Lady in a Cage

Opening:

I, FRANKENSTEIN—From the trailers, it looks more like a Highlander entry than anything remotely connected to Mary Shelley’s story. And after all these years is it still necessary to point out that Frankenstein is the name of the scientist and not his creation? Starring Aaron Eckhart, Yvonne Strahovski, Miranda Otto, and Bill Nighy. Directed by Stuart Beattie. Flix, Maple Ridge, Regal Elmwood, Regal Niagara Falls, Regal Quaker, Regal Transit, Regal Walden Galleria

THE INVISIBLE WOMAN—Ralph Fiennes directed and stars as Charles Dickens in this historical drama based on the novelist’s affair with a younger woman (Felicity Jones). Co-starring Kristin Scott Thomas, Tom Hollander, and Joanna Scanlan. Reviewed this issue. Eastern Hills

ETC:

AND THEN THERE WERE NONE (1945)—Classic adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ten Little Indians, in which ten people trapped in an island castle try to figure which one of them is plotting to kill off the others one by one. Starring Barry Fitzgerald, Walter Huston, Louis Hayward, Roland Young, June Duprez, Mischa Auer, C. Aubrey Smith, and Judith Anderson. Directed by Rene Clair (I Married a Witch). Screening Room

AU GALOP (IN A RUSH)—A middle-aged writer’s life is put into turmoil by three younger women in this comedy, inaugurating a series of recent French cinema. Starring Valentina Cervi, Marthe Keller, and Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, who also directed. Screening Room

DUST OF WAR— From the recent Buffalo Dreams Fantastic Film Festival, a post-apocalyptic story in the Mad Max/Terminator mold set on the American prairies. Its chief appeal is in its characters, especially Gary Graham (looking like a ringer for Billy Bob Thornton) as the hero’s sidekick. Screening Room

LADY IN A CAGE (1962)—Effective suspense thriller starring Olivia de Havilland as a wealthy woman terrorized in her Manhattan townhouse by a gang of hoodlums (led by a young James Caan). Directed by Walter Grauman. Screening Room

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG—From London’s West End, the recent revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1981 show that looks at the career of a songwriter in reverse chronology. Starring Mark Umbers, Jenna Russell, and Damian Humbley. Directed by Maria Friedman. Amherst

UNDERWORLD (1928)—Ben Hecht won an Oscar as the writer (along with an uncredited Howard Hawks) of this early gangster drama, elegantly composed and directed by Josef von Sternberg in his pre-Dietrich days. The silent film will be accompanied by Philip Carli on the electronic piano. Opening this season of the Buffalo Film Seminars. Market Arcade