Big screen classics
A collection of the best the big screen has to offer.
Tickets for these screenings are only £8
January 2022
The Films in Truffaut’s Life
A lifelong cinephile, François Truffaut first attracted attention as a critic. Besides writing reviews for Cahiers du cinéma and Arts-Lettres-Spectacles, he famously attacked le cinéma de papa, developed la politique des auteurs and, after turning to filmmaking, produced a book of his interviews with Alfred Hitchcock. This month’s daily screenings of classics feature some of the films and directors he particularly admired.
Geoff Andrew, season programmer
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La Grande Illusion
Renoir’s classic about WWI prisoners of war repeatedly trying to escape boasts an extraordinary cast.
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Citizen Kane
Welles’ masterpiece about the complex contradictions in the life and character of a controversial media tycoon.
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Shadow of a Doubt
Hitchcock’s tale of a young woman beginning to wonder whether her favourite uncle might have a dark side…
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Rome, Open City
Rossellini’s powerful drama about resistance, resignation and betrayal in Rome under the German Occupation.
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Rome, Open City + intro by lecturer and writer Dr Julia Wagner
Rossellini’s powerful drama about resistance, resignation and betrayal in Rome under the German Occupation.
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Letter from an Unknown Woman
Max Ophuls’ brilliant, bittersweet film about a young woman’s misbegotten infatuation with a concert pianist.
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Les Enfants terribles
Melville’s meticulous adaptation of Cocteau’s novel about siblings retreating into a private world of erotically charged games.
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Casque d’or
Simone Signoret is courted by rival suitors in Becker’s classic blend of crime movie and romance.
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Casque d’or + pre-recorded intro by film critic and historian Pamela Hutchinson
Simone Signoret is courted by rival suitors in Becker’s classic blend of crime movie and romance.
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Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
Monroe and Russell star as gold-digging cabaret artists attracting widespread attention on a transatlantic liner.
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Smiles of a Summer Night
Bergman’s acerbic comedy brings together several couples at a country house in 1900 for a roundelay of sexual intrigue and discovery.
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Ordet
A supremely beautiful and profoundly moving portrait of a rural family riven by religious differences and illness.
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Bigger Than Life
James Mason is excellent as a mild-mannered teacher monstrously transformed by his addiction to cortisone.
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Bigger Than Life + intro by Geoff Andrew, Programmer-at-Large
James Mason is excellent as a mild-mannered teacher monstrously transformed by his addiction to cortisone.
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Twelve Angry Men
Henry Fonda heads a remarkable cast in Lumet’s single-set drama about jurors debating the evidence of a murder trial.
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