Film

If your idea of a sexy movie star is Lillian Gish or Tom Mix, or your favorite director is, well, probably departed, then you may already know about Films on the Hill. The volunteer-run film society was formed in 1999 by John Stone, a mechanical engineer for the Navy, and Marilyn Kaufman, a graphic designer. It shows about three films a month (from private collections around the world) in the Black Box Theater, a 50-seat venue where you can enjoy classics from 1910 through the 1950s in near-matte darkness in the old style. Audiences watch crisp, original 16mm prints (sometimes black-and-white, sometimes color) and, if it's a silent movie, there's live accompaniment on the house upright by musicians Ray Brubacher or Robert Israel. Most of the movies are preceded by a vintage short film or cartoon (a blessing for patrons who find themselves delayed and circling for 10 minutes to find a parking spot, Stone says).

Films on the Hill, part of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. 545 Seventh St. SE. Admission: $5. All shows at 7 p.m. Call 202-547-6839 or visithttp://www.filmsonthehill.comfor schedule and information.

-- Desson Thomson

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With the advent of Netflix and TiVo, and the looming downloadability of movies, brick-and-mortar video stores have become something of a dying breed, as archives of the cinematic repertory, shrines to film arcana and ad hoc meeting places for unreconstructed cinephiles. Think of the Library at Alexandria crossed with the record store in "High Fidelity," only with customers arguing about Sam Peckinpah and Quentin Tarantino instead of Marvin Gaye and Art Garfunkel. Happily, one of the country's most long-lived, not to mention well-stocked, video chains has outlets in and around Washington and throughout the region. Started by three partners in 1988, Video Americain opened its first store in Newark, Del. Today the chain -- if you can call it that -- consists of six stores, each reflecting the tastes, predilections and perversities of its particular community. (Video Americain Adams Morgan changed its name to 18th Street Video, but remains part of the franchise.) Still run like a mom-and-pop operation, with staff members who border pleasantly between grumpy and gracious, Video Americain can be counted on for hard-to-find foreign, nonfiction and independent films that are routinely overlooked by the Big Boxes. If you can't find a title at one store, they will happily call up another to see if it's available there -- and most likely it will be.

18th Street Video, 2104 18th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20009. Call 202-588-0117. Video Americain Takoma Park, 6937 Laurel Ave., Takoma Park, Md. 20812. Call 301-270-4464 or visithttp://www.videoamericain.com.

-- Ann Hornaday * * *

As it happens, there are also two Video Americain stores in Baltimore; one in particular, on West Cold Spring Lane, has regularly saved the life of this film critic. Indeed, Baltimore boasts several places where movie maniacs can slake their appetites, including the Patterson, a classic art deco 1930s movie theater that in 2003 was lovingly restored and transformed into a performance, exhibition and screening space by the Creative Alliance, a local arts nonprofit. Since reopening, the Patterson has become a hub for local and regional filmmakers showing and discussing their work, as well as a favorite venue for screenings of rarely seen films, especially silent movies (often accompanied by local bands performing their own scores). The Creative Alliance has some treats in store at the Patterson this spring, including films starring Baltimore's own Clarence Muse ("Broken Strings," 1940) and Louis Jordan ("Reet Petite and Gone," 1947), as well as the 1920 silent epic "Within Our Gates," by African American pioneer Oscar Micheaux, with live accompaniment by Lafayette Gilchrist and the New Volcanoes.

Creative Alliance at the Patterson, 3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore, Md. 21224. Call 410-276-1651 or visit the Web site,http://www.creativealliance.org.

-- Ann Hornaday

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The American City Diner & Cinema Cafe doesn't just offer meat loaf, mashed potatoes and root-beer floats (and we love those little jukeboxes in the booths that -- for 50 cents -- play Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra and Fats Domino). No, here's the real treat from owner Jeffrey Gildenhorn: American, family-friendly movies shown on a video projection screen while you eat. Don't go looking for freebie screenings of "Capote" or "Brokeback Mountain" -- instead, slip inside the time bubble of nostalgia and enjoy the stars that America has almost forgotten, such as Paul Newman ("Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid," Feb. 13; "The Sting," Feb. 17; and "Cool Hand Luke," Feb. 27), Marlon Brando ("A Streetcar Named Desire," Feb. 23) and Bette Davis ("Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?," Feb. 22). Grab a table on the enclosed patio where the films are screened (and chew quietly during the good parts).

Movies nightly at 8, free (with paid dinner). The American City Diner & Cinema Cafe, 5532 Connecticut Ave. NW. 202-244-1949.

-- Desson Thomson * * *

The preservationist instinct is also alive and well at the Library of Congress, which along with a few other archives throughout the country is valiantly collecting prints of increasingly rare and hard-to-find films. The library's Mary Pickford Theater has become a redoubt of history and civility for Washington film lovers, who gather there for free screenings, discussions and often a concert, such as during the Jazz & Soul series. Last year, viewers were treated to selections from the library's National Film Registry, a series of film portraits of Victorian England, tributes to Harold Lloyd and composer Toru Takemitsu, and, appropriately, some recently restored films starring the theater's namesake. Although the 60-seat Pickford Theater is temporarily dark, the library plans to reopen it in April with series devoted to American comedy and Ben Franklin.

The Mary Pickford Theater at the Library of Congress, Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. SE. Call 202-707-5677 for reservations or visithttp://www.loc.gov/rr/mopic/pickford.

-- Ann Hornaday