Movies

Commentary by Gregg Rickman (greggr1@mindspring.com). Times compiled from information available Tuesday; it's always advisable to call for confirmation. Price given is standard adult admission; discounts often apply for students, seniors, and members.

We're interested in your film or video event. Please send materials at least two weeks in advance to: Film Editor, SF Weekly, 185 Berry, Suite 3800, San Francisco, CA 94107.

ACT ONE/TWO

2128 Center (at Shattuck), Berkeley, (510) 464-5980, www.landmarktheatres.com. $9.25 save as noted. One of this venue's two screens is a "calendar house" for Landmark Theatres. For additional screenings, see our Showtimes page.

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY: Short Cut to Nirvana (Maurizio Benazzo and Nick Day, 2004). See Ongoing for review 7:30, 9:30 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Zhang Yimou's latest, House of Flying Daggers (China, 2004). See Opening for review. Call for times.

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

345 Bush (at Polk), 775-7755, www.afsf.com. French-language films shown on projected video. $5 donation.

WEDNESDAY (Dec. 15): A cop and two criminals who were in love with Marie Trintignant 25 years ago reunite in Alain Beverini's Total Kheops (France, 2000) 6 p.m.

ARTISTS' TELEVISION ACCESS

992 Valencia (at 21st Street), 824-3890, www.atasite.org. $5 save as noted. This venue offers all manner of strange and unusual video and film.

WEDNESDAY (Dec. 15): Films from City College's advanced editing class screen in "College City Movie Mash." All films in glorious 16mm. $3 8 p.m.

FRIDAY (Dec. 17): Videos, animation, and installations from City College screen in "rough cuts AT A glance." $3. Reception 7 p.m., screenings 8 p.m.

SATURDAY (Dec. 18): Other Cinema concludes its fall season with "Avant to Live," new experimental works from local filmmakers including Marshall Weber's Requiem for a Dying Planet, Aaron Valdez's Big Screen Version, Ben Folstein's Attack of the Fisher Cat, and more. See www.othercinema.com for more info 8:30 p.m.

BRIDGE

3010 Geary (at Blake), 751-3213, www.bridgetheatre.com. This popular little theater offers, as a break from its regular screenings (see Showtimes for listings), two weeks of "The Films of 1939" to mark its 65th anniversary. $8; $50 series pass available.

WEDNESDAY: "The Films of 1939" includes the last of the original RKO Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers musicals, the biopic The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (H.C. Potter) featuring the popular early-20th-century dances the Grizzly Bear, the Bunny Hug, and the Castle Walk 2:15, 4:30, 7, 9:15 p.m.

THURSDAY: Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. agree that Sam Jaffe's Indian water boy Gunga Din (George Stevens) is a better man than they in this British Imperial spectacle, soon to be remade with Tony Blair in the title role 1, 4, 7, 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY: An all-female cast of b-words and by inference even l-words in George Cukor's catty version of Clare Booth's play The Women. Live shows at both evening screenings by performers from the drag queen cabaret club night "Trannyshack" 1, 4, 7 p.m.

SUNDAY & MONDAY: Bette Davis nobly undergoes a Dark Victory, breaking the hearts of George Brent, Humphrey Bogart, and Ronald Reagan along the way 2:30, 5:30, 8:30 p.m.

TUESDAY: Charles Laughton suffers even more than viewers of the Disney cartoon remake in William Dieterle's The Hunchback of Notre Dame 1:30, 4:15, 7, 9:40 p.m.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Saturday): A "Midnight Mass" screening of the well-post-1939 Gothic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (Robert Aldrich, 1962), with Bette Davis (star of Dark Victory) tormenting Joan Crawford (The Women). Also, Peaches Christ in person with Whatever Happened to Peaches Christ? (2004), the real reason (not gay marriages) the red states are so red midnight.

CASTRO

429 Castro (near Market), 621-6120, www.thecastrotheatre.com. $8 save as noted. Short-run rep in a spectacular 1922 Greco-Roman-themed palace designed by Timothy L. Pflueger. Evening intermissions feature David Hegarty or Bill McCoy on the Mighty Wurlitzer.

WEDNESDAY: The last film of Anita Monga's last Castro schedule, the restored full-length version of Sam Fuller's war epic The Big Red One (1980/2004). Highly recommended noon, 4, 7:30 p.m.

THURSDAY: The Gay Men's Chorus performs its traditional "Home for the Holidays" concert. See www.sfgmc.org for more information 7 p.m.

FRIDAY: Mark Huestis presents "A Judy Garland Christmas" with Connie Champagne performing as Judy, more live music, and the beloved classic Meet Me in St. Louis (Vincente Minnelli, 1944). Child star Margaret O'Brien in person. $27.50 7 p.m.

STARTS SATURDAY: No new schedule has been announced as of press time. Call for program.

FOREIGN CINEMA

2534 Mission (between 21st and 22nd streets), 648-7600, www.foreigncinema.com. Free with meal. This restaurant screens foreign films, usually in 35mm, on the back wall of its outdoor patio, with drive-in speakers available for the tables of those who want to watch while they dine.

DAILY (Closed Monday): Henry Koster's Christmas perennial The Bishop's Wife (1946), with Cary Grant as an angel, screens through Dec. 26 at 6:15, 8, 9:45 p.m.

JEWISH COMMUNITY LIBRARY

1835 Ellis (between Scott and Pierce), 567-3327 ext. 704, www.bjesf.org. This facility, located on the campus of the Jewish Community High School of the Bay, is operated by the Bureau of Jewish Education and is to be distinguished from the Jewish Community Library on 14th Avenue.

TUESDAY (Dec. 21): A Jewish film class screens the third part of Axel Corti's acclaimed trilogy Where To and Back, Welcome to Vienna (Austria, 1986) 7 p.m.

LARK

549 Magnolia (at Post), Larkspur, 924-5111, www.larktheater.net. This single-screen art deco theater has reopened with a policy mixing new and repertory programming. $8.