The Capri Theatre Classics Classic\Film\Class starts this Wednesday, September 27, hostec by Film Historian John Martello at the Capri Theatre. Each Wednesday from September 27 - November 15 a classic film will be introduced by Martello, who will then lead a deeper discussion after the screening. Classes start at 6:30pm. Admission is $12 for Capri members and $15 for non-members. Or you can purchase the full course of eight classes for $80. Click Images for individual show tickets. Or Click Here for the Full Class Package September 27: REAR WINDOW (1954 Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Starring: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter 112mins) Photographer L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to a wheelchair with his leg in a cast. He spends his time in his Greenwich Village apartment looking out into the courtyard and into his neighbors’ apartments. His attention is piqued when one of his neighbors suddenly disappears. This film has become one of Hitchcock’s seminal works as well as one of his most entertaining.

John Martello has been an actor, director and producer for over 40 years.  As an actor, he has appeared in everything from Shakespeare to Sugar Babies and has given two acclaimed solo performances Off-Broadway in Damon Runyon’s Tales of Broadway (American Place Theater) and St. Nicholas by Conor McPherson (Irish Repertory Theater) In 2001, he was the recipient of The Pirandello Medallion presented by The Pirandello Society of America to acknowledge his performing, producing and directing the work of Luigi Pirandello. He also produced THE OLD MASTERS by Simon Gray starring Sam Waterston, Brian Murray and Shirley Knight at the Long Wharf Theater and, as Executive Director of The Players for 20 years, he produced hundreds of events including evenings honoring Jason Robards, Gregory Peck, Angela Lansbury, Peter O’Toole, Ben Gazzara, Christopher Plummer, Tony Bennett, Harry Belafonte, Carol Burnett, The Nicholas Brothers, Audra McDonald and dozens of other theatrical luminaries. He also served as Executive Director for the oldest experimental theater in America, The Living Theatre, under the leadership of founder Judith Malina.  He and his wife Maire moved to Montgomery in November of 2018 and from September, 2020 through August, 2023, he taught “The Art of Film” at The Armory.

October 4: STEAMBOAT BILL, JR (1928 Dir: Charles Reisner, Buster Keaton Starring: Buster Keaton, Tom McGuire, Ernest Torrence 70mins) In celebration of Buster Keaton’s birthday, we will screen his last independent film before joining MGM. Buster is a college boy who is meeting his father for the first time in his life. Dad is a gruff steamboat captain who is greatly disappointed in his effete milquetoast of a son…but mother nature has a way of changing that.  After the film, we will be joined for a discussion on Keaton, via Zoom, by James Curtis, the author of the acclaimed biography BUSTER KEATON, A FILMMAKER’S LIFE.

October 11: DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975 Dir: Sidney Lumet Starring: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Penolope Allen 125mins) On a very hot August afternoon, Sonny (Al Pacino) and his friend Sal (John Cazale) try to rob a bank in Brooklyn. Things go wrong from the start and the inept crooks find themselves and their hostages forced to deal with the FBI and the media. One of the great NYC movies, it is directed by the legendary NYC director, Sidney Lumet, and has one of Al Pacino’s most acclaimed performances.

October 18: SINGIN' IN THE RAIN (1952 Dir: Sanley Donen, Gene Kelly Starring: Gene Kelly, Donald O'Connor 103mins) Sure! You’ve seen this movie at home and on tv, but you haven’t really seen it if it was not on the movie screen and with an audience. Often included on critic’s polls as one of the 10 Best Films of All Time, this may very well be the greatest film about movie making. Even the acerbic critic, Pauline Kael, called it: “Just about the best Hollywood musical of all time.”

October 25: THE RUNNER (1984 Dir: Amir Naderi Starring: Madjid Niroumand, Abbas Nazeti, Musa Torkizadeh 94mins) Alabama Premiere!!  This is the story of Amiro, an illiterate, but resourceful, 11-year-old orphan who lives alone on an abandoned tanker in an Iranian port city. He survives by shining shoes, selling water and diving for deposit bottles. He finds comfort by running…seemingly to nowhere. Influenced by the films of Italian Neo-Realism and works such as Bunuel’s LOS OLVIDADOS and Truffaut’s THE 400 BLOWS, director Amir Naderi was also inspired by his own childhood. This was shown in Venice and London in 1984 but was not released in the US until 1991. It is among the films that brought the world’s attention to the New Iranian Cinema. Rediscovered by Bruce Goldstein, founder of Rialto Pictures, it was restored with new subtitles and opened in the fall of 2022 to exceptional reviews. After the film, we will be joined, via Zoom, by Bruce Goldstein and Madjid Niroumand who plays the role of Amiro for a discussion of the film and a Q&A with the audience.

November 1: TOUCHEZ PAS AU GRISBI (1954 Dir: Jacques Becker Starring: Jean Gabin, René Dary, Dora Doll 96mins) In this French noir, translated as “Don’t Touch the Loot,” international film legend Jean Gabin is Max, an aging, world-weary gangster who is double-crossed and forced out of retirement thanks to Josy (Jeanne Moreau) and bad guy Lino Ventura (in his debut.) “Grisbi contains…genre elements – double-crossings, kidnappings, gun battles and the like – but its also a pensive meditation on age, friendship, and lost opportunities. This film was highly influential…” (Philip Kemp, Criterion)

November 8: THE LADY EVE (1941 Dir: Preston Sturges Starring: Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck 94mins) When the nerdy heir to a brewery fortune (Henry Fonda) boards a ship heading home after spending a year up the Amazon collecting snakes, he meets up with a trio of card sharks. The woman in the trio (Barbara Stanwyck) and the snake collector fall for each other and, as they say, complications ensue in one of the most audacious of romantic comedies. With a gathering of members of the Sturges Stock Company, this film has been called a great example of “the screwball comedy.”

November 15: CARMEN JONES (1954 Dir: Otto Preminger Starring: Harry Belafonte, Dorothy Dandridge, Pearl Bailey 105mins) This film was hailed as a milestone in musical cinema when released and when Dorothy Dandridge became the first African American actress to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for her sultry performance as Carmen Jones. She is perfectly matched by the recently departed singer, actor and activist, Harry Belafonte. The film is based on the successful Broadway production written by Oscar Hammerstein II and adapted from the great Bizet opera CARMEN. The film was hailed upon its opening for “showcasing the talents of African American performers who were denied opportunities in Hollywood.” After the film, we will be joined for a discussion and a Q&A, in person, by film historian Foster Hirsch, author of numerous books on the cinema and theater. They include his acclaimed biography of Otto Preminger and a new work which will be published this fall by Knopf: HOLLYWOOD and the MOVIES of the FIFTIES.

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