ongoing-Feb. 28

Whoever got the idea that Harvard Film Archive was an ambitious, high-minded outfit? The kind of spot that would screen intellectual films that might not find much of an audience outside Harvard Square? Well, many of us. And some of that's true, but HFA breaks from, a bit, from form Feb. 6-28 for a series called "Poetic Horror, Pop Existentialism and Cheap Sci-Fi: Cold War Cinema 1948-1964." It's curated by one of our favorite critic's J Hoberman of the Village Voice and the eight-film series captures the tensions of post-World War II America, with films such as Irving Lerner's "City of Fear" (which starts it off Tuesday Feb. 6 at 9 p.m.),and includes "The Third Man" (Feb. 21, 7 p.m.) and "Invasion U.S.A." by Alfred E. Green, shot on a shoestring budget and centered on a lounge where a strange brandy drinking visitor in a bar questions the patrons on their thoughts about US foreign policy. And then news arrives! The west coast is being attacked! Hoberman's series is clearly meant to cover a range of thought, employing Brian Eno's dictate that there is no high or low art or culture, just art and culture. Personal note: I was pretty certain, especially after Barry Goldwater got the Republican nod for president in 1964, that we were all doomed anyway and I'd never even hit puberty. Then again, I thought I'd never travel to London when Reagan was elected, and that happened too. I still think the world will end in a massive ball of destruction, but I'm glad it's been staved off so far. I don't at all mind re-living past scares, because the scares of the past are just the scares of the future - maybe in black and white, maybe a little kitschy, but all tugging at the same human desire: survival. And the little jolt we get from being scared. Tickets: $8. Check website below for specific films and times.

24 Quincy St., Cambridge, 617-495-4700 harvard.edu/hfa