Take advantage of the break in rainy weather and enjoy a night on the Mall. Screen on the Green is back with a wide variety of films fit to be displayed on the big screen.

Screen on the Green, a new D.C. tradition with growing popularity, provides a complementary night at the movies all from the comfort of the Washington Monument grounds.

Eight years ago, HBO launched a summer film festival in midtown Manhattan’s Bryant Park. Since then, HBO has teamed with Banana Republic and Turner Broadcasting System Inc. and expanded this once-uniquely New York affair to include screens on greens in Boston, Chicago, Atlanta and, in 1999, Washington, D.C.

Each Monday night, starting tonight and running for five weeks, people are expected to gather with picnic baskets, lawn chairs and blankets in hand to enjoy a night in the shadow of the Washington Monument. Movies will begin at approximately 9 p.m., sunset permitting.

In the past, Screen on the Green has been hailed as a festival devoted to classic cinematography. Various audiences have enjoyed carefully selected films such as “The Maltese Falcon,” “Singin’ In The Rain,” “Roman Holiday” and “The Philadelphia Story.” This summer, the pursuit of the greats continues with the 2003 lineup.

For the next five weeks, the Mall will echo with sounds from the screen including the voice of Elvis Presley in “Jailhouse Rock,” the excitement of the mystery in “The Postman Always Rings Twice” and cries from the sea in “Mutiny on the Bounty.” The series kicks off tonight with “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (1958), a Mississippi Delta classic starring Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor, and ends Aug. 11 with Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

Admission is free and seating is unlimited, but prime spots go quickly. Movies will be postponed in the event of rain. More details and a complete schedule of Screen on the Green can be found at www.digitalcity. com/screenonthegreen.