Sat. Feb. 22 

Doors – 7:00 PM  

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM  

Film – 8:00 PM  

Tickets - $6  

1hr 59min | PG | Drama | USA 

Citizen Kane! "It's Terrific!" proclaimed the posters. And they were right. 

Marking the feature film debut of the famously mercurial Hollywood auteur, Orson Welles, this drama of power, politics and regret is as engrossing as it is innovative. The film examines the tumultuous life and career of its title character, newspaper owner Charles Foster Kane (played by Welles) a composite of American business tycoons reminiscent of real-life media mogul William Randolph Hearst. Told in flashback, the film pieces together a life, an attempt to explain a mystery from the recollections of a man’s friends, enemies, and lovers. At turns poignant and biting, Citizen Kane looms large as an enduring and artful piece of entertainment that has often been credited with revolutionizing the language of cinema. 

But it’s also just terrific. Come experience it with us at the Senate! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue 

Sat. Oct. 5 

Tickets - $6 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

First Film – 8:00 PM 

Second Film – 9:45 PM (approximately) 

The Masque of the Red Death (First Film) 

1hr 23min | NR | Horror/Drama | USA 

House on Haunted Hill (Second Film) 

1hr 15min | NR | Horror/Mystery | USA

 

Behold! The poetic grandeur of not one but two classic Vincent Price performances, his singular visage projected in all its emotive glory on our big screen!  

The master of villainy and heroically huge theatricality, Price’s imposing frame has long loomed large amongst the pantheon of horror icons. His turn towards the genre began in the 1950s with the likes of William Castle’s camp classic, House on Haunted Hill, now one of Price’s best-known pictures. He soon found steady employment with director Roger Corman in a string of low-budget and high-style Gothic horror flicks adapted (loosely) from Edgar Allan Poe’s tales of the macabre. This collaboration ended in 1964 with two films, including the psychedelically tinged fantasia of depravity, The Masque of the Red Death.  

Experience the joy of vintage terror, filtered through the sonorous voice and unmatched enunciation of a master thespian, with nearly three hours of horror at the Senate. It's a spooky season miracle! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets - $6 

1hr 54min | NR | Noir/Crime | USA 

PRESENTED WITH MOTOR CITY CINEMA SOCIETY ON 16MM FILM

“Made it, Ma! Top of the World!”  

With these iconic lines James Cagney—his voice aching with crazed intensity—cemented his comeback as Hollywood’s most explosive movie star.  In 1949, as moviegoers sat transfixed by the screen, the movie stars’ manic desperation left little doubt: Cagney and White Heat had reached the peak of the gangster film. And today, 75 years later, few, if any, have come close to attaining such heights. 

Using real-life gangsters like Ma Barker and her four criminal sons as a jumping off point, this firecracker of a story travels across the beauty of the High Sierra mountains, deep into the horrors of the penitentiary, and into the mind of a man suffering from “homicidal psychosis.”  

On the edge of the gangster and film noir genres, it features a bold heist, a femme fatale, and moody black and white photography, all directed by gangster flick veteran Raoul Walsh (The Roaring Twenties, High Sierra).

But what really sets it apart is Cagney. Bursting with vulnerability and rage, he embodies Arthur “Cody” Jarrett, a violently volatile, (and highly quotable) criminal madman beset with mommy issues, a debilitating psychosomatic ailment, and a beautiful woman he can’t help but trust.  

Come see why White Heat, decades later, is still on top of the gangster heap, WITH THE REAL FLICKER OF 16MM FILM ON SCREEN!

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue

Sat. Jan. 20 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets - $6 

1hr 32min | Not Rated |Noir/Thriller | USA 

Love and hate. Darkness and light. A terrifying evil that only righteousness can overcome.  

The stuff of fables, of scripture, of the deep and eternal struggle in our souls. An old story, but rarely has this tale been told with such indelible and nightmarish beauty as in the noir/thriller classic, The Night of the Hunter! 

Robert Mitchum stars as Robert Powell, a murderous “preacher” in Great Depression era West Virginia. After being released from the state penitentiary he quickly closes in on the stash of stolen money he knows to be hidden somewhere in the home of his now executed cellmate. With charisma and sex appeal he insinuates himself into the life of the widow Willa Harper, (Shelley Winters) presenting himself as a man of God as he preys upon her unfulfilled desire and the innocence of her children. 

The first and last film directed by acclaimed British actor Charles Laughton, The Night of the Hunter was initially ignored by audiences and harshly reviewed by critics. This, despite its daring visual style, a screenplay by Pulitzer Prize winner James Agee, and a movie star lead. Over the decades, however, the film developed a cult following thanks to television and revival art house theaters. Audiences were drawn to its strange synthesis of film noir mood, horror aesthetics, elemental themes, and abstract set design. As a result, its cult burgeoned while simultaneously undergoing a critical reassessment that now places it among the best of all time. 

Don’t miss this masterpiece on our big screen! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue

Sat. Dec. 2 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets - $6 

2hr 10min | PG |Drama/Comedy | USA 

Merry Christmas, Detroit! Merry Christmas Michigan Avenue! Merry Christmas you wonderful old Senate Theater! 

We’re kicking off the season of giving this year by bringing you It’s a Wonderful Life. More than seventy-five years on, this enduring holiday classic remains just as romantic, funny, and heart wrenching as ever.  

You’ve seen it again and again, but now you can see it on the big screen in a theater that was playing movies back in 1946 when this classic was released. 

George Bailey (James Stewart) is an idealist, dedicated to his family and neighbors. Almost universally beloved, he is known as a man of integrity and generosity, living his entire life within the quaint confines of his hometown. But will a stifled ambition, the cruelty of fate, and the darkness lurking beneath his picturesque surroundings lead him over the edge of despair into ultimate destruction?  

You probably know the answer. But the strength of this film, where integrity, generosity and the power of community defeats deceit, greed and a lust for power, is that knowing the end doesn’t matter. It never gets old, watching the life story of our flawed but thoroughly decent hero. We laugh and cheer at his triumphs. We ache and cry with him in his moments of darkness. We long to descend into the picture as Clarence, his guardian angel, descends from heaven to save his soul. 

Come experience this beautiful picture once again at the Senate. We’ll see you there! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society, a non-profit and all-volunteer organization, is supported in part by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Parking is available in our gated lot, on Gilbert, and Michigan Avenue

Silents at the Senate – It (1927) with live accompaniment by John Lauter

Sat. Feb. 11 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets - $12 

1hr 12min | NR | Romantic Comedy | USA 
 

Clara Bow? She’s got “it.”  

What’s “it?” Well, if you have to ask, you probably wouldn’t even know a tomato if she flew right at your face. Ya follow? 

But thankfully we have a remedy for your ignorance. Just watch the 1927 romantic comedy, It, starring the charismatic flapper screen idol, Clara Bow. You’ll get the picture. She’s the cat’s pajamas!  

Bow plays Betty Lou Spence, a salesgirl with pluck to spare, who falls for her boss, Cyrus Waltham Jr.  He’s a real spiffy guy. The bee’s knees. But he’s also a high pillow from high society with more scratch than he knows what to do with, placing him well out of her league. Will Betty Lou find a way to overcome class differences and make love conquer all? 

You betcha! And you’ll be sure to laugh all the way. Meanwhile, you’ll be swaying to the rhythm of this jazz-age gem, accompanied by organist John Lauter on the Senate’s Mighty Wurlitzer theater pipe organ, which was first played just one year after the release of the film. Be sure to stick around after the show for a chance to ask the organist a question and take a tour of the organ pipe chambers. This is a rare opportunity to get an up-close look at the inner workings of this marvelous musical machine!  

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts. 

Casablanca (1942)  

Sat. Jan. 21 

Doors – 7:00 PM 

Organ Overture – 7:30 PM 

Film – 8:00 PM 

Tickets - $6 

1hr 42min | PG | Romance/Drama | USA 

 Presented with Cinema Lamont 

Play it Senate Theater. Play Casablanca. 

Well, here’s looking at you, audience. This winter one of the greatest films of all time starring two of the greatest Hollywood actors of all time is playing at one of the greatest theaters of all Michigan Avenue. Indelibly woven into the pop-cultural fabric of America, this is a film that has endured for over eighty years and will continue to as time goes by. 

A torrid romance set against the life-and-death drama of World War II, Casablanca is teeming with tension, passion, and intrigue. It follows Rick, (Humphrey Bogart) a bitter and cynical American expatriate running a nightclub in Vichy France-controlled Casablanca. Once a soldier for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War, he is now content to watch the collection of desperate refugees, shady characters, Nazis, and corrupt French officials pass through Rick’s Café. But then his past walks into his gin joint, and he is confronted with the choice between rekindling his relationship with ex-lover, Ilsa (Ingrid Bergman) or rejoining the fight against fascism.  

Trust us. If you miss your chance to see this classic on the big screen, you’ll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life. So, make sure you round up the usual suspects and get down to the Senate this January for Casablanca! 

The Senate Theater and The Detroit Theater Organ Society is supported by The Michigan Arts and Culture Council and The National Endowment for the Arts.