The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque (11141 East Blvd., 216.421.7450) began its David Lean 101 series earlier this month with a screening of the British's director's 1942 debut, In Which We Serve. The series continues this week with adaptations of the Charles Dickens classics Great Expectations (1946) and Oliver Twist (1948). Great Expectations, which won two Academy Awards and was nominated for three others, stars John Mills, Valerie Hobson and Finlay Currie, and features the screen debut of Alec Guinness, who plays Herbert Pocket as an adult. It shows at 4 p.m. Sunday, January 18. Guinness also stars in Oliver Twist and went so far as to put on a prosthetic nose to play the nasty pickpocket Fagin. His portrayal of Fagin was deemed anti-Semitic at the time and the print the Cinematheque will show includes seven minutes of footage cut from the original U.S. version of the film. It screens at 7 p.m. Sunday, January 18. Both are newly restored 35 mm prints on loan from the British Film Institute.
Last week, the Cleveland Museum of Art (11150 East Blvd., 216.421.7340) started a Soviet classics series that featured a screening of Sergei Eisenstein's 1944 classic Ivan the Terrible. The series continues this week with part two of Ivan the Terrible, which screens at 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 14 at the CMA's Morley Lecture Hall. The 90-minute feature, shown in a newly restored 35 mm print, will be followed by Eisenstein's Alexander Nevsky, which shows at 7 p.m. Wednesday, January 21. The film, which was shown during World War II as anti-Nazi propaganda, also features music by Sergei Prokofiev. Tickets for each film are $8, $6 for CMA members and $4 for students.
The 34th annual Science Fiction Marathon takes place this weekend at Case Western Reserve University. It features 36 hours of back-to-back sci-fi flicks and commences at 8 p.m. Friday with the special-FX-laden 2008 film Jumper and wraps up with a 9 p.m. Saturday showing of last year's hit Iron Man. In between, classics such as 1965's Die Monster Die!, 1956's Fire Maidens From Outer Space and 1963's The Mouse on the Moon screen alongside contemporary fare such as 2003's Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, 2002's Star Trek: Nemesis and 2006's Paprika. Tickets go on sale at 6 p.m. Friday, January 16, in the lobby of Strosacker Auditorium. For more information, go to films.cwru.edu/marathon.html.
The Akron Civic Theatre (182 S. Main St., 330.535.3179) is showing classic films throughout the month of January to benefit local charities. At 8 p.m. Saturday, January 17, West Side Story screens, and proceeds go to the Greenleaf Family Center, a Summit County-based family-counseling agency. It's free; donations will be accepted. Go to akroncivictheatre.com for info.
