7 pm: Movies

“Swept Away by an Unusual Filmmaker Named Lina Wertmuller,” a retrospective of the films of the veteran Italian director, runs this month at Raleigh Studios. The series opens Friday with one of Wertmuller’s most successful films, the 1974 comedy, “Swept Away by an Unusual Destiny in the Deep Blue Sea of August.” It will be followed by the director’s rarely seen first film, “The Lizards” (1963). Saturday’s screenings are “Seven Beauties” (1976), Wertmuller’s most acclaimed film, followed by the premiere of “The Worker and the Hairdresser in a Whirlwind of Sex and Politics.” (See Screening Room, Page 15).

* “Swept Away by an Unusual Filmmaker Named Lina Wertmuller,” Chaplin Theater, Raleigh Studios, 5300 Melrose Ave., Hollywood. Through Nov. 29. $4-$8. (213) 466-FILM.

7:30 pm: Movies

“A ‘Valley of the Dolls’ Weekend” at the L.A. County Museum of Art begins with a screening of the 1967 movie version of the Jacqueline Susann novel and an appearance by one of its stars, Barbara Parkins. (Because this special screening is sold out, LACMA added a 10:15 p.m. screening on Friday and the Sunset 5 will screen the movie Friday and Saturday.) On Saturday at LACMA, Theater-a-Go-Go will revive its acclaimed staging of the film’s script. There will also be a pre-show contest: Come as your favorite “Valley of the Dolls” character.

* “A ‘Valley of the Dolls’ Weekend,” Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles. Friday, 7:30 p.m. (sold out), 10:15 p.m. ($4-$6). Saturday, 8 p.m. $15. (213) 857-6010.

* “Valley of the Dolls” (1967), Sunset 5, 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood. Friday-Saturday, midnight. $8. (213) 848-3500.

All day Movies

“The Little Mermaid” resurfaces in theaters for the first time since its 1989 release, as Disney puts the pressure on rival 20th Century Fox, whose “Anastasia” arrives next weekend. If you missed it the first time around and somehow avoided it on video all these years, “The Little Mermaid” is a genuine treat, showcasing the bouncy, elegantly witty songs of Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman.

* “The Little Mermaid,” in wide release.

All day Photography

Photographs gathered by the Warsaw-based Shalom Foundation offer powerful portraits of Polish Jews who died during the Holocaust in “And I Still See Their Faces: Images of Polish Jews,” which opened this week at the Museum of Tolerance. In an attempt to preserve the memory of the millions who died, the foundation launched an appeal in 1994 for prewar photographs and documents that resulted in more than 7,000 photographs, letters, postcards and diaries, 456 of which are represented here.

* “And I Still See Their Faces: Images of Polish Jews,” Museum of Tolerance, 9786 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. Ends Feb. 15. Museum hours: Monday-Thursday, 10 a.m.-6:30 p.m.; Friday, 10 a.m.-5:30 p.m.; Sunday, 10:30 a.m.-7:30 p.m. Adults, $8; seniors, $6; students, $5; children 3-10, $3. (310) 553-9036.

7 pm: Pop Music

Beth Orton has picked up a head of steam since her first U.S. tour--a solo acoustic affair last summer. Now on the road with a full band--better to capture the range of her distinctive folk/trip-hop hybrid--the English singer-songwriter plays the Hollywood Athletic Club.

* Beth Orton at the Hollywood Athletic Club, 6525 Sunset Blvd. $13.50. (213) 962-6600.

8 pm: Music

British conductor-composer Oliver Knussen is famous for making his conducting debut at age 15 in London, leading his own First Symphony to prodigious reviews. Now in his early 40s, he’s even better known for championing new music and the quirkier edges of the repertory. That side will be on display this weekend as the very tall, very bushy Brit leads soloist Peter Serkin and the L.A. Philharmonic in a program that includes rare Rimsky-Korsakov, two contemporary works by Toru Takemitsu and Leopold Stokowski’s “Symphonic Synthesis” of Mussorsgky’s opera “Boris Gudunov.”

* Oliver Knussen and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., downtown. Friday and Saturday, 8 p.m.; Sunday, 2:30 p.m. $8-$63. (213) 850-2000.

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FREEBIE: John Lennon’s artwork, Pacific Edge Gallery in Westside Pavilion. 10 a.m. to p.m. (800) 477-5630.