Tuesday, June 24 (7:00 pm)

Sessue Hayakawa

The Victoria Cross (Paramount, 1916). Dir E. J. Le Saint. With Lou-Tellegen, Cleo Ridgely, Ernest Joy. (47 min, 35mm).
Forbidden Paths (Paramount, 1917). Dir Robert T. Thornby. With Vivian Martin, Tom Forman, Carmen Phillips, James Neill. (48 min, 35mm).

Wednesday, June 25 (7:00 pm)

Tribute to Women's History

Salt of the Earth (International Union of Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers, 1954). Dir Herbert J Biberman. With Will Geer, Rosaura Revueltas, Juan Chacón, David Wolfe. (96 min, 35mm).

An independent production by people on Hollywood's blacklist, this film is a drama based on an actual miners' strike in New Mexico, conceived as a radical political statement on working conditions and union organizing. Salt of the Earth makes a strong feminist statement as well, for it is the wives of the striking miners who spur their reluctant husbands to collective action.

Thursday, June 26 (7:00 pm)

70s/80s Musicals

Popeye (Paramount, 1980). Dir Robert Altman. With Robin Williams, Shelley Duvall, Ray Walston (114 min, 35mm).

Universally dismissed as a failure, but even Robert Altman's missteps bear watching. And really, wouldn't you rather watch this than Nashville? Listen for Shelly Duvall warbling "He Needs Me," which last year was a central theme in Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love.

Friday, June 27 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Party (UA, 1968).Dir Blake Edwards. With Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Marge Champion. (99 min, 35mm).

Edwards' and Sellers' only collaboration outside the Pink Panther series displays the influence of Jacques Tati, both in its structure and elaborate visual gags. Accident prone Indian actor Bakshi (Sellers) has come to Hollywood to appear in a remake of Gunga Din. Wreaking major havoc on the set, he is put on a "Do Not Hire" list which gets mixed up with a list of invitations to a swank party at the film producer's house. Edwards gives Sellers free reign to improvise, resulting in what many believe to be one of the funniest films ever made.

Tuesday, July 8 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

Banzai (Haworth, 1918, 3 min)
The Tong Man (Haworth, 1919, 42 min)
An Arabian Night (Hayakawa Feature Play Co., 1920, 50 min)

The Japanese actor Sessue Hayakawa (1889-1930) was the first Asian player to become a star of the Hollywood screen, during the 1910s and early 1920s. While best remembered for his menacing peril in The Cheat (1915), tonight's show–the second of two–reveals that he played a far greater range of roles. This included portraying different races, and his box-office popularity even allowed him to have his own production company for a brief time.

Thursday, July 10 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Show of Shows (Warner Bros., 1929, 128 min)

Friday, July 11 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Sundowners (Warner Bros., 1960, 133 min)

Tuesday, July 15 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Enchanted Cottage (RKO, 1945, 91 min. 35mm). Dir John Cromwell. With Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall.

Ah, the transformative power of love. A young GI returns home from the war, his face disfigured from battle wounds. Believing that no one could ever love him, he retreats in despair to the small cottage where he and his fiancee were to have their honeymoon. He meets a plain young woman who works as a maid and they decide to marry out of loneliness. But the cottage works its magic and they fall in love. Others still see them pityingly, but whenever they look at one another the camera perspective changes and they become beautiful.

Thursday, July 17 (6:30 pm)

National Film Registry

Adventure in Manhattan (Columbia, 1936, 73 min)

Friday, July 18 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Incredible Shrinking Man (Universal, 1957, 81 min, 35mm) Dir Jack Arnold. With Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent.

Existential angst meets Zen-like transcendence in this seminal, forward-looking 50's classic. A young ad exec's life is forever altered after his exposure to a radioactive mist causes him to progressively shrink. Losing his job, he becomes a media figure to pay the bills, dates a midget after his marriage collapses, and ends up in a fateful fight with his cat. Totally riveting, from the mournful trumpet theme music, to the stunningly grandiose and poignant finale. Unarguably the finest work in the careers of Jack Arnold and Grant Williams.

Preceded by:

Science Fiction Theater: Time Is Just a Place (ZIV Television, 1955, 27 min, 35mm). Dir Jack Arnold. .

In this anthology series, host Truman Bradley introduced stories that revolved around basic scientific principles. In Time..., from a story by Jack Finney(Invasion of the Body Snatchers), a couple wonders about the mysterious goings on at their new neighbors' house.

Trilogy of Terror: Amelia (ABC, 1975, 27 min, 35mm). Dir Dan Curtis.

The final chapter in a trio of stories by Richard Matheson (The Shrinking Man), Amelia caused a sensation when it aired on ABC in 1975, terrifying even network executives. In a tour de force, Karen Black portrays a woman battling a demonic Zuni fetish doll.

Tuesday, July 22 (7:00 pm)

Thomas H. Ince: Colonial Melodrama

The Price Mark (1917). (1917) Dir R. William Neill. With Dorothy Dalton. (60 min, 35mm).
The Bronze Bell (1921). Dir James Horne. With Courtenay Foote, Doris May. (63 min, 16 mm)

In 1998, the Library opened a collection of the papers of Thomas Harper Ince (1882-1924), whose life has remained unchronicled largely because major archives had only very fragmentary collections on him. This is especially true of the last years of Ince's life, from 1917 until his death, which is the focus of the Library's papers and hence of this series. The renowned silent film producer created one of the earliest Hollywood firms centered around a specific individual overseeing a wide range of product. Ince played an important role in the transformation of filmmaking into an industry, utilizing the factory-style system to maximize efficiency for which the studio system became known. The programs will be introduced by Brian Taves, who was given the 2002-2003 Kluge staff fellowship to research the Ince papers.
"Orientalist" filmmaking reaches a peak in The Price Mark and The Bronze Bell, two displays of the supposed decadence of two colonial lands, Egypt and India, respectively. Their narrative opposes them to the United States and the type of love they engender, but reveal the desire for a discourse with the "other" even while trying to contain its difference. And the question remains, by the conclusion, whether such movies have indeed changed for the better today.

Thursday, July 24 (7:00 pm)

Thomas H. Ince: Women on the Frontier

Tyrant Fear (1918). Dir R. William Neill. With Dorothy Dalton. (10 min, 35mm, r1 only).
Keys of the Righteous (1918). Dir Jerome Storm. With Enid Bennett. (48 min, 35mm).
Partners Three (1919). Dir Fred Niblo. With Enid Bennett. (55 min, 16 mm).

Usually Thomas Ince's westerns are connected to the silent cowboy perfomer William S. Hart, or to cowboy-and-Indian plots, but just as significant if not more so are those featuring women on the frontier. In these years, Ince turned out a regular series of "women's" melodramas featuring Dalton or Bennett. All three of tonight's films center on questions of the abuse of women on the frontier; although only reel 1 survives of Tyrant Fear, it is an amazing expose of the brutality of a forced marriage.

Friday, July 25 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Far Horizons (Paramount, 1955, 108 min)

Tuesday, July 29 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Chronicles Of America: The Frontier Woman (Yale University, 1926, 40 min)
Across The Wide Missouri (MGM, 1951, 78 min)

Thursday, July 31 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Rifleman: The Deadeye Kid (ABC, 1959, 30 min)
Rachel and the Stranger (RKO, 1948, 79 min) Dir Norman Foster. With: Gary Gray, Tom Tully. (80 min, 35mm).

Widower David Harvey (William Holden) buys bondswoman Rachel (Loretta Young) to take care of his son. Robert Mitchum sings. Manifest destiny rocks. It happened in 19th century Ohio, but it could happen now, anywhere!

Friday, August 1 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Jeremiah Johnson (Warner Bros., 1972, 116 min)

Tuesday, August 5 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Colorado Territory (Warner Bros., 1949, 94 min, 35mm) Dir Raoul Walsh. With Virginia Mayo, Dorothy Malone.

Raoul Walsh remakes his own famed gangster film High Sierra, transposing it to the Old West, where its story of an outlaw on the run becomes not only logical, but poignant. In the leading role, the ever-stalwart Joel McCrea is an affecting anti-hero. The rugged beauty of the locales makes this a memorable entry in the Warner Bros.' western cycle of the '40's.

Thursday, August 7 (6:30 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Hallelujah Trail (UA, 1965, 165 min, 35mm) Dir John Sturges. With Burt Lancaster, Lee Remick, Jim Hutton. (168 min, 35mm).

"See How The West Was Fun!" is the tagline of this star-studded western comedy. You should surmise that it is not a politically correct film. On the other hand it is extremely funny. In 1867, the miners in Denver realize that winter is setting in and there isn't enough whiskey, so they hire the Irish Teamsters to haul in a wagon train. But the Temperance Movement catches wind of it and then the Sioux. Add Calvary to the mix and all chaos ensues. Donald Pleasence is a hoot as the perennially drunken Oracle Jones and Martin Landau as Chief Walks-Stooped-Over. Great score by Elmer Bernstein.

Friday, August 8 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Big Sky (Winchester Pictures, 1952, 122 min, 35mm) Dir Howard Hawks. With Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt.

Jim Deakins is a Kentucky frontiersman and Indian trader who casts his lot in with a group of fur traders embarking upon a perilous journey up the Missouri river. The plan is to return a kidnaped Blackfoot princess, Teal Eye, to her people and thus win their gratitude and trade. Guided by Teal Eye and a crazy warrior named Poordevil, they encounter hostile tribes, bandits, and wicked waters. Kirk Douglas gives a strong performance in this grand frontier tale based on the novel by A.B. Guthrie. Rousing music by Dimitri Tiomkin.

Tuesday, August 12 (7:00 pm)

Thomas H. Ince: Politics and Psychology

Dangerous Hours (1919). Dir Fred Niblo. With Lloyd Hughes. (50 min, 16mm).
The Dark Mirror (1920). Dir Charles Giblyn. With Dorothy Dalton. (58 min, 16mm).

Two films that look forward to times far beyond the years in which they were produced. The Dark Mirror is an astonishing look toward "film noir" significantly before the European influences that supposedly gave rise to the movement were in place. Dangerous Hours examines the threat of Bolshevik terrorism and the response in ways that have many parallels with post-9/11 America.

Thursday, August 14 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Frisco Kid (Warner Bros., 1979, 122 min, 35mm) Dir Robert Aldrich. With Harrison Ford, Val Bisoglio.

This endearing Gene Wilder vehicle is a sterling example of that all-too-rare genre-the Jewish western! Our hero is a Polish rabbi who travels from the old country to his new home in San Francisco. His journey becomes a picaresque trek across the continental United States, a land of pristine scenic beauty and eccentric inhabitants. A bittersweet comedy with Wilder in top form.

Friday, August 15 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Oklahoma Kid (Warner Bros., 1939, 85 min, 3mm) Dir Lloyd Bacon. With Donald Crisp, Rosemary Lane.

Cagney and Bogart trade in their fedoras for ten-gallon hats in one of their more offbeat outings. The setting is Tulsa in its boomtown days. The frontier turns out to be as sin-soaked as Gotham, making it a haven for two tough-guy screen icons. A true curio of the western movie tradition.

Tuesday, August 19 (7:00 pm)

Thomas H. Ince: The Forgotten Star, Douglas MacLean

The Home Stretch (1921). Dir Jack Nelson. With Douglas MacLean. (51 min, 16 mm).
One A Minute (1921). Dir Jack Nelson. With Douglas MacLean. (50 min, 35mm).

While probably Charles Ray is the male star best remembered in conjunction with Ince, in fact the most interesting figure is the largely forgotten Douglas MacLean, who played a far greater range of roles, portraying tonight two types of businessman. One a Minute is a satire of Barnum-style hucksterism at its best, while The Home Stretch is a more melodramatic and harsh account of the dark side of the racetrack and small town America.

Thursday, August 21 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Kit Carson (Edward Small Productions, 1940, 102 min)

Friday, August 22 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (Warner Bros., 1971, 120 min, 35mm) Dir Robert Altman. With Rene Auberjonois, William Devane, Shelley Duvall.

This poetic, contemplative, and lushly atmospheric western is one of Altman's greatest works. Warren Beatty's McCabe is a mumbling-to-himself businessman who comes to a Pacific Northwest town with the idea of opening a high class bordello. Julie Christie's Mrs. Miller is the opium-addicted madame with whom he joins forces. Accompanied by the wistful songs of Leonard Cohen, Altman shows McCabe naively taking on an encroaching big corporation, leading to an ending both inevitable and unforgettable.

Tuesday, August 26 (7:00 pm)

Thomas H. Ince: The Late Films

Bell Boy 13 (1923). Dir William Seiter. With Douglas MacLean. (44 min, 16mm).
Wandering Husbands (1924). Dir William Beaudine. With James Kirkwood, Lila Lee. (70 min, 35mm).

Sadly, while during the last four years of his life, Ince produced some three dozen films, only a very few survive. Bell Boy 13 is a clever comedy guaranteed to amuse, while Wandering Husbands is one of a series of melodramas which research in the Ince papers has revealed to be his product, although he is not credited on screen. A full explanation for this contract provision will be provided in the introduction to the program.

Thursday, August 28 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Way West (UA, 1967, 122 min, 35mm) Dir Andrew McLaglen. With Kirk Douglas, Sally Fields, Richard Widmark..

Hot off the Maurice Chevalier-Dean Jones vehicle Monkeys, Go Home, director McLaglen sheds dreams of Yvette Mimieux for this rugged tale of settlers driving through Indian territories. With Robert Mitchum in a non-singing role.

Thursday, August 29 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Bend of the River (Universal, 1952, 91 min, 35mm) Dir Anthony Mann. With Arthur Kennedy, Harry Morgan.

Glyn McLyntock was once a vicious outlaw, but he's trying his best to turn things around. In this performance, James Stewart shows us what a tough guy he can be. He guides a wagon train of settlers to the Oregon territory facing numerous perils along the way - Indians, harsh elements, hijackers, and gold rush madness. He rescues a former partner-in-crime from a lynching only to have to confront his wicked ways later on. It's a fight to the death and a plunge into the icy river. With beautiful scenery - Julie Adams and Rock Hudson vie for prettiest - this story adapted from the novel Bend of the Snake by Borden Chase holds an unwavering tension.

Tuesday, September 2 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Death Valley Days: How Death Valley Got Its Name (United States Borax, 1952, 30 min)
Cheyenne Dual at Judas Basin (ABC, 1960, 60 min)

Thursday, September 4 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Flight (Columbia, 1929, 110 min, 35mm) Dir Frank Capra. With Jack Holt, Lila Lee.

Before he attained screen immortality as a creator of winsome comedies, Frank Capra won wide acclaim for his vigorous action pictures. This accomplished early talkie exploited the public's fascination with all things airborne. D. W. Griffith veteran Ralph Graves plays one of the leading roles and contributed the original story, a paean to male bonding, danger, and derring-do that foreshadowed Dirigible (December 9).

Friday, September 5 (6:30 pm)

National Film Registry

Carrie (Paramount, 1952, 118 min, 35mm). Dir William Wyler. With Miriam Hopkins, Eddie Albert.

This screen adaptation of Theodore Dreiser's novel Sister Carrie follows the life and loves of an ambitious country girl (Jennifer Jones) who moves to Chicago in the 1890s. She finds city life difficult for a woman without family connections or money, but more complications and heartbreak arise when she becomes the mistress of an unhappily married businessman (Laurence Olivier).

Tuesday, September 9 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Twelve O'Clock High (Fox, 1950, 133 min)

Thursday, September 11 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Tarnished Angels (Universal, 1958, 91 min, 35mm). Dir Douglas Sirk. With Rock Hudson, Robert Stack, Dorothy Malone.

When a newspaper man finds himself drawn into the daredevil world of stunt flying and barnstorming, he quickly becomes entangled in a web of uncertain consequences. Based on William Faulkner's novel Pylon and featuring the stars of Sirk's acclaimed melodrama Written on the Wind, this trashy guilty pleasure is - according to its own publicity - "the picture they said could never be made because it dares to reflect life with complete frankness."

Friday, September 12 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Gong Show Movie (Universal, 1980, 89 min, 35 mm) Dir Chuck Barris. With Robin Altman, Mabel King.

Chuck Barris's peculiarly American brand of sadomasochism developed from incendiary satire of courtship rituals (The Dating Game) to a stunning treatise of isolationism (The Newlywed Game) - a chilling harbinger of things to come. The Gong Show Movie documents the culmination of the Barris aesthetic. Like Christians to lions, so were homely-grown acts thrown to Jamie Farr, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Jaye P. Morgan. If you could be judged by any three historical figures, would you choose any but this unloyal order? What other secret societies are harbored in the bowels of Hollywood? Why isn't there a Rip Taylor screensaver? There are no answers, only questions.

Tuesday, September 16 (6:30 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Westward Ho The Wagons! (Walt Disney, 1957, 86 min)

Tuesday, September 23 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Dawn Patrol (Warner Bros., 1938, 103 min)

Thursday, September 25 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Wings And The Woman (RKO, 1942, 94 min)

Friday, September 26 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Only Angels Have Wings (Columbia, 1939, 128 min)

Tuesday, September 30 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

The Donner Party (PBS, 1992, 90 min). Dir Ric Burns.

Ric Burns' acclaimed documentary chronicles the harrowing tale of the ill-fated emigrant group who set out for the promised land of California in the spring of 1846, only to meet with disaster in the snows of the Sierra Nevada the following winter. Narrated by David McCullough.

Thursday, October 2 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Ceiling Zero (Warner Bros., 1936, 95 min). Dir Howard Hawks. With Pat O'Brien, June Travis.

Based on the play of the same name, Hawks chose James Cagney to portray Dizzy Davis, a wild daredevil airmail pilot whose ways with the women are as well-known as his in-flight antics. When he returns to work for his old boss, the skies and the girls are fare game for Davis, even at the expense of his fellow pilots.

Friday, October 3 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Great Santini (Orion, 1979, 115 min, 35mm). Dir Lewis John Carlino. With Michael O'Keefe, Blythe Danner.

The Wright Brothers legacy, like so many technological advancements, created unexpected ripples. What would modern machismo do without the seductive elixir of speed and escape afforded by the iron bird? With new solutions come new anxieties: with geographical distance a now minor obstacle, is the distance between human beings any easier to traverse? Robert Duvall, the hero of the repressed, was nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Bull Meechum, a proud fighter pilot who drinks these questions till drunk. Has any other actor expressed so much emotion with so few histrionics?

Tuesday, October 7 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

You Are There: Lewis and Clark at the Great Divide (CBS, 1971, 30 min)
Wagon Train: The Charles Avery Story (Revue, 1957, 60 min)

Thursday, October 9 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Stories of the Century: Sam Bass (Republic, 1954, 25 min)
Bonanza: The Pursued (NBC, 1966, 100 min)

Friday, October 10 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Sky King: The Porcelain Lion (NBC, 1952, 30 min)
Whirlybirds: Black Maria (CBS, 1959, 30 min)
The Twilight Zone: The Last Flight (CBS, 1959, 30 min)
Wings: Das Plane (NBC, 1992, 30 min)

Tuesday, October 14 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Fort Apache (Argosy, 1948, 127 min, 35mm) Dir John Ford. With Henry Fonda, Pedro Armendáriz.

This film has long been both a critics' favorite and a crowd pleaser due to its gorgeous scenery, Archie Stout's matchless cinematography, Richard Hageman's tremendous musical score, and a stellar cast headed by the Duke himself. Primarily, it is a display of John Ford's directorial gifts at their peak. Works like Fort Apache made Ford the supreme mythmaker and film poet of the American West.

Thursday, October 16 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

They Died With Their Boots On (Warner Bros., 1941, 140 min, 35mm) With Olivia de Havilland, Arthur Kennedy.

Warner Bros.' take on the George Armstrong Custer story was never noted for its sensitivity or its historical accuracy. Its raison d'être was big-budget, slam-bang excitement. Impressive locations, a suspenseful story, plus extras and horsemen galore enliven one of the most effective spectacles released during Errol Flynn's reign as king of the action film.

Friday, October 17 (6:30 pm)

Wright Bros.

Wings (Paramount, 1927, 145 min)

Tuesday, October 21 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Shalako (UK, 1968, 113 min)

Wednesday, October 22 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Man In The Wilderness (Warner Bros., 1971, 104 min). Dir Richard C. Sarafian. With John Huston, Henry Wilcoxon, James Doohan.

In the 1820's Northwest territories, frontier scout Zachary Bass(the late, great Richard Harris) is left for dead by his captain and crew after being gruesomely mauled by a bear. Vowing revenge on his deserters, Bass travels many miles to find them; but in the process of his long journey he undergoes a transformation. A mystical, fantastic yet true story, including the hauling of Lewis and Clark's original ship across dry land.

Thursday, October 23 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Westward The Women (MGM, 1951, 116 min, 35mm) . Dir William Wellman. With Denise Darcel, Hope Emerson.

In 1851, the ranch hands in California were lonely and cold at night owing to a scarcity of women. So ranch-owner John McIntyre devises a harebrained scheme to find wives for his men. He heads to Chicago with a photo of each man in his pocket and then advertises for 100 good women who then pick their feller and sign up for the long haul. Robert Taylor tries his best to dissuade his boss, but fails, and reluctantly signs on to guide them. So with a wagon load of 150 prospective wives (they expect casualties) they head 2,000 miles across country only to be set upon by Indians, floods, hunger and thirst. They bury their dead, birth their babies, and shoot the rapists. And when the men desert, the women take over showing their mettle. With Frank Capra as the story writer you can expect plenty of noble and comic moments.

Friday, October 24 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

No Highway In The Sky (20th Century Fox., 1951, 98 min). Dir Henry Koster. With Jack Hawkins, Janette Scott.

After the 1950 success of Harvey, Henry Koster and James Stewart team up again for this UK-made vehicle. When Stewart realizes the airplane he's riding in -- manufactured by his employers -- could fall apart at any minute, he goes to great lengths to help his stewardess love (Glynis Johns) and actress friend (Marlene Dietrich). The two believe him, but everyone else treats him like he's seen a six-foot bunny on the wing. A must-see for frequent flyers!

Tuesday, October 28 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Calamity Jane (Warner Bros., 1953, 101 min) Dir David Butler. With Howard Keel, Allyn McLerie. (100 min, 35mm).

Welcome to Deadwood, Dakota Territory, where civilization is still unknown and gender roles are as mutable as the prairie breeze. An androgynous Doris Day gives her most dynamic performance as the legendary frontierswoman. The infectious songs are by Sammy Fain and Paul Francis Webster; the vivid cinematography (in Technicolor, natch) by Wilfrid M. Cline.

Thursday, October 30 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Rock Island Trail (Republic, 1950, 90 min)

Friday, October 31 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros..

The Dawn Patrol (Warner Bros., 1930, 105 min,). Dir Howard Hawks. With Frank McHugh, James Finlayson.

Neil Hamilton plays Major Brand, whose World War I air squadron seems to be increasingly made up of teenagers. Brand begins to feel the emotional effects of sending so many young men to their deaths. Richard Barthelmess and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., portray Courtney and Scott, rebellious fighter pilots whose friendship is tested when Courtney replaces Major Brand as squadron commander, and Scott's younger brother joins the team. The original John Monk Saunders story won an Oscar.

Tuesday, November 4 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Sergeant Rutledge (Warner Bros., 1960, 111 min, 35mm) Dir John Ford. With Jeffrey Hunter, Juano Hernandez.

Woody Strode stars as an African-American soldier standing trial at a frontier outpost. He is one of a group of black recruits helping the predominantly white community subdue the local Native American population. James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck's screenplay explores the always timely theme of race relations in America.

Thursday, November 6 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Along The Oregon Trail (Republic, 1947, 64 min)

Friday, November 7 (6:30 pm)

National Film Registry

Gypsy (Warner Bros., 1962, 145 min, 35mm). Dir Mervyn Leroy. With Rosalind Russell, Natalie Wood, Faith Dane, Karl Malden, Paul Wallace.

The famous Broadway show made famous by Ethyl Merman is recreated for the big screen in big, bold Technicolor Cinemascope. Natalie Wood recreates the Gypsy Rose Lee role with a wonderful supporting cast. Tonight's screening will be introduced by Faith Dane, who co-starred in the film.

Wednesday, November 12 (7:00 pm)

Suds (United Artists, 1920). Dir John Francis Dillon. With Albert Austin, Harold Goodwin. (75 min, 35mm).

Mary Pickford, one of silent cinema's biggest stars, is mostly remembered for her star-power and business acumen. At twenty-four she began producing her own pictures, and at twenty-seven she co-founded United Artists, the first independent distribution company. Suds was Mary Pickford second release at United Artists, the distribution company she co-founded in 1919 with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, and D.W. Griffith. Pickford's slapstick talents are shown in this dark comedy about a laundress living and working in a London slum. Two shorts, Behind the Scenes Footage of Mary Pickford on the Set of Little Annie Rooney (1925) and The Birth of United Artists (1919), will also be screened.

Thursday, November 13 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Silverado (Columbia, 1985, 127 min, 35mm) Dir Lawrence Kasdan. With Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner, Kevin Klein, Danny Glover, Linda Hunt, and Rosanna Arquette.

This film is one of Hollywood's big attempts in the 1980s at bringing back the popularity of the classic American Western. Big budget, all star cast, and hot director were all thrown together to try to score a big hit for Columbia Pictures, but alas, the film only was modestly successful at the box office. This film is worth a second look for the beautiful visuals of big sky country and its charming attempt to re-create the classic western.

Friday, November 14 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Destination Moon (George Pal Productions, 1950, 92 min)

Tuesday, November 18 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Heartland (Filmhaus, 1979, 96 min)

Thursday, November 20 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

River Of No Return (20th Century-Fox, 1954, 91 min, 35mm) Dir Otto Preminger, Jean Negulesco. With Robert Mitchum, Rory Calhoun.

Following an unjust prison term, Matt Calder returns to the wilderness to be reunited with his son and plans for his farm. But one day a troublesome couple arrives on a raft seeking help, the gambler Weston and his wife Kay - a saloon singer, no less. Weston is eager to get down river and file a claim on a gold mine that he has won in a poker game. So he steals Calder's gun and his horse and abandons the wife (Marilyn Monroe!), leaving the three helpless to face hostile Indians. They flee to the unruly river and it becomes a journey where angers are purged and love rediscovered. Absolutely gorgeous scenery shot in Alberta and the songs are sweet.

Friday, November 21 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Days of Heaven (Paramount, 1978, 95 min)

Tuesday, November 25 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Spirit of St. Louis (Warner Bros., 1957, 138 min). Dir Billy Wilder. With James Stewart, Murray Hamilton.

With the recent May 30th retirement of the Concorde fleet of planes, this retelling of Charles Lindbergh's 1927 New York to Paris flight takes on a special significance. Filmed in Cinemascope, the film follows Lindbergh from his younger days as an airmail pilot and barnstormer, through his landing in Paris. The Warner Bros. budget allowed for authentic-looking 1927 costumes and settings, and great "from the air" shots.

Tuesday, December 2 (7:00 pm)

National Film Registry

The Bad One (United Artists, 1930, 64 min)
Daughter of Shanghai (Paramount, 1937, 67 min)

Thursday, December 4 (6:30 pm)

National Film Registry

The Fair Co-ed (MGM, 1927, 71 min)
The Duchess of Buffalo (First National, 1926, 70 min)

Friday, December 5 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Airplane! (Paramount, 1980, 88 min)

Tuesday, December 9 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

Dirigible (Columbia, 1931, 100 min, 35mm) Dir Frank Capra. With Fay Wray, Hobart Bosworth.

This gripping airship saga set the standard for aviation movies of its era. Jack Holt and Ralph Graves, the brawny stars of Flight (September 4), battle Antarctica this time around. The adventures of explorer Richard E. Byrd inspired what became Columbia's most expensive production up to that date, and the film has remained an anomalous classic in the Capra canon.

Wednesday, December 10 (7:00 pm)

Rivers, Edens, Empires

Once Upon A Time In The West (Paramount, 1971, 159 min, 35mm) Dir Sergio Leone. With Henry Fonda, Claudia Cardinale, Jason Robards.

Man. Woman. Blood. Guns. Revenge. Eyeballs bigger than pancakes. If this movie had a smell it would stink of all of these and you'd like it. See it in widescreen ecstasy, buzz to Ennio Morricone's fuzz-guitar score, and you just might get a hint of that phantom smell.

Thursday, December 11 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Hindenberg (Universal, 1975, 126 min, 35mm) Dir Robert Wise. With Anne Bancroft, Gig Young, Burgess Meredith, Charles Durning.

Real life events blend with fiction in this blockbuster disaster film released in the summer of 1975 from the big budget director Robert Wise. Conspiracy theory is explored in the plot believing the Hindenburg explosion was caused by foul play. George C. Scott plays our hero who is somewhat of an anti-hero when he uncovers the plot but fails to prevent the Zeppelin's tragic end.

Friday, December 12 (6:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Right Stuff (Ladd Company, 1983, 191 min)

Tuesday, December 16 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Flying Ace (Norman Studios, 1928, 55 min, 35mm) Dir Howard Norman. With Lawrence
Criner, Kathryn Boyd.

Producer Richard E. Norman would be a rarity even today: a white man who made films for black audiences and who gave black actors roles of dignity and heroism. This picture traded on tales of black pilots like Bessie Coleman, the first African-American to earn a pilot's license. In fact ,Norman was asked to make a picture about Coleman's daredevil stunts. But Coleman was killed in a plane crash before The Flying Ace was even released. Norman never made a talking picture, but continued to distribute his own and other black films until his death in 1960.

Thursday, December 18 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

More Than A Miracle (C'Era una Volta) (Compagnia Cinematografica/MGM, 1967, 105 min, 35mm)
Dir Francesco Rosi. With Sophia Loren, Omar Sharif, Dolores del Rio.

Francesco Rosi (Eboli, Salvatore Giuliano), took a break from Italian political history with this Carlo Ponti-produced flight of fancy. Flying monks a la St. Joseph of Cupertino, witches out of Macbeth, and a dishwashing contest figure in this tale of a prince and a peasant girl. Loren and Sharif's chemistry, the Italian countryside and Piero Piccioni's astounding soundtrack all make for a pleasurable cinematic experience.

Friday, December 19 (7:00 pm)

Wright Bros.

The Great Waldo Pepper (Universal, 1975, 108 min, 35mm) Dir George Roy Hill. With Bo Svenson, Susan Sarandon, Edward Herrmann.

This film rode the star power of Robert Redford fresh off the big hit film The Sting and is very much a vehicle for his charm and charisma. Redford plays a World War I flying ace who was the only pilot who survived a dog fight with the legendary German flyer Ernst Kessler and follows his charismatic life as a stunt pilot after the War. The biggest thrill of this film is the World War I dog fights and the stunt aerial acrobatics re-enacted for the film.

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The Pickford Theater programmers are Barbara Bair, Jennifer Brathovde, Amy Gallick, Wilbur King, Mike Mashon, David Novack, Jennifer Ormson, Pat Padua, Lynne Parks, David Sager, Sam Serafy, Christel Schmidt, Linda Shah, Zoran Sinobad, Brian Taves, and Kim Tomadjoglou.

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All programs are subject to change.

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Go to:

• Mary Pickford Theater
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