Spoofing classic horror in the way that Mel Brooks’s previous film Blazing Saddles sent up classic Westerns, Young Frankenstein is both a loving tribute and a raucous, rreverent parody. Filming in glorious black and white, Brooks re-created the Frankenstein laboratory using the same equipment from the original Frankenstein (courtesy of designer Kenneth Strickfaden), and this loving attention to physical and stylistic detail creates a solid foundation for nonstop comedy. The story, of course, involves Frederick Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) and his effort to resume experiments in re-animation pioneered by his late father. (He’s got some help, since dad left behind a book titled How I Did It.) Assisting him is the hapless hunchback Igor (Marty Feldman) and the buxom but none-too-bright maiden Inga (Teri Garr), and when Frankenstein succeeds in creating his monster (Peter Boyle), the stage is set for an outrageous revision of the Frankenstein legend. With comedy highlights too numerous to mention, Brooks guides his brilliant cast (also including Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn, Kenneth Mars, and Gene Hackman in a classic cameo role) through scene after scene of inspired hilarity. Indeed, Young Frankenstein is a charmed film, nothing less than a comedy classic, representing the finest work from everyone involved. Not one joke has lost its payoff, and none of the countless gags have lost their zany appeal. From a career that includes some of the best comedies ever made, this is the film for which Mel Brooks will be most fondly remembered. Source: Yahoo! Movie.  

Film starts at 7 pm Thursday, October 13. All seats are $8. Get to the Classics early as they are popular — or buy tickets in advance at the box office or online (see right column on the Rialto website).  Getting to the theater early is always a good idea–for a choice of seating and to order freshly-made food and drinks.

British tennis pro Ray Milland suspects that his wealthy wife Grace Kelly is fooling around with handsome American Robert Cummings. Milland blackmails a disgraced former army comrade (Anthony Dawson) into murdering Kelly and making it look like the work of a burglar. But Milland’s carefully mapped-out scheme does not take into account the notion that Kelly might fight back and kill her assailant. When the police (represented by John Williams) investigate, Milland improvises quickly, subtly planting the suggestion that his wife has committed first-degree murder. He almost gets away with it; to tell you more would spoil the fun of the film’s final thirty minutes. Based on the popular mystery play by Federick Knott, Hitchcock perversely refused to throw in the standard in-your-face gimmickry of most stereoscopic films of the era. Source: Rialto Cerrito

Film starts at 7 pm Thursday, September 8. All seats are $8. Get to the Classics early as they are popular — or buy tickets in advance (see right column on the Rialto website). The Thursday evening Classics are very popular, so you may want to buy your ticket in advance at the box office or online. Getting to the theater early is always a good idea–for a choice of seating and to order freshly-made food and drinks.

Director Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven” (1978) is a visually stunning evocation of love and murder, set timelessly on a screen as big and beautiful as America’s plains.

Richard Gere plays a steelworker who flees from the law to the Texas plains, where he, his girlfriend (played by Brooke Adams), and his young sister Linda find refuge as laborers on what seems like an earthly paradise, working for the owner, played by Sam Shepard.

However, primal emotions and forces of nature arrive with a vengeance.

Malick’s cinematic storytelling  in “Days of Heaven” took home the Oscar  for cinematography.

Audiences who are thrilled by Malick’s current masterpiece “The Tree of Life” will see a similar scope and ambition in this earlier movie, “Days of Heaven.”

Film starts at 7:00 pm Thursday, August 11. All seats are $8. Get to the Classics early as they are popular — or buy tickets in advance (see right column on the Rialto website). The Thursday evening Classics are very popular, so you may want to buy your ticket in advance at the box office or online. Getting to the theater early is always a good idea–for a choice of seating and to order food and drinks.