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Mary Pickford Theater

Archive of past screenings:

2024 -2023 -2020 - 2019 - 2018 -2017 -2016 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000








Thursday, March 21 at 6:30 p.m.

STRANGE DAYS (Lightstorm Entertainment / 20th Century Fox, 1995). Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Written by James Cameron and Jay Cocks. With Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis, Tom Sizemore, Vincent D’Onofrio, Michael Wincott. (145 min, color, widescreen, 35mm archival print from the Copyright Collection, R-rated).

Strange Days

Poster for "Strange Days" (Lightstorm Entertainment / 20th Century Fox, 1995).

On the eve of the 21st century, in war-torn Los Angeles, a former police officer hustling bootleg recordings of people’s memories and emotions uncovers a conspiracy involving the city police force. A dystopian thriller that divided opinions upon its release, "Strange Days" was a collaborative effort between Kathryn Bigelow and her ex-husband James Cameron, the latter’s involvement inevitably sparking discussions over the film’s authorship. Notwithstanding Cameron’s contributions to the script and the production’s technical aspects (a special camera was constructed for the innovative POV shots), Bigelow considered "Strange Days" her most personal film to date, "a synthesis of all the different tracks I've been exploring, either deliberately or unconsciously, ever since I started making art."

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:00 pm.


U.S. Crime Classics

Thursday, April 11, at 7:00 p.m.

James M. Cain

DOUBLE INDEMNITY (Paramount, 1944). Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler, from the novel of the same name by James M. Cain. With Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Tom Powers. (107 min, black & white, 35mm print from the BBC Archives Collection).

Double Indemnity

Lobby card for "Double Indemnity" (Paramount, 1944).

An insurance salesman is lured into a murder plot by an attractive client. Based on a novel by one hard-boiled author (Cain) and co-written by another (Chandler), this classic film noir has it all: crackling dialogue, a femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck at her most alluring) weaving her web around a gullible male, doom-laden narration, a clever flashback structure, and superb black & white cinematography emphasizing a claustrophobic ambiance in which the two main characters "have to go on riding together clear to the end of the line." Double Indemnity is a virtual textbook of the noir style and has been repeatedly included in lists of 100 greatest movies of all time. Selected for the National Film Registry in 1992.

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Thursday, April 25, 2024 7:00 p.m.

Mickey Spillane

THE LONG WAIT (Parklane Pictures / United Artists, 1954). Directed by Victor Saville. Screenplay by Alan Green and Lesser Samuels, from the novel of the same name by Mickey Spillane. With Anthony Quinn, Charles Coburn, Gene Evans, Peggie Castle, Mary Ellen Kay. (94 min, black & white, 35mm print from the Copyright Collection, rights courtesy of Rialto Pictures).

The Long Wait

Poster for "The Long Wait" (Parklane Pictures/United Artists, 1954).

Two years after losing his memory in a traffic accident, a man discovers that he is wanted for murder. A rarely seen adaptation of a Mickey Spillane novel, this bleak portrayal of small-town corruption features a character not dissimilar to the author’s private eye Mike Hammer. Played by Anthony Quinn in his first leading role in an English-language feature, Johnny McBride is another of Spillane’s no-holds-barred individuals whose violence and brutality is in this case compounded by the frustration of losing his identity. English director and producer Victor Saville acquired the rights to several Spillane novels and was also responsible for I, the Jury (1953), and, more prominently, Kiss Me Deadly (1955).

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.


U.K. Crime Classics

Thursday, May 9, 2024 7:00 p.m.

Agatha Christie

MURDER SHE SAID (MGM, U.K., 1961). Dir George Pollock. Screenplay by David Pursall and Jack Seddon; adapted by David Osborn from the novel "4.50 from Paddington" by Agatha Christie. With Margaret Rutherford, Arthur Kennedy, Muriel Pavlow, James Robertson Justice, Thorley Walters. (86 min, black & white, 35mm print from the Copyright Collection).

Murder She Said

Lobby card for "Murder She Said" (MGM, U.K., 1961).

While riding on a train, Miss Marple sees what appears to be a murder taking place on another train going in the opposite direction. Regarded as one of the best Miss Marple novels, "4.50 from Paddington" has been adapted for the screen several times, but it is this 1961 film that remains the most popular version despite departing significantly from Agatha Christie’s original. Margaret Rutherford transforms Christie’s prim and fussy elderly spinster into an intrepid force of nature who is like "a giant stone rolling down a hill" (Ron Miller). Christie herself, while praising Rutherford as a "very fine actress," at the same time judged her to be "never in the least like Miss Marple." Murder She Said was nevertheless a hit with audiences and critics alike and Margaret Rutherford went on to play the amateur sleuth in three more films.

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.

Thursday, May 23, 2024 7:00 p.m.

Edgar Wallace

CLUE OF THE NEW PIN (Merton Park Studios, U.K., 1961). Directed by Allan Davis. Screenplay by Philip Mackie, from the novel of the same name by Edgar Wallace. With Paul Daneman, Bernard Archard, James Villiers, Katherine Woodville, Clive Morton, Leslie Sands. (58 min, black & white, 35mm print from the Copyright Collection, rights courtesy of Rialto Pictures).

Murder She Said

Poster for "Clue of the New Pin" (Merton Park Studios, U.K., 1961).

With

RICOCHET (Merton Park Studios, U.K., 1963). Directed by John Llewellyn Moxey. Screenplay by Roger Marshall, based on the novel "The Angel of Terror" by Edgar Wallace. With Maxine Audley, Richard Leech, Alex Scott, Dudley Foster, Patrick Magee, Frederick Piper. (64 min, black & white, 35mm print from the Copyright Collection, rights courtesy of Rialto Pictures).

Ricochet

Poster for "Ricochet" (Merton Park Studios, U.K., 1963).

Between 1960 and 1965, the London-based Merton Park Studios produced a series of 47 films adapted from the works of English writer Edgar Wallace. Made quickly and cheaply, the films (on average an hour long) starred established character actors and emerging young talent, and were shown in British cinemas as supporting features on double bills. The series made it to the U.S. repackaged for TV, with individual entries shortened to 45 min in order to fit the 60 min commercial broadcast slots. The Library of Congress holds uncut versions of many of the Merton/Wallace films, and we are pleased to be able to show a sampling of these taut and concise mystery/crime fables on the big screen, as they were originally intended to be seen.

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.


Thursday, June 13, 2024 7:00 p.m.

THE BRIDE CAME C.O.D. (Warner Bros., 1941). Directed by William Keighley. Screenplay by Julius J. Epstein and Philip G. Epstein; story by Kenneth Earl and M. M. Musselman. With James Cagney, Bette Davis, Stuart Erwin. Eugene Pallette, Jack Carson, George Tobias. (92 min, black & white, 35mm print from the Copyright Collection).

Preceded by the Merrie Melodies cartoon RHAPSODY IN RIVETS (Warner Bros., 1941). directed by Friz Freleng. (8 min, Technicolor, 35mm, preserved from original nitrate negatives in the United Artists Collection).

The Bride Came C.O.D.

Lobby card for "The Bride Came C.O.D." (Warner Bros., 1941).

A pilot is enlisted by an oil tycoon to prevent his daughter from marrying a band leader. A fast-paced screwball comedy that provided both Cagney and Davis with an opportunity to move away from their established screen personas, he from gangster roles and she from leads in romantic dramas. Some have suggested that Davis accepted the part, not dissimilar to Claudette Colbert’s runaway heiress in It Happened One Night (1934), to rival Katharine Hepburn, who had great success with comedies such as Bringing Up Baby (1938) and The Philadelphia Story (1940). The actress was later dismissive of the film, claiming that all she got out of it was "a derrière full of cactus quills."

Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis.  Doors open at 6:30 pm.

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  March 12, 2024
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