These three directors were all active in the early years of sound films, when filmmakers were experimenting with how to use this revolutionary new medium. It was a period of incredible artistic innovation.
Ernst Lubitsch (1892–1947) was a major figure in the history of the cinema. His best known films include Trouble in Paradise, Ninotchka, To Be or Not To Be, Heaven Can Wait and The Shop Aroud the Corner. They remain the ultimate definition of sophisticated entertainment. In 1992 we celebrated the centennial of his birth by presenting a full retrospective of his sound films.
Josef von Sternberg (1894–1969) could aptly be described as a painter who worked with moving light and shadows. His collaboration with actress Marlene Dietrich produced not only the German masterpiece The Blue Angel, but also six of the most visually beautiful movies made in Hollywood. Their cinematography is truly inspired, as are the sets and costumes. You might call them decadent and indulgent to the point of self-parody, but you will probably agree that they are masterpieces of cinematic art.
Rouben Mamoulian (1897–1987) directed only sixteeen films, but he made important innovations in early sound film technique. He directed Garbo's greatest film Queen Christina, and perhaps the greatest movie musical of all time, Love Me Tonight. His sound remake of The Mark of Zorro (1940) is a worthy companion to the original 1920 silent classic.
Silent films have been a popular element of our film programs. We continue our tradition of presenting these films with live musical accompaniment. Dennis James will play for four films (March 1, 2, and 22, 23) on our Might Wurlitzer. If you have never seen a silent film presented in the authentic manner, this would be a perfect opportunity.
The Stanford Theatre is dedicated to bringing back the movie-going experience of Hollywood's Golden Age. It is one of the few places where you can still watch movies on a big screen projected the way they were intended — in 35mm prints. Great classic films were not made to be watched on a video screen in your living room. They depend on a larger-than-life image, and the shared reactions of a real audience.
The Stanford Theatre first opened in June of 1925. For decades nearly every important Hollywood picture played there on its first release. The people of Palo Alto saw them all for the very first time in this theatre. In 1987 the Packard Foundation bought the theatre and restored it to its original condition. It quickly became America's most popular classic movie house. More people saw Casablanca there on its 50th anniverary in 1992 than at any other theatre in America.
The non-profit Stanford Theatre Foundation is dedicated to the preservation and public exhibition of films from the Golden Age of Hollywood. This means classic movies in a classic movie palace, complete with Wurlitzer organ rising from the orchestra pit every night before and after the 7:30 show, or providing the accompaniment to “silent” films.
Note: This is an unofficial posting of the Stanford Theatre schedules, from published information. This site is in no way connected with the Stanford Theatre nor the Stanford Theatre Foundation. Please check out the official site at stanfordtheatre.org in case this schedule isn't quite up-to-date! Programs are subject to change. For information, call (650) 324-3700.
(Showtimes in parentheses are for the Saturday and Sunday screenings.)
Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charles Butterworth, Charles Ruggles, Myrna Loy, C. Aubrey Smith, Elizabeth Patterson, Ethel Griffies, Blanche Frederici, Robert Greig.
In one of the greatest film musicals in the entire history of the genre, Parisian tailor Chevalier comes to the chateau to get paid and eventually goes home with Princess Jeanette MacDonald. Myrna Loy has her first major role.
In the early 1930's Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette Macdonald made a series of sophisticated musicals, often directed by Lubitsch. The apotheosis of the series was this exquisite film directed by Mamoulian. Songs by Rodgers and Hart include Mimi and Isn't It Romantic?, the official theme song of the Stanford Theatre, which made its Palo Alto debut when this film opened at the Stanford Theatre.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 18, 1932; last played Aug 2016
Marlene Dietrich, John Lodge, Sam Jaffe, Louise Dressler, C. Aubrey Smith, Gavin Gordon, Jameson Thomas.
Strangely beautiful, overwhelming, disturbing, gorgeous, self-indulgent, and prodigal are a few of the epithets applied to this delirious masterpiece, in which Dietrich plays a neurotic Catherine the Great. The cinematography is truly inspired, as are the sets and costumes. Decadent and indulgent to the point of self-parody, this film is an unparalleled cinematic experience.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 12, 1934; last played Mar 2018
Emil Jannings, Marlene Dietrich, Kurt Gerron, Hans Albers.
"In 1930, Josef von Sternberg returned to his native Vienna to film the Heinrich Mann novel, Professor Unrath, as a vehicle for Emil Jannings (who had worked with Sternberg on The Last Command, and won an Oscar). But Sternberg acted on his own story: he promoted Marlene Dietrich to steal the film from Jannings just as her cabaret singer humiliates the self-important teacher. In the process Sternberg fell for Dietrich while discovering the model for his mordant subject —the hopeless love affair, a topic the two of them would pursue in six more glorious films at Paramount." David Thomson
"At the time I thought the film was awful and vulgar and I was shocked by the whole thing. Remember, I was a well brought up German girl." Marlene Dietrich
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 18, 1931; last played Sep 2016
Marlene Dietrich, Lionel Atwill, Cesar Romero, Edward Everett Horton.
A young Spaniard (Romero) falls in love with the beautiful Concha (Dietrich), but his old friend (Atwill) tells him how his own love for Concha brought him to ruin.
This tale of obsessive love contains some of the most expressively eloquent images ever filmed, "peering through nets, veils, screens, shutters, bars, cages, mists, flowers, and fabrics to tantalize the male with fantasies of the female." (Andrew Sarris)
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 4, 1935; last played Sep 2016
Monte Blue, Florence Vidor, Marie Prevost, Adolph Menjou, Creighton Hale, Harry Myers, Dale Fuller, Esther Ralston.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
In this charming Lubitsch silent comedy, a professor's flirtatious wife tries to seduce the husband of her newly married best friend.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 2, 2012; last played Sep 2016
Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Genevieve Tobin, Roland Young, Charles Ruggles, George Barbier.
In this sparkling Lubitsch musical, a remake of his own silent film The Marriage Circle, Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald are happily married sweethearts — until the arrival of her best friend (oh, that Mitzi!).
In Singin' in the Rain, an unsuccessful silent film is rescued by turning it into a musical. In this case a great silent comedy was remade as a great musical.
Halliwell includes this among his hundred favorite films and terms it "unique entertaiment of a kind which is, alas, no more." The film originally had amber and blue tints for night interiors and exteriors. This print faithfully reproduces this effect.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 20, 1932; last played Feb 2017
Ramon Novarro, Norma Shearer, Jean Hersholt, Gustav von Seyffertitz, Philippe De Lacy, Edgar Norton, Bobby Mack, Edward Connelly, Otis Harlan.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
In this eloquent, bittersweet film, the young prince leaves his sheltered life to attend the university and falls in love. Duty calls, however, and he must accept his crown.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 19, 1992; last played Jan 2017
Claudette Colbert, Gary Cooper, David Niven, Edward Everett Horton, Elizabeth Patterson,Herman Bing, Warren Hymer, Franklin Pangborn.
In this seldom seen Lubitsch comedy, impoverished French aristocrat Claudette Colbert finally tames millionaire Gary Cooper (who had seven previous wives).
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 7, 1938; last played Mar 2017
Marlene Dietrich, Brian Aherne, Lionel Atwill, Alison Skipworth, Hardie Albright, Helen Freeman.
This film, set in 19th century Germany, features Dietrich as a peasant girl who falls in love with a sculptor, becomes a cafe singer, and marries a villainous baron.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 5, 1933; last played Apr 2015
Marlene Dietrich, Clive Brook, Warner Oland, Anna May Wong, Eugene Pallette, Lawrence Grant, Louise Closer Hale, Gustav von Seyffertitz.
Shanghai Lily (Marlene Dietrich) is traveling on a train through China in the midst of a civil war, when armed rebels threaten the lives of her fellow passengers.
Josef von Sternberg created a unique cinematic style, with a sensuous and almost decadent infatuation with visual imagination and the interplay of light and shadow on the screen.
"It is ridiculous and lovely, just like an orgy for people who know nothing lasts. Yet the film is seventy-six years old as I write and still a monument of erotic art." David Thomson
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 27, 1932; last played Aug 2022
Ona Munson, Victor Mature, Walter Huston, Gene Tierney, Albert Basserman, Phyllis Brooks, Maria Ouspenskaya, Eric Blore, Ivan Lebedeff, Mike Mazurki.
In Shanghai, Mother Gin Sling's casino is filled with colorful characters (much like Rick's Place in Casablanca). The daughter of an aristocrat is fascinated with the casino and falls under the spell of one of it shadier customers. Mother Gin Sling delights in bringing about the girl's degradation, never suspecting that there is a connection between the two.
first showing at the Stanford Theatre
Maurice Chevalier, Claudette Colbert, Miriam Hopkins, George Barbier, Charles Ruggles, Hugh O'Connell.
During a parade, Lieutenant Niki (Chevalier) winks at his sweetheart Franzi (Colbert) across the street; but Princess Anna (Hopkins) thinks the wink was meant for her. The scandal leads to a royal marriage for Niki. Lubitsch's third musical film is a unique blend of the developing tradition of American musical comedy with the conventions of Viennese operetta.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 24, 1931; last played Feb 2017
Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Edward Everett Horton, Una Merkel, George Barbier, Donald Meek, Sterling Holloway, Shirley Ross.
In the mythical kingdom of Marshovia, Count Danilo (Maurice Chevalier) must marry the country's wealthiest widow (Jeanette Macdonald, in perhaps her most delightful role) in order to keep her money in the country.
The celebrated Franz Lehár operetta is given new lyrics (by Lorenz Hart and Gus Kahn) and the famous Lubitsch touch.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 25, 1934; last played Mar 2017
Herbert Marshall, Miriam Hopkins, Kay Francis, Edward Everett Horton, Charles Ruggles, C. Aubrey Smith, Robert Greig, Leonid Kinsky.
A pair of jewel thieves (Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall) insinuate themselves into the household of wealthy Kay Francis. Director Lubitsch's own favorite among all his films.
"The masterpiece of American sophisticated cinema." Leslie Halliwell
"A working definition of the term sophisticated comedy." Leonard Maltin
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 3, 1932; last played Mar 2018
Gary Cooper, Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Edward Everett Horton, Franklin Pangborn, Isabel Jewell.
Some of Noel Coward's play about a romantic menage a trois gets lost in the adaptation by Ben Hecht, but there is still much wit and innuendo left in this story of "three people who love each other very much." Gary Cooper tries his hand at sophisticated comedy, with Fredric March adroitly handling the role as the other starving artist who shares Miriam Hopkins' love.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 7, 1934; last played Mar 2017
Marlene Dietrich, Victor McLaglen, Lew Cody, Warner Oland.
In 1915 Vienna, an Austrian widow (Dietrich) becomes spy X-27, with great success.
Sternberg's most romantic film is by far the best version of the Mata Hari story. In the famous climax scene, she sizes up the firing squad and asks, "Let me die in the uniform in which I served, not my country, but my countrymen." Jean-Luc Godard named this as one of the ten best American sound films.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 22, 1931; last played Jan 2002
Marlene Dietrich, Cary Grant, Herbert Marshall, Dickie Moore, Gene Morgan, Rita LaRoy, Robert Emmett O'Connor, Sidney Toler.
Former cabaret singer Dietrich is married to a chemist who must travel to Europe for medical treatment. In his absence she becomes mistress to wealthy admirer Grant in order to get money for her sick husband, leading to sacrifice, degradation, and (eventual) redemption.
The most uneven of the Dietrich-Sternberg collaborations, but often the most popular with audiences, perhaps because when it's good, it's very, very good. Among the high points are Dietrich singing Hot Voodoo in an ape suit and a luminous New Orleans bordello sequence. Blonde Venus is Sternberg's only Dietrich film set in this country, but Sternberg's America, like his Russia or China, exists on no map we're ever likely to see.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 10, 1932; last played July 2023
George Bancroft, Betty Compson, Olga Baclanova, Clyde Cook, Gustav Von Seyffertitz.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 30, 1928; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
Gary Cooper, Marlene Dietrich, Adolphe Menjou, Ullrich Haupt, Juliette Compton.
Foreign Legionnaire Cooper and mysterious cabaret singer Dietrich have a languid, moody, exotic love affair, with a truly unforgettable final fade-out. Morocco was a box-office smash, reportedly saving Paramount from bankruptcy. It remains a unique cinematic experience.
This exquisite film is one of the true classics of early Hollywood. Josef von Sternberg created a unique cinematic style, best seen in his films with Marlene Dietrich. They show a sensuous and almost decadent infatuation with visual imagination and the interplay of light and shadow on the screen. For this reason it is especially important that Sternberg's films be presented in the best possible prints.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 18, 1931; last played Aug 2022
May McAvoy, Ronald Colman, Irene Rich, Bert Lytell, Edward Martindel, Belle Bennett, Carrie Daumery, Helen Dunbar.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
Making a successful silent film out of an Oscar Wilde comedy famous for its dialogue and epigrams is ample evidence for the genius of Ernst Lubitsch.
Ronald Colman plays a perfectly charming rogue.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 5, 1926; last played Feb 2017
Sylvia Sidney, Gary Cooper, Paul Lukas, Guy Kibbee, William (Stage) Boyd, Stanley Fields, Wynne Gibson.
Gary Cooper plays a carnival worker who is drawn into the criminal world by a racketeer's daughter, in the only story written specifically for the screen by Dashiell Hammett. In addition to director Mamoulian's innovative and dazzling presentation, this was the screen debut of Sylvia Sidney.
"The film is important and still worth seeing because of two things: the way in which Mamoulian explores the possibilities of sound, and the wonderful chemistry he has achieved with cameraman Lee Garmes." David Thomson
first played at the Stanford Theatre May 3, 1931; last played Mar 2015
Helen Morgan, Joan Peers, Henry Wadsworth, Fuller Mellish, Jr..
With its evocative soundtrack and surprisingly mobile camera, this landmark film by first-time director Rouben Mamoulian offers a remarkable demonstration of the imaginative potential of the film musical.
The great torch singer Helen Morgan appeared in only a few films, including this story of an alcoholic singer and the sacrifices she makes for her convent-bred daughter.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 15, 2001; last played Mar 2015
Tyrone Power, Linda Darnell, Rita Hayworth, Nazimova, Anthony Quinn, J. Carroll Naish, John Carradine, Lynn Bari, Laird Cregar.
This remake of the famous Valentino silent film about the rise of a young matador and the women in his life was directed by Rouben Mamoulian, who said that his "color consultants" were El Greco, Goya, Velasquez, and Murillo.
This film made Rita Hayworth an international star. Mamoulian described his first meeting: "The moment I saw Rita Hayworth walk I knew I had my Doña Sol. She was a dancer, so naturally I expected her to be graceful, but she had something more than that — a feline sort of movement that was subtle and insinuating — exactly the kind of animation I thought Doña Sol would possess."
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 17, 1941; last played Dec 2006
Tyrone Power (Don Diego Vega), Basil Rathbone (Capt. Esteban Pasquale), Gail Sondergaard (Inez Quintero), J. Edward Bromberg (Don Luis Quintero), Linda Darnell (Lolita Quintero), Eugene Pallette (Fray Felipe), Montagu Love (Don Alejandro Vega), Janet Beecher (Señora Isabella Vega), Robert Lowery (Rodrigo), George Regas (Sgt. Gonzalez), Chris-Pin Martin (Turnkey), Belle Mitchell (Maria).
In this very successful sound version of the Fairbanks silent film, Tyrone Power, the consummate romantic swashbuckler, is a perfect Diego de Vega, cowardly fop by day, but dashing sword-fighting avenger by night.
Director Rouben Mamoulian showed that it is possible to create a remake of a great classic worthy of the original. This feat is remarkably rare.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 27, 1940; last played Sep 2022
Phillips Holmes, Sylvia Sidney, Frances Dee, Irving Pichel, Frederick Burton, Claire McDowell, Charles Middleton, Lucille La Verne.
The poor but ambitious relative of a wealthy businessman is given an entry-level position at the man's company. He begins a secret romantic relationship with a lonely co-worker, but as he rises in the company he comes to the attention of a beautiful debutante. When his secret girlfriend reveals she is pregnant, he sees only one way to achieve his dreams.
An atypical film from director Sternberg. Sylvia Sidney's performance was highly praised.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 13, 1931; last played Mar 2018
Lionel Barrymore, Phillips Holmes, Nancy Carroll, Tom Douglas, Zasu Pitts, Lucien Littlefield, Lois Carver, Emma Dunn.
At the end of WW I, a young Frenchman, filled with remorse, sets out to beg forgiveness from the parents of a German soldier he killed; but he falls in love with the soldier's sweetheart.
This pacifist story,the only "serious" sound film Lubitsch ever made, was not a commercial success but received extravagant praise from many critics at the time: "a film that in its humanity, quiet comprehension and sympathy... has never been equaled for effectiveness on the screen" (New York Post); "the closest approach that has been made to the true cinematic ideal" (Robert Sherwood).
This important film was restored by the UCLA Film Archive with funding from the Stanford Theatre Foundation.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 21, 1932; last played Feb 2017
Don Ameche, Gene Tierney, Laird Cregar, Charles Coburn, Marjorie Main, Eugene Pallette, Allyn Joslyn, Spring Byington, Signe Hasso, Louis Calhern.
On his death, Henry van Cleve, at heart a good and generous man, assumes that his philandering has destined him to Hell; but the remarkably urbane Devil insists on reviewing his entire life.
"Witty Samuel Raphaelson script helps make this a delight." Leonard Maltin
This film has absolutely no connection with the 1978 film of the same title, which is a remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 5, 1943; last played Aug 2019
Jennifer Jones, Charles Boyer, Richard Haydn, Una O'Connor, Peter Lawford, Helen Walker, Reginald Gardiner, Reginald Owen, C. Aubrey Smith, Sara Allgood, Ernest Cossart, Florence Bates, Billy Bevan.
An English maid and plumber's niece who doesn't know her place meets a charming Czech political refugee writer.
This delightful story pairs Jennifer Jones and Charles Boyer (and various silly but loveable British characters). This was the last complete film directed by Ernst Lubitsch, and it has the simplicity and gentle humanity of a mature artist.
"A lovely, easy-going comedy, full of small surprising touches." Pauline Kael
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 27, 1946; last played Aug 2019
Miriam Hopkins, Frances Dee, Cedric Hardwicke, Billie Burke, Alison Skipworth, Nigel Bruce, Alan Mowbray, G.P. Huntley, Jr., William Stack.
The story of Becky Sharp, a self-centered careerist in Victorian England who falls from prosperity, is based on Thackeray's Vanity Fair.
This was the first feature-length film in three-strip Technicolor.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 21, 1935; last played Apr 2015
Nino Martini, Ida Lupino, Leo Carrillo, Harold Huber, James Blakely, Stanley Fields, Mischa Auer, Adrian Rosley.
Heiress Ida Lupino is held for ransom by a romantic bandit in this entertaining and beautifully photographed musical satire, shot in the Arizona desert on the Papago Indian Reservation near Tucson.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 22, 1988; last played May 2015
Jack Benny (Joseph Tura), Carole Lombard ()Maria Tura, Robert Stack (Lt. Stanislav Sobinski), Stanley Ridges (Prof. Alexander Siletsky), Felix Bressart (Greenberg), Lionel Atwill (Rawitch), Sig Rumann (Col. Ehrhardt), Tom Dugan (Bronski), Charles Halton (Jan Dobosz), Henry Victor (Capt. Schultz.
Carole Lombard's last and greatest film, an outrageously unique comedy about a troupe of ham actors in the Polish underground, trying to save Warsaw from Hitler. While Jack Benny ("that great, great Polish actor Joseph Tura") recites Hamlet's soliloquy on stage, his wife (Lombard) arranges for a young aviator to come to her dressing room. As the Nazi Colonel Ehrhardt later remarks, "What he did to Shakespeare, we ar now doing to Poland."
Lombard's tragic death shortly after the completion of this extraodinary film may have been the greatest single loss ever suffered by Hollywood. Imagine what films there might have been (Lombard was younger than Katharine Hepburn)!
first played at the Stanford Theatre May 7, 1942; last played Jan 2017
Greta Garbo (Lena Yakushova), Melvyn Douglas (Count Leon Dolga), Sig Rumann (Michael Ironoff), Alexander Granach (Kopalski), Felix Bressart (Buljanoff), Ina Claire (Grand Duchess Swana), Bela Lugosi (Commissar Razinin), Richard Carle (Gaston).
A Bolshevik special envoy (Greta Garbo) is sent to Paris to bring back three wayward comrades, who have become charmed by the freedom of the decadent west.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 17, 1939; last played Dec 2019
Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Lupino Lane, Lillian Roth, Edgar Norton, Lionel Belmore, Eugene Pallette.
Chevalier marries MacDonald, ruler of the feminist queendom of Sylvania, and discovers his true position when the wedding ceremony pronounces them "Wife and Man".
Lubitsch's first sound film established him and Maurice Chevalier as Paramount's two most celebrated artists, as well as making a star out of newcomer Jeanette MacDonald.
"The first truly cinematic screen musical in America" - Theodore Huff
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 5, 1988; last played Feb 2017
Jeanette MacDonald, Jack Buchanan, ZaSu Pitts, Tyler Brooke, Claude Allister, Lionel Belmore.
Lubitsch's second musical, best remembered for the song Beyond the Blue Horizon, is full of charming Lubitsch touches. Jack Buchanan (who twenty years later gave such a remarkable performance as Jeffrey Cordova in The Band Wagon) in his talking picture debut here plays a count impersonating a hairdresser.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 5, 1930; last played Feb 2017
Greta Garbo (Queen Christina), John Gilbert (Don Antonio De la Prada), Ian Keith (Magnus), Lewis Stone (Chancellor Oxnstierna), Elizabeth Young (Ebba Sparre), C. Aubrey Smith (Aage), Reginald Owen (Prince Charles).
Greta Garbo had her most radiant role as the 17th Century Swedish queen, under the inspired direction of Rouben Mamoulian. This film includes several of Garbo's most unforgettable scenes, including her night at the country inn with the Spanish ambassador, and her final sailing from Sweden. Indeed, it could be said that this film contains the greatest performance by the greatest star of the greatest art form of the 20th century. Do not miss it!
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 11, 1934; last played July 2018
Fredric March, Miriam Hopkins, Rose Hobart, Holmes Herbert, Halliwell Hobbes, Edgar Norton, Tempe Piggott.
Mamoulian directed the most exciting and cinematic version by far of the Robert Louis Stevenson classic about a scientist whose misguided research turns him into a monster (Fredric March won the Oscar). This film is famous for its sound, for its use of first-person camera, and for the transformation of Jekyll into Hyde without any cuts or dissolves.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 10, 1988; last played Apr 2015