchestra – only, here, with four soloists," says Ingmar Bergman. "The drama consists of ten dialogues that follow a particular pattern, and it’s an attempt at analysis of a difficult situation." SARABAND opens July 8^th in Los Angeles.

JULY

Thursday, July 7 – 7:30 PM

Ingmar Bergman - Classic Cinema - New 35 mm print!

CRIES AND WHISPERS, (VISKNIGAR OCH ROP), 1972 Janus/Criterion, 106 min. Dir. Ingmar Bargman. Amid the blood-red backgrounds of a turn of the century mansion and the atmosphere of a dream, Liv Ullmann and Ingrid Thulin keep a death watch over spinster sister, Harriet Andersson; while flashbacks depict the disappointed lives, meaningless marriages, and sisterly conflicts, with a final moving image suggesting what has been lost. "Reduces almost everything else you’re likely to see this season to the size of a small cinder." – Vincent Canby, NY Times. Notes courtesy of Film Forum, New York.

An Aero Exclusive!

L’ATALANTE, 1934, New Yorker Films, 89 min. Director Jean Vigo’s luminous, heartbreakingly poetic masterpiece surely belongs on any short list of the greatest films ever made. An innocent country girl (Dita Parlo) leaves her home and family behind when she marries the captain (Jean Dasté) of a barge plying the inland canals of France. Vigo’s tender portrait of the joys and uncertainties of young married life has never been equaled. The superb cinematography by Boris Kaufman and Louis Berger remains a high watermark of 1930’s French cinema.

An Aero Exclusive!

AUGUST

August 18 – 25, 2005 at the Aero theatre

"Somebody asked me once, "Is it necessary or advantageous for a director to know how to write?" I said, "Not necessarily, but it helps if he knows how to read." - Billy Wilder.

Sometimes it seems like Hollywood was invented for Billy Wilder to roast over an open fire. His films - from SUNSET BOULEVARD to STALAG 17 to THE APARTMENT - are equal parts venom and poetry, nihilism and bruised romanticism. Almost as old as the century (he was born in 1906 in what is now Poland), Wilder grew up among gamblers, hustlers and World Wars - " I learned many things about human nature, none of them favorable," he said about his childhood. Arriving in Hollywood in 1933 (where he roomed with fellow émigré Peter Lorre), Wilder began banging put scripts for fast, furious comic gems like NINOTCHKA and BALL OF FIRE with Partner Charles Brackett - before he turned to directing in the early 1940's. From film noir masterpieces such as DOUBLE INDEMNITY and ACE IN THE HOLE through a string of great farces and romantic comedies – FOREIGN AFFAIR, SABRINA, SOME LIKE IT HOT, THE SEVEN YEAR ITCH – filmmaker Wilder had a spectacular career quite unlike any of his peers.

Series programmed by: Gwen Deglise, Chris D.

Thursday, August 18 - 7:30 PM

Billy Wilder Tribute!

SABRINA, 1954, Paramount, 113 min. Dir. Billy Wilder. Chauffeur’s daughter Audrey Hepburn blooms from ugly duckling to fashion queen, as she tries to choose between wealthy, middle-aged Humphrey Bogart (at his sexy, smokey best) and cocky lover-boy William Holden (a Wilder favorite).

Friday, August 19 - 7:30 PM

Billy Wilder Tribute! Double Feature:

SUNSET BOULEVARD, 1950, Paramount, 110 min. "I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. De Mille!" Director Billy Wilder created one of his most enduring masterpieces in this dark, glittering poison pen letter to all things Hollywood, told in flashback by murdered screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden), whose final job is playing paid-companion to egocentric, aging silent film goddess Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson). With Erich von Stroheim. Academy Award Winner for Best Screenplay (Wilder, Charles Brackett and D.M. Marshman, Jr.) and Score (Franz Waxman). The original Schwab’s drugstore figures prominently in the film, as does Paramount Studios and the still-standing Alto Nido apartments.

DOUBLE INDEMNITY, 1944, Paramount (Universal), 107 min. Director Billy Wilder collaborated with Raymond Chandler on the script, from the novel by James M. Cain. As if that pedigree wasn’t enough, we have Fred MacMurray as cynical Los Angeles insurance salesman Walter Neff, Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis, the stunningly amoral blonde that seduces him into a murder plot and Edward G. Robinson as Walter’s boss. Stir those ingredients together and you get the plus ultra of noir. Wilder’s cunning masterpiece helped spawn Hollywood’s dark renaissance in mordant murder thrillers. It still hasn’t been equaled.

Saturday, August 20 - 7:30 PM

Billy Wilder Tribute! Double Feature:

SOME LIKE IT HOT, 1959, UA (Sony), 120 min. Cross-dressing musicians Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon take it on the lam from the Chicago mob, while luscious Marilyn Monroe falls for a playboy who’s a playgirl … Director Billy Wilder’s insane blend of sexual confusion and flawless slapstick gave his three stars arguably the best comic roles of their careers. Biggest on-set problem? Keeping Curtis and Lemmon from looking too good in women’s clothes.

THE APARTMENT, 1960, UA (Sony), 125 min. Dir. Billy Wilder. Jack Lemmon ingratiates himself with his corporate colleagues by lending out his apartment for their extra-marital affairs - but his promotion plans backfire when he falls head-over-heels for boss Fred MacMurray’s new gal-pal Shirley Maclaine. Oscar-winner for Best Picture, Director and Screenplay (Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond).

Sunday, August 21 - 5:00 PM

Billy Wilder Tribute!

A FOREIGN AFFAIR, 1948, Universal, 116 min. Director Billy Wilder's great, underrated farce provides not only risque laughs but a withering satire on postwar politics and hypocrisy. A fast-talking American occupation captain (John Lund) hustling goods in post-war Vienna’s black market finds himself torn between two women. Who will win his heart – his glamorous, chanteuse girlfriend reduced to poverty by the war (Marlene Dietrich in wisecracking femme fatale mode)? Or the strait-laced, corn-fed Iowa congresswoman (Jean Arthur) determined to nail Dietrich for her past dalliances with Nazi bigwigs? Wilder expertly balances the worldly humor with pathos and the explosive nature of clashing cultures.

Thursday, August 25 - 7:30 PM

Billy Wilder Tribute!

ACE IN THE HOLE, 1951, Paramount, 111 min. One of director Billy Wilder’s bleakest masterpieces, and the film that tops almost everyone’s "Not On Video" want-lists. Kirk Douglas is withering as the embittered, alcoholic reporter looking for his piece of the pie -- when the story of a man trapped in a cave-in falls into his lap, something he exploits to the hilt. The supporting cast, including Jan Sterling, Ray Teal, Gene Evans and Bob Arthur, are all superb. NOT ON VIDEO! An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

Friday, August 26 – 7:30 PM

Cinema Classics:

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S, 1961, Paramount, 115 min. With George Peppard, Mickey Rooney. "I've got to do something about the way I look. I mean a girl just can't go to Sing Sing with a green face," – so sighs Audrey Hepburn’s girl-about-town Holly Golightly, breezing ever-so-gently through the real world with hardly a ripple. Adapted from Truman Capote’s bestselling romance by director Blake Edwards (THE PINK PANTHER, THE PARTY) and writer George Axelrod, and featuring what is arguably Henry Mancini’s greatest score, highlighted by the lovely, bittersweet "Moon River."

August 27 – 28, 2005 at the Aero Theatre

Every year, there are dozens of superb American and foreign films that fail to show commercially in the United States. Ironically, it's usually precisely because these movies are unique and special that distributors avoid the challenge of trying to sell them. The result this summer was moviehouses full of concepts that were mostly sequels, remakes or adaptations of television series, and an audience that stayed away from these "pre-sold" titles in droves.

Fear not, cinema fans. The L.A. Film Critics Society, in association with the American Cinematheque, has polled its membership and programmed a festival completely comprised of their picks of "films that got away" -- but which shouldn't have. Bold, visionary, sexy, shocking and indescribable, "The Films That Got Away" gives you a rare look at some of the most audacious, entertaining and original visions in contemporary film. These are the titles the best critics in town pass among themselves like rare jewels. Well, the treasure box is now open to all, with overlooked gems plus in-person discussions with some giants of independent film and other indescribably rare treats!!

Series Programmed by Ray Greene, Robert Koehler and Wade Major. Series Compiled by Martina Palaskov-Begov.

Special Thanks to: Paul Ginsburg/UNIVERSAL DISTRIBUTION; William Greaves; Scott King, Bertrand Tavernier, Nadia Costes, Celina Murga, Martine Boutrolle form the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sarah Finklea at JANUS/CRITERION

Saturday, August 27 – 7:30 PM

Full-Length Version!

BRAZIL, 1985, Universal, 142 min. Director Terry Gilliam’s surreal black comedy combines past and future with anarchic glee, creating a world of pneumatic tubes, giant samurais and lilting South American ballads where harried Everyman Jonathan Pryce tries to escape from a maze of crushing conformity to pursue elusive love Kim Geist. Featuring fellow-Python Michael Palin as upwardly mobile Jack Lint and Robert DeNiro as an outlaw heating engineer. The film holds special pride of place for the L.A. Film Critics Society, who championed the full-length version of the film and Gilliam’s unique vision in the face of studio interference and a radically-shortened cut. (Note: This is the European cut of the film, 10 minutes longer than the U.S. version.) "It’s really about someone who doesn’t take reality seriously enough" – Terry Gilliam.

>>Also showing at the Egyptian on August 26.

Sunday, August 28 – 5:00 PM

LAFCA "Films That Got Away":

THE GRIN WITHOUT A CAT (LE FOND DE L’AIR EST ROUGE), 1977, First Run/Icarus Films, 180 min. Dir. Chris Marker. As brilliant as it is indescribable, GRIN WITHOUT A CAT looks at the rise and fall of the worldwide revolutionary movement, from France in May, 1968 to the anti-Vietnam riots in the US, to the terrible crush of the Czech uprising. The French title of the film is untranslatable in English; roughly, it means "Revolution Is In The Air," a metaphor at once wistful and ever-hopeful. Given the current world situation, GRIN WITHOUT A CAT is, now more than ever, an epic event not to be missed. In one of the film’s many high points, Marker dissects the famous Odessa Steps sequence in BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN -- a revolutionary landmark that never actually occurred.

September 2 – 11, 2005 at the Aero Theatre

Twenty-five years after his death in Los Angeles, his adopted home, director Alfred Hitchcock (1899 – 1980) is widely regarded as not only the ultimate master of suspense, but also as one of the pantheon directors of the 20^th century. His command of both cinematic form and content, integrating it into seamless motion picture entertainment, is virtually unrivaled. From the early joys of THE 39 STEPS, THE LADY VANISHES and SHADOW OF A DOUBT through mid-period spellbinders STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW and TO CATCH A THIEF to later suspense spectaculars NORTH BY NORTHWEST and THE BIRDS, Hitchcock delivers on all fronts, both popular and artistic. Not to mention the incomparable groundbreaking tension of his hair-raising PSYCHO, a movie still sending shock waves more than four decades after its release. Hitchcock has also been responsible for some of the most deliriously romantic, unremittingly dark depictions of amour fou ever committed to celluloid: REBECCA, NOTORIOUS, VERTIGO and MARNIE, among others. View these titles, and you begin to realize the astonishing versatility and scope of this universally-recognized virtuoso. Join us to once again marvel at just a handful of the master’s classics.

Series programmed by Gwen Deglise, Chris D.

Thursday, September 1 – 7:30 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective -- Brand New 35 mm Print!

TO CATCH A THIEF, 1955, Paramount, 106 min. Retired cat burglar Cary Grant and ravishing American party girl Grace Kelly fall in love against a backdrop of fireworks, the French Riviera and a string of unsolved jewel robberies - all the while wearing some of Edith Head’s most singularly stunning costumes. Alfred Hitchcock’s tongue-in-cheek soufflé, complete with surprisingly daring sexual innuendoes for the time, is perfect escapist fare. With Charles Vanel (WAGES OF FEAR), Brigitte Auber.

Friday, September 2 – 7:30 PM

Hitchcock Double Feature:

PSYCHO, 1960, Universal, 109 min. Coming off comparatively big budget NORTH BY NORTHWEST, director Alfred Hitchcock decided he wanted to make a nice little, low budget B&W film for a change of pace. PSYCHO was the result, and the shock waves are still reverberating. Lovely embezzler Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is forced to take refuge from a rainstorm off the beaten track of a lonely California highway. Unfortunately, she checks in at the Bates Motel, presided over by young Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), a strange fellow living with his mother in a nearby mansion. Hitchcock used the small crew from his popular TV show for this hair-raising example of California Gothic, and it still remains one of the most influential thrillers ever made. With Vera Miles and John Gavin.

REAR WINDOW, 1954, Universal, 112 min. "See It! - If your nerves can stand it after PSYCHO!" That was the tagline for the 1962 re-release of one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s most rigorously structured thrillers. Adapted from a short story by noir master Cornell Woolrich, REAR WINDOW stars James Stewart as L.B. Jeffries, an ace photographer bound to a wheelchair after breaking his leg on assignment. Despite receiving visits from his high-fashion sweetheart, Lisa (Grace Kelly), Jeffries is bored and soon resorts to spying on his tenement neighbors through a telephoto lens. Suddenly, he has cause to regret his indiscretion – it seems the ailing wife of a traveling salesman neighbor (superb heavy Raymond Burr) has taken an abrupt trip. Or has she? "The experience is not so much like watching a movie, as like ... well, like spying on your neighbors. Hitchcock traps us right from the first." – Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times.

Saturday, September 3 – 7:30 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective - Double Feature:

THE 39 STEPS, 1935, Columbia, 86 min. "What are the 39 Steps??" And why is a network of foreign spies so desperate to stop stalwart hero Robert Donat from uncovering the mystery of this most cryptic of Hitchcock puzzles? And will lovely Madeleine Carroll really come to trust that Donat is an innocent man and not an escaped criminal running from the law?? With its non-stop suspense, breathtaking set pieces and brain-twisting plot turns, 39 STEPS set the pattern for nearly all the great Hitchcock thrillers to come.

THE LADY VANISHES, 1938, Columbia, 97 min. "Spies! Playing the game of love – and sudden death!" Ravishing British beauty Margaret Lockwood finds no one will believe her when she claims a sweet old lady has mysteriously disappeared from a moving train – in fact, no one believes the old woman exists at all … Flawless suspense and nimble comedy co-mingle in this classic example of Alfred Hitchcock’s earlier British period. Watch for Naunton Wayne and Basil Radford as two cricket-obsessed fellow passengers – their pairing here was so successful, they co-starred in a further ten films playing essentially the same characters! Co-starring Michael Redgrave, Paul Lukas.

Sunday, September 4 – 5:00 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective - 70mm print!

VERTIGO, 1958, Universal, 128 min. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. With its stunning visuals and gripping characters, Hitchcock’s psychological suspense masterpiece continues to entrance audiences. VERTIGO finds suspended San Francisco detective "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) becoming obsessed with Madeleine Elster (Kim Novak), a troubled woman he is privately hired to follow. Tragedy ensues … and when Ferguson later stumbles upon Judy Barton (also played by Novak), a young woman who bears a striking resemblance to Madeleine, his obsession spirals magnificently out of control.

Thursday, September 8 – 7:30 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective

NORTH BY NORTHWEST, 1959, Warner Bros., 136 min. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. Cary Grant gives one of his greatest performances as womanizing, mama’s boy executive Roger Thornhill – whose cozy life of afternoon cocktails with the boys is turned upside down when he’s mistaken for elusive government operative "George Kaplan" by suave villain James Mason and murderous crony Martin Landau. Eva Marie Saint co-stars as Mason’s elegant mistress, with the wonderful Jesse Royce Landis as Grant’s fur-clad society mom ("You gentlemen aren’t really trying to murder my son, are you?"). Brilliantly scripted by Ernest Lehman (THE SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS), and photographed by veteran Hitchcock collaborator Robert Burks (STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, REAR WINDOW). Film Historian Bill Krohn will introduce the film.

Friday, September 9 – 7:30 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective – Double Feature:

REBECCA, 1940, Walt Disney Co., 130 min. Director Alfred Hitchcock’s gothic romance asks the question: did guilt-ridden, rich widower Laurence Olivier do away with his notorious wife Rebecca or not? And what secrets does sinister, manipulating housekeeper Mrs. Danvers (Judith Anderson) hold that may unlock the mystery? Naïve young Joan Fontaine wants to know because she’s in love with Olivier and has just moved into his haunted seacliff mansion as his second wife. Will the answers come too late? Adapted from Daphne Du Maurier’s novel (who also supplied the source for Hitchcock’s later chiller, THE BIRDS) and winner of the 1941 Oscars for Best Picture and Best Cinematography.

NOTORIOUS, 1946, Walt Disney Co., 101 min. "Notorious woman of affairs…Adventurous man of the world!". Director Alfred Hitchcock’s crackerjack espionage thriller set in South America during WWII is also an intoxicating love story that mirrors the personal subterfuge and emotional upheaval amongst the three major characters. Hard-nosed Allied agent Cary Grant convinces Ingrid Bergman, the disillusioned daughter of a supposed traitor, to marry, then spy on a wealthy friend of her father (Claude Rains) who is leading Nazi Germany’s search for weapons-grade uranium in Brazil. The catch is Grant and Bergman are in love with each other …

Saturday, September 10 – 7:30 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective – Double Feature:

THE BIRDS, 1963, Universal, 119 min. Director Alfred Hitchcock’s love affair with northern California (begun in SHADOW OF A DOUBT and continued in VERTIGO) climaxed with this stunning shocker about the residents of picturesque coastal town Bodega Bay - who find themselves targeted by a murderous invasion of birds. Starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Suzanne Pleshette, Jessica Tandy and Veronica Cartwright.

MARNIE, 1964, Universal, 130 min. Wealthy entrepreneur Mark Rutland (Sean Connery) blackmails compulsive thief, Marnie (Tippi Hedren) into marriage, only to discover her psycho-sexual problems go much deeper than he’d thought. Rutland’s initial erotic obsession gradually evolves into full-fledged love as he tries to help Marnie unravel her deep-seated trauma – a childhood shock manifesting itself in kleptomania and a violent aversion to the color red. Another rewarding, refreshingly frank example of director Alfred Hitchcock probing into dark corners where no other major filmmakers of the time would dare to go.

Sunday, September 11 – 5:00 PM

Hitchcock Retrospective – Double Feature:

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN, 1951, Warner Bros., 101 min. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. A chance encounter between tennis champion Guy (Farley Granger) and psychopath Bruno (Robert Walker) on a train triggers an unstoppable race towards double-murder. Hitchcock’s classic thriller is a finely-tuned engine of suspense, taking barely a breath as it steams through a spine-tingling story of fate, coincidence, guilt and psychopathy -- favorite themes of noir writer Patricia Highsmith, whose novel was adapted by the great Raymond Chandler. With Ruth Roman.

SHADOW OF A DOUBT, 1943, Universal, 108 min. What starts out as a charming portait of idyllic small-town life gradually darkens into one of director Alfred Hitchcock’s most devastating thrillers. Teenager Teresa Wright’s romantic illusions about her beloved Uncle Charlie (Joseph Cotten) are gradually shattered by the suspicion he may be the diabolic Merry Widow serial killer. Add to the mix a rewardingly rich tapestry of eccentric characters (Henry Travers, Hume Cronyn, Patricia Collinge are stand-outs in the cast), and you have one of Hitchcock’s most brilliantly constructed films.

Thursday, September 15 – 7:30 PM

Cinema Classics:

WELCOME, OR NO TRESPASSING (DOBRO POZHALOVAT’, ILI POSTORONNIM VKHOD ZAPRESHEN), 1964, 74 min. Director Elem Klimov’s classic comedy satirizes the conventions of a children’s Young Pioneer summer camp. The hero, Inochkin, is expelled for misbehaving but he sneaks back into the camp, and is hidden by other children hide him. Klimov daringly mixes a direct critique of the Soviet system with hilarious fantasy sequences. Considered too dangerous by studio officials, the film was only released on Khrushchev’s orders. When he saw it, though, he enjoyed it, and asked why it wasn’t being shown. NOT ON VIDEO!

SEPTEMBER

Thursday, September 15 – 7:30 PM

Cinema Classics:

WELCOME, OR NO TRESPASSING (DOBRO POZHALOVAT’, ILI POSTORONNIM VKHOD ZAPRESHEN), 1964, 74 min. Director Elem Klimov’s classic comedy satirizes the conventions of a children’s Young Pioneer summer camp. The hero, Inochkin, is expelled for misbehaving but he sneaks back into the camp, and is hidden by other children hide him. Klimov daringly mixes a direct critique of the Soviet system with hilarious fantasy sequences. Considered too dangerous by studio officials, the film was only released on Khrushchev’s orders. When he saw it, though, he enjoyed it, and asked why it wasn’t being shown. NOT ON VIDEO! For background on the filmmaker click here.

>>Also showing at the Egyptian August 12.

September 16 at The Aero Theatre

After taking a one-year hiatus from our "Japanese Outlaw Masters" series, we’re are back again with a steel-edged vengeance! One of the most gratifying results of this series, first started in 1997, is that many of the films we’ve unearthed have gone on to be released theatrically and on DVD in the US, and directors such as Kinji Fukasaku, Hideo Gosha, Kihachi Okamoto and others have finally received their long-overdue recognition as true masters of Japanese cinema. We’re doubly thrilled to celebrate the publication of series founder and Cinematheque programmer Chris D.’s companion volume Outlaw Masters of Japanese Film (available at all of the screenings), which features profiles and interviews with many of these classic directors as well as modern masters such as Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Takashi Miike, and genre icons Sonny Chiba and Meiko Kaji.

This series is dedicated to the memory of director Kihachi Okamoto, who passed away in February, 2005. Over the course of a long and brilliant career, Okamoto exemplified the true spirit of outlaw filmmaking at its best, constantly challenging and critiquing the status quo in films like AGE OF ASSASSINS, THE HUMAN BULLET and DESPERADO OUTPOST, while creating stunning genre period masterpieces such as the savage SWORD OF DOOM and KILL! We were honored to welcome Mr. Okamoto as our guest for the very first "Outlaw Masters Series" in 1997 at the Cinematheque. He will be sorely missed.

Series Programmed by Chris D.

Special Thanks to: Sarah Finklea/JANUS FILMS; Kenji Sato & Shozo Watanabe/TOHO; Hideyuki Baba/TOEI; Yasue Nobusawa/NIKKATSU; Kaai Nishida/THE JAPAN FOUNDATION.

THE WOLVES (SHUSSO IWAI) 1971, Toho, 130 min. Director Hideo Gosha’s epic chronicle of two warring yakuza clans in 1920s Japan rivals Coppola’s THE GODFATHER in its scope and density, and Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH in its astonishing savagery. Ex-con Tatsuya Nakadai becomes progressively more disillusioned with his underworld brethren in a swirl of personal betrayals, doomed love affairs and bone-splintering violence. A brilliant mixture of traditional themes and contemporary elements, including Masaru Sato’s jazz-influenced score, enrich this amazing film. With Noboru Ando, Toshio Kurosawa, Tetsuro Tanba. Screening will be preceded by a booksigning by Cinematheque programmer and writer, Chris D., celebrating the release of his new book, Outlaw Masters Of Japanese Film.

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

THE BIG EASY, 1987, Sony Pictures (Columbia Repertory), 108 min. Director Jim McBride (GLEN AND RANDA) helmed this delicious crime comedy-drama set in the intoxicating and bewitching New Orleans. An easygoing, mildly corrupt police detective (Dennis Quaid) slips into a love affair with a zealous, by the book district attorney (Ellen Barkin) when he investigates a series of gangland killings. But an internal affairs sting sets the two lovers on opposite sides, something relished by Quaid's criminal adversaries. Full of the joyful, gulfstream delta vibrations New Orleans has long been famous for as well as a wealth of great Cajun music. Plus a wonderful supporting cast that includes John Goodman, Ned Beatty, Lisa Jane Persky, Grace Zabriskie and R&B legend Solomon Burke. A benefit for the victims of Hurrican Katrina. Donations will be collected at the door. Free admission.

OCTOBER

Sunday, October 23 – 4:00 PM

In-Person Charles Lane Tribute:

Please join us to celebrate and pay tribute to the career of Charles Lane, a familiar face to movie lovers, whose career spans memorable supporting parts in such films as TWENTIETH CENTURY, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE, STATE OF THE UNION, THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN and many, many more, as well as stints as a regular on such TV shows as "Petticoat Junction" and "The Real McCoys."

THE MUSIC MAN, 1962, Warner Bros., 151 min. Dir. Morton Da Costa. One of the most rousing musicals ever committed to celluloid in a rare screening! Fast-talking con-man, Professor Harold Hill (Robert Preston), blows into a sleepy midwestern town, River City, intent on fleecing the citizens with a phony boys’ marching band scam. But meeting Marion (Shirley Jones), the town librarian and her kid brother, Winthrop, throws a monkeywrench into his scheme. A perfect balance of naivete and nostalgia as well as a gentle spoof of small-town smallmindedness, with a collection of great tunes, including "76 Trombones," "Sadder But Wiser Girl," "Goodnight, My Someone" and a sterling supporting cast made up of Buddy Hackett, Pert Kelton, Paul Ford, Hermione Gingold. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Music (Adaptation.) 100 year old Charles Lane (who plays Constable Locke) will introduce the screening. Plus there will be a short clip show to start the program.

Thursday, October 27 – 7:30 PM

Cinema Classics Series:

ROMAN HOLIDAY, 1953, Paramount, 118 min. Dir. William Wyler. A real-life princess (Audrey Hepburn), weary of her sheltered existence, takes off on her own to see the sights of Rome, only to encounter romance in the form of suave Gregory Peck. But unbeknownst to Hepburn, Peck is really a reporter out for a story, and this inevitably complicates things as the two grow more intimate. This sweet-natured romantic comedy won three Oscars, including Best Actress for Hepburn.

Monday, October 31 – 7:30 PM

Classic Halloween!

THE EXORCIST, 1973, Warner Bros., 121 min. With Ellen Burstyn. Friedkin adapted William Peter Blatty’s bone-chilling novel into "the" American horror film -- where Catholic priests Jason Miller and Max von Sydow go head-to-head with the unholy one, inhabiting the body of Linda Blair. "I auditioned five hundred girls and went with Linda because I felt she was the most intelligent, most pulled-together youngster I had ever met." – William Friedkin.

NOVEMBER

November 13 at The Aero Theatre

Born in 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota, from middle-class origins, Jane Russell had to give up her initial dreams of becoming a designer to go to work to help support her family after her father’s death. Occasionally modeling on the side and managing to attend drama school in her free time, Russell was eventually signed by Howard Hughes (alhough the rumor is Hughes discovered her at his dentist’s, working as a receptionist!). Right from the start, with her scandalous debut as Billy the Kid’s voluptuous moll in Hughes’ THE OUTLAW (a film shot in 1941 but held up for release until 1946 due to censorship problems), Jane Russell remains one of the most legendary performers to ever emerge from the 1940s era of tinseltown. More indelible celluloid portraits followed in the wake of the racy Hughes western, from friendly sparring with pals, Robert Mitchum (in noirs like HIS KIND OF WOMAN and MACAO) and Bob Hope (in comedies like THE PALEFACE and SON OF PALEFACE), through her spectacular, unforgettable pairing with Marilyn Monroe in Howard Hawks’ GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES to later pictures such as THE REVOLT OF MAMIE STOVER and THE FUZZY PINK NIGHTGOWN. Even at the beginning of the new millenium, Jane Russell still prevails as the epitome of the sexy, tough-talking, independent, but warmly-good-natured dame. We’re very excited to welcome Ms. Russell to this in-person tribute at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian and Aero Theatres!

Please join us for this ongoing series sponsored by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, a rare opportunity for Los Angeles audiences to see the finest work by some of the leading performers of international and American cinema, and to hear these actors and actresses discuss their craft in a relaxed and informal setting.

Special Thanks: Schawn Belston, Chip Blake & Caitlin Robertson/20^th CENTURY FOX; Cary Haber/CRITERION PICTURES; Mike Schlesinger/SONY PICTURES (COLUMBIA REPERTORY).

Sunday, November 13 – 6:00 PM

Jane Russell Tribute - Double Feature:

GENTLEMEN PREFER BLONDES, 1953, 20^th Century Fox, 91 min. Dir. Howard Hawks. Twin bombshells Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe wreak havoc on the male libido in this classic Howard Hawks farce of two nightclub singers set loose onboard a Paris-bound luxury liner. Jane and Marilyn show their gift for flawless comic timing in every scene – and their musical duets together, including "Two Little Girls From Little Rock" and "Bye Bye Baby", are simply priceless.

SON OF PALEFACE, 1952, Fremantle/Sony, 95 min. Legendary director Frank Tashlin, the man who brought us some of the funniest movies from the 1950s, including ARTISTS AND MODELS, THE GIRL CAN’T HELP IT and WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER, took over the reins for this sequel to THE PALEFACE. Bob Hope reprises his role as hopelessly at-sea dentist, Junior Potter, but this time out fiery Jane Russell plays Mike, notorious leader of a band of desperadoes being pursued by federal marshal, Roy Barton (Roy Rogers, who brings his faithful horse, Trigger, along for the ride!). Sidesplitting. Discussion between films with legendary actress Jane Russell.

With the support of the French Film & TV Department of the French Consulate, Los Angeles.

Come join us in recognizing and celebrating one of the greatest movie comics of the 20^th Century.

Special Thanks: Sarah Finklea/JANUS FILMS; Nanine Funiciello & Elizabeth Nock/MIRAMAX; and the French Consulate, Los Angeles.

Saturday, November 19 – 7:30 PM

In Glorious 70 mm.!!

PLAYTIME, 1967, Janus Films, 126 min. Dir. Jacques Tati. If you missed our previous sold-out screenings, this may be your last chance to see the fully restored Jacques Tati masterpiece PLAYTIME, which was conceived originally as a 70mm viewing experience, then lost for over 30 years (there were only 35mm prints left of a cut version), and finally rescued by Tati's daughter Sophie Tatischeff and Jerome Deschamps. Monsieur Hulot must contact an American official in Paris, but he gets lost in a stylish maze of modern architecture filled with the latest technical gadgets. Caught in a tourist invasion, Hulot roams around Paris with a group of American tourists, causing chaos in his usual manner. The star of the film: the city built by Tati and called Tativille/Taticity. From surprise to surprise, it’s an exquisite and divine experience! François Truffaut, writing to Jacques Tati about PLAYTIME, said simply, "A film from another planet."

Sunday, November 20 - 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

THE BIG DAY (JOUR DE FETE), 1947, Miramax, 79 min. Jacques Tati’s feature debut as director is a priceless showcase for his comedic talents as he plays a mailman attempting to streamline delivery in his small town. But he soon finds his attempts at modernization and a coincidental Bastille Day celebration don’t mix. Tangible proof that Tati remains -- along with Chaplin, Keaton and the Marx Brothers -- as one of the pantheon comic geniuses of the 20^th Century.

MR. HULOT’S HOLIDAY (LES VACANCES DE MR. HULOT), 1953, Janus Films, 85 min. Dir. Jacques Tati. Tati’s first film as Monsieur Hulot finds the irascible Frenchman going to a resort town for a vacation and chaos predictably ensues. A warm and whimsical hymn to the joys of life and the funny little things continually happening around us we often fail to notice.

Saturday, November 26 – 7:30 PM

New 35 mm print! LETTER FROM AN UNKNOWN WOMAN, 1948, Paramount. 86 min. Was there ever a more swooningly romantic film than pantheon French director Max Ophuls’ American masterpiece? And a love story that sidesteps all the sentimental Hollywood contrivances too often afflicting movie romances of the era? Shy young girl, Lisa (Joan Fontaine) grows into womanhood while nurturing a lifelong love-from-afar for debonair composer and worldly lothario, Stefan Brand (Louis Jourdan) who lives upstairs in her building. Even after she enjoys a brief tryst with Brand, Lisa’s dreams seem destined to evaporate into thin air. Ophul’s device of Brand, finally learning of Lisa’s deep feelings from a letter to him as he readies for a duel-at-dawn, bookends the narrative with a tragic anguish that is extremely moving.

CAUGHT, 1949, Paramount, 88 min. Dir. Max Ophuls. Young Barbara Bel Geddes, buying into the myth that marrying wealthy is the best hope for a woman’s success, has her dreams crushed when her rich new spouse, Robert Ryan, proves to be an emotionally abusive paranoid. Thwarted in her attempts at divorce, Bel Geddes moves out, getting a job with a poor, hardworking doctor (James Mason). The two fall in love, but Ryan soon re-enters the picture to disrupt the affair. A complex, rewardingly truthful vision of American values at the time, the selling-out of true love for security, and, some say, a thinly-veiled look at director Ophuls’ dealings with mogul, Howard Hughes, at RKO. Restored 35mm print of the preserved film courtesy of UCLA Film & Television Archive. Funding provided by The Film Foundation and the AFI/NEA Preservation Grants Program. An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

Sunday, November 27 – 4:00 PM

Cinema Classic:

DOCTOR ZHIVAGO, 1965, Warner Bros., 193 min. Dir. David Lean. "If this man were my father, I should want to know," says General Yevgraf Zhivago (Alec Guinness) to his wary niece – and the story that he narrates, of decadent Tsarists, anguished revolutionaries, two beautiful women in love with the same man, a nation and a people in upheaval, and above all, the poet and physician (Omar Sharif) who witnesses and remembers it all – is one of the most lyrical and visually breathtaking stories in the history of film. From the bloodstained march through the Moscow streets, to the snowbound train ride through the Ural Mountains, to the haunted ice palace at Varykino, this is the essence of pure cinema. Brilliantly scripted by Robert Bolt (from Boris Pasternak’s novel), and photographed by Freddie Young (who replaced Nicolas Roeg soon into shooting). Co-starring Julie Christie, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Tom Courtenay, Ralph Richardson and Siobhan McKenna, with music by Maurice Jarre.

Wednesday, November 30 – 7:30 PM

Marilyn Monroe Double Feature:

NIAGARA, 1953, 20^th Century Fox, 89 min. Jealous husband Joseph Cotten frets that luscious wife Marilyn is cheating on him at honeymoon paradise Niagara Falls. He’s got good reason to worry, in director Henry Hathaway’s gorgeous Technicolor noir – Marilyn’s first film as a headliner (and her greatest bad-girl performance!) With Jean Peters, Casey Adams.

RIVER OF NO RETURN, 1954, 20^th Century Fox, 91 min. Director Otto Preminger’s lusty Cinemascope western stars Robert Mitchum as an ex-convict battling raging waters, rampaging Indians – and saloon singer Marilyn - ! Spectacular outdoor photography (courtesy of d.p. Joseph LaShelle) and the can’t-miss pairing of Monroe and Mitchum make this one great, guilty pleasure. With Rory Calhoun, Tommy Rettig. Stanley Rubin to introduce the screenings.

Friday, December 2 – 7:30 PM

Montana Avenue Street Fair Night! Classic Christmas Movie!

SCROOGE, 1970, Hollywood Classics, 113 min. Albert Finney is a gleefully wicked Scrooge in this glorious musical adaptation by Leslie Bricusse of Dicken’s ode to brotherhood and the terrible power of karma. Director Ronald Neame was a long-time Dickens veteran, having produced David Lean’s GREAT EXPECTATIONS and OLIVER TWIST. Co-starring Alec Guinness, Edith Evans and Kenneth More. Special admission price $5.00!

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!

SON OF KONG 1933, Warner Bros., 70 min. Dir. Ernest B. Schoedsack. Although not possessed of the same pulse-pounding cliffhanger thrills of its predecessor, this sequel has charms all its own. Fast-talking promoter, Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong) and Captain Englehorn (Frank Reicher) are blamed for King Kong’s swath of death and destruction, and are virtually hounded out of New York City. Deciding to put together a cargo business in the East Indies, the pair are sidetracked in Dakang by a stranded singer (Helen Mack) and a villain named Hellstrom (John Marston) who has a treasure map – for old Kong’s home, Skull Island! Once there, the cast find Kong’s lonely son instead of riches, as well as an assortment of other giant wild beasts. KING KONG stop-motion wizard, Willis O’Brien, returns to animate this sweet-natured, whimsical adventure-fantasy with the kids in the audience definitely in mind. Preceding the screening at 5:00 PM -- Every Picture Tells A Story will present an exciting evening of King Kong events, beginning with an exhibit of original 1930's King Kong production art by Willis O’Brien and Byron Crabbe and new Kong art by Joe DeVito. Also join special guest panelists Joe DeVito, author/illustrator of Kong, King of Skull Island; Mark Cotta Vaz, author of Living Dangerously: The Adventures of Merian C.Cooper, creator of King Kong; and film historians, Rudy Behlmer and Arnold Kunert. FAMOUS MONSTERS MAGAZINE creator Forrest J. Ackerman will introduce the screening.

>> Also showing at The Egyptian Theatre, December 16. Click here for a full KONG Schedule at the Egyptian.

Wednesday, December 21 – 7:30 PM

Cinema Classic - New 35 mm Print!

GREMLINS, 1984, Warner Bros., 106 min. Dir. Joe Dante. When Billy (Zach Galligan) breaks the cardinal rules for the keeping of his rare new pet – no water, no food after midnight and no bright light -- chaos is unleashed in his idyllic small town. What was once cute-and-fuzzy-wuzzy, transforms and multiplies into a horde of dangerous, mayhem-loving creatures. With Hoyt Axton, Phoebe Cates, Dick Miller, Corey Feldman. Discussion following with Joe Dante [schedule permitting].

An Aero Theatre Exclusive!