Casablanca Onscreen in Belfast, Maine

Romance and romantic comedy are February’s themes for the Sunday Matinee Movie Series at the Belfast Free Library – and Casablanca (1942) is the feature on Sunday, February 27, 2011.

The program begins at 4 p.m. in the Abbott Room. Admission is free.

The Belfast Free Library is located at 106 High St., Belfast, Maine. For more information, please call (207) 338-3884.

The “snow date” for Casablanca will be Monday, February 28, at 7 p.m.

Hitchcock Retrospective in Silver Spring, MD

The AFI Silver Theater is the venue for Part 1 of a 3-part retrospective of famed British director Alfred Hitchock – and on the schedule are the two films he made with Peter Lorre: The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and Secret Agent (1936).

Showtimes for The Man Who Knew Too Much:

• Feb. 19, Sat. – 1:00 pm
• Feb. 20, Sun. – 2:30 pm
• Feb. 21, Mon. – 5:15 pm
• Feb. 23, Wed. – 9:30 pm

And for Secret Agent:

• Mar. 5, Sat. – 1:00 pm
• Mar. 6, Sun. – 7:00 pm

Ticket prices are $11 for general admission; $8.50 for AFI members; $9 for seniors, students and military; and $7 for children 12 and under. Matinee shows – Monday through Friday before 6 p.m. – are $8.50.

American Film Institute passes will be accepted for both The Man Who Knew Too Much and Secret Agent.

Tickets may be reserved on-line through the AFI Silver Theater website with no added fee; however, when picking up the tickets, you must show the same credit card used to reserve them. MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express credit cards are accepted.

Scroll to the film's title and click the "Buy Tickets" button.

Tickets may also be purchased at the box office in advance or on the day. The box office opens 30 minutes before the first movie of the day.

The AFI Silver Theater is located at 8633 Colesville Road, at the corner of Colesville Road and Georgia Avenue, in Silver Spring, Maryland. Directions to the theater may be found on the theater’s website.

Parking is available at a variety of public parking decks around the theater. Closest is the Town Square Garage at 801 Ellsworth Drive. More information on parking can be found on the theater’s website, as well as the AFI Silver Theater page on the Silver Spring Downtown website; scroll down to the "Nearby Parking" section.

Lorre biographer Stephen Youngkin details the making of The Man Who Knew Too Much and Secret Agent in the pages of his book The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre (University Press of Kentucky, 2005).

Working on The Man Who Knew Too Much enabled Peter to gain a working understanding of the English language and English methods of film-making, which led to a contract with Columbia Studios and the start of his career in American movies.

However, his experiences on Secret Agent only a year later essentially ended his screen association with Alfred Hitchcock.

Towards the end of his career, Peter Lorre appeared in two episodes of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents: "The Diplomatic Corpse" (Dec. 8, 1957) and "Man From the South" (Mar. 13, 1960), the latter episode postponed from its original air-date of Jan. 3, 1960; CBS considered its gruesome storyline inappropriate for the holiday season. Although Hitchcock hosted the episodes, neither was among those he himself directed.

Lorre Lovers, Spend Valentine's Day with Peter

This Valentine’s Day weekend, Peter Lorre fans can enjoy Casablanca on either the Big or Small Screen.

From Feb. 11 to Feb. 18, the 1942 classic is on the schedule at The Screening Room, a café cinema serving beer, wine and coffee along with snacks.

Showtimes for Casablanca are:

• Fri., Feb. 11 – 7 p.m.
• Sat., Feb. 12 – 7 p.m.
• Mon., Feb. 14 – 4:30, 7, and 9:15 p.m.
• Tues., Feb. 15 – 7:30 p.m.
• Fri., Feb. 18 – 9 p.m.

Admission for all screenings is $5. The full schedule can be found on the cinema’s website. Or call the theater at (716) 837-0376.

The Screening Room is located at 3131 Sheridan Drive, Amherst, NY, behind the Key Bank in the Northtown Plaza, within the Northtown Plaza Business Center. The entrance faces North Bailey. Parking is available directly behind the Arthur Murray Dance Studio, on North Bailey.

And on the small screen . . .

Can't get to Amherst, NY? Turner Classic Movies will show Casablanca on Monday, Feb. 14, as part of their annual “31 Days of Oscar” festival.

The film begins at 10 p.m. Eastern and 7 p.m. Pacific.

If only Peter's screen time were larger than two (key) scenes . . . .

The Raven Screened for The Big Read on Feb. 11, 2011

On Friday, Feb. 11, the Washington County Public Library will kick off this year’s Big Read program with The Raven (AIP, 1963).

The film will begin 6 p.m. in the Conference Room of the main branch of the library. Admission is free, and popcorn will be available.

The library is located at 205 Oak Hill Street, NE, in Abingdon, VA.

For more information, please contact Leslie Tabor at (276) 676-6391. A full list of all the Big Read events can be found on the library’s website.

The National Endowment for the Arts launched The Big Read in the fall of 2007 as a way of bringing reading back to American culture. Dashiell Hammett’s novel The Maltese Falcon was the first book chosen, and the 1941 film version was shown in many theaters and libraries across the U.S., accompanied by book discussions and special materials, including bookmarks, pamphlets, and CDs on both the novel and the movie.

This year, the Washington County Library, in partnership with the Barter Theatre, chose Edgar Allan Poe for his influence on American culture – and to consider the link between mental health and creativity. “The Stories and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe” will run from Feb. 10 through Mar. 31, 2011 and will include poetry and art contests, book discussions, and other Poe-inspired movies.

Upcoming Big Read events can be found on The Big Read website. Events may be selected by community, date range, or by book – including The Maltese Falcon.

The Maltese Falcon On-Screen in Cape May, NJ

As an installment in the “Film Noir Movie Night” program, the Cape May County Library will present The Maltese Falcon (1941) on Friday, Feb. 4, 2011.

The film begins at 6 p.m. and will be shown in the Storytime Room at the Cape May Court House Library. Admission for the event is free.

The Cape May Court House Library is located at 30 Mechanic Street, Cape May Court House, NJ.

For more information, please call (609) 463-6350.

The Maltese Falcon was the first film Peter Lorre worked on with Humphrey Bogart. The two actors became lifelong friends and appeared in four more movies, three of them at Warner Bros. – All Through the Night (1942), Casablanca (1942), Passage to Marseille (1944), and Beat the Devil (1954). A discussion of Peter and Bogie both on- and off-screen can be found in the pages of The Lost One: A Life of Peter Lorre, the authorized biography of Peter Lorre, by Stephen D. Youngkin (University Press of Kentucky, 2005).