Afi

As anyone who's followed the Akira Kurosawa series at the Charles should know by now, this master Japanese filmmaker has too long been pegged as an artist of action and maker of epics. The final entry in the series - a restoration of Kurosawa's 1952 masterpiece Ikiru, known in English as To Live - should clinch the revival of his original reputation, not merely as a movie master but also as a virtuoso humanist. Here he uses multiple film and narrative techniques to dramatize, without tears, the plight of a dying city-government bureaucrat who looks for shreds of meaning in his family and profession.

The American Film Institute's choice of TV's Top 10 was divided evenly between cable and network programs, while six of the honorees were programs or telefilms that premiered in 2003. The list included Emmy winners and popular favorites, as Fox, HBO and CBS all received multiple mentions. The awards, announced on Sunday, were determined after two days of jury deliberation in Los Angeles and were presented in alphabetical order rather than establishing a hierarchy of top programs. While Fox's new comedy Arrested Development continues to suffer through anemic ratings, AFI gave the network another reason to stick with the quirky family saga, which the jury says "instills new hope for growth and maturity in today's stunted comedy environment."

Once upon a time, it was not unusual for escapist movies set during World War II to bring some emotional heft to derring-do. They instilled baby boomers with the idea that life was more than a struggle to "make it" and to overcome one's guilt about "it" afterward. One of the best of them, The Guns of Navarone (1961), screens at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center on Sunday (3:30 p.m., 9 p.m.) and Monday (8:15 p.m.) as part of a tribute to the film's star, Gregory Peck. It's scaled from the opening narration not as a mere tall tale but as a legend worthy of Greek myth.

George Axelrod, the screenwriter and sometime director who died Saturday at age 81, had his name on the scripts of several icon-generating movies, including The Seven Year Itch (1955), Bus Stop (1956), and Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961). He also produced, directed and wrote the disreputable crazy-comedy classic Lord Love a Duck (1966). But his main claim to posterity is the subversive political suspense film The Manchurian Candidate (1962). It's one of the few "trick" movies that builds in entertainment value even after its tricks are revealed - and even after repeated viewings.

Provided they don't mind driving a little bit, Baltimore cinephiles are finding themselves blessed once again this week, this time by the opening in Silver Spring tonight of the American Film Institute's Silver Theatre complex. Two of the AFI's three screens are housed in a brand-new facility, while the third - the complex's centerpiece - is in the gloriously refurbished Silver Theatre, a Silver Spring landmark that nearly fell victim to the wrecking ball. Opening-week festivities begin tonight with an invitation-only screening of 1943's The Ox-Bow Incident, starring Henry Fonda, Dana Andrews and Anthony Quinn, directed by William Wellman.

I have come not to knock the American Film Institute's formulaic propensity for cobbling together lists, but rather to praise the lunch-table conversations that result therefrom. So, OK, let's get the obvious out of the way first. Yes, the list of the top 100 U.S. screen romances, lovingly unveiled during a star-studded three-hour CBS prime-time special this past week, contained its share of silliness: The Unbearable Lightness of Being (87) and Last Tango In Paris (48) always put me in the mood for amour.

The American Film Institute calls it a list of the "100 greatest American thrillers." But it might as well call them the 100 greatest American movies-that-aren't-comedies. The list, unveiled last week during a three-hour special on CBS, ranged from "The Adventures of Robin Hood" (No. 100) to "Psycho" (No. 1). And while it's always a treat to see snippets from so many films, and to listen to people talk about them (though I wonder what qualified Lucy Liu to be on camera almost as often as Steven Spielberg)

Just when you thought it was safe to stop thinking in blocks of 100, the American Film Institute (AFI) is coming out with the 100 Funniest Films of All Time. This list, of course, follows on the heels of the 100 Greatest Films of All Time (winner: "Casablanca") and the 50 Greatest Actors and 50 Greatest Actresses of All Time (winners: Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn). The results will be revealed Tuesday on "AFI's 100 Years - 100 Laughs," slated for 8 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Washington's WUSA, Channel 9. Baltimore's CBS affiliate, WJZ, Channel 13, will carry the Orioles game Tuesday night - even though there's been nothing funny about the O's this season - and won't air the AFI special until the following Sunday, June 18, beginning at 12:05 a.m. Drew Barrymore, whose films are unlikely to appear in the Top 100 will serve as host.

FOR OVER A MONTH now, we've heard the litany of wailing and whining emanating from those who are livid that "The Birth of a Nation" was included on the American Film Institute's list of "100 Greatest American Films.""How dare they?" has been the typical response. The response is understandable. "Birth of a Nation" is probably the most racist film ever made. It ruthlessly stereotypes blacks, presents a distorted view of the Reconstruction era and suggests that the hang-'em-high types in the Ku Klux Klan were not the terrorist vermin they were, but actually heroes.

AS HOLLYWOOD's century draws to a close, the culture wars with which it opened abide and endure. Although most Americans do not realize it, 1998 marks the 83rd anniversary of the most important event in the history of American film. This key battle was not fought in Hollywood, but in Washington. There, a 1915 Supreme Court ruling, in conjunction with two factors unique to this country -- the absence of an official national language or state religion -- shaped film in a way that it came to play a role so powerful that our culture deemed it worth fighting over.