A milestone in the history of animation, the first feature from Walt Disney Productions is still one of the best. All the Disney archetypes are here - the oppressed princess, the wicked queen, the helpful critters - but the film belongs to Grumpy, Dopey, Doc and the rest of the gang. Screens as part of the Disney Princess Film Festival - prizes for best costumes. Digitally projected.
Selected Village cinemas. Tickets $8.

2. 42ND STREET
(89 minutes) G

Chronicling the frantic lead-up to a Broadway opening night, this 1933 classic is the most famous of all Depression-era musicals - the one where chorus girl Peggy Sawyer (Ruby Keeler) is told: "You're going out a youngster, but you've got to come back a star!'' The Busby Berkeley production numbers that follow are worth the wait. The Cairo Club Orchestra will play before the screening. New 35-millimetre print.
Astor, tomorrow, 2pm. Special prices apply.

3. VENUS IN FUR
(96 minutes) MA

Roman Polanski's masterfully staged adaptation of David Ives' play is set in an empty theatre where a director (Mathieu Amalric) and an actress (Polanski's wife Emmanuelle Seigner) meet for an audition that develops into an erotic power struggle. Despite the mock-sinister mood, it's a buoyant, playful film - and finally, a moving expression of love. Screens as part of the French Film Festival.
Palace Balwyn, today, 9pm and Palace Westgarth, tomorrow, 7pm.

4. THAT DARN CAT
(112 minutes) G

Robert Stevenson's outwardly innocent 1965 caper is one of the slyer Disney live-action features: the real subject is how the young heroine (Hayley Mills) negotiates her entry into adulthood, aided by the cat of the title, a Siamese tom who keeps very busy after dark. Roddy McDowall and Elsa Lanchester are standouts in a supporting cast full of comic grotesques. 35-millimetre print.
ACMI, tomorrow, 10.30am. Tickets $7.

5. ALICE IN WONDERLAND
(75 minutes) G

The Mad Hatter's tea party, an army of playing cards, and one very stoned caterpillar - it's all here in this 1951 cartoon version of the Lewis Carroll classic, among the craziest films ever released under the Disney banner. Carroll's dream logic seems to liberate the animators: everything is constantly transforming, including the prim heroine herself. Digitally projected.
Palace Balwyn and Palace Dendy Brighton, today and tomorrow, 10.30am.

6. GIANT
(201 minutes) PG

Told in the slow, grand style of director George Stevens, this 1956 epic of patriarchy and prejudice makes good use of Rock Hudson as a traditionalist Texas cattle baron and Elizabeth Taylor as his sophisticated East Coast wife. James Dean is characteristically eccentric and moving in his final role, as a shamefaced ranch-hand whose troubles aren't over when he strikes it rich. Digitally projected.
Astor, tomorrow, 7pm.

7. JURASSIC PARK
(127 minutes) M

Cloned dinosaurs run amok in Steven Spielberg's typically assured and alarming family blockbuster, a showcase for cutting-edge digital effects techniques in 1993. The first-rate cast includes Sam Neill, Laura Dern and Jeff Goldblum, plus Richard Attenborough as the twinkling entrepreneur who causes all the trouble, one of Spielberg's more critical self-portraits. Digitally projected.
Rooftop Cinema, tomorrow, 9.30pm.

8. ANNIE
(126 minutes) G

Directed by John Huston, of all people, this 1982 adaptation of the Broadway musical about a Depression-era waif (Aileen Quinn) is an odd mix of nostalgic sentiment and Bob Fosse-style cynicism. Albert Finney is amusing as eccentric billionaire Daddy Warbucks, but the best moments belong to Carol Burnett as drunken orphan-wrangler Miss Hannigan, the wicked witch. Presented by the Cinemaniacs film society, this screens with newly filmed introductions from the production team. Digitally projected.
Backlot Studios, today, 8pm (tickets limited).

9. GENERATION IRON
(106 minutes) M

A generation ago, the documentary Pumping Iron put bodybuilding on the map of popular culture and launched Arnold Schwarzenegger to stardom. This quasi-sequel, following half a dozen competitors for the Mr Olympia championship, gives a sense of where the sport is at today. Though it's not especially sophisticated as cinema, the subject matter still holds a surprising fascination.
Selected.

10. VALENCIA: THE MOVIE(S)
(105 minutes) Unrated 18+

Anyone nostalgic for the 1990s heyday of queer punk should get a buzz from this adaptation of Michelle Tea's autobiographical novel about the adventures of a young lesbian in San Francisco. Twenty directors were involved - an approach similar to Australia's The Turning, though the results are livelier and the spirit of collective enterprise more palpable. Screens as part of the Queer Film Festival.
ACMI, tomorrow, 6pm.