Noirvember at the Orinda Theatre Is a Countdown to Its 85th Birthday

On Tuesday, November 24 at 1 p.m., Now, Voyager plays the Orinda Theatre with a set of short subjects picked to match the way the film ran when it was new in 1942. It played the Orinda that year, too. Film critic Matías Bombal will show period newsreels and shorts before the feature. Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains star, and Max Steiner's score won an Oscar.

Most of the theatre's November calendar works the same way. The theatre has been on Theatre Square since 1941. It turns 85 on December 27, and the special programs between now and then lean on old films and old ways of showing them. The Orinda News calls the month "Noirvember". One of the series in this lineup will not return in 2027. That matters for anyone who wants to keep seeing these programs.

The Restorations Get the 750-Seat Room

The month's biggest screening is Nightmare Alley, the 1947 version, on Saturday, November 7. It plays one day only, at 1 and 7 p.m., in the theatre's 750-seat historic auditorium. Tyrone Power plays against type as a thoroughly evil carnival mentalist, with Joan Blondell and Coleen Gray. Disney bought the 20th Century-Fox film library in 2019. The Orinda News reports that this film was one of the first from that library scheduled for restoration, partly because of the 2021 remake starring Bradley Cooper.

The screening is part of the Disney Restorations Series. When it was announced in December 2025, The Orinda News described it as a year-long 2026 program and the first series of its kind in the nation. Some screenings include introductions from Disney's restoration team and before-and-after comparisons. The series usually runs on the first Saturday of the month, and November 7 is that Saturday.

The next morning, Sunday, November 8 at 11 a.m., Bombal hosts his monthly Wide Screen Road Show with The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm from 1962. This is the roadshow version, with the overture and entr'acte music that big-format releases carried at the time. Laurence Harvey and Karl Böhm play the brothers. San Francisco's own Barbara Eden is in the cast with Claire Bloom, Yvette Mimieux, Russ Tamblyn and Buddy Hackett. George Pal oversaw the visual effects and co-directed with Henry Levin. The film won the Oscar for costume design and earned four other nominations.

The roadshow, the 1942 matinee and the restoration all aim to show a film the way it was first presented. That is the idea behind most of this month's specials.

November, Date by Date

Here is every special program from the post's publication date through the end of the month.

Cult Movie Night on November 14 is the one late show, hosted by Omar. The event page for Rashomon also has a showing link labeled Friday, November 27. The page header lists Sunday, November 29, and The Orinda News gives Sunday, November 29 at 1 p.m. Ticket prices vary by event. The Orinda News suggests checking orindamovies.com and buying in advance.

Two Free Nights, One of Them Made in Orinda

Of all the old footage on this month's calendar, Greg Garthe's goes back the furthest for Orinda itself. Garthe is a filmmaker and photographer who grew up in Orinda. His career includes work on Wedding Crashers and The Judge. On Wednesday, November 18 at 7:30 p.m., he will host a free screening of the 44-minute pilot of Growing Up Movies, followed by a Q&A.

The Orinda News reports that as a kid, Garthe used the neighborhood's woods, creeks and backyards as movie sets and cast his friends. The new project is a supernatural comedy built around a short film they made when they were 12. He described the idea to The Orinda News this way:

"I had the idea to take original footage from a kids' homemade movie and build a new story around the old story decades later. So it's like a sequel to that original amateur short film, where we kids were taking ourselves seriously as filmmakers."

So some of the footage on screen that night was shot in Orinda backyards decades ago. More about the project is at growingupmovies.com.

The next evening, Thursday, November 19 at 6:30 p.m., is a free community movie night with Planes, Trains and Automobiles, a week before Thanksgiving. No tickets are needed. Seating is first-come, first-seated, so arriving early counts more than usual.

Rashomon Is the Next-to-Last Cinema Craft Film

On Sunday, November 29 at 1 p.m., Bombal introduces Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and leads a discussion after the screening. The 1950 film was Kurosawa's first international hit and received an Honorary Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Toshiro Mifune plays a bandit on trial in medieval Japan, and four witnesses to the same events give four different accounts.

It is also the next-to-last film in the Cinema Craft Series. The Orinda News reports that the series of art, foreign and unusual films was appreciated by the people who came. It did not draw enough support or sales in 2026, though, and it will not continue next year. The final feature is The Country Girl with Grace Kelly on December 27.

The theatre offers seven or more special programs a month, and attendance decides which ones last. In July 2025, The Orinda News reported that operator Derek Zemrak owns the cinema business, while Dallas-based Dunhill Partners owns the surrounding Theatre Square retail center. The same article described how streaming has put pressure on historic movie houses across the country. The matinees, roadshows and restorations are how this theatre has responded. The Cinema Craft Series is the first of them to end.

Where Sorso Fits Around the Showtimes

This fall, the walk from the theatre's doors changed. Bar Sorso opened in the former Starbucks at 2 Orinda Theatre Square, Suite 106, and welcomed its first guests on September 23. Bay Area Telegraph reports that the project comes from longtime Orinda resident Daniele Carsano. He described it as a cocktail bar and wine lounge built around Italian small plates, and as somewhere to linger after a movie at the Orinda Theatre next door. The menu includes a Torino-style pizza and a tequila cocktail called the Spicy Nonna.

Sorso's posted hours:

• Wednesday and Thursday, 4 to 10 p.m.
• Friday and Saturday, 4 to 10 p.m., with the bar open until midnight
• Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m.
• Monday and Tuesday, closed

It takes walk-ins only, first come, first served, and no reservations.

Set those hours against the calendar and most evening shows line up well. You can eat before the 7 p.m. Nightmare Alley showing on November 7. Garthe's premiere on Wednesday the 18th and the free Thursday night on the 19th both fall inside Sorso's weekday hours. The 9 p.m. Blood Diner show on Saturday the 14th lets out while the bar is still open. The Now, Voyager matinee falls on a Tuesday, when Sorso is closed, and the two Sunday programs start well before its 4 p.m. opening.

December 27, Twice Over

The anniversary is about eight weeks after this post's publication date, and the theatre has a full day planned. On December 27, the date the Orinda turns 85, Sony and Columbia Pictures are honoring the theatre with a new restoration of Texas, the William Holden and Glenn Ford film that opened it. The Orinda will be the first to show it. The Country Girl closes out the Cinema Craft Series the same day. From December 28 to 31, Walt Disney's Fantasia plays for four days to mark the 85 years.

The theatre now sends a weekly email newsletter with reminders and descriptions of each week's shows, and you can sign up on the front page of its website. That is the simplest way to know when Texas tickets go on sale.

Part of knowing Orinda is knowing what's playing on Theatre Square and where to go once the credits roll. If you're thinking about selling a home within walking distance of a Saturday matinee, Kailani Kimoto would love to help you understand what it's worth today. Request Your Free Home Valuation.