"Those are harsh words to throw at a man, especially when he's walking out of your bedroom."
The Big Sleep (1946) (3:35), 7:30
d Howard Hawks. w William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett, & Jules Furthman, from the novel by Raymond Chandler. ph Sid Hickox. m Max Steiner. Warner Bros. 114 min.
Humphrey Bogart (Philip Marlowe), Lauren Bacall (Vivian Rutledge), John Ridgley (Eddie Mars), Martha Vickers (Carmen Sternwood), Dorothy Malone (Acme Book Shop Proprietress), Peggy Knudsen (Mona Grant Mars), Regis Toomey (Bernie Ohls), Charles Waldron (General Sternwood), Charles D. Brown (Norris), Bob Steele (Lash Canino), Elisha Cook, Jr. (Harry Jones), Louis Jean Heydt (Joe Brody), Sonia Darrin (Agnes Lozelle), Tom Rafferty (Carol Lundgren), Trevor Bardette (Art Huck), Dan Wallace (Owen Taylor), Joy Barlow (Taxi Driver ), Theodore Von Eltz (Arthur Gwynn Geiger), Tom Fadden (Sidney), Ben Welden (Pete). James Flavin (Captain Cronjager), Thomas Jackson (Taggart Wilde),
In this film noir masterpiece, detective Philip Marlowe (Bogart) is hired to discover why a woman is being blackmailed. The plot is much too complex to summarize (or even follow), but nobody doubts that The Big Sleep is one of the greatest detective films ever made.
Max Steiner's brilliant score perfectly captures the film noir mood, at times dark and explosive, at times ironic, at times strongly romantic.
The Big Sleep has been the twenty-fourth most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 35,126 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 27, 1946; last played Sep 2024
To Have and Have Not (1945) 5:40,9:35
d Howard Hawks. w Jules Furthman & William Faulkner, from the novel by Ernest Hemingway. ph Sid Hickox. m Franz Waxman. Warner Bros. 100 min.
Humphrey Bogart (Harry Morgan), Walter Brennan (Eddie), Lauren Bacall (Marie Browning), Dolores Moran (Helene de Bursac), Hoagy Carmichael (Cricket), Walter Molnar (Paul de Bursac), Sheldon Leonard (Lt. Coyo), Marcel Dalio (Gerard), Walter Sande (Johnson), Dan Seymour (Capt. M. Renard), Aldo Nadi (Bodyguard), Paul Marion (Beauclerc), Patricia Shay (Mme. Beauclerc), Emmett Smith (Emil), Sir Lancelot (Horatio).
Bogart plays a fishing boat skipper-for-hire on the island of Martinique, who normally rents his boat out to wealthy sportsmen. He reluctantly becomes involved with the Nazis, the French Resistance — and with a stranded and very persistent young Lauren Bacall.
This enormously enjoyable film was Bacall's first. She and Bogie made a total of four films together.
To Have and Have Not has been the sixty-fifth most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 19,261 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 11, 1945; last played Sep 2017
d John Huston. w Richard Brooks & John Huston. ph Karl Freund. m Max Steiner. Warner Bros. 101 min.
Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, Claire Trevor, Thomas Gomez, Harry Lewis, John Rodney, Marc Lawrence, Dan Seymour, Monte Blue, William Haade, Jay Silverheels, Rodric Redwing.
Robinson, a notorious racketeer, has taken over a Florida hotel owned by Lionel Barrymore and his widowed daughter-in-law, Lauren Bacall. Ex-army major Bogart arrives and minds his own business — at first.
"A suspenseful and entertaining minor classic." Baseline Movie Guide
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 29, 1948; last played Oct 2024
w/d Delmer Daves. ph Sid Hickox. m Franz Waxman. Warner Bros. 106 min.
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Bruce Bennett, Agnes Moorehead, Tom D'Andrea, Clifton Young, Douglas Kennedy, Rory Mallinson, Houseley Stevenson.
A man wrongly convicted of killing his wife escapes from San Quentin and is befriended by a mysterious woman.
The first part of the story is shot entirely from Bogart's point of view, and the audience doesn't see his face until halfway through the picture.
first played at the Stanford Theatre October 12, 1947; last played Feb 2019
Some Like It Hot (1959) (3:20), 7:30
d Billy Wilder. w Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond. ph Charles Lang, Jr. m Adolph Deutsch. United Artists / Mirisch. 122 min.
Jack Lemmon (Jerry/Daphne), Tony Curtis (Joe/Josephine), Marilyn Monroe (Sugar Kane Kowalczyk), Joe E. Brown (Osgood Fielding III), George Raft (Spats Colombo), Pat O'Brien (Mulligan), Nehemiah Persoff (Little Bonaparte), George E. Stone (Toothpick Charlie), Joan Shawlee (Sweet Sue), Billy Gray (Sig Poliakoff), Dave Barry (Bienstock).
During the Roaring Twenties, two musicians (Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis) witness a gangland murder and are forced to hide out by joining an all-girl jazz orchestra.
This picture is widely regarded as one of the best comedies ever made. Marilyn Monroe sings I Wanna Be Loved By You, and Tony Curtis does a marvelous impersonation of Cary Grant; but Jack Lemmon's performance tops them all — Pauline Kael calls him "demoniacally funny".
Some Like It Hot has been the forty-first most widely attended
film at the Stanford Theatre — 25,938 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 25, 1994; last played Sep 2025
The Seven Year Itch (1955) 5:35, 9:45
d Billy Wilder. w Billy Wilder, George Axelrod, from the play by George Axelrod. ph Milton Krasner. m Alfred Newman. 20th Century-Fox. 105 min.
Marilyn Monroe, Tom Ewell, Sonny Tufts, Evelyn Keyes, Robert Strauss, Oscar Homolka, Marguerite Chapman, Victor Moore.
While his wife is away on vacation, a man who has been married for seven years has guilty fantasies about the fascinating woman (Marilyn Monroe) in the upstairs apartment.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 1, 1955; last played May 2013
d John Huston. w Ben Maddow and John Huston, from the novel by W.R. Burnett. ph Harold Rosson. m Miklós Rózsa. MGM. 112 min.
Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, John McIntire, Marilyn Monroe, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Teresa Celli, William Davis, Dorothy Tree, Brad Dexter, John Maxwell.
A gang of thieves plot and carry out an elaborate heist, but fate is against them, despite their meticulous plans.
This crime thriller is a classic of its genre, and it also gave Marilyn Monroe an important small role.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 21, 1994; last played Mar 2003
Clash by Night (1952) 5:35, 9:35
d Fritz Lang. w Alfred Hayes, from the play by Clifford Odets. ph Nicholas Musaraca. m Roy Webb. RKO. 105 min.
Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe, J. Carrol Naish, Keith Andes.
A cynical, bitter woman (Barbara Stanwyck) returns to the fishing village of her youth and marries a sweet-natured man, while conducting a love-affair with a nasty loner (Robert Ryan) whose character matches her own.
Marilyn Monroe had her first major role in this film.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 8, 1952; last played Apr 2014
Casablanca (1942) (3:45), 7:30
d Michael Curtiz. w Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, Howard Koch, from the play Everybody Comes to Rick's by Murray Burnett & Joan Alison. m Max Steiner. ph Arthur Edeson. Warner Bros. 102 min.
Humphrey Bogart (Richard Blaine), Ingrid Bergman (Ilsa Lund), Paul Henreid (Victor Laszlo), Claude Rains (Capt. Louis Renault), Konrad Veidt (Maj. Heinrich Strasser), Sydney Greenstreet (Signor Ferrari), Peter Lorre (Ugarte), S. Z. Sakall (Carl), Madeline Le Beau (Yvonne), Dooley Wilson (Sam), Joy Page (Annina Brandell), John Qualen (Berger), Leonid Kinsky (Sascha), Helmut Dantine (Jan Brandell), Curt Bois (Dark European), Marcel Dalio (Emil), Corinna Mura (Singer), Ludwig Stossel (Herr Leuchtag), Ilka Gruning (Frau Leuchtag), Charles La Torre (Señor Martinez), Frank Puglia (Arab Vendor), Dan Seymour (Abdul).
Everybody comes to Rick's café — exiles from the Nazis, corrupt officials, and Ilsa Lund, the great lost love of Rick's life.
We can debate whether Casablanca is the best movie ever made. It may be. Certainly few other movies are so universally recognized as expressing the deepest truths about human life — and are also so much fun.
As time goes by, it becomes increasingly unlikely that anyone will ever make a movie better than Casablanca. On its 50th anniversary in 1992, more people saw Casablanca at the Stanford Theatre than anywhere else in the world.
"Of all the movie theatres in all the towns in all the world, they walk into ours."
Casablanca has been the most widely attended film at the
Stanford Theatre — 132,850 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 24, 1943; last played Jan 2026
The Maltese Falcon (1941) 5:40, 9:25
d/w John Huston, from the novel by Dashiell Hammett. ph Arthur Edeson. m Adolph Deutsch. Warner Bros. 101 min.
Humphrey Bogart (Sam Spade), Mary Astor (Brigid O'Shaugnessy), Gladys George (Iva Archer), Peter Lorre (Joel Cairo), Barton MacLaine (Lt. Dundy), Lee Patrick (Effie Perrine), Sydney Greenstreet (Kasper Gutman), Ward Bond (Tom Polhaus), Jerome Cowan (Miles Archer), Elisha Cook, Jr. (Wilmer Cook), James Burke (Luke), Murray Alper (Frank Richman), John Hamilton (Bryan), Emory Parnell (Mate of La Paloma), Walter Huston (Capt. Jacobi).
Sam Spade joins in the quest for that priceless black statue — the stuff that dreams are made of.
Widely regarded as the archetype of the film noir genre, this film established Bogart as a star of the first rank.
"Humphrey Bogart's most exciting role was Sam Spade, that ambiguous mixture of avarice and honor, sexuality and fear, who gave new dimensions to the detective genre." Pauline Kael
The Maltese Falcon has been the thirteenth most widely attended
film at the Stanford Theatre — 51,127 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 29, 1942; last played Sep 2024
Monty Woolley, Thelma Ritter, David Wayne, Jean Peters, Constance Bennett, Marilyn Monroe, Allyn Joslyn, Albert Dekker.
Forced to retire at 65, a press operator resorts to subterfuge to change the company's retirement policy. Marilyn plays a loopy secretary, a role she perfected in Monkey Business.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 15, 1951; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
d John G. Adolfi. w Charles Kenyon, Maude T. Howell, based on the short story Adopted Father by Edgar Franklin. ph Sol Polito. Warner Bros. 75 min.
George Arliss, Bette Davis, Theodore Newton, Hardie Albright, Gordon Westcott, J. Farrell MacDonald, Charles Evans, Frederick Burton, Pat Wing, Edward Van Sloan, Claire McDowell.
The owner of the Reeves Shoe Company (George Arliss) and the late owner of the Hartland Shoe Company were friendly rivals in business and in love. While on a fishing trip, Mr. Reeves happens to meet Hartland's children (including Bette Davis), who are more interested in partying than looking after their late father's firm. Without revealing his identity, the sly old fox manages to become their trustee and guides them to a proper understanding of their responsibilities.
This was Bette's second picture with the wonderful George Arliss.
A new 35 mm print was made especially for our 2008 festival from the original camera negative at the Library of Congress.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 28, 1933; last played Oct 2018
All About Eve (1950) (2:50), 7:30
w/d Joseph L. Mankiewicz. ph Milton Krasner. m Alfred Newman. 20th Century-Fox. 138 min.
Bette Davis (Margo Channing), George Sanders (Addison DeWitt), Anne Baxter (Eve Harrington), Celeste Holm (Karen Richards), Thelma Ritter (Birdie), Gary Merrill (Bill Simpson), Hugh Marlowe (Lloyd Richards), Gregory Ratoff (Max Fabian), Marilyn Monroe (Miss Casswell), Barbara Bates (Phoebe), Walter Hampden (Aged Actor).
Hollywood's devastating revenge against the "legitimate" stage, in which a great Broadway star Margo Channing, perhaps just beyond the peak of her career (Bette Davis), is stalked by the cunningly obsequious younger actress Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), under the eye of caustic drama critic Addison De Witt, played to malicious perfection by George Sanders.
Six Oscars, including Best Picture of 1950, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sanders), and Best Costumes, hardly do justice to one of the most popular films of all time.
All About Eve has been the sixty-first most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 20,221 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 12, 1950; last played Aug 2018
The Bad and the Beautiful (1952) 5:20, 10:00
d Vincente Minnelli. w Charles Schnee. ph Robert Surtees. m David Raksin. MGM. 118 min.
Lana Turner (Georgia Lorrison), Kirk Douglas (Jonathan Shields), Gloria Grahame (Rosemary Bartlow), Walter Pidgeon (Harry Pebbel), Dick Powell (James Lee Bartlow), Barry Sullivan (Fred Amiel), Gilbert Roland (Victor "Gaucho" Rivera), Leo G. Carroll (Henry Whitfield), Vanessa Brown (Kay Amiel), Paul Stewart (Syd Murphy), Ivan Triesault (Von Elstein), Elaine Stewart (Lila), Sammy White (Gus), Kathleen Freeman (Miss March).
In perhaps the greatest movie ever made about Hollywood (it won five Oscars), a brilliant but egomaniacal producer asks three of his protegés to work again with him, but they cannot forgive him for the price they had to pay for their success. David Raksin's musical score is one of the best ever composed for a Hollywood film.
The Bad and the Beautiful has been the sixty-sixth most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 19,209 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 6, 1990; last played July 2024
d Richard Sale. w F.Hugh Herbert, I.A.L. Diamond, from a story by Mortimer Braus. ph Lucien Ballard. m Cyril J. Mockridge. 20th Century-Fox. 77 min.
Claudette Colbert, Macdonald Carey, Zachary Scott, Barbara Bates, Robert Wagner, Marilyn Monroe, Frank Cady.
A newly divorced woman enjoys reconnecting with an old college beau, to the dismay of her ex-husband. Marilyn has a small role as a gold digger.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 18, 1951; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
The Palm Beach Story (1942) 5:50, 9:00
w/d Preston Sturges. ph Victor Milner. m Victor Young. Paramount. 88 min.
Claudette Colbert (Gerry Jeffers), Joel McRea (Tom Jeffers), Rudy Vallee (J.D. Hackensacker III), Mary Astor (Princess Centimillia), Sig Arno (Toto), Robert Warwick (Mr. Hinch), Torben Meyer (Dr. Kluck), Jimmy Conlin (Mr. Asweld), Franklin Pangborn (Manager), Robert Dudley (Wienie King), Arthur Hoyt (Pullman Conductor), Alan Bridge (Conductor), Fred "Snowflake" Toones (Bartender), William Demarest, Jack Norton, Robert Grieg, Roscoe Ates, Chester Conklin (Members of the Ale and Quail Club).
In one of the zaniest screwball comedies ever made, Claudette Colbert abandons husband Joel McRae and heads for a Palm Beach divorce. She encounters the Wienie King and boards a train, where she falls in with the wealthy members of the Ale and Quail Club. Rudy Vallee was a surprise sensation as the timid millionaire Hackensacker.
"One of the giddiest and most chaotic of Preston Sturges' satiric orgies." Pauline Kael
The Palm Beach Story has been the seventy-seventh most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 16,795 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 1, 1943; last played Aug 2025
d Harry Beaumont. w Josephine Lovett. ph George Barnes. MGM / Cosmopolitan. 86 min.
Joan Crawford, John Mack Brown, Dorothy Sebastian, Anita Page, Nils Asther.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
The Jazz Age personified in "bright young thing" Joan Crawford dancing the Charleston on top of a table.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 13, 1994; last played Jul. 1994
d Clarence Brown. w John Meehan, Wanda Tuchock, from the novel by Marie Belloc Lowndes. ph Oliver T. Marsh. MGM. 84 min.
Joan Crawford, Robert Montgomery, Nils Asther, Lewis Stone, May Robson, Louise Closser Hale.
Socialite Letty resorts to murder to escape her abusive lover.
Designer Adrian's famous "Letty Lynton" gown was one of the most popular dresses of the 1930s, especially when the design was copied and mass-marketed by department stores.
One of the most notorious films of the pre-code era, some states (as well as Switzerland and Italy) banned the film. Letty Lynton was pulled from circulation due to litigation over the undelying rights, and remained out of circulation until 2026. Now is your opportunity to see this legendary pre-code for the first time in nearly 100 years — do not miss it!
first played at the Stanford Theatre May 23, 1932; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
d King Vidor. w Agnes Christine Johnston. ph John Seitz. MGM. min.
Marion Davies, Orville Caldwell, Marie Dressler, Dell Henderson, Lawrence Gray, Jane Winton.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
Wonderful comedy with Marion Davies starring as Patsy, a Cinderella kind of a girl who is constantly put upon by her mother amd more glamorous sister. When Patsy pursues one of her sister's (many) beaus, she decides a personality change is in order to capture his attention.
Marion Davies is a delight, but Marie Dressler steals the show as Patsy's overbearing mother.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 11, 1928; last played Aug 2003
d Robert Z. Leonard. w Laurence E. Johnson, based on his play. ph Oliver T. Marsh. MGM. 73 min.
Marion Davies, Sidney Blackmore, James Gleason, Polly Moran, Lester Vail, Marie Prevost, Clara Blandick, Robert McWade, Johnny Arthur.
Early screwball about a silly girl in a small town who becomes the subject of gossip when she is suspected of being pregnant... and there are three possible fathers.
Motion Picture magazine pronounced it a "Snappy farce for broad minds" and marveled that the Hayes Office had made few changes to the suggestive story: "there is nothing suggested, it is all boldly told."
The Hayes Office discouraged studios from adopting Laurence E. Johnson's scandalous play for the screen due to its "shocking" subjetc matter. After MGM's inital screening in 1931, legal issues surrounding rights have kept It's a Wise Child off the screen. Happily these issues have now been resolved.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 16, 1931; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
d Sam Taylor. w Allen McNeil, Tim Whelan. ph Charles Roshner. m Gaylord Carter Mary Pickford Corp. 84 min.
Mary Pickford, Charles "Buddy" Rogers, Sunshine Hart, Lucien Littlefield, Hobart Bosworth.
Dennis James at the mighty Wurlitzer.
A shopgirl falls in love with the owner's son. Mary Pickford charms in this sweet comedy, her final silent film, She later married her costar, Buddy Rogers.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 4, 1996; last played Sep. 1996
d Frank Borzage. w Frances Marion, Salisbury Field, Leonard Praskins, from the play by Rudolf Besier & May Eddington. ph . United Artists. 90 min.
Mary Pickford, Leslie Howard, C.Aubrey Smith, Blanche Friderici, Doris Lloyd, Herbert Evans, Ned Sparks, Mona Maris.
A New England heiress scandalizes her family when she elopes with a penniless clerk. The ensuing years are difficult, but they endure, and the clerk eventually rises to the US Senate, with the help of his loyal wife. Penned by Pickford's favorite screenwriter, Frances Marion.
Director Borzage had previously directed Secrets in 1924 with Norma Talmadge. This was Mary's final film.
first showing at the Stanford Theatre
Monkey Business (1952) 7:30
d Howard Hawks. w Ben Hecht, I.A.L. Diamond, Charles Lederer. ph Milton Krasner. m Leigh Harline. 20th Century-Fox. 97 min.
Cary Grant, Ginger Rogers, Charles Coburn, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Marlowe, Henri Letondal, Robert Cornthwaite, Larry Keating, Douglas Spencer, Esther Dale, George Winslowe.
Wild screwball story about a scientist (Grant) who stumbles onto a youth elixir and what happens when it gets into the office water cooler.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 26, 1952; last played Aug 2023
d Billy Wilder. w Charles Brackett, Billy Wilder. ph Leo Tover. m Robert Emmett Dolan. Paramount. 100 min.
Ginger Rogers, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, Robert Benchley, Diana Lynn, Edward Fielding, Frankie Thomas, Raymond Roe, Charles Smith, Larry Nunn, Billy Dawson, Lela Rogers, Aldrich Bowker, Boyd Irwin, Byron Shores.
In this wartime comedy, a down-on-her-luck working girl (Ginger Rogers) can't afford a railway ticket home to Ohio, so she disguises herself as a 12-year-old girl and buys a half-price ticket. Major Ray Milland meets her on the train and offers his protection to this curiously and uncomfortably attractive "child."
This was Wilder's first Hollywood assignment as a director. Ginger Rogers' real mother plays her character's mother in the film.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 22, 1942; last played June 2017
d Howard Hawks. w Charles Lederer, from the novel by Anita Loos. ph Harry J. Wild. m/ly Jule Styne, Leo Robin. 20th Century-Fox. 91 min.
Jane Russell, Marilyn Monroe, Charles Coburn, Tommy Noonan, Norma Varden, Elliott Reid, George Winslow.
Quintessential dumb blonde Lorelei Lee (Marilyn Monroe) sets her sights on men who can provide her with diamonds, while her more earthy brunette friend Dorothy (Jane Russell) just sets her sights on men.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 14, 1953; last played June 2012
Singin' in the Rain (1952) 5:35, 9:15
d Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly. w Adolph Green, Betty Comden. ph Harold Rosson. m Nacio Herb Brown. MGM. 104 min.
Gene Kelly (Don Lockwood), Donald O'Connor (Cosmo Brown), Debbie Reynolds (Kathy Selden), Millard Mitchell (R.F. Simpson), Jean Hagen (Lina Lamont), Rita Moreno (Zelda Zanders), Cyd Charisse (Dancer), Douglas Fowley (Roscoe Dexter).
Perhaps the most popular film musical of all time is set in Hollywood at the dawn of talking pictures. Silent stars Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont are making their first sound picture. When Lina's voice doesn't quite match her glamorous image, up-and-comer Kathy Selden steps in.
Singin' in the Rain has been the eleventh most widely attended
film at the Stanford Theatre — 50,763 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 27, 1991; last played Aug 2025
d Walter Lang. w Phoebe & Henry Ephron. ph Leon Shamroy. m Irving Berlin. 20th Century Fox. 117 min.
Ethel Merman, Donald O'Connor, Marilyn Monroe, Dan Dailey, Johnnie Ray, Mitzi Gaynor, Richard Eastham, Hugh O'Brian, Frank McHugh, Rhys Williams, Lee Patrick.
Romantic and musical adventures of the performing Donahue family, with music by Irving Berlin. Marilyn sings "Heat Wave" as only she can (can-can), and of course Ethel Merman sings "There's No Business Like Show Business."
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 9, 1955; last played May 2013
d David Butler. w Don Hartman, Melville Shavelson, Everett Freeman. ph Victor Milner. m David Rose. Goldwyn. 94 min.
Bob Hope, Virginia Mayo, Walter Brennan, Walter Slezak, Victor McLaglen, Marc Lawrence, Hugo Haas, Maude Eburne, Adia Kuznetzoff, Brandon Hurst, Tom Kennedy, Stanley Andrews, Robert Warwick.
Bob Hope is The Great Sylvester (Man of Seven Faces), an actor traveling by sea when his boat is attacked by The Hook, a notorious pirate out to kidnap the lovely Princess Margaret. Hope uses various disguises to escape and somehow saves the princess as well. Walter Brennan is very funny as Featherhead, who takes an unusual interest in Bob. Filmgoers were requested not to reveal the film's surprise ending.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 31, 1944; last played June 2003
d Henry Hathaway. w Charles Brackett, Walter Reisch. ph Joe MacDonald. m Sol Kaplan. 20th Century-Fox. 92 min.
Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, Marilyn Monroe, Don Wilson, Casey Adams.
In this noir-ish suspense film (beautifully shot on location), a scheming wife plots the demise of her obsessive, neurotic husband while they vacation at Niagara Falls.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 19, 1953; last played May 2018
d John M. Stahl. w Jo Swerling, from the novel by Ben Ames Williams. ph Leon Shamroy. m Alfred Newman. 20th Century-Fox. 110 min.
Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, Jeanne Crain, Vincent Price, Mary Phillips, Ray Collins, Gene Lockhart, Reed Hadley, Darryl Hickman, Chill Wills.
In this frighteningly believable performance, Tierney plays a beautiful but selfish femme fatale who will stop at nothing to keep the man she loves all to herself.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 13, 1946; last played Oct 2006
d Roy Baker. w Daniel Taradash, from a novel by Charlotte Armstrong. ph Lucien Ballard. m Lionel Newman. 20th Century Fox.76 min.
Richard Widmark, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Bancroft, Donna Corcoran, Jeanne Cagney, Lurene Tuttle, Elisha Cook, Jr., Jim Backus.
Marilyn's first dramatic role (originally intended for Dorothy McGuire). She plays Nell, a troubled young woman wha has never recovered from her boyfriend's death. When she is hired to babysit at the hotel her uncle works at, things start to unravel. Contemporary reviews were not kind to the film, or to Marilyn, but her performance is now viewed as one of her better dramatic roles.
first showing at the Stanford Theatre
d Frank Tuttle. w Albert Maltz and W. R. Burnett, from the novel A Gun for Sale by Graham Greene. ph John Seitz. m David Buttolph. Paramount. 80 min.
Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Laird Cregar, Robert Preston, Tully Marshall, Mikhail Rasumny, Marc Lawrence, Olin Howlin, Roger Imhof, Pamela Blake.
A psychopathic hired killer - the role that made Alan Ladd into a star -- gets involved with a policeman's fiancée, played by Veronica Lake. Their chemistry was undeniable and led to their teaming in several noir classics.
A contemporary touch is the explanation that the killer (who is attractive but utterly without human feelings) had been a battered child.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 19, 1942; last played Oct 2024
d Richard Quine. w Daniel Taradash, from the play by John Van Druten. ph James Wong Howe. m George Duning. Columbia. 102 min.
James Stewart, Kim Novak, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, Elsa Lanchester, Janice Rule.
This pleasant comedy about witches and magic was made shortly after Vertigo and with the same two stars, and a cat named Pyewacket.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 19, 1994; last played June 2019
I Married a Witch (1942) 6:00, 9:25
d Rene Clair. w Robert Pirosh, Marc Connelly, Dalton Trumbo, based on the novel The Pasionate Witch buy Thomas Smith & Norman Matson. ph Ted Tetzlaff. m Roy Webb. Paramount. 82 min.
Fredric March, Veronica Lake, Robert Benchley, Susan Hayward, Cecil Kellaway, Elizabeth Patterson, Robert Warwick.
Veronica Lake is enchanting as a witch who curses Fredric March for all eternity, but then falls in love with his descendant centuries later. She is joined by her mischievous father.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 11, 1943; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
d Otto Preminger. w Frank Fenton, from a story by Louis Lantz\. ph Joseph La Shelle. m Cyril J. Mockridge. 20thCentury Fox. 90 min.
Robert Mitchum, Marilyn Monroe, Rory Calhoun, Tommy Rettig, Douglas Spencer.
Marilyn is a saloon singer whop travels down the "river of no return" with Robert Mitchum and his young son.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 11, 1954; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
d David Butler. w James O'Hanlon. ph Wilfrid Cline. m/ly Sammy Fain, Paul Francis Webster. Warner Bros. 101 min.
Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn McLerie, Phil Carey, Dick Wesson, Paul Harvey.
One of Doris' best-loved roles (she sings Secret Love) is this highly fictitious account of the circuitous romance of Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock.
This was Doris' favorite of her films.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 2, 2001; last played May 2019
d Jean Negulesco. w Nunnally Johnson. ph Joe MacDonald. m Cyril J. Mockridge. 20th Century-Fox. 96 min.
Lauren Bacall, Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable, William Powell, Cameron Mitchell, David Wayne, Rory Calhoun, Alex D'Arcy, Fred Clark.
Three women pool their resources to rent a posh New York penthouse and immediately set out to trap millionaire husbands.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan. 13, 1954; last played Nov 2014
d Vincente Minnelli. w George Wells. ph John Alton. m André Previn. MGM. 118 min.
Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Gray, Sam Levene, Tom Helmore, Mickey Shaughnessy, Jesse White, Chuck Connors.
A sportswriter (Peck) and a dress designer (Bacall) marry in haste and repent at leisure. A surprisingly pleasant attempt to revive the great sophisticated comedies of an earlier era, with two stars not normally known for comedy rising to the occasion under Vincente Minnelli's excellent direction.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 18, 1990; last played Aug 2024
d Joseph Newman. w I.A.L. Diamond, from the novel by Scott Corbett. ph Lloyd Ahern. m Cyril Mockridge. 20th Century Fox. 84 min.
June Haver, William Lundigan, Frank Fay, Marilyn Monroe, Jack Paar.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 21, 1951; first showing by the Stanford Theatre Foundation
The Apartment (1960) 5:15, 9:05
d Billy Wilder. w Billy Wilder, I. A. L. Diamond. ph Joseph La Shelle. m Adolph Deutsch. United Artists / Mirisch. 125 min.
Jack Lemmon (C. C. Baxter), Shirley MacLaine (Fran Kubelik), Fred MacMurray (J. D. Sheldon), Ray Walston (Mr. Dobisch), Jack Kruschen (Dr. Dreyfuss), Naomi Stevens (Mrs. Dreyfuss), Hope Holiday (Margie MacDougall), Joan Shawlee (Sylvia), Edie Adams (Miss Olsen), David Lewis (Mr. Kirkeby), Johnny Seven (Karl Matuschka), Frances Weintraub Lax (Mrs. Lieberman).
An ambitious clerk (Jack Lemmon) has been lending his apartment to the firm's philandering executives for their secret trysts. He himself has his eye on the elevator girl (Shirley MacLaine).
Voted Best Picture of 1960, this film also won an Oscar for Billy Wilder as director.
The Apartment has been the thirty-ninth most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 28,266 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 29, 1960; last played Sep 2025
d Willaim Wyler. w Harry Kurnitz. ph Charles Lang. m Johnny Williams. 20th Century-Fox. 127 min.
Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole, Charles Boyer, Hugh Griffith, Eli Wallach, Fernand Gravet, Marcel Dalio.
The daughter of a master art forger must retrieve one of her father's works from the museum, and she enlists the aid of a supposed burglar.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug. 24, 1966; last played Sep 2023
d Blake Edwards. w George Axelrod, from the novel by Truman Capote. ph Franz Planer. m Henry Mancini. Paramount. 115 min.
Audrey Hepburn (Holly Golightly), George Peppard (Paul Varjak), Patricia Neal (2-E Failenson), Buddy Ebsen (Doc Golightly), Martin Balsam (O.J. Berman), John McGiver (Tiffany's Clerk), Mickey Rooney (Mr. Yunioshi), Villalonga (José da Silva Perreira).
Charmingly degenerate and enormously popular fairy tale about madcap Holly Golightly, who lives on the money men give her but finds a soulmate in the "kept" writer living in the apartment above. Her rendition of "Moon River" (Hepburn's own voice) helped it win the Academy Award as Best Song.
For those who may disapprove of Mickey Rooney's racial caricature of Mr. Yunioshi, we offer this quotation from his autobiography: "I was downright ashamed of my role."
Breakfast at Tiffany's has been the eighteenth most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 41,718 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 31, 1961; last played Sep 2022
d Laurence Olivier. w Terence Rattigan, from his play The Sleeping Prince. ph Jack Cardiff. m Richadr Addinsell. Warner Bros. 117 min.
Laurence Olivier, Marilyn Monroe, Sybil Thorndike, Richard Wattis.
Laurence Olivier invites Marilyn Monroe to his place for a late night supper.
Olivier directed the film himself, and he found his leading lady difficult.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 18, 2012; last played July 2012
d Stanley Donen. w Alan Jay Lerner. ph Robert Planck. m/ly Burton Lane, Alan Jay Lerner. MGM. 93 min.
Fred Astaire, Jane Powell, Sarah Churchill, Peter Lawford, Keenan Wynn.
This film contains two of Astaire's most famous numbers, his dance across the ceiling and his dance with a hat rack. The story of a brother and sister song-and-dance team is based loosely on Astaire's own life. Winston Churchill's daughter Sarah plays the second female lead.
Songs include: Every Night at Seven; Open Your Eyes; The Happiest Day of my Life; How Could You Believe Me When I Said I Love You When You Know I've Been a Liar All My Life; Too Late Now; You're All the World to Me; I Left My Hat in Haiti; What a Lovely Day for a Wedding.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 19, 1987; last played May 2025
d Billy Wilder. w Billy Wilder, Harry Kurnitz, from the play by Agatha Christie. ph Russell Harlan. m Matty Melneck. United Artists. min.
Charles Laughton (Sir Wilfrid Roberts), Tyrone Power (Leonard Stephen Vole), Marlene Dietrich (Christine "Helm" Vole), John Williams (Brogan-Moore), Henry Daniell (Mayhew), Elsa Lanchester (Miss Plimsoll), Norma Varden (Miss Emily Jane French), Una O'Connor (Janet MacKenzie), Ian Wolfe (Carter), Torin Thatcher (Mr. Myers).
Agatha Christie courtroom thriller (with surprise ending) about a London barrister who takes on a seemingly hopeless case. Laughton is superb.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 5, 1958; last played July 2015
d Sidney Gilliat. w Sidney Gilliat, Claud Guerney, from the novel by Christianna Brand. ph Wilkie Cooper. m William Alwyn. Rank / Individual Pictures. 91 min.
Alastair Sim, Sally Gray, Trevor Howard, Rosamund John, Leo Genn, Megs Jenkins, Judy Campbell, Ronald Ward, Moore Marriott.
This small gem of a suspense comedy stars Alastair Sim as Inspector Cockrill of Scotland Yard, who must solve a series of murders in a rural British hospital.
"An unfairly overlooked delight in the annals of British film history... Watching this film is like sitting up late on a stormy night reading your first Agatha Christie novel." Baseline Movie Guide
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 15, 1948; last played Sep 2018
d John Huston. w Arthur Miller. ph Russell Metty. m Alex North. Seven Arts. 124 min.
Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Montgomeruy Clift, Thelma Ritter, Eli Wallach, James Barton, Estelle Winwood, Kevin McCarthy.
Four misfits (ex-showgirl, an aging cowboy, a mechanic, and a rodeo performer) gather to round up and make money off of wild mustangs to be used for dog food.
Initially a critical and financial failure, The Misfits today is regarded a minor classic. It contains some of Gable's and Monroe's best acting, despite enormous (and highly documented) difficulties during filming. Gable died just eight days after the grueling filming was completed, and Marilyn was gone less than two years later.
first showing at the Stanford Theatre
d George Cukor. w Norman Krasna. ph Daniel L. Fapp. m/ly Sammy Cahn & Jummy Van Heusen. 20th Century-Fox. 118 min.
Marilyn Monroe, Yves Montand, Tony Randall, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Frankie Vaughan, David Burns, Bing Crosby, Gene Kelly, Milton Berle.
An international playboy (Montand) secretly investigates a musical revue satirizing his life. Watching Marilyn Monroe rehearse My Heart Belongs to Daddy, he is understandably captivated. Unaware who he is, the producer offers him a job as the actor to play himself.
Cukor's stylish direction brings magic to the backstage world of show business. Don't arrive late or you'll miss Marilyn Monroe's sensational entrance.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 16, 1960; last played Apr 1999
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962) (3:25), 7:30
d Robert Mulligan. w Horton Foote, from the novel by Harper Lee. ph Russell Harlan. m Elmer Bernstein. Universal-International. 129 min.
Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch), Mary Badham (Jean Louise "Scout" Finch), Philip Alford (Jem Finch), John Megna (Dill Harris), Frank Overton (Sheriff Heck Tate), Rosemary Murphy (Miss Maudie Atkinson), Ruth White (Mrs. Dubose), Brock Peters (Tom Robinson), Estelle Evans (Calpurnia), Collin Wilcox (Mayella Violet Ewell), James Anderson (Bob Ewell).
Gregory Peck received an Academy Award for his performance as Atticus Finch in this story of a widowed lawyer confronting racism in a small southern town, as seen through the eyes of his two children.
"The other great appeal of the film is owed to Mary Badham, who gives one of the finest performances by a child in American cinema." David Thomson
To Kill a Mockingbird has been the ninety-fifth most widely attended
film at the Stanford Theatre — 12,915 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 19, 1998; last played July 2015
d Philip Leacock. w Neil Patterson. ph Eric Cross. m Bruce Montgomery. Group Film Prod. 95 min.
Duncan MacRae, Adrienne Corri, Jon Whiteley, Vincent Winter, Jean Anderson, Theodore Bikel, Francis de Wolff, James Sutherland, John Rae, Jack Stewart.
Two orphaned young boys go to live with their grandparents in very rural Nova Scotia. Life is hard, and Grandpa is very strict, maintaining a feud with the local Dutch Canadians because of the Boer War, which killed his son. Since they are not allowed a dog, the boys "kidnap" a baby that was left untended by its young babysitter.
The Dutch doctor is nicely played by Theodore Bikel (Professor Karpathy in My Fair Lady). The kids are especially good, but the whole film is very well made.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 9, 2008; last played Mar 2017
d George Stevens. w Fred Guiol & Ivan Moffat, from the novel by Edna Ferber. ph William C. Mellor & Edwin DuPar. m Dimitri Tiomkin. Warner Bros. 197 min.
Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor, James Dean, Mercedes McCambridge, Carroll Baker, Chill Wills, Jane Withers, Dennis Hopper, Sal Mineo, Rod Taylor, Judith Evelyn, Earl Holliman, Alexander Scourby, Paul Fix.
We are showing a genuine IB Technicolor print of this famous epic about a cattle rancher, his wife and the upstart wildcatter who lives on their land. Days after completing his scenes, 24-year-old James Dean was killed in an automobile crash.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 31, 1991; last played Apr 2011
d Joshua Logan. w George Axelrod, from the play by William Inge. ph MIlton Krasna. m Alfred Newman, Cyril Mockridge. 20th Century-Fox. 96 min.
Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Betty Field, Arthur O'Connell, Eileen Heckart, Robert Bray, Hope Lange, Hans Conried, Casey Adams.
A naïve cowboy falls instantly in love with a smalltown saloon singer, who dreams of a better life. Many consider this to be Monroe's finest performance, and few can forget her unique rendition of That Old Black Magic.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 12, 1956; last played June 2013
d Joshua Logan. w Daniel Taradash, from the play by William Inge. ph James Wong Howe. m George Duning. Columbia. 115 min.
Kim Novak (Madge Owens), William Holden (Hal Carter), Rosalind Russell (Rosemary Sydney), Betty Field (Flo Owens), Susan Strasberg (MIllie Owens), Cliff Robertson (Alan), Arthur O'Connell (Howard Bevins), Verna Felton (Mrs. Helen Potts), Reta Shaw (Linda Sue Breckenridge).
William Holden drifts into a sleepy Kansas town over the Labor Day weekend and steals his old friend's girl (Kim Novak).
Famous at the time for its frankness, Picnic now seems most remarkable for its cinematic grace and authentic rural atmosphere. The wonderfully nostalgic Labor Day picnic, and above all the slumberous Moonglow dancing sequence, make it one of the true cinematic treasures of the 1950s.
Picnic has been the ninety-seventh most widely
attended film at the Stanford Theatre — 12,756 tickets since 1989.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 1, 1990; last played Aug 2019