<<< February 5 - 8, 2009 >>>

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This is an Aero Theatre Exclusive!

During times of economic woes, movies have always presented a relatively inexpensive form of entertainment. During the Great Depression, Hollywood responded to America’s collective troubles with some of the most entertaining movies ever made: classic horror films (FRANKENSTEIN, THE MUMMY), musicals (the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers pictures), and screwball comedies starring Cary Grant (HOLIDAY), W.C. Fields (IT’S A GIFT) and more. There are few things as comforting as laughing, crying and screaming together in a crowded movie theater -- so during our current economic downturn, why not gather together for a series of enduring classics? The Aero will be showing some of the funniest, scariest and most romantic movies of an era a little too close to our own for comfort. During this series, the Cinematheque doesn’t want anyone to miss the fun so we are extending a special invitation to our friends who are out of work to come to this series for FREE upon presentation of a January or February stub from your EDD benefit check. Please show the stub with photo ID at the box office for entry. And ask about our Roosevelt Deal at the concession stand!

Thursday, February 5 – 7:30 PM

Forrest J. Ackerman Memorial Double Feature:

FRANKENSTEIN, 1931, Universal, 70 min. Dir. James Whale. "A Monster Science Created – But Could Not Destroy!" Boris Karloff had appeared in over 75 films before FRANKENSTEIN turned him almost overnight into a screen legend. His performance as a manmade human stitched together from pieces of dead bodies and reanimated by electricity – anguished, eloquent, wordless – remains one of the most hauntingly powerful in all cinema. With Colin Clive, Edward Van Sloan, Dwight Frye. Trailer

THE MUMMY, 1932, Universal, Dir. Karl Freund. Boris Karloff gives one of his finest performances as the 3,000-year-old Egyptian who returns from the dead to reclaim reincarnated love Zita Johann, in cinematographer-turned-director Karl Freund’s marvelously atmospheric chiller – easily the best of many mummy films to come. (Look for a memorial tribute to Forry on March 8 at the Egyptian.) More | Trailer

Friday, February 6 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

SONS OF THE DESERT, 1933, Hal Roach (Hallmark Entertainment), 68 min. Dir. William A. Seiter. In what many fans consider their best feature, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy want to sneak off to their annual lodge convention, but the wives are having none of it. A wonderful farce with a deep layer of truth that lifts it above other, more "respectable" marital comedies. With Mae Busch, Dorothy Christy and a hilarious Charley Chase as an obnoxious drunk; see if you can spot a young Bob Cummings in the crowd. More

IT’S A GIFT, 1934, Universal, 73 min. Dir. Norman Z. McLeod. Considered by some to be The Great Man’s greatest film, this short, sweet W.C. Fields vehicle is little more than a series of zany sketches loosely tied to his desire to move to California and grow oranges. Includes the legendary "Mr. Muckle" and "Carl LaFong" scenes, as well as the hanging mirror and sleeping porch routines. Jean Rouverol, who co-wrote THE FIRST TIME, plays Fields’ daughter. More

Saturday, February 7 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

ROBERTA, 1935, Warner Bros., 106 min. Dir. William A. Seiter. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers make an early appearance together alongside Randolph Scott and Irene Dunne in this romantic confection set against the backdrop of the fashion industry. Astaire and Scott are Americans traveling through Paris; Dunne is the exiled princess who falls in love with Scott and becomes his business partner. More  

FOLLOW THE FLEET, 1936, Warner Bros., 110 min. Dir. Mark Sandrich. Another Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers Euro opus, this time with Astaire as a sailor on shore leave and Rogers as the dance hall hostess he romances. The great songs include "Let’s Face the Music and Dance" and "Let Yourself Go," and the great supporting cast includes Randolph Scott and Betty Grable. More | Trailer

Sunday, February 8 – 7:30 PM

Newly Restored! TOPPER, 1937, Hal Roach (Hallmark Entertainment), 97 min. Dir. Norman Z. McLeod. Thorne Smith’s timeless tale of a banker (Roland Young) whose existence is turned upside down by a married pair of wisecracking ghosts (Cary Grant and Constance Bennett) who decide he needs a little more life in his life. Two sequels, a TV series and countless knockoffs later, the original still shines as brightly as ever. With Billie Burke (two years before she became a good witch), Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Arthur Lake and Hedda Hopper. More

HOLIDAY, 1938, Sony Repertory, 93 min. Society girl Katharine Hepburn falls in love with her sister's idiosyncratic fiancé (a pitch-perfect Cary Grant), and the result is the greatest nonconformist comedy ever made. Working with Philip Barry's play as his foundation, director George Cukor considers serious issues about the human condition and what it means to be truly independent, yet does it all with a light, hilarious and charming touch.