MARY PICKFORD THEATER SCHEDULE

September 2002 - January 2003

Third Floor, James Madison Building, Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue, Washington, DC

Jump to: September - October- November - December - January

Gaslight (MGM, 1944). Dir George Cukor. With Joseph Cotton, Angela Lansbury. (114 min, 35 mm).

Ingrid Bergman won her first Oscar for portraying the vulnerable, haunted Paula Alquist. Her beloved aunt and only living family member has been murdered. Paula seeks refuge in Italy by pursuing her aunt's vocation, operatic singing. She then falls for and marries her piano accompanyist. The world is lovely until her new husband insists that they return to London and to the house that is the scene of the crime. Charles Boyer is marvelous as the attentive lover turned diabolical. Mood, madness, homocide and all around great performances. Gorgeous set decoration and cinematography. Lansbury is saucy and seventeen.

Friday, September 20 (7:00 pm)

The Collector (Columbia,1965) Dir William Wyler. With Terrence Stamp, Samantha Eggar. (119 min, 35mm).

Strong film version of John Fowles disturbing tale of spider and butterfly. Stamp is chilling as the emotionally challenged lepidopterist and Eggar radiant as the unfortunate specimen pinned to the board.

Tuesday, September 24 (7:00 pm)

The Incident (Moned Associated, 1967). Dir Larry Peerce. With Tony Musante, Martin Sheen. (107 min, 35mm).

Musante and Sheen star as two New York ruffians who terrorize 16 people late one night on a subway train. The passengers are too wrapped up in their own problems–alcoholism, unhappy marriages, money worries–to help the others, and their weaknesses provide seed to the drunken pair. Controversial for 1967, the script still proves to be a biting social commentary. The cast of hapless victims include Beau Bridges, Ed McMahon, Ruby Dee, Brock Peters and Donna Mills.

Thursday, September 26 (7:00 pm)

Tomorrow

Friday, September 27 (7:00 pm)

Mandingo

Tuesday, October 1 (7:00 pm)

Matt Helm

The Silencers (Columbia, 1966). Dir Phil Karlson. With Stella Stevens, Victor Buono. (105 min, 35mm).

Legendary Rat Packer Dean Martin brings to life author Donald Hamilton's super secret agent Matt Helm in the first of a series of four swinging sixties adventures. Dino thwarts the plans of an evil Chinese agent's attempt to take over the world. Lots of scantily clad starlets, round rotating beds, and a station wagon equipped with a fully stocked bar make this film a retro-hipsters favorite!

Thursday, October 3 (7:00 pm)

A Damsel in Distress (RKO, 1937). Dir George Stevens. With Fred Astaire, George Burns, Gracie Allen, Joan Fontaine. (100 min, 35mm).

An American song-and-dance man falls in love with the daughter of English royalty. A musical with Gershwin tunes, Astaire's dancing, and the comic shenanigans of Burns and Allen: who could ask for anything more?

Friday, October 4 (7:00 pm)

50s Bad Girls

I Want to Live! (United Artists, 1958). Dir Robert Wise. With Simon Oakland, Virginia Vincent. (120 min, 35mm).

Convicted during her short lifetime of forgery, prostitution, perjury, and murder, Barbara Graham was a rule-breaker of epic proportions. The film version of her life story, instead of being a judgmental tale of a woman gone bad, is a harrowing critique of the justice system and its frequent handmaidens, the mass media. It is also a compassionate depiction of an underdog, thanks to Susan Hayward's feisty, empathetic portrayal of Graham. Other titles in this series of ‘50's bad girls films are Niagara (November 21), Bonjour Tristesse (December 17), Girls Town (January 14).

Tuesday, October 8 (7:00 pm)

No Way to Treat a Lady (Paramount, 1968). Dir Jack Smight. With Lee Remick, George Segal. (108 min, 35 mm).

Romantic black comedy? Yep, in this wacky thriller Rod Steiger is a predator on the streets of New York, stalking lonely middle-aged women (his relationship with Mom is a bit troubled.) His theater background comes in handy when donning over-the-top disguises for his evil deeds. Part of the fun for him is toying with the detective, leaving him cryptic clues. But then he ups the ante and goes after the poor gumshoe's girlfriend. Toss a dwarf and an archetypal Jewish mother into the plot for utter zaniness.

Thursday, October 10 (7:00 pm)

The Captain Hates the Sea (Columbia, 1934). Dir Lewis Milestone. With Victor McLaglen, Wynne Gibson, Alison Skipworth. (80 min, 35mm).

Perhaps this could have been titled "Grand Hotel at Sea" since this 1934 rarity focuses on the diverse and sordid lives of passengers aboard a luxury liner. Walter Connolly is the captain who detests passengers. John Gilbert, in his last film appearance portrays a failed Hollywood screenwriter who is never far from the bar. Apparently director Milestone had a difficult time keeping the other cast members (including Gilbert) away from the bar. Stolen bonds and romance abound!

Friday, October 11 (7:00 pm)

Re-Animator (Empire, 1985). Dir Stuart Gordon. With Jeffrey Combs, Bruce Abbott, Barbara Crampton. (86 min, 35mm).

So you think you want to bring the dead back to life? So you think you can handle the consequences? This loose, irreverent adaptation of an HP Lovecraft tale demonstrates the black humor and bloodletting that derives from a pseudo-scientific attempt to deal with loss. Shown with Blond Gorilla, a condensation of the feature White Pongo, which gives us a post-Nazi world where the missing link turns out to be an Aryan ape.

Tuesday, October 15 (7:00 pm)

Scarlet Street (Universal, 1945) Dir Fritz Lang. With Edward G. Robinson, Joan Bennett, Dan Duryea. (102 min, 35 mm).

This is Lang's remake of Renoir's La Chienne. He takes a bleak, noirish melodrama and turns it into a profound study on the subjectivity of perception. The stagy studio sets and under-stated performances are used to brilliant effect. Robinson is an amateur artist stuck in a dead end job. He is soon manipulated into embezzling funds to maintain his new mistress in style. But when he finds out what her game is, passions explode in a fevered and violent climax. A marvelously subversive film with knockout performances.

Thursday, October 17 (7:00 pm)

Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (Orion, 1993). Dir. Steven M. Martin. With Leon Theremin, Clara Rockmore, Robert Moog. (78 min, 35mm).

This film documents the career of Leon Theremin and his most famous invention: the theremin. Perhaps best known as the ethereal background sound on the Beach Boys recording of "Good Vibrations," the theremin has been featured in a surprising number of twentieth century musical compositions. Classical musicians, pop musicians, easy listening musicians, and musicians recording 1950s science fiction film soundtracks have all used the Theremin. It is also one of the first purely electronic musical instruments and a direct ancestor of the Moog synthesizer. The film's depiction of Theremin's life is consistently fascinating, tracing his movements from his basement science experiments, to recitals with New York's musical avant-garde and including his later kidnapping and possible employment by the KGB.

Friday, October 18 (6:30 pm)

Veterans History Project: Homecoming

The Best Years of Our Lives (Goldwyn, 1946). Dir William Wyler. With Frederic March, Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy, Virginia Mayo, Teresa Wright, and Hoagy Carmichel.

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) is producer Samuel Goldwyn's classic, significant American film about the difficult adjustments (unemployment, adultery, alcoholism, and ostracism) that three returning veteran servicemen experienced in the aftermath of World War II. Major stars (Fredric March, Dana Andrews, and WWII vet Russell), each giving the performances of their lives, are involved in three romances (with Myrna Loy, Virginia Mayo and Teresa Wright, and Cathy O'Donnell).

Tuesday, October 22 (7:00 pm)

Matt Helm

Murderer's Row (Columbia, 1967). Dir Henry Levin. With Ann-Margret, Karl Malden. (106 min, 35mm).

Move over James Bond! Dean Martin is back as boozing secret agent Matt Helm. Dino must stop the international espionage group "Big O" (snicker) from using a secret heat ray weapon to take over the world (plot seem familiar?). Vivacious Ann-Margret and mod rock group Dino, Desi, and Billy make this second entry in the Matt Helm series one of the grooviest.

Wednesday, October 23 (7:00 pm)

Filmakers Respond to 9/11

Please join us for a special of evening of films made in response to September 11. Included will be several independent productions plus excerpts from raw footage shot that day and other documentaries. On October 24, the Library will host a panel discussion exploring filmmakers' reactions to 9/11 from 1-3 p.m. in the Mumford Room on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building. Independent filmmakers will include Pola Rapaport (September Eleventh: Eyewitnesses), Kerry Reardon (9.11), and Monica Sharf (Tribute 9.11). Also joining will be Magnum photographer Evan Fairbanks, whose dramatic video of the attack was widely seen on television, and Patricia Aufderheide, a professor at American University who has written about the film community's reactions to the event.

Thursday, October 24 (7:00 pm)

Detective Novels: Dashiell Hammett

The Thin Man Goes Home (1944) Dir Richard Thorpe. With William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gloria De Haven, Harry Davenport (100 min)

Nick and Nora, the Dashiell Hammett husband-and-wife detective team, are out to solve a murder in their own backyard. A man drops dead on the front porch of Nick's parents' home while Nick and Nora are visiting.

The Thin Man: Pack My Gat, Beulah (TV Series, 1958) With Peter Lawford as Nick Charles and Phyllis Kirk as Nora Charles. Guest appearance by Nita Talbot as Beatrice Dane

Friday, October 25 (7:00 pm)

The Bad and the Beautiful (MGM, 1952). Dir Vincent Minnelli. With Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Dick Powell (118 min, 35mm).

How David Raksin found the inspiration to write his glorious score for this picture will remain a mystery–until he publishes his forthcoming memoirs. We want to honor this film composer, who turned 90 on Aug. 4, with two examples of his work. We precede the feature with the 1953 animated James Thurber fable, The Unicorn in the Garden.

Tuesday, October 29 (7:00 pm)

The Fearless Vampire Killers or: Pardon Me, But Your Teeth Are in My Neck (MGM, 1967). Dir Roman Polanski. With Jack Macgowran, Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate. (93 min, 35mm).

Professor Abronsius and his assistant Alfred travel to Transylvania to rid a village of its resident vampires. Needless to say, a movie that really sucks…

Thursday, October 31 (7:00 pm)

Detective Novels: Ross McDonald

Harper (1966). Dir Paul Smight. With Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall and Julie Harris (121 min)

Private-eye mystery based on af Ross MacDonald "Lew Archer" novel. When a millionaire businessman turns up missing, his estranged, invalid wife Bacall hires a private detective (Newman) to find him. The P.I. quickly discovers that the victim has been kidnapped by some of those nearest and dearest to him, and uncovers a tangled web of smuggling, greed, drugs and petty family jealousies.

Friday, November 1 (7:00 pm)

Sam Fuller

The Typewriter, the Rifle, and the Movie Camera (BFI/IFC, 1996). Dir. Adam Simon. With Samuel Fuller, Tim Robbins, Jim Jarmusch, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino. (55 min, video).

Power of the Press (Columbia, 1943). Dir. Lew Landers. Story: Sam Fuller. With Guy Kibbee, Gloria Dickson, Lee Tracy. (64 min, 35mm).

He is championed as the greatest filmmaker of his generation by his fans, and dismissed as a chauvinist and even a fascist by his opponents. His films, although made within the framework of Hollywood's mainstream cinema, have consistently laid claim to total authorship: "Written, Produced and Directed by Samuel Fuller". We begin our series with a documentary co-produced by the British Film Institute and the Independent Film Channel, followed by one of Fuller's early writing credits inspired by his ten-year experience as a copy-boy and crime reporter in New York City.

Tuesday, November 5 (7:00 pm)

Veterans History Project: Homecoming

The Manchurian Candidate (United Artists, 1962). Dir John Frankenheimer. With Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh, Angela Lansbury. (126 min, 35mm).

The most famous and revered film of the late John Frankenheimer(1930-2002), Manchurian Candidate is a one of a kind, brilliant political satire/suspense horror thriller. After Korean war vet Raymond Shaw (a mesmerizing Laurence Harvey) is awarded the Medal of Honor, members of his platoon, including Sinatra, start having nightmares about him. Both Harvey and Sinatra were never better, but Lansbury, playing Harvey's mother, must be seen to be believed. Cited by many as an American masterpiece, tonight's presentation is of a restored print from the National Film Registry.

Wednesday, November 6 (7:00 pm)

The Vitagraph Girl: A Tribute to Florence Turner

The New Stenographer (1911)
Tin Type Romance (1910)
Jean Rescues (1911)
Everybody's Doin' It (1913)
East is East (1916)
Piano accompaniment by Ray Brubacher.

Thursday, November 7 (7:00 pm)

Female Detectives

A Midnight Adventure
Katchem Kate
Mary Ryan, Detective

Friday, November 8 (7:00 pm)

Sam Fuller

White Dog (Paramount, 1981). Dir. Samuel Fuller. With Kristy McNichol, Paul Winfield, Burl Ives. (90 min, 35mm).

The story of an animal instructor who tries to recondition a stray white dog trained to attack blacks, Fuller's first Hollywood picture in 18 years was labeled as controversial even before anybody had seen it. The film's production history goes back to 1976 when Curtis Hanson wrote a draft loosely based on a short story by Romain Gary which had originally appeared in Life magazine. During the late 1970s, producer Robert Evans and directors Arthur Penn, Roman Polanski and Tony Scott were at various times involved with the project. Despite positive reviews (Variety called it "resolutely anti-racist in its attitudes"), White Dog was shelved and held back from U.S. theatrical release until 1991. The fiasco prompted Fuller to move to France where he lived for the next fifteen years, eventually returning to Hollywood shortly before his death in 1997.

Tuesday, November 12 (6:00 pm)

Veterans History Project: Homecoming

The Deer Hunter (Universal, 1978). Dir Michael Cimino. With Meryl Streep, John Cazale. (183 min, 35mm).

Three lifelong friends (Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Savage), leave their small Pennsylvania town to fight in Vietnam, where they fall prey to torture, abuse, and emotional devastation. Cimino's searing drama was highly controversial at the time of its release, not least for its fictional use of Russian Roulette as a metaphor for the Vietnam war. Winner of 5 Academy awards, including Best Picture; hauntingly scored by Stanley Myers.

Wednesday, November 13 (7:00 pm)

The Silent Civil War

The Informer (AM&B, 1912). Dir D.W. Griffith. With Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish. (20 min, 35mm).
The Chronicles of America: Dixie (Yale, 1924). With Arthur Dewey, Florence Johnstone. (30 min, 35mm).
The Field of Honor (Universal, 1917). Dir Allen Holubar. With Frank MacQuarrie, Louise Lovely. (72 min, 35mm).

The Civil War was a very popular subject from the very beginnings of cinema, but no silent era director visited the era quite as much as D.W. Griffith. Griffith's idealistic vision of a genteel Old South found its apogee in his groundbreaking--if ideologically indefensible--The Birth of a Nation (1915), but tonight we'll start an evening of the "silent" Civil War with his earlier The Informer, which serves as something of a precursor to the more influential feature. Dixie is from The Chronicles of America series, and focuses on the role women played in the Confederacy, while The Field of Honor is a stirring drama of cowardice and redemption set during the conflict. Tonight's program will be accompanied by pianist Ray Brubacher.

Thursday, November 14 (7:15 pm)

The Silent Civil War

Confederate Veterans Reunion (Fox, 1930). (9 min, 35mm).
Dixieland (Warner Bros., 1935). (10 min, 35mm).
The Red Badge of Courage (MGM, 1951). Dir John Huston. With Bill Mauldin, Andy Devine. (69 min, 35mm).

John Huston's brilliant, concise adaptation of the Stephen Crane novel anchors this night of Civil War films. Audie Murphy stars as a tender youth who discovers that war requires all manner of courage. We open with Dixieland, from the Vitaphone series See America First, and some raw, unedited footage of a Confederate reunion. If you've ever wondered what the Rebel Yell really sounded like, here's your chance.

Friday, November 15 (7:00 pm)

Sam Fuller

Verboten (Globe Enterprises, 1958). Dir. Samuel Fuller. With James Best, Susan Cummings, Tom Pittman. (87 min, 35mm).

Fuller's first film set in Europe, the scene of his own war experiences, Verboten! tells the story of an American soldier who marries a German girl in occupied Berlin after WW2 and confronts the remnants of Nazism in the form of a gang of former Hitler Youth members. A high-pitched melodrama framed with a dizzying mix of long takes, German and Allied newsreel footage, material from the Nuremberg trials, and a soundtrack ranging from Paul Anka to Beethoven and Wagner.

Monday, November 18 (7:00 pm)

None But the Lonely Heart (RKO, 1944). Dir Clifford Odets. With Cary Grant, Ethel Barrymore, June Duprez. (113 min, 35mm).

There are scenes with Grant and Barrymore that stick in the long-time memories of older filmgoers. And they remember the character played by June Duprez, " a curiously rich, pitiful, fascinating person, blended of Cockney and the Bronx," according to James Agee. Adapted by Odets from the novel by Richard Llewellyn. Photography by George Barnes; music by Hanns Eisler.

Tuesday, November 19 (7:00 pm)

The Chase (Columbia, 1966). Dir. Arthur Penn. With Marlon Brando, Jane Fonda, Robert Redford. (132 min, 35mm).

The behind-the-screen shenanigans drew more notice than the film itself. The author of the screenplay, Lillian Hellman, sought absolution in the New York Times for the botched script. Sam Spiegel, the film's producer, proclaimed his film's theme as "the consequences of affluence." Hanky-panky on the range would be more accurate.

Thursday, November 21 (7:00 pm)

50s Bad Girls

Niagara (20th Century-Fox, 1953). Dir Henry Hathaway. With Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters. (89 min, 35mm).

This Technicolor melodrama showcases two photogenic forces of nature: Niagara Falls and Marilyn Monroe. Those who associate MM with gentle, comic roles had better beware, however. Here she heats up the screen as a scheming villainess. The steely, charismatic cruelty in her performance is a welcome change from the much-heralded vulnerability that later defined (and confined) her movie image.

Friday, November 22 (7:00 pm)

Sam Fuller

Merrill's Marauders (United States Productions, 1961). Dir. Samuel Fuller. With Jeff Chandler, Ty Hardin, Peter Brown, Andrew Duggan. (98 min, 35mm).

A gritty combat film which follows a group of GIs fighting in the Burmese jungle deep behind Japanese lines. Shot on a tight budget on location in the Philippines, Merrill's Marauders includes some of the most stunning battle sequences ever filmed and is a prime example of Fuller's exciting visual style. Variety called the railroad yard attack "one of the best visual impressions of carnage since the Atlanta sequence in Gone with the Wind." Jeff Chandler, in the role of Brigadier General Frank Merrill, died prior to the film's release at the age of 42.

Tuesday, December 3 (7:00 pm)

Veterans History Project: Homecoming

Apartment for Peggy (20th Century Fox, 1948). Dir George Seaton. With Jeanne Crain, Edmund Gwenn, William Holden, Gene Lockhart, Randy Stuart, and Griff Barnett. (98 min).

Professor Henry Barnes decides he's lived long enough and contemplates suicide. His attitude is changed by Peggy Taylor, a chipper young mother-to-be who charms him into renting out his attic as an apartment for her and her husband Jason, a former GI struggling to finish college.

Thursday, December 5 (6:30 pm)

Home in Oklahoma (Republic, 1946) Dir William Witney. With Roy Rogers, Dale Evans. (72 min., 16mm).
Border Saddlemates (Republic, 1952) Dir William Witney. With Rex Allen, Slim Pickens. (67 min., 16mm).

The late William Witney was one of the foremost exponents of the western, particularly in the decade after World War II at the Republic studio. Despite modest budgets, Witney has won steadily more recognition over the years, and is today recognized as the man who did for the "B" western what John Ford did for the genre's more expensive "A" counterpart, bringing freshness, verve, and realism to the genre.

Friday, December 6 (7:00 pm)

Pee-wee's Big Adventure (Warner Bros., 1985). Dir Tim Burton. With Paul Reubens, Elizabeth Daily. (90 min, 35mm).

Tim Burton's first feature-length film, which he directed when he was only 26, follows the peculiar Pee-wee Herman as he desperately searches for his lost bicycle. Along the way he encounters an escaped convict, a waitress longing to move to Paris and a lovable but spooky truck driver named Large Marge. Nothing says 1985 like "I know you are, but what am I?", Mr. T cereal, and cameos by James Brolin, Morgan Fairchild and Twisted Sister. Preceded by two Tim Burton animated shorts: Stalk of the Celery Monster and Vincent, and by an episode of the television program Pee-Wee's Playhouse, featuring a young Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis.

Tuesday, December 10 (7:00 pm)

Johnny Eager (MGM, 1941). Dir Mervyn Leroy. With Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Van Heflin. (105 min, 35 mm).

Robert Taylor lost his pretty boy image after shocking audiences with his ruthless portrayal of hood Johnny Eager. Taylor and Turner sizzle in a highly stylized mode of tragic glamour that is definitive Hollywood passion. Eager is a hard-nosed gangster leading a double life. To fulfill his parole, he works as a cabbie, but secretly continues as an underworld gambling kingpin. When the DA's daughter falls for him, he's quick to exploit the situation. Van Heflin is brilliant as the alcoholic, literary sidekick and the voice of Johnny's conscience. He won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in this role.

Thursday, December 12 (7:00 pm)

Matt Helm

The Ambushers (Columbia, 1968). Dir. Henry Levin. With Janice Rule, James Gregory. (100 min, 35mm).

Director Levin, screenwriter Herbert Baker, and star Dean Martin throw caution to the wind in this third installment of the Matt Helm spy series. Political incorrectness runs amok as Dino drinks, chain smokes, and chases a slew of semi-dressed cheesecake cuties. The plot is incidental but has something to do with an evil mastermind's plot to takeover the world. The entire cast performs tongue-in-cheek in what amounts to a feature length exercise in double entendre. Bring your sense of humor and don't miss Dino's jab at pallie and fellow rat packer Frank Sinatra in the final scene.

Friday, December 13 (7:00 pm)

Reflections in a Golden Eye (Warner Bros., 1967). Dir John Huston. With Marlon Brando, Julie Harris, Brian Keith. (108 min, 35mm).

Repressed passions explode on a Southern army base in this adaptation of the Carson McCullers novel. Brando plays a conflicted homosexual major who develops a mad crush on private Robert Forster, who in turn likes to watch Brando's wife, Liz Taylor, as she sleeps (and this is just the beginning). Huston treats McCuller's troubled characters and their bizarre goings-on with humor and compassion. Brando's performance in this film is one of his most brilliant: dangerous, funny and deeply felt.

Tuesday, December 17 (7:00 pm)

50s Bad Girls

Bonjour Tristesse (Columbia, 1958). Dir Otto Preminger. With Deborah Kerr, David Niven. (94 min, 35mm).

Pixieish teenager Jean Seberg is not as innocent as she looks in this perverse love story set on the French Riviera. Veteran director of photography Georges Perinal contributes both Technicolor and black and white cinematography in a translation of Françoise Sagan's once-scandalous novel to the screen. Although American audiences were indifferent to this film when it was released, Bonjour Tristesse has since attained classic status, particularly in France, where New Wave directors enthusiastically embraced it. Jean-Luc Godard was so smitten with Seberg's persona that he fashioned a similar role for her in his epochal film Breathless.

Thursday, December 19 (7:00 pm)

Candy Mountain (1987). Dir Robert Frank and Rudy Wurlitzer. With Kevin J. O'Connor, Harris Yulin, Tom Waits, Bulle Ogier, David Johansen, Leon Redbone, Joe Strummer, Roberts Blossom; CAMEO(S): Rita MacNeil, Laurie Metcalf. (90 min)

A mediocre musician goes in search of the world's greatest guitar maker, encountering a series of bizarre people along the way. Celebrity cameos enliven the journey, including one by Buster Poindexter (Johansen).

Friday, December 20 (7:00 pm)

Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (UA, 1934). Dir Lewis Milestone. With Al Jolson, Madge Evans, Frank Morgan. (82 min, 35 mm).

In the course of this Great Depression musical drama, the heroine switches her affections from a New York City mayor (modelled on Jimmy Walker), to a hobo who hangs out in Central Park with his cronies. We're fortunate this evening to have David Parker on hand to explain this woman's behavior, and a great deal more about the circumstances surrounding this wonderfully strange movie. Songs by Richard Rodgers (whose centennial we celebrate) and Lorenz Hart.

Tuesday, January 7 (7:00 pm)

Second Chorus (Paramount, 1941). Dir H.C. Potter. With Fred Astaire, Paulette Goddard, Burgess Meredith, Artie Shaw and His Orchestra. (83 min, 35mm).

Astaire's dancing and Shaw's band take the spotlight in this musical, which follows the exploits of musicians Astaire and Meredith as they try to win the hand of Goddard by joining Shaw's band.

Thursday, January 9 (7:00 pm)

Matt Helm

The Wrecking Crew (Columbia, 1969). Dir Phil Karlson. With Sharon Tate, Ursula Andress. (102 min. 35mm).

The Wrecking Crew finds Dean Martin literally stumbling through his role in this, the fourth and final episode of the Matt Helm series. America's gold supply is in danger of being stolen by yet another evil mastermind and it's up to Matt to save the day, romancing luscious Tina Louise and beating up karate kings Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris along the way.

Friday, January 10 (7:00 pm)

The Train (United Artists, 1964). Dir John Frankenheimer. With Burt Lancaster, Jeanne Moreau. (133 min, 35mm).

Of American film directors who came to prominence during the 60s, the late John Frankenheimer (a veteran of live TV drama), was among the most prolific and ambitious. The tense WWII drama The Train, his first foray into action/adventure, was shot entirely on French locations in moody black and white. Cited as one of the last full-scale thrillers, there are no trick-shots, just the real thing. A Nazi colonel (Paul Scofield) loads up a train bound for Germany with looted French art treasures. Lancaster (intensely physical and performing his own stunts) is a French railway supervisor entrusted by the Resistance to stop the train--but at what cost?

Tuesday, January 14 (7:00 pm)

50s Bad Girls

Girls Town (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1959). Dir Charles Haas. With Elinor Donahue, Mel Torme. (92 min, 35mm).

In an era that favored buxom towheads, Mamie Van Doren was arguably the brassiest, slangiest, and hip-swingingest of the Hollywood blondes. Unlike her classier counterparts, she never collaborated with an Arthur Miller or an Alfred Hitchcock, but she was exploitation movie king Albert Zugsmith's muse and together they churned out a series of outrageously fun pictures for the youth market. The cult favorite Girls Town finds Mamie cracking wise and dodging nuns while doing time in an all-female reformatory.

Thursday, January 16 (7:00 pm)

Blues for Lovers (Alsa, 1966). Dir Paul Henried. With Tom Bell, Mary Peach, Dawn Addams. (89 min, 35mm).

In an attempt to cash in on Ray Charles' universal popularity as a musician and entertainer, Twentieth Century-Fox decided to give him a starring role to test his star potential. Naturally, he was cast as a blind musician who helps a recently-blinded boy to get an operation to possibly regain his sight. Ray's performances of "What'd I Say" and "I Got a Woman" highlight this forgotten film.

Friday, January 17 (7:00 pm)

Winter Kills (1979). Dir William Richert. With Jeff Bridges, John Huston, Anthony Perkins, Belinda Bauer, and Sterling Hayden. (97 min).

Nick Kegan (Bridges), the younger brother of a President shot down 19 years earlier, sets out to discover the truth behind the assassination in this unlikely black comedy. Nick's wealthy father, played by John Huston, and his father's bizarre staff are both help and hindrance with the oddball survivors of the era Nick meets in his quest. Elizabeth Taylor has a cameo role as the late President's procuress.

All programs are subject to change.

The Pickford Theater programmers are Bryan Cornell, Amy Gallick, Wilbur King, David March, Mike Mashon, David Novack, Jennifer Ormson, Lynne Parks, Pat Padua, David Reese, Bradley Reeves, David Sager, Sam Serafy, Christel Schmidt, Chris Spehr, Zoran Sinobad, and Brian Taves.