What could be more fun than getting dressed up for Purim? Watching classic movies about people in disguise in a Purim film marathon at the Jerusalem Cinematheque on the evening of March 17 sounds pretty good, too, and you can always attend the screenings in costume.
The marathon starts with Mitchell Leisen’s 1939 classic, Midnight, which stars Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche in a story of an American chorus girl in Paris who pretends to be a princess in order to further various schemes. It was written by frequent collaborators Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett. This movie is rarely shown anywhere and this is a golden opportunity to see it on the big screen.
Tootsie, Sydney Pollack’s 1982 film about an aspiring actor (Dustin Hoffman) who cannot catch a break until he dons women’s clothes and becomes a hit on a soap opera, was far ahead of its time and it is still delightful. Jessica Lange, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance as the soap opera star, is a wonderful foil for Hoffman. Among the actors in the supporting cast are Bill Murray, Teri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Geena Davis and Charles Durning.
Mike Nichols’ 1988 Working Girl tells the story of a secretary (Melanie Griffith) who poses as an executive to work her way up. The movie costars Harrison Ford, Sigourney Weaver, Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack, and features the line, “I’ve got a head for business and a bod for sin.”
In the morning on March 17, there will be two children’s programs, Disney’s The Jungle Book (the original, animated version dubbed into Hebrew) and Dr. Molecular, a character from the Children’s Channel, who is a confused scientist and will entertain with a special Purim program.
On Saturday night, you can see the movie that perhaps inspired more costumes than any other: The Rocky Horror Picture Show. This 1975 cult classic by Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien (who plays Riff Raff) tells the story of an innocent couple (Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick), who find themselves at Dr. Frank-n-Furter’s freak-filled hideaway. The cast includes Tim Curry as the good doctor, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell and Meat Loaf. The audience is invited to come in costume and to get up and do “The Time Warp” with the cast as the movie plays.