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Early Douglas Fairbanks, Essential Art House: Four Treasures from Janus Films
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'Arabian Nights'
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Fungus Fair
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Early Douglas Fairbanks (Sat/6-Sun/7)
Funny Fellow
Douglas Elton Thomas Ullman wasn't an extraordinarily handsome fellow, and at 5-foot-9, he didn't exactly cut an imposing figure, but the man knew how to move in front of a camera, and as Douglas Fairbanks, during the silent-film era, he buckled swashes better than anyone else (performing all but the most dangerous stunts) and captured many hearts off the screen as well as on it. But before beginning his 10-year run as Hollywood's top romantic hero, he appeared in light comedies such as this double double bill presented by the Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum: An elopement goes wrong in "The Matrimaniac," wherein a would-be groom must chase down the train carrying his betrothed while the young lady's father and a sheriff's posse pursues him in turn, and in "When the Clouds Roll By," he plays the victim of a mad scientist's efforts to get him to join the crazy club (Sat/6). In "Wild and Woolly," he's a city slicker who moves to a small Arizona town that gussies itself up as a rootin', tootin'
frontier outpost just to humor him, and "Reaching for the Moon" stars Fairbanks as a humble dreamer who discovers he's next in line to rule a small European kingdom -- if he lives long enough to sit on the throne. Here's an opportunity to see a talented actor honing his craft before hitting the big time in the likes of "The Mark of Zorro," "The Three Musketeers," "Robin Hood" and "The Thief of Baghdad." — Mark Nichol, special to SFGate
 Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, 37417 Niles Blvd., Fremont; Sat/6: "The Matrimaniac" and "When the Clouds Roll By" at 7:40 pm, Sun/7: "Wild and Woolly" and "Reaching for the Moon" at 1:30 pm; $5; (510) 494-1411.
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Essential Art House: Four Treasures from Janus Films (Fri/5-Thu/11)
Foreign Foursome
Janus Films, a distribution company that has brought many significant foreign films to the attention of English-speaking audiences, is still going strong after more than half a century. To commemorate the release of DVDs of some of these movies under the firm's Criterion Collection line, the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center plays a quartet of the most fascinating specimens of world-cinema classic:
First up is "Rashomon," for many Americans their first experience with a subtitled flick, and an eye-opening introduction to Japanese cinema and the artistry of Akira Kurosawa; Toshiro Mifune stars as a bandit, one of four people who present their own unique account of a crime (Fri/5, Sat/6, Thu/11). Roman Polanski, in the news recently for attempting to have a long-standing statutory-rape charge dismissed so he can set foot in the United States again after several decades as a fugitive, is represented by his feature-film debut, "Knife in the Water," about a claustrophobic love triangle aboard a sailboat (Fri/5, Mon/8). Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberries," an engrossing odyssey of self-reflection by an elderly academic, follows (Sat/6, Tue/9). The short series concludes with Jean Cocteau's phantasmagorically surreal film version of "Beauty and the Beast" (Sun/7, Wed/10). — Mark Nichol, special to SFGate
Christopher B.
Smith Rafael Film Center, 1118 Fourth St., San Rafael; see SF Gate's Movies page for show times; $6.50-$10; (415) 454-1222.
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'Arabian Nights' (Thru Jan 11)
A Magic Ride
Stories become flying carpets transporting us through timeless and hilarious tales of love, infidelity, greed, uncommon generosity, wisdom and one very crowded privy in Mary Zimmerman's ("Metamorphoses," "Argonautika") wondrously imaginative and thoroughly engrossing, 2 1/2-hour adaptation of the 1001 Nights. A joyfully versatile 15-member cast, executing its own dynamic Middle Eastern score, embodies the bawdy and increasingly thoughtful stories within stories that Scheherezade has to keep spinning to keep her husband from killing her at dawn. — Robert Hurwitt, SF Chronicle
Berkeley Repertory Theatre's Thrust Stage, 2025 Addison St., Berkeley; see Web site for dates, times and ticket information; $27-$71; (510) 647-2949.
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Fungus Festival (Sat/6-Sun/7)
Fun with Fungi
Wake up and smell the spores, people! It's finally, finally, finally time again for the unutterably fabulous Bay Area Fungus Fair, a co-production of the Mycological Society of San Francisco and the Oakland Museum of California. As usual, there will be cooking demonstrations, mushrooms and mushroom-related items for sale, kids' activities, grownups' activities and an
astounding display of fungi gathered by the Mycological Society. Can
fungi save the world? Well, possibly; at the very least, they can help clean up oil spills and treat cancer and HIV. There's no reason ever to be bored in a world that contains the wonders of fungi, and the fair will remind you why. — Kitty Luce, special to SFGate
Oakland Museum of California, 1000 Oak St. at 10th, Oakland; Sat 1 am-6 pm, Sun noon-5 pm; (510) 238-2200 or www.mssf.org.
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