We're looking forward to showing the Marx Brothers madcap classic The Big Store this Monday, Aug. 3, probably for the first time on the Arena Theater big silver screen since it first entertained audiences in 1941.

Groucho, Chico and Harpo turn a big department store upside down, with a  nonstop onslaught of puns, one-liners, sight gags and wacko stunts. The comedy is moderated by occasional interludes of musical virtuosity from Harpo (on the harp), and Chico on piano — plus Groucho’s singing.

If you’ve only seen this on tv, or if you haven't even seen this Marx Brothers movie before, don't miss this chance to enjoy this comedy classic actual size, as it was intended to be seen, surrounded by an audience roaring with laughter. 

As an extra bonus, we'll screen a vintage Betty Boop cartoon before the feature film.

And maybe you'll win the coveted Arena Theater Popcorn Prize in the trivia quiz that opens every screening!

I'm still thinking about The American Nurse, which we screened Monday, July 13.  It shared intimate portraits of six very different nurses, working  in settings many of us have never experienced: caring for returning wounded soldiers, a stunning llfe story from a perinatal bereavement nurse , a home hospice nurse in the desperately poor rural south, even an end-of-life hospice unit in notorious Angola State Prison in Louisiana — where the residents know for a fact they will probably end up.

This documentary went straight to the heart partly because of its unflinching depiction of real-llfe nursing situations — though I must admit I did flinch occasionally!

But the overall film was especially effective because it did not have an omnicient voice-over. There was no narrator putting him- or herself between the viewer and the subjects of the film -- what one club member called an "invisible shield" in a conversation after the movie.

Our next film on July 27 is personal portrait from a unique perspective: at age 88, life-long documentary filmmaker Albert Maysles brought his lens to Iris Apfel, the quick-witted, flamboyantly dressed 93-year-old style maven of New York fashion.

Albert Maysles died March 5, 2015. "Iris" turned out to be  Maysles’s last film, topping his 50-year career which reached back to 1964's  "The Beatles in America" (released again only a few years ago due to music copyright issues), the much darker "Gimme Shelter" about the Rolling Stones' 1969 American tour, and another remarkable film about remarkable women, "Grey Gardens" (1975). Most of his previous films were made with his brother and co-creator, the late David Maysles.

What's your favorite documentary — and why? See you at the movies!

The best part of every film club meeting is the discussion following the screening.  So let's keep it going right here on our Arena Theater Film Club website. Seen any good movies lately?