All tours begin at 11:30 in the morning and last 1.5 hours.
Saturday, September 18 at 11:30am Thursday, September 23 at 11:30am Saturday, November 6 at 11:30am Tuesday, November 9 at 11:30am Saturday, December 4 at 11:30am Tuesday, December 7 at 11:30am
ADMISSION:
$5 ~13 and up
$2 ~ children 2-12 years
Free for kids under 2 and all Tampa Theatre members.
Benefits Tampa Theatre's continuing restoration and operations.
Reservations are not required for individuals or small groups. However, for groups over 10, reservations are requested but not required.
AT A GLANCE: Engaging, emotional and riveting, Farewell is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history—about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War.
“ASTONISHING…like any good thriller, this is the story of deceptions within deceptions. It’s juicy, fascinating stuff.” -Todd McCarthy, Variety
“A fantastic true story.” -Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“Now that's a spy movie.” -Jeff Stein, The Washington Post
“A fascinating piece of true-life Cold War espionage…” -Andrew O’Hehir, Salon.com
“Harrowing! A richly human and well-acted espionage tale.” -Lisa Nesselson, Screen Daily (UK)
Directed by Academy Award nominee Christian Carion, this riveting thriller starring Willem Dafoe is based on the unbelievable true story of a perilous Cold War era espionage ploy that changed the course of history. The film tells the story of a disenchanted KGB official who leaks top secret Soviet plans to the French and American governments, putting himself and his family in life-threatening danger for the sake of his steadfast ideals and the future of his Russian people.
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Guillaume Canet, Emir Kusturica, Alexandra Maria Lara
Rated: Not Rated/2009/1:53/drama/in French, English and Russian with English subtitles
COMING ATTRACTIONS
CAIRO TIME
AT A GLANCE: In the vein of Eat, Pray, Love, a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard.
“It's a haunting and hypnotic film. And Clarkson's sublimely nuanced performance is in every way transporting." - Rolling Stone
"[Clarkson] makes yearning palpable. She turns mysterious silences into a language of love." - Wall Street Journal
When magazine editor Juliette (Patricia Clarkson) travels to Cairo to meet her diplomat husband, Mark (Tom McCamus), she learns from his friend Tareq (Alexander Siddig) that Mark has been delayed. As Tareq introduces her to the city and its customs, an unexpected attraction arises between them. Juliette soon grows accustomed to life in Cairo while she and Tareq try to find the best way to deal with their complex feelings in this romantic drama.
AT A GLANCE: A drama based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, a ballet dancer who defected to be with the American woman he loved.
"Mao's Last Dancer is a masterpiece." - Rex Reed
“The themes may soar but everything else -- the dialogue, the performances, the direction, the dancing itself -- is credibly grounded. That makes for a very pleasing contrast. Not many movies bring their uplift down to earth." - Globe and Mail
A delegation from Madame Mao's Beijing Dance Academy selects 11-year-old peasant villager Li Cunxin to study ballet in far-off Beijing, where he trains for seven grueling years to become one of China's greatest dancers. His efforts win him the opportunity to dance in America, opening his eyes to a new love and the possibility of a dramatic defection from China in this remarkable true story based on Cunxin's autobiography.
Rated: PG/2009/1:57/drama/in English and Mandarin with English subtitles
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN (Zanan-e bedun-e mardan)
AT A GLANCE: The powerful story of four Iranian women whose lives intertwine during one of the most tumultuous periods in Iranian history.
“It’s a celebration of women’s resilience in the face of absolute patriarchy, an oppression that’s felt on personal, cultural, and political levels." - Boston Globe
"The film surpasses even Michael Haneke’s White Ribbon in the fierce beauty and precision of its cinematography." - New York Times
Amid the tumult of the American- and British-backed coup that reinstated the Shah in early-1950s Tehran, the heart-wrenching tales of five very different Iranian women converge in a lovely orchard garden, where they find both freedom and friendship. Director and acclaimed visual artist Shirin Neshat brings a striking aesthetic style to this stirring drama, an adaptation of the magical-realist novella by Shahrnoush Parsipour.
Rated: Not Rated/2009/1:35/drama/in Persian with English subtitles
MID-AUGUST LUNCH (Pranzo di Ferragosto)
AT A GLANCE: In this film festival favorite, hijinks ensue when cash-strapped Gianni agrees to look after his friends' elderly relatives over the holiday.
“Mid-August Lunch is a sweet-spirited gem, warmly comic while showing the hassles of caring for aging relatives more honestly than 10 family sagas from Hollywood." - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"You'd have trouble finding another movie with such unforced appreciation of its elderly characters or such intelligent understanding of old age." - San Francisco Chronicle
The charismatic Gianni Di Gregorio (co-scenarist of the smash hit Gomorrah), stars in his directorial debut—an utterly charming tale of good food, feisty ladies and unlikely friendships during a very Roman holiday. Broke, and armed with only a glass of wine and a wry sense of humor, middle-aged Gianni resides with his 93-year-old mother in their ancient apartment. The condo debts are mounting, but if Gianni looks after the building manager’s mother during the Pranzo di Ferragosto (Italy’s biggest summer holiday, and the Feast of the Assumption), all will be forgiven. Then the manager also shows up with an auntie, and then a doctor friend appears with his mother in tow... Can Gianni keep four such lively mamas well fed and happy in these cramped quarters?
Winner of numerous prizes at international festivals, including Best First Film at Venice and the Satyajit Ray Award at London, plus the Golden Snail at the Academy of Food and Film in Bologna, Mid-August Lunch is both warmly vibrant family drama and delicately balanced comedy of manners.
AT A GLANCE: Alex and his sister make a living breaking up mismatched couples and are hired by a rich man to stop his daughter's wedding.
“Heartbreaker boasts stunning locations, a snappy script and bubbling soundtrack, merged together in an irresistible romp that proves the search for true love is fraught with misunderstandings" - Liverpool Echo
Hardworking brother-and-sister team Alex (Romain Duris) and Mélanie (Julie Ferrier) don't run a matchmaking business; rather, they get paid to break matches by splitting up unhealthy couples. But their 100 percent success rate is in serious jeopardy when their own hearts get involved. Now, falling in love could be an occupational hazard. Pascal Chaumeil directs this French-language romantic comedy.
Rated: Not Rated/2010/1:45/romantic comedy/in French, Spanish, Japanese, Arabic & Mandarin with English subtitles
SUMMER CLASSICS ~ SUNDAYS AT 3:00PM
Take a Mini Theatre Tour 2:00 to 2:45
Come early and join a Tampa Theatreologist for a short jaunt around the Theatre and learn more about its quirky history, architecture, and people.
Enjoy the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ
At about 2:45, the Tampa's magnificently restored 1,400-pipe organ roars to life. Central Florida Theatre Organ Society volunteers entertain audiences with popular tunes until the movie rolls.
Download a Printable Schedule
Click here to download a one-page printable flyer with all the classics.
Prices
Regular features: $9 and $7 Tampa Theatre Members
Special events (Sing-A-Long Mary Poppins and Metropolis): $12 Adults and $10 Tampa Theatre Members, Seniors 55+, Military, Kids 2-12
With Thanks To Our Wonderful Sponsors
METROPOLIS
Fritz Lang's Visionary 1927 Sci-Fi Masterpiece
Restored with 25 minutes of previously lost footage
Sunday, August 29~ 3:00pm
$12 adult and $10 kids, seniors, military, TT members
"One of the fall's top local cinematic events." - Steve Persall, The St. Petersburg Times
“The eye-popping design and sense of scale remains as fresh and vital as it was in 1927.” -- Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer
"83 years later, Metropolis is better than ever. Here's a coincidence: The first must-see movie of 2010 is the also the must-see movie of 1927. " - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe
“A masterpiece of art direction, the movie has influenced our vision of the future ever since.” -- Mick LaSalle
San Francisco Chronicle
“Lang's impossibly vast skyscraper-ziggurats (inspired, it's said, by his first view of the Manhattan skyline) are the blueprint for nearly every science-fiction movie city of the past 30 years.” -- Ed Halter, Village Voice
"The most important film event of the year!" - Roger Ebert
"The definitive reconstruction!" - The New York Times
“Trashy and glorious, the restored Metropolis is a pop epic for the ages.” -- Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"A movie whose graphic intelligence is exceeded only by its conceptual audacity." - The Village Voice
Featuring
LIVE MUSICAL
ACCOMPANIMENT with
Dr. Steven Ball
at our Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ
Dr. Ball is Senior Staff Organist at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor where he appears weekly when not on the road performing silent films, solo concerts or teaching workshops elsewhere. He maintains an aggressive recording and concert schedule and is, in addition to these duties, a member of the Faculty of the Organ/Carillon Department at the University of Michigan and Cathedral Organist at Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit. Read more about Dr. Ball here.
Film Introduction by Dr. Margit Grieb, USF
Special guest Dr. Margit Grieg is quite knowledgeable about Metropolis and is in contact with the Murnau Institute that was in charge of the Metropolis restoration. Dr. Grieb wrote this compelling and fascinating overview about Metropolis just for Tampa Theatre: Lost and Found: the Case of Metropolis
Dr. Margit Grieb is Associate Professor of German at the University of South Florida. She has published on a variety of topics concerning German film, new media, television, and the avant-garde. In the Department of World Languages she teaches courses on German film, literature, language, and culture. She is also the Director of the Undergraduate Film Studies Certificate and serves as affiliated faculty in the Department of Humanies.
About Metropolis
In the year 2026, when the populace is divided between workers who must live underground and the wealthy, who enjoy a futuristic city of splendor, a man from the upper class abandons his privileged life to join oppressed workers in a revolt. Perhaps the most famous and influential of all silent films, German director Fritz Lang's masterpiece will be accompanied live by Tampa Theatre’s Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ. 1927/2:33/silent
The Complete Metropolis contains nearly a hundred instances of restored footage, ranging from brief reaction shots to entire sequences.
The most influential of all silent films, this astounding new version of Fritz Lang’s visionary masterpiece includes 25 minutes of newly-discovered, digitally restored footage - the closest version ever seen since the film’s 1927 Berlin premiere. The restoration and reconstruction of Metropolis represents one of the most significant film restoration projects in cinema history.
The newly restored Metropolis premiered at the Berlinale (Berlin Film Festival) on February 12, 2010 and Tampa Theatre was one of the first theaters in the United States to secure a screening date.
A masterpiece of German cinema and the sci-fi genre, the humanity vs. technology message and stunningly stylized visuals of Metropolis has influenced modern sci-fi classics such as Blade Runner, Batman, Dark City and The Matrix. Maria (the robot) even inspired the look for C-3PO in Star Wars.
Read more about Metropolis
Metropolis has a fascinating back story and history -- from the colossal production that employed 36,000 extras to the myriad versions (including a 1984 release that included song by Freddy Mercury and Bonnie Tyler) to the
sensational discovery of a 16mm negative in Buenos Aires in 2008 and subsequent digital restoration. Read more at these links:
Listen to this radio segment about how the 25 minutes of long-lost footage was found and restored.
SPECIAL EVENTS
HISTORY & HAUNTS TOUR OF TAMPA THEATRE
Saturday, October 2 ~ 11:00am - 1:00pm
Just in time for Halloween, escape into the past with Tampa Theatre's History and Haunts Tour, blending the amazing history of this 84 year old classic movie palace with tales of the paranormal experienced by staff and guests over the years. The tour includes a creepy concert on the Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ, as well as a special audio-visual presentation containing historic photos of the theatre as well as spectral evidence (photos, electronic voice phenomenon, etc.) gathered at this national landmark. Tickets are limited, so advanced purchase is strongly recommended.
Note: Since this tour includes the frank discussion of ghosts and paranormal phenomenon, children under 13 are strongly discouraged. $10 everyone, $5 Tampa Theatre Members.
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Sunday, October 24th ~ 3:00 pm
Restored 35mm Print
LON CHANEY
stars in the 1925 classic silent horror film
Featuring
LIVE MUSICAL
ACCOMPANIMENT with
CLIFF SHAFFER
at our Mighty Wurlitzer Theatre Organ
Also featuring - Live operatic accompaniment by Rosa Rio's niece, Melissa Muys.
This film marked the actor's hard-earned entry into full-fledged superstardom. In portraying the maniacal Erik, the spectral figure who lurks within the catacombs of the Paris Opera House, Chaney demonstrated a physical and emotive talent few performers have ever approached. Though his expressions are hidden, Chaney molds the Phantom into a complex bundle of contradictory, libidinal emotions that punches through the surface of cinematic stereotype and carried the art of screen acting to a new plateau, upon which the foundation for the American horror film would be laid.
During production, Chaney did all his own make-up work, which was considered shocking and grotesque by audiences when the film premiered. 1925/silent
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
$12 adults
$10 kids, seniors, military, TT members
2010 HOLIDAY CLASSIC MOVIE SERIES
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Tickets on sale now!
Sunday, December 5 ~ 3:00pm
Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O'Hara, Paul Reubens
Tired of scaring humans every October 31 with the same old bag of tricks, Jack Skellington, the spindly king of Halloween Town, kidnaps Santa Claus and plans to deliver shrunken heads and other ghoulish gifts to children on Christmas morning. But as Christmas approaches, Jack's rag-doll girlfriend, Sally, tries to foil his misguided plans. This music-filled, stop motion-animated delight springs from the gleefully twisted mind of Tim Burton. Rated PG/1993/1:16
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET
Tickets on sale now!
Saturday, December 11 ~ 3:00pm
Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, Maureen O'Hara, John Payne
Follow the misadventures of Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) as he gets a job playing Santa Claus at Macy's department store in New York City. Natalie Wood is the little girl who tells him she doesn't believe in Santa, and Maureen O'Hara and John Payne are the couple who help Kris through a trial in which he must prove he really is the jolly fellow from the North Pole.
1947/1:36
WHITE CHRISTMAS
Tickets on sale now! Sunday, December 12 ~ 3:00pm
Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney
This remake of Holiday Inn features all the best for the holidays: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, an all-Irving Berlin song score, classy direction by Hollywood vet Michael Curtiz (ahem, Casablanca), VistaVision (the very first feature ever shot in that widescreen format), and ultrafestive Technicolor! Yeah! Get your holiday on! 1954/2:00
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE
Tickets on sale now!
Friday, December 17 ~ 7:30pm
Saturday, December 18 ~ 3:00pm & 7:30pm
Sunday, December 19 ~ 3:00pm
Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed
There’s really nothing like this film for the holidays. Get caught up in the special magic woven by Frank Capra, Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed and Henry Travers as an angel named Clarence who ends up teaching us all what Christmas—heck, even life itself—is all about. Be sure to pack your hankies, you’re gonna need ‘em.
1946/2:10
BALCONY-TO-BACKSTAGE TOURS
BALCONY-TO-BACKSTAGE PUBLIC TOUR DATES
Tuesday, August 24th at 11:30am
Saturday, September 18 at 11:30am
Thursday, September 23 at 11:30am
Saturday, November 6 at 11:30am
Tuesday, November 9 at 11:30am
Saturday, December 4 at 11:30am
Tuesday, December 7 at 11:30am
Admission benefits Tampa Theatre's continuing restoration and operations. $5 for patrons 13 and up, $2 for children 2-12 years, children under 2 and all Tampa Theatre Members receive free admission.
The tours last approximately 1.5 hours.
Join us for an entertaining balcony-to-backstage tour of Tampa Theatre, where art, mythology, and history are interwoven through one of America's best-preserved examples of grand movie palace architecture. Built in 1926, the lavishly ornate Theatre is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and is a Tampa City Landmark.
Reservations are not required for individuals or small groups. However, for groups over 10, reservations are requested but not required. Call (813) 274-8286 or email gargoyles@tampatheatre.org with the details of your group.
CURRENT AND UPCOMING EVENTS 
AT A GLANCE: Engaging, emotional and riveting, Farewell is an intricate and highly intelligent thriller pulled from the pages of history—about an ordinary man thrust into the biggest theft of Soviet information of the Cold War. 
AT A GLANCE: In the vein of Eat, Pray, Love, a romantic drama about a brief, unexpected love affair that catches two people completely off-guard.
AT A GLANCE: A drama based on the autobiography of Li Cunxin, a ballet dancer who defected to be with the American woman he loved.
AT A GLANCE: The powerful story of four Iranian women whose lives intertwine during one of the most tumultuous periods in Iranian history. 
AT A GLANCE: In this film festival favorite, hijinks ensue when cash-strapped Gianni agrees to look after his friends' elderly relatives over the holiday. 
AT A GLANCE: Alex and his sister make a living breaking up mismatched couples and are hired by a rich man to stop his daughter's wedding. 
Take a Mini Theatre Tour 2:00 to 2:45
HISTORY & HAUNTS TOUR OF TAMPA THEATRE
THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS
MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET 
WHITE CHRISTMAS 
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE