Repertory Theaters

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.

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ACT I & II

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: Forty Shades of Blue (Ira Sachs, 2005) 7:15, 9:40 p.m.

FRIDAY THROUGH THURSDAY (Oct. 21-27): Waiter! There's a boy in my soup! Garçon Stupide (Lionel Baier, Switzerland, 2004). See Opening for review. Call for times.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Friday & Saturday): What's this? The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick, 1991).

ALLIANCE FRANÇAISE

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

WEDNESDAY (Oct. 19): "Rosa (Marianne Basler), a very beautiful prostitute, finds that life as a hooker can be a downer" in Rosa la rose fille publique (Paul Vecchiali, France, 1985) 7 p.m.

AQUARIUS

430 Emerson (at Lytton), Palo Alto, (650) 266-9260, www.landmarktheatres.com. $8 for this midnight series. "Midnight Moovies" continues, with Bunny the Cow hosting a pre-film show with prize giveaways and cartoons/TV programs on Saturdays only. See our Showtimes page for the Aquarius' regular listings.

MIDNIGHT SHOW (Friday & Saturday): All three dimensions (glasses provided) of that '70s show Disco Dolls in Hot Skin (Norm De Plume, 1978), said to be the tri-D Casablanca.

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.

THURSDAY (Oct. 20): ATA's monthly "Open Screening" of your film epics, with advance submissions recommended. E-mail openscreening@atasite.org for submission info. $3, free for exhibitors 7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY (Oct. 21): The Norwegian Young Artist Association and the Royal Norwegian Consulate sponsor "Norwydeo," a program of experimental video from Norway. Free 8 p.m.

SATURDAY (Oct. 22): A rare screening of the hard-to-see Otto Preminger oddity Skidoo (1968), a would-be psychedelic comedy with such decidedly unhip specimens as Jackie Gleason and Carol Channing, presented by Skidoo expert Christian Divine with relevant short films for context 8:30 p.m.

SUNDAY (Oct. 23): Don't miss "Ms. Films," a program of "short films by independent women" from the Ms. Films Festival 2005 Northwest Tour. $6 7 p.m.

BALBOA

3630 Balboa (at 38th Avenue), 221-8484, www.balboamovies.com. $8.50 save as noted. This great neighborhood house shows films of all sorts. See our Showtimes page for additional listings.

DAILY: A predatory fish terrorizes Australia in Darwin's Nightmare (Hubert Sauper, France, 2004), continuing through Oct. 27. Call for times.

THURSDAY: Lunafest, a screening of short films, includes Victoria Gamburg's excellent half-hour drama Twilight (Russia/U.S., 2004) as a benefit for the Breast Cancer Fund. $10 7 p.m.

STARTS FRIDAY: Sequins (Eleonore Faucher, France, 2005). See Opening for review noon, 1:45, 3:30, 5:15, 7, 8:45 p.m.

CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS

PlaySpace Gallery, 1111 Eighth St. (at Irwin), 703-9500, www.ccarts.edu for venue; www.sfcinematheque.org for program. Free.

WEDNESDAY (Oct. 19): "Promiscuous Cinema: Evidence Is Everywhere," recent work by CCA-trained filmmakers, plus live performance 5:30, 7:30 p.m.

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 on the Mighty Wurlitzer.

WEDNESDAY: A series of pre-Code films from Columbia Pictures continues with Barbara Stanwyck, in her third film, as a border-town Mexicali Rose (Erle C. Kenton, 1929; 2:30, 5:10, 8 p.m.) and as a Shopworn (Nick Grinde, 1932; 3:45, 6:30, 9:20 p.m.) waitress in love with a society boy.

THURSDAY: A Black Moon is rising in Roy William Neill's voodoo thriller (1934; 8:15 p.m.), screening with the "Romeo and Juliet with tommy-guns" gangster film The Guilty Generation (Rowland V. Lee, 1931; 6:30, 9:35 p.m.) with Robert Young as the son of Italian mobster Boris Karloff.

FRIDAY: A free screening of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), with star Tippi Hedren onstage for a Q&A. Two tickets per person, first come, first served 7:30 p.m.

SATURDAY: A horror series opens with a double bill of Jacques Tourneur's stylish original Cat People (1942; 3, 7 p.m.) and Paul Schrader's lamentable remake by the same name (1982; 12:45, 4:30, 8:30 p.m.).

SUNDAY: Another double bill of original and remake, in this case both remarkable works -- The Thing From Another World (Christian Nyby, 1951; noon, 3:45, 7:30 p.m.) and John Carpenter's nihilist revisioning, The Thing (1982; 1:45, 5:30, 9:15 p.m.).

MONDAY: Tod Browning's original Dracula (1931; 7 p.m.) screens with Gloria Holden as Countess Zaleska, aka Dracula's Daughter (Lambert Hillyer, 1936; 8:30 p.m.), "the first lesbian vampire movie."

TUESDAY: Karl Freund's atmospheric The Mummy (1932; 7 p.m.) plays well with The Wolf Man (George Waggner, 1941; 8:30 p.m.). Ron Chaney, the grandson of Lon Chaney Jr. ("Larry Talbot"), will introduce the latter.

CLAY

2261 Fillmore (at Clay), 267-4893, www.landmarktheatres.com or www.8tales.com for this series. "Eight Tales," a weekend midnight movie series, continues. For additional Clay screenings, see our Showtimes page. $8.

FRIDAY & SATURDAY (Oct. 21 & 22): The Warriors come out to play in this screening of Walter Hill's stylized 1979 gangland classic. On Saturday, live entertainment features a "Gang Land War Zone" midnight.