Ghosts, Laughs and Ducks: Your Weekly Movie To-Do List

The Mighty Ducks

Friday, Oct. 5

Wide-eyed little ones and nostalgic adults are invited to the eighth annual Los Angeles International Children's Film Festival, presented Oct. 5-7 by LACMA. Slated to play are 100 films ranging from animation to live-action to documentaries. First on the program is the 1992 hockey comedy The Mighty Ducks, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Tickets are free at LACMA's Bing Theater.

Saturday, Oct. 6

Madness, incest and syphilis are the driving forces in Ghosts, the frightening George Nichols film based on Henrik Ibsen's sensational play. The 1915 horror is part of Halloween at the Cinematheque series and is showing tonight at the Egyptian.

Sunday, Oct. 7

Contemporary film adaptations of 19th-century lit range from oddly ingenious (Clueless) to beyond reason (MTV's update of Wuthering Heights). Although Academy Award winner Andrea Arnold's version of Wuthering Heights doesn't stray far from Brontë's plot, she does one thing that no filmmaker has done before: portray Heathcliff as a freed African slave. The Fish Tank director's film doesn't open until next week at the Nuart, but UCLA's Billy Wilder Theater is offering a free sneak preview.

Monday, Oct. 8

The Man Who Laughs is a rarely screened silent horror film based on one of Victor Hugo's lesser-known works. It's about Gwynplaine, the son of a treacherous lord, who has a face carved with a permanent smile, creating one of the most memorable, villainous grimaces in cinematic history. The 1928 film, screening tonight at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater, is one of the 13 horror classics presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Universal Pictures (see our story on horror movies in Film).

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