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Get ready for romance, murder, mystery and voyeurism—all of it stylishly understated, of course.
Fabled film studies instructor Elliot Lavine, who last year emerged from a pandemic hiatus to introduce and analyze classic movies at Cinema 21, is continuing to program monthly screenings at the theater this year.
First up is The Lady Eve, an anarchic 1941 comedy directed by Preston Sturges in which Barbara Stanwyck (in a deliciously strange and seductive dual role) bewitches a hilariously hapless Henry Fonda, who plays a snake expert (yes, a cheeky biblical metaphor is at work).
Other upcoming screenings include Out of the Past (a 1947 noir directed by the legendary French filmmaker Jacques Tourneur), Billy Wilder’s The Apartment and Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window.
Lavine is a longtime programmer. He spent 40 years in San Francisco, where he worked at famous theaters like the Roxie.
After moving to Portland in 2017, Lavine became a Cinema 21 staple, teaching Oregon State University film classes at the venue in 2018 and 2019. He returned to Cinema 21 last year, screening iconic films like Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein (1974).
Last year, Lavine spoke to WW about returning to film programing in a post-COVID world.
“I’m going to be everywhere for a while,” he said. “After a long hibernation, it’s great to get out there.”
SEE IT: The Lady Eve screens at Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave., 503-223-4515, cinema21.com. 11 am Saturday, February 26.