August at the Kennedy Center!

July 30th through August 29

Opening on July 30th, AFI presents a special August Kennedy Center program, featuring treasures from cinema's trove of classics-Chaplin: Critics' Choice, the original MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (as its remake is released) and Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI, each for $4.00 for AFI Members (regular price for general audiences).

Box Office

Tickets

* Prior to 6:00 p.m. one hour free parking at the Kennedy Center while buying tickets.
* Complete program information available at 202.833.AFIT (2348)

*Current membership card required for all member transactions. (Limit of two member price tickets per show)

CHARLIE CHAPLIN: CRITICS' CHOICE

THE GOLD RUSH

Silent with Musical Score!

In search of gold in turn-of-thecentury Alaska, Charlie takes refuge with fellow prospector Mack Swain in an isolated, comically imbalanced cabin where hunger forces him to eat that famous shoe. Other highlights include the dance of the rolls, the cabin teetering on the edge of a cliff, the giant chicken, and much more. Features music and a poetic narration written and spoken by Chaplin himself, added for a 1942 reissue. Directed/written by Charles Chaplin. 1925, b&w, 69 min.

Friday, July 30, 7:00; Saturday, July 31, 5:00; Sunday, Aug. 1, 6:45; Wednesday, Aug. 4, 7:15 Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

MONSIEUR VERDOUX

"One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify." A bitingly cynical satire on the business of war. In Chaplin's "comedy of murders," the fastidious, silver-haired Charlot trades his Tramp accouterments for more elegant attire in his role as a 20th century Bluebeard, dispatching one wealthy wife after another until hilariously meeting his match in the outrageously vulgar, nouveau riche Martha Raye. Based on an idea by Orson Welles.

Directed/produced/written by Charles Chaplin. US, 1947, b&w, 124 min.

Saturday, July 31, 8:45; Monday, August 2, 7:15< Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

THE CIRCUS

Silent with Musical Score!

Chased off the midway by a policeman, Charlie stumbles into the Big Top, where his act's an immediate hit and he promptly falls for the owner's stepdaughter. But when he learns she loves another, it's time for one more noble sacrifice. Featuring perhaps Chaplin's most quietly poignant climax and some of his most hilarious sequences, from the opening chase to his highwire tightrope act, complicated by frisky escaped monkeys.

Directed/written/produced by Charles Chaplin. US, 1928, b&w, 90 min.

Friday, July 30, 8:30; Saturday, July 31, 7:00; Sunday, Aug. 1 5:00 Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

THE GREAT DICTATOR

Chaplin's first all-talking picture presents a biting satire on dictatorship, with Chaplin as a Jewish barber mistaken for Adenoid Hynkel, Der Phooey, Dictator of Tomania (Chaplin again!). His cohorts include the scenestealing Jack Oakie as Benzini Napolini (Il Dig-a-Ditchy), Henry Daniell as Garbitsch, and Billy Gilbert as Herring. As Hynkel, Chaplin speaks in a rich guttural tongue interspersed with gibberish. Featuring Chaplin's globe dance-one of cinema's all-time highlights.

Directed/produced/written by Charles Chaplin. US, 1940, b&w, 128 min.

Friday, July 30, 8:30 Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

LIMELIGHT

"With age comes a keener sense of dignity, which prevents us from ridiculing other men." Down-andout comic Calvero (Chaplin) saves struggling ballerina Claire Bloom from suicide, then gives her the strength to go on, even as he descends to street busking. And then there's that final benefit performance-with "old friend" Buster Keaton. Chaplin's last great work, with perhaps his most purely cinematic moment: Bloom's solo number on a darkened stage.

Directed/ written by Charles Chaplin. US, 1952, b&w, 145 min.

Tuesday, August 3, 7:15; Thursday, August 5, 7:15 Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

THE CHAPLIN REVUE

Silent with Musical Score!

Chaplin's the Little Fellow-in the city, in the war and in the pulpit- in this assembly of three of his shorts, all fitted with an introduction, musical accompaniment, and even a song by Chaplin himself. In A DOG'S LIFE (1918), Charlie and dog Scraps eat on the sly, polishing off the entire stock of brother Syd's lunch wagon while the proprietor is looking the other way. SHOULDER ARMS (1918), the greatest comedy to emerge from World War I, features Charlie as a hapless member of "the awkward squad," single-handedly capturing the Kaiser. In THE PILGRIM (1923), Charlie's an escaped convict mistaken for the rector of a Texas church.

Directed/written/produced by Charles Chaplin. US, b&w, 103 min.

Saturday, July 31, 5:00; Thursday, August 5, 7:15 Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

Opens Friday, August 6 through Thursday, August 19: weekdays 7:15; weekends, 5:00 & 7:30

SEE THE ORIGINAL ON THE BIG SCREEN!

A Commie brain-washer orders Laurence Harvey to go jump in a lake (the Central Park Reservoir), then stalk a politico at a party convention at Madison Square Garden (shot at the since-demolished original), but fellow Korean War-vet Frank Sinatra reshuffles those cards.With Oscar-nominated Angela Lansbury (in real life only three years older than son Harvey) as the Mother from Hell. "Although it's a thriller, it may be the most sophisticated political satire ever to come out of Hollywood."- critic Pauline Kael. Adapted from the novel by Richard Condon and withdrawn from circulation by Frank Sinatra for 25 years after JFK's assassination.

Directed/produced by John Frankenheimer; written/co-produced by George Axelrod. US, 1962, b&w, 126 min.

Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.

SEVEN SAMURAI
[SHICHININ NO SAMURAI]

Opens Friday, August 20 through Sunday, August 29: weekdays 7:15; weekends, 3:00 & 7:15

BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!

In 16th century Japan, a village tormented by marauding bandits decides to hire samurai protectors-"hungry samurai"-unemployed after their lords win second prize in the civil wars. Led by Takashi Shimura, seven enlist in a war against 40 mounted bandits-their only pay a few handfuls of rice-culminating in an epic battle in the rain. One of the most influential films of all time, emulated in direct and indirect adaptations and in editing techniques. But nothing can top the original: Kurosawa's celebration of horses, rain, wind and mud, blazing tracking shots, giant close-ups, chiaroscuro lighting, telephoto lenses, deep focus shots and three-dimensional ensemble performances-all topped by Toshiro Mifune's transition from manic goofball to tortured, self-hating tragic hero.

Directed/written by Akira Kurosawa; co-written by Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni; produced by Sojiro Motoki. Japan, 1954, b&w, 200 min. Japanese with English subtitles.

"Kurosawa achieves what modern American and European epic makers vainly attempt: the excitement of the senses... a raging, sensuous work of such overpowering immediacy that it leaves you both exhilarated and exhausted!"-critic Pauline Kael.

"The Best Japanese Film of All Time" -1979 Kinema Jumpo critics' poll.

Purchase tickets a the AFI Box Office, located in the Kennedy Center Hall of States.