The Golden Bed

(Cecil B. DeMille, US 1925, 128 min., 35mm)

Senior Matinee—Free for 55+. “People Behaving Badly” and the terrible consequences that befall them were hallmarks of DeMille’s most glamorous productions of the 1920s, and this is a magnificently entertaining example. The story follows devious, greedy upper-class Lillian Rich, who first marries a European aristocrat before seizing upon hard-working (but low-born, alas!) candy manufacturer Rod La Rocque, whom she then exploits with amoral abandon. In the midst of all this wild melodrama, some strangely touching elements arise, as often happens with DeMille, but everything comes to a head in the jaw-dropping “Candy Ball” sequence, a thinly-covered (in every sense of the phrase) confectionery orgy. This is a must-see, especially in our recent restoration from DeMille’s personal print. Live piano by Philip C. Carli.

Also showing: Tuesday, July 31, 7:30 p.m.