The historic Charles Theatre located on 1711 N. Charles St. recently released its Revival Series fall schedule and will play the films included in its original 485-seat theatre. These classic flicks will be screened one to three times a week on either Saturdays at 11:30 a.m., Mondays at 7 p.m. or Thursdays at 9 p.m. Matinee tickets cost $7.50 and evening tickets are $9.50.
Designed in 1892 to be a streetcar barn, The Charles is the oldest theatre in Baltimore and the only one of its kind to screen specialty films as well as Hollywood movies, foreign films and cinema classics. The Revival Series, a return to classic cinema, was introduced to the Charles in the mid 90s.
With the Internet now providing limitless movies through sites like Netflix, staying at home wrapped in a Snuggie has become a popular way to enjoy entertainment. However, the Revival Series offers an authentic moviegoing experience by showcasing films that were made with the theater in mind. Located only a short distance from Hopkins’s Homewood campus, the Charles is a great spot for students to spend some time off campus.
A few classics have already been shown, but this Thursday, film fanatics can return to the theatre for Seconds, a 1966 science fiction drama. Directed by John Frankenheimer and starring Rock Hudson, the film follows Arthur Hamilton, an average but unfulfilled middle-aged man. Hamilton makes a deal with “the Company,” a mysterious secret society, in order to leave his current boring life and transform into a successful Californian artist named Tony Wilson.
Then, Roman Polanski’s 1968 film Rosemary’s Baby will be shown next at the Charles on Sept. 13 and Sept. 15. Based on the bestselling novel by Ira Levin, this psychological horror film includes critically acclaimed performances by Mia Farrow and Ruth Gordon. Farrow plays a pregnant woman whose husband makes a deal with their Satan-worshiping neighbors in an attempt to further his own acting career.
The following two weeks at the Charles will be dominated by Joseph Losey’s films, starting with Boom! on Sept. 18. This film showcases the classic screen duo Elizabeth Taylor and her then-husband Richard Burton. The screenplay, written by Tennessee Williams, centers around a domineering, ill woman as she looks for a lover to cope with her terminal illness. Reminiscent of their performances in Who’s Afraid of Viginia Woolf, Taylor and Burton produce both severe, dramatic lines and wildly explosive emotion.
Losey’s Accident follows up with screenings on Sept. 20, Sept. 22 and Sept. 25. When a car accident occurs outside of Oxford University professor Stephen’s (played by Dirk Bogarde) home, he meets the beautiful young Anna. The audience is taken on many twists and turns as the circumstances behind this accident are revealed only through flashbacks.
Closing out this month of movies are two films written and directed by the legendary Stanley Kubrick. On Sept. 27 and Sept. 29, the Charles presents the darkly comedic cold war satire, Dr. Strangelove.
With famous quotes like “No fighting in the war room,” this 1964 film pokes fun at the severe cold war tensions with its absurdist screenplay. Comedic actor Peter Sellers earned an Academy Award nomination for playing three characters, including the titular role of
Dr. Strangelove, an ex-Nazi scientist.
Then, Kubrick and Sellers will return to the Charles with the 1962 adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel Lolita on Oct. 2. The film follows Humbert Humbert and his unnatural desire for the 12-year-old Dolores Haze, affectionately nicknamed Lolita. Eliminating most of the erotic elements of the novel and replacing them with perfectly crafted black comedy, Kubrick develops a new comedic aspect.
Other notable Revival screenings to check out this fall are the 30th Anniversary showing of Wim Wender’s 1984 film Paris, Texas; the documentary Led Zeppelin Played Here; John Water’s 1990 film Cry-Baby; and Alexander Mackendrick’s The Man in the White Suit.
The Revival Series will have a strong end to the fall season as the Charles presents a new restoration screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 psychological thriller, Vertigo. In this film, Scottie, a retired San Francisco police officer who suffers from attacks of vertigo, investigates the strange behavior of his old friend’s wife.
The Charles Theatre brings the buttered popcorn, movie theater atmosphere back each week with this Revival Series.
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