From the murderous landscapes of SEE NO EVIL and THE BOSTON STRANGLER to the glorious adventure of 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, director Richard Fleischer has -- like Nemo himself -- plunged us into strange and unknown worlds, filled with primal terrors wrapped in lush, velvet-lined chambers. Fleischer grew up in the movie business -- his father Max was the legendary animator of Betty Boop and Popeye --, and few directors have shown as much joy at the art and craft of filmmaking as Fleischer: witness the pure, exhilarating tension in THE NARROW MARGIN, the almost-psychedelic pleasures of FANTASTIC VOYAGE, and you find a director in love with directing.

Wednesday, March 15 – 7:30 PM

Archival 35 mm. Print! SEE NO EVIL, 1971, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 89 min. Dir. Richard Fleischer. Compact, claustrophobic and unbearably-tense nail-biter as blind Mia Farrow is stalked on a rural British farm by her family’s deranged killer. Based on a script by Brian Clemens (CAPTAIN KRONOS, "The Avengers" TV series), this is easily the best (and scariest) of the many blind/mute/deaf girl-menaced-by-killer scenarios -- sorry, WAIT UNTIL DARK - !

Thursday, March 16 – 7:30 PM

THE NARROW MARGIN, 1952, Warner Bros., 71 min. This always receives its share of votes as one of the finest noirs ever made -- and the spiciest of its many ingredients is the unforgettable Marie Windsor. She and co-star Charles McGraw trade priceless purple putdowns as he ferries her across the rails from Chicago to L.A., where she’s scheduled to testify in a racket busting trial. Plenty of switchbacks along the way, rendered with maximum punch and pace by the master, Richard Fleischer.

VIOLENT SATURDAY, 1955, 20th Century Fox, 91 min. Dir. Richard Fleischer. Film noir gets the full mid-Fifties treatment -- lush color and CinemaScope -- in this vivid adaptation of W.B. Heath’s classic caper novel. Victor Mature, Richard Egan and Sylvia Sidney head a terrific cast (including Lee Marvin in his thuggish prime), in this complex tale of the build-up to a small-town bank heist.

Saturday, March 18 – 7:30 PM

10 RILLINGTON PLACE, 1970, Columbia (Sony Repertory), 111 min. One of director Fleischer’s personal favorites: a relentlessly realistic and devastatingly matter-of-fact depiction of mild-mannered sex killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough, in a shattering performance) in 1940’s London. The hanging of innocent dupe Timothy Evans (John Hurt) led to Britain’s abolition of the death penalty.

Sunday, March 19 – 3:00 PM

20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA, 1954, Walt Disney, 122 min. Richard Fleischer’s most beloved film captures both the childlike sense of adventure and the more sober nature of Jules Verne’s classic novel: James Mason is the ideal Captain Nemo opposite salty dog Kirk Douglas, scientist Paul Lukas and faithful valet Peter Lorre. Academy Award-winning art direction and special effects highlight this surprisingly adult Disney fantasy.

Sunday, March 19 – 6:30 PM

FANTASTIC VOYAGE, 1966, 20th Century Fox, 100 min. Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch and Donald Pleasance lead a miniaturized mission into the surreal landscape of the human body, to dissolve a comatose scientist’s cerebral bloodcot. Slambang action and stunning, psychedelic F/X combine in Richard Fleischer’s most purely thrilling entertainment.