'Red Shoes,' 3 Kurosawa classics offer glimpse of cinema's glory days

If you missed the newly restored "The Red Shoes" at Seattle Art Museum last Wednesday — or were so dazzled by its big-screen beauty that you want to see it again — you've got a week of second chances: Northwest Film Forum has booked the 1948 Michael Powell/Emeric Pressburger classic nightly through Thursday. It's impossible to get tired of looking at this legendary film, which tells the story of a flame-haired ballerina who lives to dance — because she must. Say it with me: "Julian ... take off the red shoes." Sigh. NWFF, 1515 12th Ave., Seattle; 206-267-5380 or www.nwfilmforum.org.

SIFF Cinema concludes its Akira Kurosawa tribute this weekend with three more films, all in 35 mm and all starring the great Toshiro Mifune: the 16th-century samurai story "The Hidden Fortress" Friday night, the crime drama "High and Low" Saturday, and the 1954 warrior epic "The Seven Samurai," showing in its complete 207-minute version Sunday. SIFF Cinema, 321 Mercer St., Seattle; 206-324-9996 or www.siff.net.

"Bullitt" screens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Seattle Art Museum (SAM) as part of the Steve McQueen tribute series, with the actor's former wife Neile McQueen Toffel present for a post-screening Q&A and book signing. She is the author of the autobiography "My Husband, My Friend" about her life with McQueen. If you don't have a McQueen series pass, single tickets are $7 at the door.

Also at SAM: The "Richard Pryor, Comic Genius" series continues Friday night with 1978's comedy "Blue Collar," directed by Paul Schrader and co-starring Yaphet Kotto and Harvey Keitel. Single tickets are $7. All SAM film events take place at the museum's Plestcheeff Auditorium, 1300 First Ave., Seattle; for tickets, e-mail the box office at boxoffice@seattleartmuseum.org or call 206-654-3121.

Local filmmaker Michael Yaeger will screen his latest film (and first feature), "Atilla, A Love Story," at the Rendezvous Jewelbox Theater on Tuesday. Admission is free; doors will open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. screening. Rendezvous, 2322 Second Ave., Seattle; 206-441-5823.

Metro Classics continues Wednesday with a digital screening of Bob Fosse's "All That Jazz," a great 1979 semi-musical about a self-destructive director (played by Roy Scheider, loosely based on Fosse), complete with an opening audition montage set to George Benson's "On Broadway" that'll have you looking for your leg warmers. Wednesday only, 6:45 and 9:10 p.m., Metro, 4500 Ninth Ave., Seattle; 206-781-5755 or www.landmarktheatres.com.

And finally, a late-night treat for your Valentine: Watch Grace Kelly give James Stewart one of cinema's greatest smooches in the divine Alfred Hitchcock tale of voyeurism, suspense and Edith Head outfits, "Rear Window." Midnight Friday and Saturday at the Egyptian, 805 E. Pine St., Seattle; 206-781-5755 or www.landmarktheatres.com.

Moira Macdonald:

206-464-2725 or mmacdonald@seattletimes.com