Orphans in the Storm and Sign of the Cross.

Okay, they're silent. But they're really good, and sexy. Made before the commission on telling you what is proper and improper. Movies like these caused the Commission to form.

Orphans: Director D.W. Griffith's silent classic follows the plight of sisters Henriette (Lillian Gish) and Louise (Dorothy Gish), who become orphans when their parents succumb to the plague -- which also leaves Louise blind. The siblings journey to 18th century Paris in search of a doctor to restore Louise's sight, but not long after their arrival, circumstances conspire to separate them time and again during the maelstrom of the French Revolution.

Cross: Director Cecil B. DeMille's sweeping epic set in 64 A.D. snagged an Oscar nod for Best Cinematography. Looking for a scapegoat after burning Rome, Emperor Nero (Charles Laughton) blames the Christians and inflames anti-Christian sentiment. Meanwhile, Roman magistrate Marcus Superbus (Fredric March) walks a fine line between his duty and his love for a Christian girl -- a liaison that doesn't sit well with the envious empress (Claudette Colbert).

Cooley High and Car Wash

Some things should be illegal for being too funny. It's one thing to laugh on your sofa, and another to howl in a crowd. You all come down now.

Cooley: Often called "the black American Graffiti," this film follows aspiring writer Preach (Glynn Turman) and basketball star Cochise (Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs) as they drift through their classes and wander around their Chicago neighborhood in the 1960s, pulling pranks and trying to enjoy life in an impoverished urban environment. When they take a joyride in a stolen car with a pair of local hoods, their carefree existence takes a turn for the dramatic.

Car Wash: This fun-tastic follow-up to Cooly High is a hilarious day-in-the-life look at a ghetto car wash in Los Angeles. At Sully Boyar's car wash, a motley crew of city-dwelling youngsters soap and suds their way through an eccentric and sometimes haughty clientele. There are laughs galore, courtesy of a group of A-list comedians -- including Richard Pryor, Franklin Ajaye, George Carlin and "Professor" Irwin Corey. Written by Joel Schumacher.

The Man in the Glass Booth and Garden of the Finzi-Continis

Being a Jew has its complications, that's for sure. And an understatement. These are two personal favorites of the Executive Director, films he calls "stayers." As in they never really leave your head after the film stops.

Booth: Arthur Goldman (Maximillian Schell), a Jewish businessman living in 1965 Manhattan, is kidnapped by a group of Israeli underground agents, who put him on trial as a Nazi war criminal. Goldman at first protests the misunderstanding and claims he was actually a Holocaust victim, but he soon begins to revel in the notion that he is, in fact, the man they've been hunting. An American Film Theatre adaptation of Robert Shaw's play.

Garden: In director Vittorio De Sica's Oscar-winning masterpiece, an aristocratic Italian Jewish family retreats behind the walls of its lush country estate to take refuge from the approaching fascist storm in the 1930s. Meanwhile, daughter Micòl (Dominique Sanda) rebuffs the advances of Giorgio (Lino Capolicchio), a friend who's joined them at the estate. Helmut Berger co-stars in this moving drama, based on Giorgio Bassani's semiautobiographical novel.

Breathless and A Woman is a Woman

Time to go French. These are films from the director who defined"auteur" for a very long time, Jean-Luc Goddard. If you are into nitty and gritty, see where things began.

Breathless: After shooting a cop, young thief Michel (Jean-Paul Belmondo) meets and shacks up with Patricia (Jean Seberg), an American who sells the International Herald Tribune on the streets of Paris. Hiding out in her hotel room, Michel tries to sell Patricia on a plan to run away with him to Italy, and soon, the couple sinks further into the criminal life. Director Jean-Luc Godard shot to cinematic stardom with this benchmark film of the French new wave.

Woman: Beautiful striptease artist Angela (Anna Karina) is desperate to have a child, but her boyfriend, Emile (Jean-Claude Brialy), isn't as anxious. Although he cares for Angela and wants to keep their relationship going, he's not ready for a child. Instead, he suggests that she get together with his buddy Alfred (Jean-Paul Belmondo) -- a proposal Angela ultimately accepts, to Emile's shock and dismay. Frenchman Jean-Luc Godard directs.

The Bicycle Thief and Big Top Pee Wee

Okay, time to lighten up.

Thief: Widely considered a landmark Italian film, Vittorio De Sica's tale of a man who relies on his bicycle to do his job during Rome's post-World War II depression earned a special Oscar for its devastating power. The same day Antonio (Lamberto Maggiorani) gets his vehicle back from the pawnshop, someone steals it, prompting him to search the city in vain with his young son, Bruno (Enzo Staiola). Increasingly, he confronts a looming desperation.

We mean really lighten up:

Pee Wee: Pee-Wee Herman joins the circus when a giant storm deposits a big top tent -- and the menagerie to go with it -- in his front yard. Together, Pee-Wee, the animals and a troupe of circus performers put on the best show ever. Meanwhile, love blooms between shy Pee-Wee and a trapeze artist (Valeria Golino) -- much to the dismay of Pee-Wee's fiancée, Winnie (Penelope Ann Miller). Features the screen debut of future Oscar winner Benicio Del Toro.

Nosferatu and The Wolfman

What else for Hallowe'en but horror flicks? And maybe a midnight showing of "Rocky Horror Picture Show." Maybe. We'll let you know.

Nosferatu: Many horror freaks call F.W. Murnau's silent German classic the scariest Dracula adaptation ever. The bone-chilling tale kicks off when a sailor on a ghost ship opens a coffin, thereby releasing a vampire named Count Orlok who sets off on a rampage of terror aimed at a real estate agent and his comely wife. The creepy caped one is played by Max Schreck, sporting grotesque makeup that transforms him into a symbol of pestilence and decay.

The Wolfman: Lon Chaney Jr. stars as the unfortunate Larry Talbot, who gets bitten by a werewolf and survives to carry the curse. Bela Lugosi, Claude Rains and the wonderful Maria Ouspenskaya (as a spooky gypsy woman) co-star in this Universal classic.

All Quiet on the Western Front and The Deer Hunter

Okay, it’s Veterans Day. Take note. Films been a little rough on war, but that seems fair. War’s been known to be a little rough on everybody.

All Quiet on the Western Front: Teenage German soldiers pass from idealism to despair in this poignant, Oscar-winning adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque's anti-war novel. Awarded the Oscar for Best Picture, the film was banned in countries going to war years after its release, and unlike most "message" films that date themselves almost immediately, director Lewis Milestone's film has lost little of its original impact.

The Deer Hunter: In this Oscar-winning epic from director Michael Cimino, a group of working-class friends decides to enlist in the Army during the Vietnam War and finds it to be hellish chaos -- not the noble venture they imagined. Before they left, Steven (John Savage) married his pregnant girlfriend -- and Michael (Robert De Niro) and Nick (Christopher Walken) were in love with the same woman (Meryl Streep). But all three are different men upon their return

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and The Killing

All Kubrick All Night. Okay, so he's the most maddening, strangest, excellent and divine director ever. These are the two films that put him on the map. Or rather gave him the map for good.

Strangelove: When a fanatical U.S. general (Sterling Hayden) launches an air strike against the Soviets, they raise the stakes by threatening to unleash a "doomsday device," setting the stage for Armageddon in this classic black comedy that brilliantly skewers the nuclear age. The film's star-studded cast includes George C. Scott, Slim Pickens, James Earl Jones and Peter Sellers (who steals the show and copped an Oscar nod playing three roles).

Killing: In Stanley Kubrick's noir classic, career criminal Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) plans one last heist before settling down to a respectable life with Fay (Colleen Gray). Clay and several cohorts devise a complex racetrack robbery, but inner tensions and bad luck work against them. Kubrick wrote the script with Jim Thompson, who penned pulp novels such as The Grifters, The Killer Inside Me and Pop. 1280, all of which were made into classic films.

I am Curious: Yellow and I am Curious: Blue

Way back before porn was everywhere, these two "adult" films had people cueuing up around the block for months in New York City. (I think there was a trash strike too.) Come see what the fuss was all about. (Remember, we're an Arts Culture Center. be kind to us.)

Yellow: Seized by U.S. customs agents, the subject of a heated court battle and banned in many cities, Swedish director Vilgot Sjöman's treatise on sexual liberation stands as one of the most controversial films of all time. Lena (Lena Nyman), a rebellious young woman, seeks to gain more understanding of the social and political conditions in 1960s Sweden, as well as her own sexual identity.

Blue: Director Vilgot Sjöman's controversial sequel to I Am Curious: Yellow follows young Lena (Lena Nyman) on her journey of self-discovery as she confronts issues of religion, sexuality and the prison system, while at the same time exploring her own personal relationships. Like Yellow, Blue deftly traverses the lines between fact and fiction via a mix of dramatic and documentary techniques.

The Day the Earth (really) Stood Still and Fantastic Planet

If you liked that Keanu movie, just stay away from me. The best Sci Fi movie ever, and I'll fight you about it. Oh yeah, the animated pic is very interesting.

Earth: A humanoid envoy (Michael Rennie) from another world lands in Washington, D.C., with a warning to Earth's people to cease their violent behavior. But panic erupts when a nervous soldier shoots the messenger, and his robot companion tries to destroy the capital. A sci-fi hallmark that offers wry commentary on the political climate of the 1950s, this Golden Globe-winning classic is less concerned with special effects than with its potent message.

Planet: In director Rene Laloux's animated, sci-fi classic, a band of humans -- known as Oms -- are kept as domesticated pets by an alien race of blue humanoid giants called Traags. The story centers on an Om named Terr, who escapes his subjugation with a Traag learning device and eventually uses it to educate other Oms and incite them to revolt. Said to be based on the Soviet occupation of the Czech Republic, the film nabbed the Grand Prix at Cannes.