Still no festivals, but this strange December phenomenon won’t last. German Gems and Noir City have already been announced for January.
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians, Shattuck , 
Saturday, 10:00; Castro, Sunday. I’ve only seen this on Mystery Science Theater 3000, so I can’t formally judge this cinematic work on its own merits. Neverheless, I’ll feel confident in saying that this is just the sort of movie that belongs on MST3K–Silly, poorly-made, and in no way to be taken seriously. But you can guess that from the title. Oddly enough, this is a restored version projected in DCP. Why bother? With assorted shorts.
A Comedy Short Subject Night, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. I can vouch for three of the four shorts screened. If “Big Business” isn’t Laurel and Hardy’s best silent, it’s close, and truly captures the essence of their style. “The Cure” is vintage Chaplin, and “The Scarecrow” is two-reel Keaton at something close to his best. I can’t vouch for the Charley Chase short, “There Ain’t No Santa Claus,” but it seems seasonally appropriate. Come to think of it, “Big Business” also has a Christmas theme, although it’s not about brotherly love.
C- The Bride Wore Black, Film Society/New People Cinema, Friday, then Sunday through Thursday. François Truffaut loved Hitchcock’s work, so it’s inevitable that he would make an homage. 
But just as Woody Allen’s work suffers when he tries to imitate Bergman, Truffaut couldn’t really manage Hitchcock’s dark humor or the edge-of-your-seat suspense. (At least he didn’t manage it here. He comes closer in Shoot the Piano Player.) There’s no real rooting interest, and therefore no suspense, in this story of a young widow (Jeanne Moreau) out to murder the men who killed her husband. The picture comes off as little more than an experiment in Hitchcockian style without Hitchcockian content. The director’s daughter, Laura Truffaut, and Eddie Muller of the Film Noir Foundation, will introduce Friday’s 7:00 pm screening.
B+ Tree of Life, Castro, Thursday. Terrence Malick made a career of taking risks (if someone who has made only five films in 40 years can be said to have a career). But sometimes, when you go out on a limb, the branch breaks. His latest film works beautifully when it concentrates on a loving but troubled family in the 1950s—a story with no plot and many conflicts. The contemporary scenes with Sean Penn as one of the young sons, now a middle-aged man, don’t play as well. Few are as convincing as Penn at looking miserable, but Malick provides us with so little about his current life that we’re not sure what he’s miserable about. And then there are the scenes that are just plain weird. But it’s a Malick film, so at least it’s always beautiful to look at.
B+ The Wizard of Oz, Stanford, Wednesday through next Friday. I don’t really have to tell you about this one, do I? Well, perhaps I have to explain why I’m only giving it a B+.
Despite its clever songs, lush Technicolor photography, and one great performance (Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion). The Wizard of Oz never struck me as the masterpiece that everyone else sees. It’s a good, fun movie, but not quite fun enough to earn an A. On a double bill with The Shop Around the Corner, a Christmas-themed romantic comedy that I recall enjoying very much, although I don’t recall it well enough to comfortably give it a grade.
Bayflicks 
