THURSDAY

Film

Billy Wilder at MoHaI

Since SAM's downtown renovations are ongoing, this winter salute takes place in Montlake, where 10 titles will unspool through March 15. The retrospective begins with Wilder's classic 1944 noir, Double Indemnity, in which Fred MacMurray follows Barbara Stanwyck's ankle bracelet to certain doom. Edward G. Robinson is MacMurray's suspicious insurance company boss, who begins picking apart the pair's murder scheme with sly insinuation. He's like the walking, talking conscience that MacMurray was born without. Also the brains—as Stanwyck correctly appraises MacMurray, he's taller than he is smart. Working with crime writer Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep), Wilder adapts the James M. Cain source novel with hard-boiled economy—as if half their typewriter keys were broken, or clogged with cigarette butts. There's no false sentiment here, nor in the following weeks' highlights including Sunset Boulevard, Ace in the Hole, and Witness for the Prosecution. However, lest it be said that there's no heart to Wilder (1906–2002), love does triumph in Some Like It Hot and The Apartment, and fewer people get shot. Note: Advance tickets also at Scarecrow Video; some day-of-show tickets may be available at the door. Museum of History and Industry, 2700 24th Ave. E., 654-3121, www.seattleartmuseum.org. $58–$65 series; call for individual ticket prices. 7:30 p.m. BRIAN MILLER

Reading

Cheap Wine and Poetry

What more reason do you need? Wine is a buck a glass, and the poetry is free! This edition of "A Night of Cheap Wine and Poetry" will include readings by John Burgess, co-founder of Washington Poets Association's Burning Word festival, whose first book is Punk Poems from Ravenna Press (2005); Eben Eldridge, a poet, musician, painter, and winner of a 1998 Jack Straw Writer's grant; Stacey Levine, whose novel Frances Johnson, a finalist for the Washington State Book Award, was published last year by Clear Cut Press; Mary Purdy, a recent transplant from New York City where she was a regular on the comedy scene (her second solo piece, Judy Blume Owes Me, was produced in Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle); and Shira Richman, the 2006 winner of the Richard Hugo House New Works Competition. Richard Hugo House, 1634 11th Ave., 322-7030, www.hugohouse.org, www.cheapwineandpoetry.com. Free. 7 p.m. JOANNE GARRETT

Visual Arts

Framing the View

The Henry Art Gallery and county-funded arts organization 4Culture are both great champions of mind-bending new work and risk-taking artists. So it makes sense that they should collaborate on a new lecture series. "Framing the View: From Studio to Public Spaces" promises to be a thought-provoking venture. The focus: How artists' concepts develop in the studio and emerge as innovative public art. Abstract sculpture, green architecture, and politics will be some of the subjects of discussion by the featured artists, writers, designers, and architects. Local videographer and sculptor Alex Schweder and artist Jenny Heishman share the podium in today's kickoff lecture. Schweder, the 2006 Rome Prize Fellow in architecture, recently displayed a four-screen video of swarming starlings as part of a fascinating multimedia show at Howard House, while Heishman's creative explorations are primarily sculptural. "Alex and Jenny both take a highly sculptural, singular piece approach to commissioned public works," explains series organizer Fionn Meade, the Henry's assistant curator for public programs. The next lecture, Feb. 22, will also be a joint presentation, by artists Leo Berk and Ashley Thorner. "All four are established studio artists that have been making the transition into public art over the past few years," says Meade. Henry Art Gallery, UW Campus, 15th Avenue Northeast and Northeast 41st Street, 543-2280, www.henryart.org. $5. 7 p.m. SUE PETERS

Books

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER, NEW DATE TBA