Cinematheque

One of Hitchcock’s most popular and iconic films, this 1959 suspense drama tells the story of a New York ad executive (played by Cary Grant) who finds himself in a deadly game of mistaken identity after a mysterious organization comes to believe he is a government agent out to reveal their secrets. SERIES: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

An elderly man reads the book “The Princess Bride” to his sick and thus currently bedridden adolescent grandson, the reading of the book which has been passed down within the family for generations. The grandson is sure he won’t like the story, with a romance at its core, he preferring something with lots of action and “no kissing”. But the grandson is powerless to stop his grandfather, whose feelings he doesn’t want to hurt. The story centers on Buttercup, a former farm girl who has been chosen as the princess bride to Prince Humperdinck of Florian. Buttercup does not love him, she who still laments the death of her one true love, Westley, five years ago. Westley was a hired hand on the farm, his stock answer of “as you wish” to any request she made of him which she came to understand was his way of saying that he loved her. But Westley went away to sea, only to be killed by the Dread Pirate Roberts. On a horse ride to clear her mind of her upcoming predicament of marriage, Buttercup is kidnapped by a band of bandits: Vizzini who works on his wits, and his two associates, a giant named Fezzik who works on his brawn, and a Spaniard named Inigo Montoya, who has trained himself his entire life to be an expert swordsman. They in turn are chased by the Dread Pirate Roberts himself. But chasing them all is the Prince, and his men led by Count Tyrone Rugen. What happens to these collectives is dependent partly on Buttercup, who does not want to marry the Prince, and may see other options as lesser evils, and partly on the other motives of individuals within the groups. But a larger question is what the grandson will think of the story as it proceeds and at its end, especially as he sees justice as high a priority as action.

This 1935 screwball musical comedy stars the incomparable pairing of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. The story of an American dancer trying to impress his British co-star features songs by Irving Berlin and a number of song classics. SERIES: MASTERPIECE MUSICALS

Ranked as one of the top ten films ever made, this 1958 psychological thriller from Alfred Hitchcock tells the story of an ex-police officer who suffers from an intense fear of heights. He is hired to prevent an old friend’s wife from committing suicide, but all is not as it seems. SERIES: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS

This 1962 drama was directed by John Ford, the master of the western, and stars John Wayne and James Stewart. Stewart plays a lawyer who teams up with the cowboy Wayne to kill the outlaw leader Liberty Valance (played by Lee Marvin). SERIES: AMERICAN MYTHMAKING THRU WESTERNS

A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn.

One of history’s most famous comedies that is still relevant today, this 1964 political satire was directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, and stars Peter Sellers, George C. Scott and Slim Pickens. The shape-shifting Sellers plays three wildly different roles: Royal Air Force Captain Lionel Mandrake, timidly trying to stop a nuclear attack on the USSR ordered by an unbalanced general (Sterling Hayden); the ineffectual and perpetually dumbfounded U.S. President Merkin Muffley, who must deliver the very bad news to the Soviet premier; and the titular Dr.Strangelove himself, a wheelchair-bound presidential adviser with a Nazi past. SERIES: FILMS OF STANLEY KUBRICK

This 1954 film noir classic, directed by Billy Wilder, tells the tale of an aging silent film actress who refuses to accept that her stardom has ended. She hires a young screenwriter to help set up her movie comeback but they develop a dangerous relationship that leads to violence, madness, and death. SERIES: NOIR CLASSICS

The angelically beautiful Catherine Deneuve was launched to stardom by this dazzling musical heart-tugger from Jacques Demy which won the 1964 Palme d’Or at Cannes. Deneuve plays an umbrella-shop owner’s delicate daughter, glowing with first love for a handsome garage mechanic, played by Nino Castelnuovo. When the boy is shipped off to fight in Algeria, the two lovers must grow up quickly. Exquisitely designed in a kaleidoscope of colors, and told entirely through lilting songs by the great composer Michel Legrand, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg is one of the most revered and unorthodox movie musicals of all time.

In French with English subtitles

One of Charlie Chaplin’s absolute best! “City Lights” tells the misadventures of a hapless tramp (Charlie Chaplin) who falls in love with a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) on the tough city streets. Upon learning that she and her grandmother are to be evicted from their home, the tramp undertakes a series of attempts to provide them with the money they need, all of which end in humiliating failure. But after a drunken millionaire (Harry Myers) lavishly rewards him for saving his life, the tramp can change the flower girl’s life forever.

A true classic from the master of suspense. “Psycho” tells the story of a Phoenix secretary who embezzles forty thousand dollars from her employer’s client, goes on the run, and checks into a remote motel run by a very strange young man (Anthony Perkins). The shower scene! Taxidermy! Freudian complexes. This film has it all and has stood the test of times as one of the most disturbing motion pictures ever made.

Starring two of Hollywood’s most beloved stars, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman, “Notorious” (1946) is not just a great spy film from the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock, but one of cinema most perverse love stories. Ingrid Bergman plays Alicia, an alluring woman with a checkered past recruited by Devlin (Cary Grant), a suave, mysterious intelligence agent, to spy for the U.S. Only after she has fallen for Devlin does she learn that her mission is to seduce a Nazi industrialist (Claude Rains) hiding out in South America. Coupling inventive cinematography with brilliantly subtle turns from his mesmerizing leads, Hitchcock orchestrates an anguished romance shot through with deception and moral ambiguity. A thriller of rare perfection, the Oscar-nominated Notorious represents a pinnacle of both its director’s legendary career and classic Hollywood.

Often considered the best musical ever made, “Singin’ in the Rain” tells the story of three stars caught up in the transition from silent films to “talking”. The film features the incomparable Gene Kelly as Don Lockwood, a popular silent film star with humble roots as a singer, dancer, and stuntman. When his latest film with his usual co-star Lina Lamont is transformed into a musical, Don, it turns out, has the perfect voice for the songs. But his partner Lina, whom he cannot stand, needs to be dubbed. The aspiring actress Kathy Selden (Debbie Reynolds) is brought in, leading to romance and legendary musical numbers.

The biggest hit from the most popular Italian filmmaker of all time, La dolce vita rocketed Federico Fellini to international mainstream success—ironically, by offering a damning critique of the culture of stardom. A look at the darkness beneath the seductive lifestyles of Rome’s rich and glamorous, the film follows a notorious celebrity journalist (a sublimely cool Marcello Mastroianni) during a hectic week spent on the peripheries of the spotlight. This mordant picture was an incisive commentary on the deepening decadence of contemporary Europe, and it provided a prescient glimpse of just how gossip- and fame-obsessed our society would become.

In the film, the restless reporter Marcello Rubini (Mastroianni) drifts through life in Rome. While Marcello contends with the overdose taken by his girlfriend, Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), he also pursues heiress Maddalena (Anouk Aimée) and movie star Sylvia (Anita Ekberg), embracing a carefree approach to living. Despite his hedonistic attitude, Marcello does have moments of quiet reflection, resulting in an intriguing cinematic character study.

In this classic film noir from Oscar winner Billy Wilder, insurance salesman Walter Neff (played by Fred MacMurray) gets tangled up in a murderous scheme when he falls for the sensual Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), who is intent on killing her husband (Tom Powers). Their plan hits a major roadbump when the insurance investigator Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) starts looking into the case.

NINOTCHKA is a classic romantic comedy, with a witty script and the legendary Greta Garbo in her first official American comedy. The charming film about clashing ideologies (Soviet communism vs. capitalism) tells the story of a no-nonsense diplomat of the Soviet Union, Nina Ivanovna “Ninotchka” Yakushova (Greta Garbo), who comes to Paris to ensure the sale of jewels seized during the Russian Revolution. At the same time, the carefree bachelor Count Leon d’Algout (Melvyn Douglas) tries to intercept the jewels on behalf of their former owner, the Grand Duchess Swana (Ina Claire). Despite their clashing allegiances, the icy Ninotchka soon warms to Leon’s charms, reluctantly going against her better judgment.

The sparkling screenplay that satirizes the Communist political system with clever innuendos was written by Billy Wilder (before he became a director), Charles Brackett and Walter Reisch, based on a screen story by Melchior Lengyel.

One of the greatest and most beloved films of all time, this mob drama tells the story of the powerful Italian-American crime family of Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando). When the don’s youngest son, Michael (Al Pacino), reluctantly joins the Mafia, he becomes involved in an escalating cycle of violence and betrayal. Although Michael tries to maintain a normal relationship with his wife, Kay (Diane Keaton), he is drawn deeper into the family business.

This acclaimed classic drama that stars Sidney Poitier follows the Youngers, an African-American family living together in an apartment in Chicago. Following the death of their patriarch, they try to determine what to do with the substantial insurance payment they’ll soon receive. Opinions on what to do with the money vary. Walter Lee (Sidney Poitier) wants to make a business investment, while his mother, Lena (Claudia McNeil), is intent on buying a house for them all to live in — two differing views of the American Dream.

This visionary masterpiece from the director Stanley Kubrick tells the story of how after discovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, mankind sets off on a quest to find its origins with help from intelligent supercomputer H.A.L. 9000. Based on the stories of Arthur C. Clarke.

The 1960 historical epic was not only directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick, but also stars a slate of stars, including Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton and Tony Curtis. This story of a slave revolt during Roman times won four Academy Awards.

In this romantic classic that stars three Oscar-winners and is directed by the legendary Billy Wilder, Audrey Hepburn plays a chauffeur’s daughter who comes back home after a two-year study in Paris as a beautiful young woman. She immediately catches the eye of David (William Holden, the playboy son of her father’s employers. But as her relationship with David develops, their romance is threatened by David’s serious older brother, Linus (Humphrey Bogart), who runs the family business and is relying on David to marry an heiress in order for a crucial merger to take place.

Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr make waves in this landmark blockbuster about raging passions and stormy personal dramas on a Hawaiian military base in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor. Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra, and Donna Reed costar as the lovers and reluctant fighters whose romantic and moral crises are soon to be swept up in the tide of history.

As December 1941 draws near, Private Prewitt (Montgomery Clift) is a soldier and former boxer being manipulated by his superior and peers. His friend Maggio (Frank Sinatra) tries to help him but has his own troubles. Sergeant Warden (Burt Lancaster) and Karen Holmes (Deborah Kerr) tread on dangerous ground as lovers in an illicit affair. Each of their lives will be changed when their stories culminate in the Japanese attack on their base.

Adapted from the bestselling novel by James Jones, this pop culture touchstone was a critical and box-office smash that took home eight Academy Awards, including best picture, director, screenplay, and supporting actor and actress for Sinatra and Reed.

A surreal masterpiece from the master Federico Fellini. In “8 1/2”, the Italian filmmaker Guido Anselmi (played by Marcello Mastroianni) struggles with a creative block as he attempts to get a new movie off the ground. Overwhelmed by his work and personal life, the director retreats into his thoughts, which often focus on his loves, both past and present, and frequently wander into the fantastical.SERIES: WORLD CINEMA CLASSICS

Gregory Peck won an Oscar® for his brilliant performance as the Southern lawyer who defends a black man accused of rape in this film version of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel. The way in which it captures a time, a place, and above all, a mood, makes this film a masterpiece. The setting is a dusty Southern town during the Depression. A white woman accuses a black man of rape. Though he is obviously innocent, the outcome of his trial is such a foregone conclusion that no lawyer will step forward to defend him – except Peck, the town’s most distinguished citizen. His compassionate defense costs him many friendships but earns him the respect and admiration of his two motherless children.

A prophetic, hilarious and poignant masterpiece from Charlie Chaplin! After dedicated service in the Great War, a Jewish barber (Charles Chaplin) spends years in an army hospital recovering from his wounds, unaware of the simultaneous rise of fascist dictator Adenoid Hynkel (also Chaplin) and his anti-Semitic policies. When the barber, who bears a remarkable resemblance to Hynkel, returns to his quiet neighborhood, he is stunned by the brutal changes and recklessly joins a beautiful girl (Paulette Goddard) and her neighbors in rebelling.