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Frank Capra is one of a handful of directors, like Alfred Hitchcock, John Ford, and Steven Spielberg, whose name practically signifies its own genre, and like those directors, his body of work is far more complex and varied than the broad strokes by which he’s often defined. Capra tends to be thought of in one of two ways: as either the light, breezy director of handsomely crafted comedies like “Platinum Blonde,” “It Happened One Night,” and “You Can’t Take it With You,” or as the inspirational chronicler of American values and politics who made “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Mr. Deeds Goes to Town,” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Both characterizations are true, but they only scratch the surface of Capra’s breadth. His full range is on glorious display in what is unquestionably the physical media event of the season, Sony’s release of the “Frank Capra at Columbia” collection.

Since any New York City cinephile has a nearly suffocating wealth of theatrical options, we figured it’d be best to compile some of the more worthwhile repertory showings into one handy list. Displayed below are a few of the city’s most reliable theaters and links to screenings of their weekend offerings — films you’re not likely to see in a theater again anytime soon, and many of which are, also, on 35mm. If you have a chance to attend any of these, we’re of the mind that it’s time extremely well-spent.

Film Forum

Cinema’s holy trinity — Ed Wood (technically Burton-Wood), Malick, and Chaplin — have two-for-one double-billings this weekend.

Howards End continues its run.

Museum of the Moving Image

“See It Big! The 70mm Show” concludes with Kenneth Branagh‘s Hamlet and Inherent Vice.

If you missed it in theaters, see the great Kaili Blues when...

This week’s movie poster I present for no better reason than that I came across it this week and fell in love with it. Not that I have any great love for motorbikes or CHiPS-style shenanigans, and I’d never heard of the film before, nor its director William Nigh. But I love its blazing color, its windswept momentum, its faultless typography, and of course its romantic French title, Agent Cyclone (though its German title, Achtung - Überfallkommando!, is even better). The only thing I don't like is the over-large Universal Film title in its blackletter font, something that works much better on French horror movie posters than it does here.

Made in 1936, Crash Donovan runs just over an hour and weaves a series of chases and stunts around a love triangle consisting of carnival stuntman Michael “Crash” Donovan, California Highway Patrolman Johnnie Allen and Doris Tennyson, daughter of the chief of the Patrol.

The Smiling Lieutenant (Ernst Lubitsch) City Lights (Charlie Chaplin) Tabu (F.W. Murnau & Robert Flaherty) Street Scene (King Vidor) Dishonored (Josef von Sternberg) The Champ (King Vidor) The Struggle (D.W. Griffith) The Criminal Code (Howard Hawks) Arrowsmith (John Ford) An American Tragedy (Josef von Sternberg) The Skin Game (Alfred Hitchcock) Private Lives (Sidney Franklin) Wicked (Allan Dwan) Bad Girl (Frank Borzage) Chances (Allan Dwan) The Miracle Woman (Frank Capra) Girls About Town (George Cukor) Frankenstein (James Whale) The Public Enemy (William Wellman) Seas Beneath (John Ford) The Yellow Ticket (Raoul Walsh) Tarnished Lady (George Cukor) The Guardsman (Sidney Franklin) Dirigible…...

Brigitte Helm in Fritz Lang's Metropolis (top); Jack Holt, Fay Wray in Frank Capra's Dirigible (middle); Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, Louis Hayward, Judith Anderson in René Clair's And Then There Were None (bottom) London's BFI Southbank will be screening several Frank Capra efforts today and on Saturday, in addition to films based on Agatha Christie's works and the restored Metropolis. Most notable among those screenings is probably a 1986 British television production named Shades of Darkness: Agatha Christie’s The Last Séance. Directed by June Wyndham-Davies, the 50-minute show stars Jeanne Moreau in a "suitably spooky, at times surreal" supernatural tale about spiritualism. Frank Capra will be represented with Dirigible (1931), an early adventure tale set in the South Pole that features Fay Wray sandwiched between popular late-'20s players Jack Holt and Ralph Graves; The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1932), an overbaked interethnic romance-drama-tragedy starring...