Where can you watch vintage movies on big screens, with other people around you? Here are ten movie theaters that are showing old movies this week (and other weeks, too).
Look up these theaters and go back to the…well, I can’t say the future.
Theatrical revivals
A+ The Third Man (1949), BAMPFA, Saturday, 4:30pm
4K Digital Restoration! Writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed created an intriguing mystery inside post-war Vienna – a world so dark and disillusioned that American noir seems bright by comparison. The victorious powers have divided the city into sections, and it’s controlled by a not-always-collaborating group of Russians French, American, and British soldiers. Then, when the movie is two thirds over, Orson Welles comes onscreen to steal everything but the sprocket holes. See my A+ article. Part of the series Rialto Pictures Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Salute.
A Double Indemnity (1944), New Mission, Monday, 7:00pm
Rich, unhappy, and evil housewife Barbara Stanwyck leads insurance salesman Fred MacMurray by the libido from adultery to murder in Billy Wilder’s near-perfect noir. Not that she has any trouble leading him (this is not the wholesome MacMurray we remember from My Three Sons). Edward G. Robinson is in fine form as the co-worker and close friend that MacMurray must deceive. A great, gritty thriller about sex (or the code-era equivalent) and betrayal.
A Alien (1979), 4-Star, Wednesday, 5:00pm & 7:30pm
An extremely adaptable predator gets onboard a cargo ship in deep space, and soon the seven crew members are fighting for their lives. The movie provides more than extremely well-crafted suspense and action, and for the first time in cinema, space travelers are portrayed not as heroic astronauts, but as blue-collar truckers who complain about their food and pay. And as the story unfolds, you realize just how expendable these people are in the eyes of the corporation that employs them. This is the film that made Sigourney Weaver a star.
A- Chicken Run (2000), Lark, Thursday, 10:00am & 1:40pm
The Great Escape with chickens, and all made out of clay. The first (and best) feature from the Wallace and Gromit gang has a group of very British chickens and one cocky rooster (Mel Gibson) bound to escape the farm before they’re all turned into pies. Animated in clay, it’s a remarkable feat of ingenuity, technical savvy, and pure patience. More importantly, it’s hilarious.
A- The Last Emperor (1987), Roxie, Saturday, 3:35pm
Bernardo Bertolucci created a rare film – an epic with a passive and unlikeable protagonist who helps the rise of fascism. Yet you come to care for this mediocre manchild, because of his strange childhood. He’s Pu Yi, the last Chinese emperor, who ascended to the throne at the age of three at the beginning of the 20th century. What makes Pu Yi such a unique protagonist is his almost complete passivity. He does not make history, but merely allows others to use him as a patsy. And yet, the film gives him something like a happy ending. Wonderful cinematography by Vittorio Storaro.
A- Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987), Lark, Thursday, 11:45am & 3:30pm
John Hughes mixes side-splitting slapstick comedy with sentimentality, and surprisingly, it works. Two badly matched men get thrown together as they desperately try to get from Manhattan to Chicago before Thanksgiving dinner. And, of course, everything goes wrong. Steve Martin plays the buttoned-down executive, while John Candy is the goofball who makes everything worse. But slowly, the two men warm to each other.
A- La Dolce Vita (1960), Vogue, Wednesday, 7:30pm
Marcello Mastroianni plays a gossip journalist preying off the rich and decadent. The film has several great moments. Consider the opening shot of Jesus flying via helicopter, or the climactic out-of-control party. The famous fountain scene is stunning. The entire film makes brilliant use of the then-new Cinemascope frame. But the story doesn’t really go anywhere, and there are long, dull passages between the brilliance. I can’t quite call it a masterpiece.
B+ Fantastic Planet (1973), Roxie, Saturday
֍ Saturday, 7:00pm
֍ Sunday, 5:50pm
֍ Wednesday, 9:05pm
35mm! As a story, this French animated sci-fi mortality tale comes off as an obvious allegory. Human beings, imported from Earth, struggle to survive on a planet populated by blue giants who view us as either pets or vermin. But it’s the imaginative visuals, not the story or the message, that makes Fantastic Planet worth watching. The filmmakers couldn’t afford Disney-quality animation, but they made up for it with striking and original designs.
Double bill at the Stanford
B+ The Suspect (1944) & B Saboteur (1944), Thursday and Friday, 5:55pm, 7:30pm, & 9:30
Both films in 35mm!
The Suspect: A good man (Charles Laughton) is driven to murdering his dreadful wife–and every member of the audience sympathizes with him.
Saboteur: An innocent man is blamed for a dastardly deed done by evil, foreign spies. Now he must run from the law while chasing the villains. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.
? Comedy Shorts Night (1916 – 1928), Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30pm
One Week:
Buster Keaton tries to make a house. A short masterpiece.
The Count: Charlie Chaplin tries to get into society. The movie has a lot of good gags and a short but impressive interior chase.
A Movie Star: I’ve seen this a long ago, and deals with celebrity, which was a new thing, then.
Leave ’em Laughing: I’m not sure if I’ve seen this Laurel & Hardy short. It’s probably very funny.
Greg Pane on the piano.
C+ The Mummy (1932), Balboa, Monday, 7:30pm
Don’t get confused with the much better version starring Brendan Fraser. Boris Karloff wants to drag a woman back into ancient times. Flat and not very scary.
Stop Making Sense Engagements
Lark
֍ Saturday, 5:30pm
֍ Wednesday, 4:20pm
֍ Thursday, 8:30pm
New Parkway
֍ Friday, 6:35pm
֍ Saturday, 5:15pm
֍ Sunday, 5:45pm
֍ Monday, 5:30pm
֍ Tuesday, 9:30pm
Continuing engagements
- Dog Day Afternoon, Roxie, Saturday, 12:50pm, 35mm!
Movies I can’t review
- Nazarín, BAMPFA, Friday, 7:00pm
- Elf Movie Party, New Mission, 6:00pm
- Delicatessen, New Mission, 9:30pm
Bayflicks 