County Theater
Doylestown's art-deco nonprofit cinema, running first-run indies and classics under a marquee that's been lighting State Street since 1938. Cheap tickets, real butter, serious air conditioning.
Field notes: Four art house theaters, one weekend, 35mm and a sing-along
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The New Adventures of Pippi Longstocking
Five dollar Saturday morning kid film, free for members, from the 1988 live-action Pippi. Ten o'clock start, out in time for the farmers market.
Love Finds Andy Hardy
A 1938 Mickey Rooney comedy with a very young Judy Garland. Two showings, 4:15 and 7:00, closing out the summer classics run.
Taxi Driver
Scorsese, De Niro and 1970s New York, screened with the theater's Cinema Studies framing. Thursday evening, one show.
Dodsworth
William Wyler's 1936 adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel about a marriage coming apart in Europe. Sunday at one, with Deep Focus notes.
Ball of Fire
Barbara Stanwyck teaches slang to a houseful of professors, 1941, script by Billy Wilder. One Wednesday evening screening with Cinema Studies notes.
Fist of Fury
Bruce Lee in the 1972 Hong Kong martial arts picture, programmed for the After Dark slot. One Thursday night show.
Salad Days: A Decade of Punk in Washington, DC
Documentary on the DC hardcore scene of the 1980s, Dischord Records and all. Screening in the theater's Films That Rock strand on a Saturday afternoon.
The Karate Kid
Wax on, wax off, 1984, underwritten by Action Karate Doylestown. Sunday at one, and the crane kick lands better with a full house.
Letty Lynton
A rarely screened 1932 Joan Crawford melodrama, introduced by TCM writer Hannah Jack. One Tuesday evening, and rights issues kept this one out of circulation for decades.
Dead Poets Society
Robin Williams and the standing-on-desks one, 1989, in the Reel Rebels series. Single Wednesday evening screening.
The Trouble with Harry
Hitchcock's 1955 black comedy about a body nobody knows what to do with, in a new restoration. One Thursday evening show.
Rashomon
Kurosawa's 1950 film where four people tell the same story four different ways. Wednesday evening, with Cinema Studies notes attached.
This is Spinal Tap
The mockumentary that turned an amplifier knob into a punchline, screened in the theater's Films That Rock strand. One night only on State Street, so plan around the seven o'clock start.
The Misanthrope
London's National Theatre beams a new staging of Moliere's comedy of manners onto the County screen. A Sunday matinee that runs long, so budget the whole afternoon.
Mystery Mondays
Nobody tells you the title until the lights go down. Staff picks something from the vault, members get in free, and the whole room finds out at the same moment.
Groundswell
A documentary about soil and the farmers rebuilding it, brought in by the Bucks County Foodshed Alliance. Worth a ticket if you buy at the Hamilton Street market and wonder where it starts.
Jennifer's Body
The 2009 horror comedy that got read wrong on release and right ever since, running in the After Dark slot. One screening, and the crowd is half the reason to go.
Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
Five dollars gets a kid into a Saturday morning monster caper on a real cinema screen. Members bring theirs free, and it wraps well before lunch.
The Bad Seed
A small girl, a rising body count, and 1956 censorship rules doing something very strange to the ending. First of the theater's Spooky Season Sunday afternoons.
The Cat and the Canary
A 1927 haunted-house silent with live accompaniment from Not So Silent Cinema, meaning the score gets played in the room while the film runs. Later start than the usual midweek show.
Thelma & Louise
Two women, a Thunderbird and the American West, screened in the Reel Rebels series. It runs long, so a 7:15 start puts you back on State Street near ten.
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
Bandages, bad puns, and a comedy duo running out of monsters to meet. A Sunday afternoon in the Spooky Season lineup, gentle enough for kids who scare easy.
The Sixth Sense
Shyamalan's Philadelphia ghost story back on a big screen twenty-odd years on, when everyone in the room already knows. Watching the crowd is half of it.
Bell, Book and Candle
Kim Novak plays a Manhattan witch with a Siamese cat and a grudge, at the softer end of the Spooky Season slate. Technicolor, no jump scares.
Fallen Angels by Noel Coward
Coward's 1925 comedy about two wives and one returning Frenchman, filmed on stage and screened here. Two chances to catch it, a Sunday matinee and a Tuesday night.
Beetlejuice
Burton's afterlife bureaucracy comedy on the Tuesday before Halloween. Sandworms, striped suits and Harry Belafonte, all better in a room full of people who know the words.
The Last Man on Earth
Vincent Price alone in a dead world, the 1964 take on the story that later became I Am Legend. Black and white, bleak, and short enough for a school night.
The Shining
Kubrick's hotel, the Steadicam down the hallway, and that carpet, two nights before Halloween. Long runtime, so the 7:15 start means a late walk back to the car.
Evil Dead II
Sam Raimi's chainsaw slapstick starting at quarter to ten on Halloween night. Costumes will be in the room. Not the screening to bring anyone squeamish to.
Fallen Angels by Noel Coward
Coward's 1925 comedy about two wives and one returning Frenchman, filmed on stage and screened here. The evening showing, for anyone who missed the October matinee.
The Killers
Hemingway's short story stretched into a Burt Lancaster noir, screening under Cinema Studies. Shadows, double crosses, and an ending you see coming and enjoy anyway.
Idiocracy
Mike Judge's 2006 satire that people keep describing as a documentary now. After Dark slot, one screening, and a crowd that will laugh at the uncomfortable parts.
Mystery Mondays
Nobody tells you the title until the lights go down. Staff picks something from the vault, members get in free, and the whole room finds out at the same moment.
The Longest Day
Three hours of D-Day told from both sides, programmed for Veterans Day. An all-star 1962 cast and a runtime that earns the early night afterward.
Bob Dylan: Dont Look Back
Pennebaker following Dylan through the 1965 England tour, cue cards and all. Programmed under both Reel Rebels and Films That Rock, which tells you the room it draws.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Gene Wilder, the chocolate river, and the boat scene that has been quietly unsettling children since 1971. Five dollars on a Saturday morning, free for member kids.
Love Me or Leave Me
Doris Day as torch singer Ruth Etting opposite James Cagney, in a Deep Focus Sunday slot. A musical on the surface and considerably darker underneath.
Network
The 1976 broadcast-news satire that keeps aging in the wrong direction, screening under Reel Rebels. Bring someone who has only ever heard the mad-as-hell line quoted.
Doylestown: From Crossroads to Community
A new local documentary tracing how a crossroads village turned into the county seat. Screened in the town it is about, inside a 1938 theater that is part of the story.
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A 1928 movie house rescued and restored into the anchor of Butler Avenue: first-run indies, documentaries, and repertory picks under a marquee that makes the whole block look good.
The Colonial Theatre
The 1903 movie palace where The Blob attacked the audience in 1957, still packing three screens with indie, classic, cult, and horror films plus live shows. Bridge Street's marquee glow, and the whole reason Blobfest exists.
