You've arrived! I heard you had quite the struggle making your way down the red carpet. Those paparazzo just won't leave you be, will they? But luckily, now that you've taken your seat, Raincoaster can signal the projectionist. Tonight's movie, Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator," is ready to unfurl.  Want to know more about the movie before it starts?  This is what our movie  mistress  Raincoaster has to say:  *** So you want to bring down a dictator, eh? Restore democracy? Support a people being maligned and actually slaughtered for their heritage? Bring prosperity back? Uplift the downtrodden? How you planning on doing all that, my friend? By way of comedy , you say???  Eh, I’ll have what you’re drinking; it must be pretty strong. But in 1940, that’s what one man tried to do. Well, one man, a million dollars, dozens of supporting players and crew members, and United Artists, which this particular artist had started with his friends so they didn’t hav...

Raincoaster, The Manor's very own movie madame, cordially invites you and yours to a showing of a very timely movie with scads of giggles and titters. It's Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator," one of his few sound movies, in which he gives the raspberry to Hitler, Hitler lovers, and adjacent bootlickers and sycophants. Sound familiar? Oh, and did I mention it's funny, 'cause it really is. Mark your calendar, sloots! This giggles start  Friday, June 20th at 9PM EST (meaning eastern standard time in NYC if you're consulting a time chart for your area). A separate viewing post will go up on Friday in the AM. See you there!

She's baaaaaaaaack! But what has Raincoaster, our cinema hostess-with-the-mostest, picked out for us this coming Friday? Charlie Chaplin's 1940 black comedy, "The Great Dictator," of course, the movie we all need right now. And before you think, "Ugh, Political. I suppose it'll be 'good' for me," keep in mind that it's also a very funny movie, and arguably much sharper (and certainly funnier) than Kubrick's 1964 black comedy, "Dr. Strangelove," which owes quite a lot to Chaplin. The movie was ground-breaking, too, being the first feature comedy - please correct me if I'm wrong - to broadly critique fascism and directly critique Hitler and the Nazis. Released just before America's entrance into WWII, it also dared to go against isolationist sentiment at the time (Pearl Harbor was still a year or so away).  Did I mention that it was funny? Because it is. Filled with witty dialogue, hilarious slapstick - the barber shop sce...