Philadelphia Weekly

Ambler Theater
$4.50-$8. 108 E. Butler Ave. 215.345.7855. www.amblertheater.com

• Viridiana
  (1961) (Shown on film): Not the first and certainly not the last of Luis Bu �uel's attacks on organized religion, this giddy provocation brought him briefly back to his native Spain and permanently back to international recognition. Silvia Panal plays a naive young woman on the verge of nunship. A trip out to her horny, incestuous uncle's (Fernando Rey) lets loose a hilarious series of blasphemes, the most famous being a parody of the Last Supper using beggars. Franco's regime suppressed it for years, and the Vatican wasn't too pleased either. Not coincidentally, it's one of Bu�uel's strongest, tightest efforts. A- Thurs., Nov. 8, 7pm.

Andrew's Video Vault
Free. Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St. 215.573.3234. www.armcinema25.com

The Dark Crystal/Zardoz/Wizard of Oz
(1982/1974/1939) (Shown on DVD): Skeksis, green bread and flying monkeys team up for this triple feature of immersive, extravagant sci-fi. Jim Henson 's The Dark Crystal is notable for being unrepentantly dark--a ballsy move for an artist who'd long solidified his reputation as a maker of whimsical pomo puppets. Wizard of Oz needs no introduction, except to note that it'll be shown alongside Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon for anyone who still thinks it actually syncs up. ("The lunatic is on the grass" = Scarecrow dancing on the yellow brick road? That's the best you got?) The real treat is the middle child, John Boorman's Zardoz. Riding high on Deliverance, Boorman whipped up this near-impenetrable bit of sci-fi, with Sean Connery as a warrior decked out in nothing but a loincloth, a bullet belt and a giant '70s porn 'stache impregnating a postapocalyptic society of psychic intellectuals in the year 2293. Screamed the ads: "Beyond 1984. Beyond 2001. Beyond love. Beyond death. Zardoz!" It's so easy to laugh at this--did I mention the flying stone head that bellows, "The gun is good; the penis is evil; go forth and kill"?--but it's just as easy to give in and take it seriously. Pretentious and nearly inscrutable? Probably, but also uncommonly ambitious, visually inventive and bursting with novel ideas. Besides, who can resist a movie that opens with a floating disembodied head that tries to explain the story but only confuses things more? (See also: David Lynch's Dune.) B/B+/A- Thurs., Nov. 8, 8pm.

Bryn Mawr Film Institute
$4.50-$9.25 (unless otherwise noted). 824 W. Lancaster Ave., Bryn Mawr. 610.527.9898. www.brynmawrfilm.org

Viridiana
(1961) (Shown on film): See Ambler Theater. A- Wed., Nov. 7, 7pm.

Shameless: The Art of Disability
(2006) (Shown on video): Philadelphia native Bonnie Sherr Klein, who herself suffered a stroke in 1987, directed this documentary about five disabled subjects who've bloomed into full-fledged artists. (Not reviewed.) Sat., Nov. 10, 11am.

Play Time
(1967) (Shown on film): It 's not being shown in its original 70 mm, but even 35 mm is a terrific way to behold Jacques Tati's stupendous eyesore. The French comic built a small city, funded partially on his own dime, to film this raspberry to urban sprawl--a near-plotless collection of gags so dense and often obtuse each viewing yields a virtually different movie. Tati was aiming for a style of humor that relies on audience participation. His reward? Thin box-office numbers, bankruptcy and the near-destruction of his career. It may take three viewings to catch the bit about the restaurant patrons whose dish keeps getting seasoned and heated by a terminally distracted waitstaff. And with the film showing once each at the Ambler, Bryn Mawr and County, you have three chances. A- Wed., Nov. 14, 7pm.

Chestnut Hill Film Group
Free. Screening room at the Chestnut Hill Branch of the Free Library, 8711 Germantown Ave. 215.248.0977. www.armcinema25.com

Dead End
(1937) (Shown on film): The stereotype of sarcastic, inner-city juvie delinquents with broad New Yawk accents originated with the Bowery Boys, who themselves originated in William Wyler's classy adaptation of Sidney Kingsley's play, under the name the Dead End Kids. At this point in their short but prolific cinematic career, the tough-talkin' street urchins were only part of a microcosm, sharing space on one of the most elaborate artificial street sets in history with sad-eyed Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea's unemployed architect and Humphrey Bogart's scene-stealing mobster. Toned down considerably from the stage by Lillian Hellman, the film's an early attempt at social (self-)importance, though it's aged better in other respects. At least cinematographer Gregg Toland (Citizen Kane) makes it look great. B- Tues., Nov. 13, 7:30pm.

Colonial Theatre
$4-$7. 227 Bridge St., Phoenixville. 610.917.0223. www.thecolonialtheatre.com

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
(1963) (Shown on film): After doing up racism, the apocalypse, evolution and the Holocaust, the dreaded Stanley Kramer set his eyes on comedy, and produced this elephantine three-hour monstrosity. Comedy 's always funny on a huge scale, right? That's why 1941 is an indisputable classic. Spencer Tracy lords over a who's who of comedy, a gimmick that's more fun if you try to deduce who's not in it: Groucho Marx, Stan Laurel, Bob Hope and George Burns among them. C- Sat., Nov. 10, 2pm.

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