Matías Bombal’s Hollywood

11/29/2025

Tempting Carmel Myers as Iras attempts to seduce Ramón Novarro, playing the title role of Judah Ben-Hur, in the 1925 silent screen epic celebrating its 100 anniversary this December 21st at the Orinda Theatre.
BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST (1925)- Orinda Theatre Benefit
Tickets are now on sale for the December 21st 11 a.m. Orinda Theatre benefit 100th anniversary screening of "BEN-HUR A Tale of the Christ" (1925) starring Ramón Novarro and Francis X. Bushman.
Find them at this link (after clicking on the link, click the 11:00 a.m. showtime button for ticket purchase):
https://www.orindamovies.com/events/56680-ben-hur-a-tale-of-the-christ/
We are presenting the 1987 Kevin Brownlow-David Gill Photoplay Restoration with tinted and two-color Technicolor sequences with a recorded orchestral score in stereophonic sound composed by Carl Davis.
The Orinda Theatre is nestled in the hills 15 miles east of San Francisco along Hwy 24. just east of the Caldecott Tunnel
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line)
Street parking. There is also a parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible, but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.
Projection format: Digital, screened by a qualified projectionist from Local 107 of the IATSE.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Image: Special M-G-M still printed on presentation paper from the personal collection of Ramón Novarro
Matias Bombal Collection.

11/29/2025

BIG pictures. BIG screen. An entirely new and 3rd Matias Bombal's Hollywood monthly movie series starts at the Orinda Theatre this January, and through all of 2026, the 2nd Sunday of each month at 11 a.m.: The WIDE SCREEN ROADSHOW Series. Overtures, intermissions, entr'acte music and walk-out music all part of the de-luxe roadshow presentations.
Projection format: DCP, screened by a qualified projectionist from Local 107 of the IATSE.
Hours of entertainment for just $15.00 for all seats.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line).
Street parking. There is also a parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible (these films are longer!), but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.
$15.00 Tickets at the door or www.orindamovies.com

11/28/2025

See the movie that inspired the Netflix hit HOUSE OF DYNAMITE: The new Matías Bombal’s Hollywood Cinema Craft Series of repertory, art and foreign films at the Orinda Theatre continues November 30th with Stanley Kubrick's DR. STRANGELOVE OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB, a movie that is just as poignant and darkly funny now as when it came out. The multiple performances of brilliant Peter Sellers, singular Sterling Hayden, George C. Scott, Slim Pickens and James Earl Jones make this hot-line suspense comedy one of the greatest films of all time.
Sunday, November 30, 2025 1 p.m.
DR. STRANGELOVE- Cinema Craft Series- Orinda Theatre
Orinda auditorium No. 2.
Projection format: DCP, screened by a qualified projectionist from Local 107 of the IATSE.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line).
Street parking. There is also a parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible, but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.
$10.00 per person.
Tickets at the door or www.orindamovies.com

11/28/2025

A clever movie opens today across the USA. Who would you choose to spend ETERNITY with?
A24's ETERNITY reviewed:
https://soundcloud.com/mat-as-antonio-bombal/matias-bombals-hollywood-eternity-112825?si=fa49f1f94628438bb8fb5bee798c45d8&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Matías Bombal's Hollywood Capsule Current Cinema Review ETERNITY As heard on: KCEA-FM, Atherton, California 89.1 FM www.KCEA.org Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m., Noon and 4 p.m. KAHI Radio, Auburn, Cal

11/28/2025

Celebrate the Orinda Theatre's 84th birthday with the first movie ever shown at the 1941 theatre, run again exactly 84 years later to the day!
Saturday, December 27th at 11 a.m.
Columbia Pictures' TEXAS with William Holden, Glenn Ford, Claire Trevor and George Bancroft. Presented with selected short subjects and a short stage presentation with Matias Bombal, anniversary emcee.
Tickets:
$13.00 Adults/ $11.00 Seniors 65 or better, Children 12 and under.
Available soon at:
www.OrindaMovies.com
Projection format: DCP, screened by a qualified projectionist from Local 107 of the IATSE.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line).
Street parking. There is also a parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible, but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.

11/28/2025

Now in theatres, and coming to Netflix 's streaming service on December 12th:
WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT COMEDY
Here's what we thought, exactly as heard on all the radio stations that carry Matías Bombal’s Hollywood from coast to coast.
https://soundcloud.com/mat-as-antonio-bombal/matias-bombals-hollywood-wake-up-dead-man-a-knives-out-mystery-112825?si=36a276c2e09644dc9234a83e270a47af&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

Matías Bombal's Hollywood Capsule Current Cinema Review WAKE UP DEAD MAN: A KNIVES OUT MYSTERY As heard on: KCEA-FM, Atherton, California 89.1 FM www.KCEA.org Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m., Noon and

11/28/2025

With the football season over... at last... in Philadelphia, Matias Bombal returns to STERLING EVERY DAMN NIGHT on TalkRadio WPHT, 1210 on the dial, in conversation with Walter M. Sterling every Friday night at 10:35 p.m. Eastern time in The City of Brotherly Love. Matias brings news and reviews of the latest motion pictures playing in Philadelphia theatres via direct lines from his California studio. Walter Sterling's great show had been pre-empted for Friday night football on WPHT for the past few months but is now back EVERY DAMN NIGHT and is better than ever.
The program may also be heard live on the Audacy app:
https://www.audacy.com/stations/1210wpht

11/27/2025

Paramount gives SUNSET BOULEVARD a "modern" style trailer to appeal to contemporary audiences, quite different from the original theatrical trailer, for their new 75th anniversary 4K restoration. However, it does show you the pristine sound and picture you may expect for December's Matías Bombal’s Hollywood Orinda Classic Movie Matinee presentation of Billy Wilder's SUNSET BOULEVARD on December 30th. Gloria Swanson as singular Norma Desmond, Erich von Stroheim, William Holden and the dead monkey upstairs...
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 at 1 p.m. at the Orinda Theatre
Presented with selected short subjects; news reel, cartoon and more!
Projection format: 4K DCP, screened by a qualified projectionist from Local 107 of the IATSE.
Hours of entertainment for just $10.00 for all seats.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line).
Street parking. There is also a parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible, but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.
$10.00 Tickets at the door or www.orindamovies.com

11/27/2025

Looking for some fun living history this weekend? Take a tour of the historic Orinda Theatre! This Sunday, Matias Bombal will conduct a tour of the theatre, assisted by volunteer docent Antonino Italia. Bombal will relate the history of the theatre and its famous Anthony Heinsbergen murals. Historic photos provided by Bruce Fitch, The Orinda Historical Society and others help give context of theatre's past in the present, and you are able to see the theatre, take photos and hear of its colorful history.
TOUR THE HISTORIC ORINDA THEATRE 11 a.m. THIS Sunday. FREE to the public, but donations are gladly accepted for the ongoing operational costs of the theatre.
The Orinda Theatre is nestled in the hills 15 miles east of San Francisco along Hwy 24. just east of the Caldecott Tunnel.
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line).
Street parking. There is also a parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible, but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Image:
Matias Bombal shares enlargements of photos saved by Bruce Fitch with film industry restoration specialists during a tour at the recent San Francisco Silent Film Festival held at the Orinda Theatre.
Photo: Todd Wiener, UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Theatre Historical Society of America

11/27/2025

From the collection of Jack Theakston, Happy Thanksgiving!

Snipe for upcoming giveaway of 15 free turkeys to audience members of the RKO Palace Theatre in Albany, NY on Tuesday, November 24, 1953. Produced by Filmac...

11/26/2025

BEN-HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST (1925)- Orinda Theatre Benefit
Tickets have gone on sale today for the December 21st 11 a.m. Orinda Theatre benefit 100th anniversary screening of "BEN-HUR A Tale of the Christ" (1925) starring Ramón Novarro and Francis X. Bushman.
Find them at this link (after clicking on the link, click the 11:00 a.m. Showtime button for ticket purchase):
https://www.orindamovies.com/events/56680-ben-hur-a-tale-of-the-christ/
We are presenting the 1987 Kevin Brownlow-David Gill Photoplay Restoration with tinted and two-color Technicolor sequences with a recorded orchestral score in stereophonic sound composed by Carl Davis.
The Orinda Theatre is nestled in the hills 15 miles east of San Francisco along Hwy 24. just east of the Caldecott Tunnel
Steps from the Orinda BART Station (Yellow Line)
Street parking. There is a also parking garage on the same block, $6.00 an hour (24/7). 3 hour validation possible, but a "Smart" phone is required as validation link is sent via text message after registering your telephone number and license plate on a tablet in the theatre.
Projection format: Digital, screened by a qualified projectionist from Local 107 of the IATSE.
2 Orinda Theatre Square #101, Orinda, CA 94563.
Image: Ramón Novarro as Ben-Hur. M-G-M still 200-702
Matias Bombal Collection.