The restored Stanford Theatre opened on December 8, 1989. Since then we have presented nearly 1700 different titles. This calendar offers our top 64 box office favorites.
On December 8, 1989, the 64-year-old Stanford Theatre began a new phase of its life, after a two-year renovation combining seismic upgrades with restoration of the original decor. For the past 20 years the Stanford Theatre Foundation has been bringing back the movie-going experience of Hollywood's Golden Age.
We celebrate our twentieth anniversary by presnting our 76 top box office hits (omitting 12 films shown recently in our September Hitchcock festival).
Certain names appear over and over: Alfred Hitchcock 16 times, Cary Grant 12, Jimmy Stewart 8, Audrey Hepburn 7, Humphrey Bogart 7, Vincente Minelli 7, Billy Wilder 6, Frank Capra 5, Fred Astaire 5, Katherin Hepburn 4, George Cukor 4, Ernst Lubitsch 3, Ronald Colman 3.
In the Golden Age of the movies, the public attended extravagant picture palaces (liek the Stanford Theatre) where they enjoyed the shared pleasure of watching larger than life images of their favorite stars. For some people watching movies may be a purely intellectual experience, but for many of us it is often just a question of spending time with our (imaginary) extended family.
Tickets for the double feature are $7.00 for adults, $5.00 for seniors (65 and over) and young people (18 and under). Gift Certificates worth four general admissions can be purchased for $24. You can always enjoy the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ before and after the 7:30 show. Our Gallery offers exhibits of original posters and other items. Please note that cell phones and food (other than candy, popcorn, and drinks) are not allowed in the theatre.
The Stanford Theatre is dedicated to bringing back the movie-going experience of Hollywood's Golden Age. 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.
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 http://www.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.)
Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, John Ridgley, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Peggy Knudsen, Regis Toomey, Charles Waldron, Charles D. Brown, Bob Steele, Elisha Cook, Jr, Louis Jean Heydt, Sonia Darrin, James Flavin, Thomas Jackson, Dan Wallace, Theodore Von Eltz, Joy Barlowe, Tom Fadden, Ben Welden.
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.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 27, 1946; last played Nov 2008
Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, Gene Tierney, Judith Anderson, Vincent Price, Dorothy Adams, James Flavin.
A beautiful young woman is murdered, or so it seems.
Laura is one of the most hauntingly unforgettable movies ever made. David Raksin's score is one of the greatest ever written. Clifton Webb's portrayal of acerbic radio personality Waldo Lydecker ("I'm vicious, it's the secret of my charm") is one of the treasures of the cinema.
"Everybody's favorite chic murder mystery." Pauline Kael
Laura has been by far the most popular film noir with audiences at the Stanford Theatre. David Raksin was a guest of the theatre four times.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 30, 1944; last played Feb 2009
David Niven, Cantinflas, Shirley MacLaine, Robert Newton, Charles Boyer, Joe E. Brown, Martine Carol, John Carradine, Charles Coburn, Ronald Colman, Melville Cooper, Noel Coward, Finlay Currie, Reginald Denny, Andy Devine, Marlene Dietrich, Luis Miguel Dominguin, Fernandel, Sir John Gielgud, Hermione Gingold, Jose Greco, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Trevor Howard, Glynis Johns, Buster Keaton, Evelyn Keyes, Beatrice Lille, Peter Lorre, Edmund Lowe, Victor McLaglen, Colonel Tim McCoy, A. E. Matthews, Mike Mazurki, John Mills, Alan Mowbray, Robert Morley, Edward G. Murrow, Jack Oakie, George Raft, Gilbert Roland, Cesar Romero, Frank Sinatra, Red Skelton, Ronald Squire, Basil Sydney, Richard Watts, Harcourt Williams.
This wide-screen, all-star extravaganza won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1956. It has cameo roles for many stars from Hollywood's golden age. This is a film that must be seen in a real theatre.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 20, 1958; last played Jul 2006
Humphrey Bogart, Katharine Hepburn, Robert Morley, Peter Bull, Theodore Bikel, Walter Gotell, Gerald Onn, Peter Swanwick, Richard Marner.
A gin-drinking river trader and a prim missionary travel down the river together in German East Africa during WW I, in one of the greatest adventures and love stories ever filmed.
"An inspired piece of casting brought Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn together. This is a comedy, a love story, and a tale of adventure, and it is one of the most charming and entertaining movies ever made." Pauline Kael
last played Dec 2008
Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Walter Molnar, Sheldon Leonard, Marcel Dalio, Walter Sande, Dan Seymour, Aldo Nadi, Paul Marion, Patricia Shay, Emmett Smith, Sir Lancelot.
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.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 11, 1945; last played Dec 2008
Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, Fred MacMurray, Ray Walston, Jack Kruschen, Joan Shawlee, Edie Adams, David Lewis.
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.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 29, 1960; last played Mar 2009
Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Marilyn Monroe, Joe E. Brown, George Raft, Pat O'Brien, Nehemiah Persoff, George E. Stone, Joan Shawlee.
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 singe 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".
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 25, 1994; last played Oct 2007
James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Guy Kibbee, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Beulah Bondi, H. B. Warner, Harry Carey, Astrid Allwyn, Ruth Donnelly, Lane Porter Hall.
Frank Capra's story about an idealistic junior senator who discovers the truth about Washington has lost none of its power after more than 60 years as an American classic. Indeed, the Library of Congress now presents special educational screenings for newly elected senators!
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 13, 1939; last played Dec 2007
James Stewart, Doris Day, Brenda de Banzie, Bernard Miles, Ralph Truman, Daniel Gelin, Mogens Wieth, Alan Mowbray, Hillary Brooke, Christopher Olsen, Reggie Nalder, Richard Wattis, Noel Willman, Alix Talton, Yves Brainville, Carolyn Jones.
When a doctor on vacation in Morocco (Stewart, in his third Hitchcock film) accidentally hears a secret message, his son is kidnapped to ensure his silence. This is a remake of Hitchcock's 1934 British film with the same title and basic story, and the famous suspenseful scene in Albert Hall where a murder is planned to coincide with a cymbal crash during a concert.
Doris Day sings the Oscar-winning Que sera, sera.
"The reason why the cantata record is played twice is to prevent any confusion in the viewer's mind about the events that are to follow... It was also important that the public be able not only to recognize the sound of the cymbals but to anticipate it in their minds. Knowing what to expect, they wait for it to happen. This conditioning of the viewer is essential to the build-up of suspense." Hitchcock
Cameo appearance from the back, watching Arab acrobats.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 14, 1956; last played Mar 2008
Cary Grant, Raymond Massey, Priscilla Lane, Josephine Hull, Jean Adair, Jack Carson, Edward Everett Horton, Peter Lorre, James Gleason, John Alexander.
Two lovable old ladies serve a special elderberry wine to help old men forget their loneliness.
Capra borrowed Hull and Adair from the Broadway play and made the film in 1941. For contractual reasons, the film could not be released until the play closed (after nearly four years) in 1944. Capra had to change the ending of the play because the preview audience would not accept the death of the beloved character actor Edward Everett Horton.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 5, 1944; last played Dec 2007
Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Helen Mack, Porter Hall, Ernest Truex, Cliff Edwards, Clarence Kolb, Roscoe Karns, Frank Jenks, Abner Biberman, Frank Orth, John Qualen, Billy Gilbert, Alma Kruger.
Top speed comedy with Cary Grant as newspaper editor and Rosalind Russell as his ex-wife and star reporter. Watch for the only on-screen mention of Cary Grant's real name (Archie Leach).
Jean Arthur was put on suspension for refusing the part of Hildy Johnson.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 28, 1940; last played Jul 2007
Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Richard Denning, Neva Patterson, Cathleen Nesbitt, Robert Q. Lewis, Charles Watts, Fortunio Bonanova, Matt Moore, Louis Mercier, Geraldine Wall, Sarah Selby.
A shipboard romance is almost thwarted by fate. This remake of the classic 1939 film Love Affair (by the same director with Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer) is one of those rare cases in which the remake is truly worthy of the original.
People probably exist who are immune to this kind of romantic extravaganza, but the rest of us should not forget to bring our hankies.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Aug 2, 1957; last played Oct 2006
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Charles Ruggles, Walter Catlett, Barry Fitzgerald, May Robson, Fritz Feld, Jonathan Hale, Asta.
Classic screwball comedy, with dizzy socialite Hepburn and perplexed paleontologist Grant in pursuit of his dinosaur bone and her escaped pet leopard.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 10, 1938; last played June 2009
Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert, Walter Connolly, Roscoe Karns, Alan Hale, Ward Bond, Jameson Thomas, Arthur Hoyt.
Spoiled heiress Colbert escapes from the family yacht and meets reporter Gable on a bus to New York.
MGM sent Clark Gable to make this picture at Columbia ("poverty row") as a punishment. Expectations for the picture were so low that it wasn't even booked into the Stanford Theatre!
Hollywood's first great screwball comedy won all five major Academy Awards in 1934 (best picture, director, actor, actress, writer), and put Frank Capra and Columbia Studio in the major league.
last played Nov 2007
Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche, John Barrymore, Francis Lederer, Mary Astor, Elaine Barrie, Hedda Hopper, Rex O'Malley, Monty Woolley, Armand Kaliz.
A chorus girl (Claudette Colbert) arrives in Paris with nothing but the evening gown she is wearing. She meets an idealistic cab driver (Don Ameche) who disapproves of her gold-digging ways. A rich Parisian (John Barrymore) hires her to pose as a countess to lure away his wife's lover.
This picture, written by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett, is one of the supreme gems of the Hollywood romantic comedy. John Barrymore said that it was the most fascinating screenplay he had ever read.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 9, 1939; last played Aug 2009
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, Doris Nolan, Lew Ayres, Edward Everett Horton, Henry Kolker, Binnie Barnes, Jean Dixon, Ruth Donnelly, Henry Daniell.
A conventional New York socialite (Doris Nolan) brings her unconventional fiancé (Cary Grant) home to meet her wealthy New York family, only to have him fall for her free-spirited sister, played by Katharine Hepburn, in what Pauline Kael calls "her archetypal role." Hepburn was understudy for this role on Broadway in 1928, and she chose it for her initial Hollywood screen test.
"Katherine Hepburn's wit and nonconformity made ordinary heroines seem mushy." Pauline Kael
This classic comedy was recently restored by the UCLA Film Archive.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jul 10, 1938; last played June 2009
Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, Peter Lawford, Michael O'Shea.
An unknown model comes to New York City and rents a billboard on Columbus Circle to display her name in giant letters in order to experience life as a celebrity. Once you've seen this film you can never forget the name Gladys Glover nor the actress Judy Holliday.
"Judy was the greatest actress I've ever worked with; absolutely sensational." Jack Lemmon
Jack Lemmon made his film debut as the documentary film maker and honest guy who loves her; John Saxon (also in his film debut) has a small uncredited role as a bystander in the park.
last played Mar 2009
Errol Flynn, Basil Rathbone, Claude Rains, Olivia de Havilland, Alan Hale, Patric Knowles, Eugene Pallette, Ian Hunter, Melville Cooper, Una O'Connor, Herbert Mundin, Montagu Love, Howard Hill.
This is (as everyone knows) one of the truly great adventure films of all time. From time to time they try to improve on the original, but there is still no substitute for the genuine article. The dashing Errol Flynn as Robin Hood is one of the most indelible images from old Hollywood.
Erich Wolfgang Korngold's score (Academy Award) is a major reason for the film's unending popularity.
"Life and the movies have their compensations, and such a film as this is payment in full for many dull hours of picture-going." The New York Times
first played at the Stanford Theatre May 22, 1938; last played Jul 2006
Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor, Debbie Reynolds, Millard Mitchell, Jean Hagen, Rita Moreno, Cyd Charisse, Douglas Fowley.
Perhaps the most popular film musical of all time is set in Hollywood at the dawn of talking pictures. Silent stars Don Lockwood (Gene Kelly) and Lena Lamont (Jean Hagen) are making their first sound picture. When Lena's voice doesn't quite match her glamorous image, up-and-comer Debbie Reynolds steps in.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 27, 1991; last played June 2009
Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt, John Howard, Edward Everett Horton, Margo, Thomas Mitchell, Isabel Jewell, H. B. Warner, Sam Jaffe, Hugh Buckler, David Torrence.
Frank Capra's celebrated tale of Shangri-La, a remote community in the Himalayas where civilization is nurtured far from the violent world. Based on James Hilton's novel, this is one of the most memorable experiences offered by Hollywood's Golden Age.
"Had the High Lama been able to scour the whole world for a man to carry on his vision of Shangri-La, he would have selected Ronald Colman, beautiful of face and soul, sensitive to the fragile and gentle, responsive both to poetic visions and hard intellect" - Frank Capra
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 16, 1990; last played Nov 2007
Ronald Colman, Greer Garson, Philip Dorn, Susan Peters, Henry Travers, Reginald Owen, Margaret Wycherly, Bramwell Fletcher, Arthur Margetson.
One of Hollywood's great romances, about a WW I soldier suffering from amnesia. He marries a music hall dancer, but suddenly remembers his past life.
This film, based on a James Hilton novel which seems almost to have been written with Ronald Colman in mind, was enormously popular in its time.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 14, 1943; last played Jul 2006
Lana Turner, Kirk Douglas, Gloria Grahame, Walter Pidgeon, Dick Powell, Barry Sullivan, Gilbert Roland, Leo G. Carroll, Vanessa Brown, Paul Stewart.
In perhaps the greatest movie ever made about Hollywood (it won five Oscars), a brilliant but egomaniacal producer (Douglas) 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.
last played Aug 2008
Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich von Stroheim, Fred Clark, Nancy Olson, Jack Webb, Lloyd Gough, Franklyn Farnum, Larry Blake, Charles Dayton, Cecil B. DeMille, H. B. Warner, Anna Q. Nilsson, Buster Keaton, Hedda Hopper, Ray Evans, Jay Livingston.
A young Hollywood writer reluctantly allows himself to be kept by a demented silent movie queen in her decaying mansion.
The picture is saturated with ironic authenticity. A genuine silent film idol, Gloria Swanson, gives the uncanny impression that she might almost be playing herself in the role of the pathetically grandiose Norma Desmond. The great silent director Erich von Stroheim plays her butler and former director; they even watch part of a silent film, Queen Kelly, they made together in real life. Buster Keaton and other personalities from the silent era are guests at her mansion. Cecil B. DeMille, the director of real Swanson silent films, still inhabits the sound stage at Paramount, the studio where Swanson (and Norma Desmond) made their biggest pictures. DeMille's scenes were filmed on location at the soundstage where he was directing his latest epic, Samson and Delilah. And, of course, this story of a struggling Hollywood screenwriter is directed by a great Hollywood screenwriter.
This complex film required music that was an equal partner in its bitter and ironic portrayal of Hollywood. Waxman responded with his greatest masterpiece, which won the Academy Award.
In 1989 Sunset Boulevard was selected by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in its first group of 25 landmark American films.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 29, 1951; last played Aug 2009
Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, John McGiver, Mickey Rooney.
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."
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 31, 1961; last played Jul 2008
Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, Jacques Marin, Paul Bonifas, Dominique Minot.
A woman (Audrey Hepburn) returns from a trip to discover her home has been ransacked, her husband has been murdered, and the killers are now after her. Cary Grant is the mystery man who shows up to assist her, but can she trust him?
Audrey Hepburn's only movie with Cary Grant was this Hitchcock-inspired blend of suspense, comedy, and romance, made in Paris.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 3, 1992; last played Jun 2008
Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison, George Sanders, Edna Best, Vanessa Brown, Anna Lee, Robert Coote, Natalie Wood, Isobel Elsom.
Hollywood's most fathomlessly romantic fantasy, with Gene Tierney as a young widow who rents a house on the English coast and is romanced by the ghost of a dashing sea captain (Rex Harrison) who once lived there. Bernard Herrmann wrote some of the most beautiful music ever heard on a Hollywood soundtrack.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 19, 1990; last played Nov 2006
Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young, Billie Burke, Alan Mowbray, Eugene Pallette, Arthur Lake, Hedda Hopper, Virginia Sale, Theodore Von Eltz, J. Farrell McDonald, Elaine Shepard.
In this delightful fantasy, Topper, a stuffy banker, is haunted by the jovial ghosts of his recently deceased clients (Grant and Bennett).
"Much fun; a sophisticated fantasy... they return as elegant ectoplasmic pranksters and drive banker Cosmo Topper to happy distraction." Pauline Kael
"For those who don't know why Constance Bennett was a big movie star, her provocative, teasing Marion Kirby should provide the answer." Pauline Kaelfirst played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 9, 1937; last played Apr 2007
Jack Benny, Carole Lombard, Robert Stack, Stanley Ridges, Felix Bressart, Lionel Atwill, Sig Rumann, Tom Dugan, Charles Halton.
Carole Lombard's last and greatest film, about a troupe of ham actors in the Polish underground, trying to save Warsaw from Hitler.
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 Sep 2005
Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Sig Rumann, Alexander Granach, Felix Bressart, Ina Claire, Bela Lugosi.
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 Sep 2005
Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Gladys George, Peter Lorre, Barton MacLaine, Lee Patrick, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Jerome Cowan, Elisha Cook, Jr., James Burke, Murray Alper, John Hamilton, Emory Parnell, Walter Huston.
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
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 29, 1942; last played Dec 2008
Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Dorothy Comingore, Everett Sloane, Ray Collins, George Coulouris, Agnes Moorehead, Paul Stewart, Ruth Warrick, Erskine Sanford, Harry Shannon, William Alland, Fortunio Bonanova.
Though not voted Best Picture of 1941 (it was nominated), Citizen Kane consistently appears at the top of lists of the best films of all time.
Bernard Herrmann's very first film score contributes more than its share to the success of this revolutionary film. Welles allowed Herrmann ample time for composition, and he sometimes cut the film to match the music.
first played in Palo Alto at the Mayfield Theatre Dec 7, 1941; dare we speculate that that Citizen Kane was denied entry to Palo Alto's premier movie theatre through the influence of William Randolph Hearst?
last played June 2009
Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Mary Astor, C. Aubrey Smith, Raymond Massey, David Niven, Byron Foulger, Montagu Love.
An Englishman on vacation in Ruritania helps defeat a rebel plot by impersonating the local king, who is his exact double. He presides at the coronation of the absent king, foils the king's enemies, romances the king's intended, but, true to his code of honor, departs in the end.
This splendid adventure story, with spectacular duels between Colman and Fairbanks, is one of the great treasures of the cinema, and one of the most entertaining films ever made.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 26, 1937; last played Sep 2007
Tyrone Power, Basil Rathbone, Gail Sondergaard, J. Edward Bromberg, Linda Darnell, Eugene Pallette, Montagu Love, Janet Beecher, Robert Lowery.
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 Aug 2009
Joel McCrea, Laraine Day, Herbert Marshall, Albert Basserman, Edmund Gwenn, George Sanders, Eduardo Cianelli, Robert Benchley, Harry Davenport, Martin Kosleck, Barbara Pepper, Eddie Conrad, Charles Wagenheim.
Another four-star Hitchcock masterpiece, with an American reporter stumbling upon a Nazi espionage ring. The film contains a remarkable series of set-pieces, including the Dutch windmill rotating backwards.
"The picture was pure fantasy, and as you know, in my fantasies, plausability is not allowed to rear its ugly head." Alfred Hitchcock
Hitchcock passes Joel McCrea on the street.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 27, 1940; last played Feb 2008
Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida. Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Bernard Lee, Marco Tulli, Mario Perroni, Alex Pochet, Aldo Silvani, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzi, Juan de Landa, Manuel Serano, Mimo Poli.
A cast of unconventional characters seeks an elusive plot of land in Africa, which supposedly contains uranium. This "screwball noir" (shot on location in Italy) was neglected on its first release but now is regarded as a cult classic.
"It succeeded in some original (and perhaps dangerously marginal) way by finding a style of its own." Pauline Kael
last played Nov 2008
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Helen Broderick.
In their most popular film together (set in London and Venice), Ginger mistakes Fred for the husband of her best friend. In addition to the unforgettable dances, sensational score, and brilliant comedy script, Top Hat is notable for its gorgeous Art Deco sets.
World wide, Top Hat was the second most popular film in 1935. All five Irving Berlin songs became top hits and remain standards to this day: "Cheek to Cheek", "Isn't This a Lovely Day (to be Caught in the Rain)", "Top Hat, White Tie, and Tails", "No Strings", and "The Piccolino".
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 2, 1935; last played July 2008
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Edward Everett Horton, Alice Brady, Erik Rhodes, Eric Blore, Lillian Miles, Betty Grable.
The first film made specially for Fred and Ginger (it was their second film together) was a tremendous box office success. It was based on Cole Porter's 1932 Broadway musical, but kept only one original song, Night and Day. A new song, The Continental, won the first Oscar ever given for Best Song.
Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers perform their first true romantic dance to Night and Day. To call it a dance of seduction could give entirely the wrong impression, but that is nonetheless what it is. Although Ginger had begun as a Charleston dancer in Texas, she had an innate understanding of the dramatic and emotional richness of the new style Astaire was creating.
The script is bright and fast-paced, and several supporting actors (Eric Blore, Edward Everett Horton, Erik Rhodes) would return in future films as a kind of Astaire-Rogers stock company.
Songs: Night and Day, music and lyrics by Cole Porter; Let's K-nock K-nees and Don't Let It Bother You, music and lyrics by Mack Gordon and Harry Revel; A Needle in a Haystack and The Continental, music and lyrics by Con Conrad and Herb Magidson.
All in all, The Gay Divorcee remains after more than 70 years one of the very best musical pictures ever made.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 11, 1934; last played June 2009
James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston, Rosemary de Camp, Richard Whorf, George Tobias, Jeanne Cagney, Irene Manning, S. Z. Sakall, George Barbier, Frances Langford, Walter Catlett, Eddie Foy, Jr.
The life and music of George M. Cohan, portrayed by Jimmy Cagney in his greatest role. Upon seeing Cagney's performance in this film, Cohan himself exclaimed: "My God, what an act to follow!"
This was Jimmy Cagney's favorite of all his films. He was often typecast as a gangster, but his rare appearances as a dancer reveal him as second only to Astaire in the 1930s.
"He is so cocky and sure a dancer that you feel yourself grinning with pleasure at his movements. It's quite possible that he has more electricity than Cohan himself had." Pauline Kael
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 1, 1943; last played July 2009
Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers, Victor Moore, Helen Broderick, Eric Blore, Betty Furness, George Metaxa.
The slim plot, with Fred as a professional dancer (and gambler) and Ginger as a dance instructor, provides a vehicle for the most sublime dancing ever recorded on film. If you could spend just three minutes of your life in a movie theatre, a good choice might be to watch Fred and Ginger dancing Pick Yourself Up in Swing Time.
Because of the dances, and Ginger's fine performance, some regard this as the greatest of the ten Astaire-Rogers pictures; it was Ginger's favorite.
The classic songs by Jerome Kern and Dorothy Fields include The Way You Look Tonight (which won an Oscar for Best Song), A Fine Romance, Pick Yourself Up, Never Gonna Dance, and Bojangles of Harlem.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 18, 1936; last played Aug 2009
William Powell, Carole Lombard, Alice Brady, Gail Patrick, Jean Dixon, Eugene Pallette, Alan Mowbray, Mischa Auer, Robert Light, Pat Flaherty, Franklin Pangborn, Grady Sutton.
A leading candidate for Hollywood's greatest screwball comedy, with spoiled Park Avenue brat Carole Lombard hiring "forgotten man" Godfrey (William Powell) as butler and then falling for him.
Beautiful print from the UCLA Film Archive, made from the original camera negative, which had been thought to be lost. Before restoration, this famous film had been available only in very inferior 16mm prints.
"Likable and well-paced even at its silliest... this film has a sleek and silvery Art Deco look." Pauline Kael
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 11, 1936; last played Aug 2008
William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Edward Ellis, Porter Hall, Henry Wadsworth, William Henry, Harold Huber, Cesar Romero, Natalie Moorhead, Edward Brophy, Clay Clement, Asta.
It seems truly incredible that The Thin Man was made in only 12 days, but it is even harder to imagine that it could ever lose its position as Hollywood's all-time favorite sophisticated detective movie, or that there could ever be another screen marriage as perfect as Nick and Nora's.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jun 22, 1934; last played Mar 2006
Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessi Royce Landis, Leo G. Carroll, Philip Ober, Joseph Hutchinson, Martin Landau, Adam Williams, Edward Platt, Robert Ellenstein, Les Tremayne.
In Hitchcock's most successful blending of romance and suspense, and one of Hollywood's most enduring classics, mild-mannered advertising executive Cary Grant answers the wrong page one afternoon and finds himself embroiled with spies, murderers, the FBI, and Eva Marie Saint — which only gives Hitchcock the chance to display some of his most extravagant fantasies, such as the crop dusting scene and the Mt. Rushmore climax.
"Cinema, approached in this way, becomes a truly abstract art, like music... It's obvious that the fantasy of the absurd is a key ingredient in your film-making formula." François Truffaut
"The fact is I practice absurdity quite religiously." Hitchcock
"Since that [crop-dusting] scene doesn't move the action forward, it's the kind of concept that would simply never occur to a screenwriter; only a director could dream up an idea like that." Truffaut
Hitchcock appears crossing the street.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jan 24, 1990; last played Mar 2008
Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis, John Williams, Charles Vanel, Brigitte Auber, Jean Martinelli, Georgette Anys, Roland Lessaffre, René Blancard.
Cary Grant plays a retired cat-burglar who is suspected of a series of jewel thefts committed by a copy-cat.
More romantic comedy than suspense thriller, the film was made on location on the French Riviera, where Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier.
"Grace Kelly actually looks alive, and she's sexier than she is in anything else." Pauline Kael
"Sex on the screen should be suspenseful, I feel. If sex is too blatant or obvious, there's no suspense." Hitchcock
Hitchcock's cameo appearance is on a bus, next to Cary Grant.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 14, 1955; last played June 2009
Clifton Webb, Louis Jourdan, Dorothy McGuire, Jean Peters, Maggie McNamara, Rossano Brazzi.
In one of the best remembered films of the 1950's, three American women find romance while working in Rome. This was Hollywood's first Cinemascope movie made on location in a romantic foreign setting. It made the Fountain of Trevi a prime destination for a whole generation of American tourists. The title tune (sung by Frank Sinatra) won the Oscar for Best Song of 1954.
first played at the Stanford Theatre June 26, 1954; last played Aug 2007
Gary Cooper, Audrey Hepburn, Maurice Chevalier, John McGiver.
In Paris an American businessman (Cooper) hires a private detective (Chevalier) to investigate an enchanting young cello student (Hepburn), who happens to be the detective's daughter.
This picture seems inspired by the memory of the great Ernst Lubitsch, for whom Wilder had written two screenplays (Ninotchka and Bluebeard's Eighth Wife).
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jul 21, 1957; last played Aug 2006
w/d Joseph L. Mankiewicz. ph Milton Krasner. m Alfred Newman. 20th Century-Fox. 138 min.
Bette Davis, George Sanders, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Gregory Ratoff, Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Bates, Walter Hampden.
Hollywood's devastating revenge against the "legitimate" stage, in which Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis) is pursued by the cunningly obsequious Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) under the eye of caustic drama critic Addison De Witt (George Sanders).
Six Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director, hardly do justice to one of the most popular films of all time.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 12, 1950; last played Aug 2008
Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson, Tom Powers, Porter Hall, Jean Heather, Byron Barr, Richard Gaines, Fortunio Bonanova, John Philliber.
A suburban housewife (Stanwyck) ensnares an insurance salesman (MacMurray) into helping murder her husband for the insurance money.
This seminal masterpiece of the film noir genre was perfectly supported by a revolutionary Rózsa score that pulsates with bitter harmonic clashes. Edward G. Robinson's performance as the sympathetic insurance fraud investigator is especially memorable. Wilder defied studio conventions by shooting much of the film in locations around L.A., and the exteriors of the Glendale train station, a Melrose Avenue supermarket, and a Spanish stucco house in the Los Feliz Hills provide a fascinating glimpse of the city as it looked in the 40's.
"Every turn and twist is exactly calculated and achieves its effect with the simplest of means; this shrewd, smoothly tawdry thriller is one of the high points of 40s films." Pauline Kael
Print from the UCLA Film Archive, preserved from a nitrate fine grain master positive, with funding by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Oct 25, 1944; last played Feb 2007
Leslie Caron, Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold, Eva Gabor, Isabel Jeans.
Colette's original story (about the education of a courtesan) was softened somewhat to stress the emotional development of a charming but mischievous girl on the verge of womanhood. Three of the principal creators of My Fair Lady (Lerner, Loewe, and Beaton) helped Minnelli make Gigi one of the most successful musicals in history. It won nine Oscars (including Best Picture and Best Director), which was at the time the largest number ever awarded to a single film.
Gigi is a film that benefits enormously from being seen on the big screen and with the original magnetic stereophonic sound track.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 20, 1990; last played July 2009
Rex Harrison, Kay Kendall, Sandra Dee, Peter Myers, Angela Lansbury, John Saxon, Diane Clare.
During the debutante season, the teen-aged American daughter (Sandra Dee) of an upper-class British father (Rex Harrison) comes to London to visit her now remarried father. Her new stepmother (Kay Kendall) insists on presenting her to society.
Vincente Minelli directed many Hollywood classics, including Meet Me in St Louis, An American in Paris, and Gigi. While virtually unknown to the public, The Reluctant Debutante has always been treasured by Minelli fans for its extraordinary humanity, style, and humor.
This great comic gem is practically unknown-- except here at the Stanford Theatre! Regular patrons will recognize that we have already programmed this film as a second feature on eleven occasions, in an effort to introduce it to the public, which may be unaware of its existence. In fact, you might say that it is a cult favorite at the Stanford.
first played at the Stanford Theatre July 20, 1990; last played July 2008
Gene Kelly, Leslie Caron, Oscar Levant, Georges Guetary, Nina Foch.
American painter Jerry Mulligan (Kelly) pursues Parisian gamine Lise Bouvier (Caron). Best Picture of 1951 and six other Oscars. The famous ballet (inspired by Renoir, Rousseau, Toulouse-Lautrec, and other French painters) is one of the greatest artistic creations in the cinema.
last played Jan 2007
Spencer Tracy, Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke, Moroni Olsen, Leo G. Carroll, Taylor Holmes, Melville Cooper.
Stanley T. Banks (Tracy) comes to terms with the marriage of his daughter Kay (Taylor). You may have seen the remake, but there is just no substitute for the genuine article. The tremendous success of this film, which Minnelli completed in one month, demonstrated beyond any doubt that his genius was not limited to musicals.
"The American domestic comedy par excellence." Halliwell
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jul 13, 1950; last played July 2008
Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor, Lucille Bremer, Tom Drake, June Lockhart, Marjorie Main, Leon Ames, Harry Davenport, Joan Carroll, Chill Wills.
A year in the life of of the Smith family at 5135 Kensington Avenue in St. Louis, leading up to the 1904 World's Fair; based on a series of New Yorker stories by Sally Benson.
One of the very greatest films Hollywood ever made, Meet Me in St. Louis established Minnelli as the undisputed master of of the film musical. He directed the film with a warm nostalgic glow that is never saccharine. The film also made Judy Garland, who had her best role since Dorothy, a major adult star. It was the biggest box office success of MGM's first 20 years, and it remains one of the most universally loved films ever made.
Minnelli often identified the "Halloween" episode as his favorite sequence among all his films, and the performance of seven-year-old Margaret O'Brien as the troubled younger sister "Tootie" stands out as one of the true miracles in the history of the cinema.
Songs include: The Boy Next Door, The Trolley Song, Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Mar 11, 1945; last played July 2009
Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, Bert Lahr, Margaret Hamilton, Billie Burke, Charley Grapewin, Clara Blandick.
One of the most beloved films of Hollywood's Golden Age, The Wizard of Oz continues to enchant adiences more than 60 years after its premiere. You haven't really been to Oz until you've seen it on our big screen in glorious Technicolor, with an audience.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 3, 1939; last played Dec 2008
Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Hartley Power, Harcourt Williams.
A young princess on a European goodwill tour escapes her guardians for 24 hours of freedom in Rome with an American reporter (Gregory Peck).
The whole world fell in love with Audrey Hepburn in her first Hollywood role. The film received a total of ten Oscar nominations and Audrey was voted Best Actress.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 20, 1953; last played Aug 2009
Humphrey Bogart, William Holden, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Hampden, John Williams, Martha Hyer, Joan Vohs, Marcel Dalio, Marcel Hillaire, Nella Walker, Francis X. Bushman, Ellen Corbey.
In this wonderfully romantic picture Audrey Hepburn plays Sabrina, the chauffeur's daughter on a Long Island estate. She loves the playboy son (Holden) of her father's boss, but his stuffy elder brother (Bogart) surprises everyone in the end.
Bogart was not happy while making this film, but we are grateful that he did it. Over the past ten years, Sabrina has been the number three box office favorite at the Stanford Theatre, exceeded only by Casablanca and Gone With the Wind
Isn't it Romantic is the theme song of the Stanford Theatre.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Nov 20, 1958; last played Dec 2008
Rex Harrison, Audrey Hepburn, Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde White, Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Britt, Theodore Bikel, Isobel Elson, Mona Washbourne, Walter Burke.
The film version of My Fair Lady (Best Picture of 1964) came nearly a decade after the Broadway musical. In the meantime, Lerner and Loewe created the music for Gigi. Although Audrey Hepburn had played Gigi on Broadway in 1952, she turned down the role in the 1958 film. Many people in 1964 thought that Julie Andrews should have played Eliza (as she did on Broadway). It may be a little hard to accept Audrey as a guttersnipe in the early scenes, but future generations will surely be grateful to rediscover in this film the most authentic fair lady of our age. The world will be grateful that Cukor's film preserves Rex Harrison in one of the great performances of the twentieth century.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Sep 8, 1990; last played Aug 2009
Fred Astaire, Audrey Hepburn, Kay Thompson, Michael Auclair, Robert Flemyng.
Audrey Hepburn plays a Greenwich Village bohemian who goes to Paris as model for fashion photographer Fred Astaire. The Astaire role was based on Richard Avedon, whose own involvement as a consultant helped give the film its remarkable visual style.
Funny Face was originally a 1927 musical play, starring Astaire and his sister Adele, with music by Gershwin. The film has a totally different story line but does retain six Gershwin songs (two from another show). Audrey sings in her own charming voice, unlike My Fair Lady, where her singing is dubbed.
The film was made on location in Paris, which is celebrated in the wonderfully exuberant "Bonjour Paris", written by Roger Edens and Leonard Gershe.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Dec 30, 1990; last played Jul 2007
Fred Astaire, Cyd Charisse, Jack Buchanan, Oscar Levant, Nanette Fabray, James Mitchell.
Ex song-and-dance man Tony Hunter (Astaire) makes a comeback. From the opening note of the overture to the final "Made in Hollywood, USA", The Band Wagon offers two of the most entertaining hours ever manufactured in Culver City (the actual location of MGM).
The Band Wagon was a 1931 Broadway show, starring Fred Astaire and his sister Adele. The 1953 movie keeps three songs, but does not follow the original story.
Songs include: By Myself, Shine on Your Shoes, That's Entertainment, Dancing in the Dark, I Love Louisa, I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans, Triplets, New Sun in the Sky, Louisiana Hayride.
last played Jul 2008
Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman, Paul Henreid, Claude Rains, Konrad Veidt, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, S. Z. Sakall, Madeline Le Beau, Dooley Wilson, Joy Page, John Qualen, Leonid Kinsky, Helmut Dantine, Curt Bois, Marcel Dalio, Corinna Mura, Ludwig Stossel, Ilka Gruning, Charles La Torre, Frank Puglia, Dan Seymour.
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."
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 24, 1943; last played June 2009
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant, James Stewart, Ruth Hussey, John Howard, Roland Young, John Halliday, Mary Nash, Virginia Weidler, John Howard, Henry Daniell.
The society marriage of Tracy Samantha Lord and C. K. Dexter Haven ended in divorce. Tracy is about to marry "man of the people" George Kittredge, when Spy Magazine sends a couple of reporters to cover the wedding.
Philip Barry wrote the play specially for Katharine Hepburn. After its successful Broadway run she sold the play to MGM, retaining the right to select the director and cast.
Jimmy Stewart won the Oscar as Best Actor of 1940 for his performance as reporter Macauley Connor.
This wonderful picture ranks as one of the supreme treasures of Hollywood's golden age. The Stanford Theatre brings it back at least once a year – always to enthusiastic crowds. It never grows old!
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 9, 1941; last played July 2009
James Stewart, Margaret Sullavan, Frank Morgan, Joseph Schildkraut, Sara Haden, Felix Bressart, William Tracy.
In the days before Christmas. a new sales clerk (Margaret Sullavan) is hired by a Budapest shop. She and the manager (Jimmy Stewart) have a stressful relationship on the job, unaware that they have been conducting a romance as pen pals who have never met in person.
"Among the greatest of films... The cafe conversation may be the best meeting in American Film." David Thomson
"One of the most beautifully acted and paced romantic comedies ever made." Pauline Kael
"Never did I make a picture in which the atmosphere and the characters were truer than in this picture." Ernst Lubitsch
first played at the Stanford Theatre Feb 4, 1940; last played Dec 2008
Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, John Payne, Gene Lockhart, Porter Hall, William Frawley, Jerome Cowan, Thelma Ritter.
One of America's most beloved Christmas movies. A Santa Claus working at Macy's department store, a kindly gentleman who calls himself Kris Kringle, has everyone believing in Santa Claus, exept for one little girl.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Jul 13, 1947; last played Dec 2006
James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, Thomas Mitchell, Henry Travers, Beulah Bondi, Frank Faylen, Ward Bond, Gloria Grahame, H. B. Warner, Frank Albertson, Samuel S. Hinds, Mary Treen.
The traditional Christmas Eve screening of what Frank Capra modestly called "the greatest movie anybody ever made." Advance tickets are recommended. Every Christmas Eve more than 1000 people watch George Bailey's Odyssey at The Stanford Theatre. It's our most important tradition.
first played at the Stanford Theatre Apr 27, 1947; last played Dec 2008
Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Barbara O'Neil, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, Victor Jory, Evelyn Keyes, Ann Rutherford, Laura Hope Crews, Harry Davenport, Jane Darwell, Ona Munson, Ward Bond.
Everyone knows the famous names and the drama that "made" Gone With the Wind. Let's therefore mention a couple who get less attention: production designer William Cameron Menzies, who conceived the look of the movie and story-boarded most of it; and Jack Cosgrove, who painted matte backgrounds on glass for effects scenes. Their art is all through the picture and testifies to Selznick's command of detail and painstaking craft– old-fashioned movie-making, to say nothing of magic. There's one other name: Technicolor, a system that came of age with Gone With the Wind. Many in Hollywood doubted color (notably Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer). But after Gone With the Wind, and the enforced economizing of war, color became irresistable. Later on, Technicolor was abandoned for other systems supposedly truer to life. Today we regret the lost, painterly passion of Technicolor and its durability, for the new color systems fade, while Technicolor still burns.
A great film epic deserves to be seen in a theatre of epic proportions.
first played at the Stanford Theatre May 3, 1940; last played Apr 2009