Rushes

In honor of the late, great Ginger Rogers, the USA Film Festival's First Monday Classics series is screening one of the legendary hoofer's most beloved musicals--The Gay Divorcee. The 1934 film is one of Rogers' greatest teamups with Fred Astaire. The plot, as you might expect, isn't really important. What matters is the choreography, the glittery sets, and the score, which includes such memorable tunes as "Continental" and "Night and Day." The picture is also notable as the first and only Astaire-Rogers musical to be nominated for an Oscar as Best Picture. A newly restored print of The Gay Divorcee screens June 6 at 7:30 p.m. at the AMC Glen Lakes Theater, 9450 N. Central Expressway. Call 821-NEWS for more info.

The creators of Cyberstalker, a locally produced, low-budget science fiction thriller about murder on the Internet that drew packed crowds at this year's USA Film Festival, have made their film available via the Internet. Internet America's CEO Robert Maynard thought the film's tech-noir plotline made it an ideal test product to prove that the information highway could be used to distribute movies, so he footed the bill for conversion of the film to a digital format. In an intriguing experiment, the film will make its official regional premiere May 25 at 7 p.m. at the Granada Theater at the same time that it becomes available for download through a World Wide Web site. Information highway travelers can get information on Cyberstalker by accessing [http://www.iadfw/cyberstalker], and if they have the time and the proper technology, they can download the entire feature film (it takes about 45 minutes). Backwards individuals who prefer seeing movies in a theater can call the Granada at 823-9610 for details.

When the folks at the Major Theatre said they were going to alternate between movies and live entertainment, I had no idea they meant they'd schedule them on the same day. But that's what's happening May 26 when Spike and Mike's 1995 Sick & Twisted Festival of Animation opens. Major Theatre cofounder Rob Clements promises a lineup of live performers before each show. It starts with a set by local musicians Ethyl Merman and continues with "The Parade of The Weird," which includes fire eaters, jugglers, stunt skaters affiliated with Buckethead Skate Shop, and assorted persons sporting elaborate forms of body piercing (courtesy of local piercing outfit Skin & Bones). Apparently, the AMC Grand isn't the only local theater positioning itself as an "entertainment destination."

--Matt Zoller Seitz
(reeling@aol.com)