The Rafael, My Local Theater

<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3e_agWaS3KuQLcyvbyU_PU5juz1LBwbkE0MvLunbPsFpIjGkMzoGYUW_luURnyKwvQe6AU-vsVdLodPpkXkXERzGteLnOVtyvrtLnvP8qPbc0CfuSnU9umDFy-feojeXRtDADF2JN9Ob5/s1600/2599500164_08344e8018%5B1%5D.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517362929709756834" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3e_agWaS3KuQLcyvbyU_PU5juz1LBwbkE0MvLunbPsFpIjGkMzoGYUW_luURnyKwvQe6AU-vsVdLodPpkXkXERzGteLnOVtyvrtLnvP8qPbc0CfuSnU9umDFy-feojeXRtDADF2JN9Ob5/s320/2599500164_08344e8018%5B1%5D.jpg" style="float: left; height: 320px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 239px;" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg1Omrshf1ouSOVEsYi_VAcW4NtMwFRlpdbLHE0szK-NrKoHyGKXReg_OAzV1F28LkKrjaA0t4pXSC6bQoCSzcf_SiVG7sqRrMIwAuq9fdWHYG35LhEYzwSP3JSllHxS2GoxBwRFiTz3MA/s1600/if7a9879_thm%5B1%5D.jpg"></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2u8nboWnASJVKrZsU5Z6L4AFKqbI8fX9eb00hRGYPo2EqchyyyePYomb7WQVEVJLH6daYzKW9Nadh494iYnAUgZ03laVVJtEw5MENyNbrgABmfPNZoYLR5vXUkAphvfiBOCWQTnis13l/s1600/if7a9879_thm%5B1%5D.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="133" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517363302722707634" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhB2u8nboWnASJVKrZsU5Z6L4AFKqbI8fX9eb00hRGYPo2EqchyyyePYomb7WQVEVJLH6daYzKW9Nadh494iYnAUgZ03laVVJtEw5MENyNbrgABmfPNZoYLR5vXUkAphvfiBOCWQTnis13l/s200/if7a9879_thm%5B1%5D.jpg" style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px;" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFMWjlBYtfMTaJGRl1noxetO1AyknX9b_r-5_pLUXC7OmhHuL1RyKcbgsWkSQCXQyMS68dNe3eqHzLxkn2ls3-Lbs0CHIB-1rTKPWHlY4CuOODv253mSAo_oWJpONMzvkNCJFY3x7Rk-8o/s1600/2599500164_08344e8018%5B1%5D.jpg"></a><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The Rafael Theater in San Rafael, California, began life as the Orpheus Theater in 1918, long before the Golden Gate Bridge connected Marin County to the city of San Francisco. A first-run movie house, the Orpheus was razed by fire and resurrected as the<i> art moderne</i> Rafael in 1938. </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake caused significant damage to the building and the Rafael closed for ten years. In 1998 reconstruction began. The theater was gutted and renovated and reopened in 1999. Today it is a three-screen art/indie/revival house operated as a non-profit by the California Film Institute and has been renamed the <i>Christopher B. Smith Rafael Theater.</i></span></span><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;"><i><span style="font-family: Verdana;"></span></i><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><i>The Mill Valley Film Festival, </i>which runs from October 7 - 17 this year (2010) and will honor such luminaries as Annette Bening, Edward Norton, Sam Rockwell, Ryan Gosling and Julian Schnabel, screens many of festival films at the glorious Rafael.<br /><br />In the last few years I've seen quite a variety of films at the Rafael - <i>La Vie en Rose</i> (Marion Cotillard won the Best Actress Oscar for her performance and attended the Rafael premiere), <i>Starting Out in the Evening</i><b> </b>(featuring a remarkable performance by Frank Langella), Francis Coppola's <i>Tetro</i><b> </b>(a film that brought Luchino Visconti to mind) and the Swedish sensation, <i>The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo</i>. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;">Most recently I attended a screening of the silent version of Alfred Hitchcock's <i>Blackmail </i>(1930) with accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra (<a href="http://classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/2010/07/dial-h-for-hitchcock-blackmail-on-big.html" style="color: #990000;">click here</a> for my post  about it) and a free-to-the-public presentation of Hitchcock's <i>North by Northwest</i> (<a href="http://classic-film-tv.blogspot.com/2010/09/dial-h-for-hitchcock-north-by-northwest.html"><span style="color: #990000;">click here </span></a>for the post). </span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1atKcd8fEqkyx1xiMucmeVsGAH92anIV0aZ7V9VWApPRWxn8cE-5qXiIuymNQNBKypnxbqpWojlzM2AeunEyokCisAnz5dYPHxPPJq_l6NpU9UcTlY0yZC5VPZQyI2nQ9rq1EWTd-UuD/s1600/537814%255B1%255D%255B2%255D.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" j6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP1atKcd8fEqkyx1xiMucmeVsGAH92anIV0aZ7V9VWApPRWxn8cE-5qXiIuymNQNBKypnxbqpWojlzM2AeunEyokCisAnz5dYPHxPPJq_l6NpU9UcTlY0yZC5VPZQyI2nQ9rq1EWTd-UuD/s320/537814%255B1%255D%255B2%255D.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A few years ago the Beatles' <i>A Hard Day's Night</i> was screened on the exterior of the Rafael. The street was closed to traffic and filled with people sitting and standing and singing along with John, Paul, George and Ringo.</span></span><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /></span><br /><span style="font-size: 100%;"><br /><i><span style="font-family: verdana;">Some of the Rafael's illustrious guests...</span></i></span><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNZVjVobbj4V8t6dEZFGiNw7LpcPtmDKZg97Bzb-LSz5ToJanMhYAn3LeI3w0iVOka47yJRX7cMcMS84glwgULsDCPnY5rQsUYOLoLf9Yo7mbBG3l-Yx7jojB6Eidy968jSyRhKzyRDza/s1600/barbara+hale+at+the+rafael+2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517762412342532482" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizNZVjVobbj4V8t6dEZFGiNw7LpcPtmDKZg97Bzb-LSz5ToJanMhYAn3LeI3w0iVOka47yJRX7cMcMS84glwgULsDCPnY5rQsUYOLoLf9Yo7mbBG3l-Yx7jojB6Eidy968jSyRhKzyRDza/s200/barbara+hale+at+the+rafael+2.jpg" style="float: left; height: 167px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 171px;" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Barbara Hale</td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517762638183555666" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNOL4y2MBjJQZjSkAM-eoCtNEZhGdmdHoXeVrWj_aQ0oFr-mHZUgpNvgqkNQdpT7xoe0cNWLX18Yoe6U58EntxbBaEqfuYZtzA5Cdok-6cLxi7fyAwmzkFV0g4hywAVjyk0ORQwx3OTu8s/s200/Ray+Harryhausen+auto+graphs.jpg" style="display: block; height: 144px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 170px;" /></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ray Harryhausen</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br />  <br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuop-gOPXgy_rFFpvB-VKbinm5WaAHTzH8r1-SQS5nL1QaqFqhz6gHk4qMo1im5o53L8Bx6jj99-TvsyLb7orf9RrkqYBjTwSJpGOH2gczca9xeov6n_QSN2ju_YYFlhBkBZUyLymi_7rR/s1600/Mirren+MVFF+the+queen+at+Rafael.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5517763547007563826" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuop-gOPXgy_rFFpvB-VKbinm5WaAHTzH8r1-SQS5nL1QaqFqhz6gHk4qMo1im5o53L8Bx6jj99-TvsyLb7orf9RrkqYBjTwSJpGOH2gczca9xeov6n_QSN2ju_YYFlhBkBZUyLymi_7rR/s200/Mirren+MVFF+the+queen+at+Rafael.jpg" style="float: left; height: 142px; margin: 0px 10px 10px 0px; width: 175px;" /></a></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Helen Mirren</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5519759120717768418" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiP0eVOT0O3G0K2WBRuEAr5YG3C9qum4c9lvpAdEY8psUNMeyUPhBVF88G93yxG8OiFfAkT7NtbC-fmrA1jclLASgzJbW-9cbbS1KPexwjbAVfjOIt7GeDC0gr9FRqI5ZLQxygGR0JLi0q2/s320/Coppola+Tetro.jpg" style="display: block; height: 189px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 117px;" /></td></tr><tr style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Francis Ford Coppola</td></tr></tbody></table>

California Film Institute Rafael Theater The Lady Eve (author) The Rafael, My Local Theater

The Rafael Theater in San Rafael, California, began life as the Orpheus Theater in 1918, long before the Golden Gate Bridge connected Marin ...

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