The Alibi + Boy’s School

ERICH VON STROHEIM Our four-film look at Erich von Stroheim (you may recall him as Max von Mayerling in Sunset Boulevard) continues with this terrific early matinée that kicks off a marathon Sunday at the movies. In this double feature, you’ll see the range and talent of a great filmmaker whose career went spectacularly wrong, but who reinvented himself as a singular talent in front of the camera.

The Alibi / L’Alibi

11:30 AM Von Stroheim (sometimes referred to as “The Man you Love to Hate”) takes center stage in THE ALIBI as a ruthless, murdering con man that always seems to be one step ahead of the police (with none other than the great Louis Jouvet as the head inspector). But will the alibi he has coerced from a conflicted cabaret dancer (Jany Holt) hold up? (1937, dir. Pierre Chenal, 84m)

Boy’s School / Les Disparus de Saint-Agil

1:15 PM Here Von Stroheim’s at the center of mysterious and macabre events occuring at Saint-Agil, where students disappear and a series of malevolent occurrences just keep escalating. He and his fellow teacher at the school (the imposing monstre sacré Michel Simon) are integral part of director Christian-Jaque’s puzzling mystery. (And you’ll love von Stroheim’s wild, bushy brush cut—a wild contrast from his usual “chrome dome” look!) (1938, dir. Christian-Jaque, 98m)