<<< April 2 - 19, 2009 >>>

The streets and alleys keep getting darker, the tough guys tougher and the femmes more fatale. So to prepare you for dealing with the nocturnal netherworld out there (and hold you over till you can glimpse the light at the end of the tunnel), we’ll be screening more grand forays into the heart of darkness. We kick off with a Jane Greer double bill (the classic OUT OF THE PAST co-starring Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, and the rare THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS), followed by Robert Siodmak’s impossibly hard-to-see FLY-BY-NIGHT, Fritz Lang’s WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS, an Anthony Mann double feature (the rare TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE and DESPERATE), a Newspaper Noir double bill of DEADLINE U.S.A. and ultra-rare CHICAGO DEADLINE, plus THE RACKET, THE ENFORCER, WALK SOFTLY STRANGER, Joseph Losey’s impossible-to-find CHANCE MEETING, NOCTURNE and scarce and forgotten B Noirs SMOOTH AS SILK and ROSES ARE RED! There’ll also be new prints of rarities like John Farrow’s Faustian fable ALIAS NICK BEAL, Joseph Losey’s sin-in-the-suburbs masterpiece THE PROWLER (newly restored by UCLA!), heist saga SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS, the delirious Commie-witchhunt classic WOMAN ON PIER 13 and the "Am-I-going-crazy?" gem THE OCTOBER MAN. Most of these are still not available on DVD! See stars like Humphrey Bogart, Ray Milland, Tony Curtis, Dana Andrews, Alan Ladd, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Joseph Cotten, George Raft, Robert Ryan, Van Heflin, Ida Lupino, Jane Greer, Lizabeth Scott, Alida Valli, Evelyn Keyes and others deal with the deadly hand that Fate has dealt them. Hosted by co-programmers Eddie Muller, Alan K. Rode and Chris D. Also on the last day of the series, Sunday, April 19, there’ll be a special afternoon memorial tribute to actress Ann Savage with testimonial panels and screenings.

Thursday, April 2 – 7:30 PM

Jane Greer Double Feature:

OUT OF THE PAST, 1947, Warner Bros., 97 min. Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas vie for the honor of being betrayed by Jane Greer, the most desirable of devil-dolls, in this quintessential noir masterpiece. A grubby private eye (Mitchum) is hired by a sleek gangster (Douglas) to rein in his fugitive frail. Complications ensue when dick falls for dame, hard. The serpentine plot is spiced with some of the wittiest wisecracks of the 1940s, rendered in the highest noir style by director Jacques Tourneur and cameraman Nicholas Musaraca. Co-starring Rhonda Fleming, Steve Brodie. Equal measures of poetry, poignancy and hardboiled fatalism seamlessly meld. The definitive film noir? You be the judge. Review | More

Rare! THE COMPANY SHE KEEPS, 1951, Warner Bros., 82 min. Dir. John Cromwell. This lesser known sleeper is a virtual sequel to CAGED, the more high-profile women’s prison picture helmer Cromwell lensed the year before. Cynical ex-con Jane Greer, released to nice, understanding parole officer Lizabeth Scott, walks a tightrope, keeping the rest of the cast, as well as the audience, guessing whether her parole will be rescinded for her behavior and thrown back in stir. She’s a gal with man issues and impulsively makes a play for Scott’s fast-talking reporter beau, Dennis O’Keefe. Soon she’s just as interested in the man as she is in getting Scott’s goat. Throw in another female parolee with a drug problem employed at the same hospital as Greer, and you have the makings of a potential disaster. Walking a fine line between a women’s weepie and hardboiled noir, director Cromwell and screenwriter Kettie Frings don’t let genre strictures rein them in from telling a refreshingly different story. Watch for a particularly nightmarish police line-up in the last third of the film, as well as the debut of Jeff Bridges! (He’s the baby Greer cradles for a moment while on the lam at the train station.) NOT ON DVD More

Friday, April 3 – 7:30 PM

New 35mm Print! Rare! ALIAS NICK BEAL, 1949, Universal, 93 min. Finally -- a stunning, brand-new 35mm print of what might be director John Farrow’s masterwork! A Faustian fable given full noir treatment by Farrow, scripter Jonathan Latimer and cameraman Lionel Lindon. The devilish Nick Beal (a mesmerizing Ray Milland) materializes out of the fog to "assist" a crusading district attorney (Thomas Mitchell) who has declared that he’d "give anything" to convict a local mobster. Soon, the D.A. begins a miraculous campaign for governor, bolstered by Beal’s connections and the encouragement of his most enticing acolyte (Audrey Totter). A supernatural fable that in style and theme is a logical extension of the era’s best noir films. NOT ON DVD More | Trailer

Ultra-Rare! FLY-BY-NIGHT, 1942, Universal, 74 min. Don’t miss this undiscovered gem, one of the first Hollywood efforts of noir maestro Robert Siodmak! Shifting with Hitchcockian aplomb between suggestive light comedy and thickly shadowed suspense, Siodmak stuffs two features worth of stylish set pieces into the film’s sprightly running time, making it as good as wartime B pictures got. Richard Carlson’s and Nancy Kelly’s romance-on-the-run chemistry, laced with witty innuendo (and plenty of Kelly’s fine gams!) is reminiscent of Donat and Carroll in THE 39 STEPS. Great fun, and surprisingly sexy for its time. NOT ON DVD Reception prior to the show from 6 - 7:30 PM for members only, with ticket purchase. Join Eddie Muller, Alan K. Rode and Special Guests for drinks, snacks and a film noir trivia contest featuring special prizes. EI School of Professional Makeup & Theatre of Arts will bring ALIVE some of the famous characters from the silver screen, "in Black & White."  Mingle with the characters of Film Noir LIVE thanks to the magic of makeup from EI School of Professional Makeup & Theatre of Arts.

Saturday, April 4 – 7:30 PM

Rare! ROSES ARE RED, 1947, 20th Century Fox, 67 min. Dir. James Tinling. What happens when a newly elected D.A. (Don Castle) is kidnapped and replaced by an identical ex-con in league with a slimy political boss? The pace becomes frenetic with a host of terrific character actors –- Joe Sawyer, Charles McGraw, Charles Lane, Douglas Fowley, Paul Guilfoyle -- dictating the action. Also starring Peggy Knudsen and Patricia Knight with future stars Jeff Chandler and James Arness. An overlooked Sol Wurtzel-produced B gem located in the nether regions of the Fox vault by the Film Noir Foundation and the American Cinematheque! NOT ON DVD

Rare! SMOOTH AS SILK, 1946, Universal, 64 min. Dir. Charles Barton. Treacherous thespian (Virginia Grey of HIGHWAY 301 and THE THREAT) manipulates her way upward through a whirl of multiple men until her bitchiness backfires. Did she dump one lover too many? An object lesson in the risks of boudoir career-climbing with overtones of ALL ABOUT EVE, complete with a slam-bang ending! Produced by Jack Bernhardt (DECOY, BLONDE ICE). Co-starring Kent Taylor, Milburn Stone, John Litel and Jane Addams. NOT ON DVD

Sunday, April 5 – 7:30 PM

New 35mm Print! SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS, 1955, Universal, 96 min. The factual story of Boston’s legendary Brink’s heist is given its first cinematic treatment by director Joseph Pevney in this character-driven caper. Noir maestro Sydney Boehm’s screenplay delves into the psychology of the perpetrators, as well as the intricate mechanics of the hold-up. Tony Curtis heads a terrific cast that includes Julie Adams, George Nader, J.C. Flippen and, in his movie debut, Sal Mineo. NOT ON DVD Review

NOCTURNE, 1946, Warner Bros., 88 min. Dir. Edwin L. Marin. Rumors of a remake have been swirling for years, and it’s obvious why: Jonathan Latimer’s script -- about the search for the murderer of a Hollywood composer -- is one of his best. George Raft gives one of his cannier (if one-note) performances as a mama’s-boy detective searching for mystery woman "Dolores," upstaged at every turn by terrific supporting players Joe Pevney, Lynn Bari, Virginia Huston and Mabel Paige (as his wiseacre mother!) A clever whodunit ripe with evocative 1940s Los Angeles ambience. NOT ON DVD Discussion between films with actress Julie Adams (SIX BRIDGES TO CROSS). Review

Thursday, April 9 – 7:30 PM

Anthony Mann Double Feature:

TWO O’CLOCK COURAGE, 1945, Warner Bros., 68 min. A taxi-driving dame (Ann Rutherford) gets more than she bargained for when she picks up a foggy fare (Tom Conway) who can’t remember where he’s going or where he’s been. Wouldn’t you know it: He turns out to be the prime suspect in a sensational murder! And, like all good cabbies, she helps him hunt the real killer! Pure B-movie hokum, injected with vim and verve by a terrific supporting cast, including a gorgeous 20-year-old Jane Greer. Director Anthony Mann shows flashes of the brilliance to come while conforming to the cornball constraints of the B-movie universe. NOT ON DVD Trailer Discussion between films with actress Ann Rutherford.

DESPERATE, 1947, Warner Bros., 73 min. Helming what would be his final B film, Anthony Mann unleashes a visual style that in its nightmarish nocturnal passages exploded the limitations of B-unit filmmaking. Working from a simple story he co-wrote, about a newlywed trucker (the always reliable Steve Brodie) coerced into the criminal underworld by a former pal (Raymond Burr, at his heaviest), Mann and DP George Diskant forge a series of visceral and violent scenes that are among the strongest in noir. Where Mann’s prior films hinted at a major talent behind the camera, DESPERATE declared it loud and clear. NOT ON DVD Trailer

Friday, April 10 – 7:30 PM

Double Feature:

THE ENFORCER¸1951, Warner Bros., 87 min. Dir. Bretaigne Windust. Crusading prosecutor Humphrey Bogart builds a case to nail the head of Murder, Inc. (startlingly vicious Everett Sloane) but has the rug pulled out from under him when his star witness, Ted de Corsia (THE KILLING, NAKED CITY), "falls" from a highrise window. Bogart and his cohorts piece together the back story of Sloane, de Corsia and the murder racket by listening to hours of tapes, presented as a patchwork of flashbacks. Ted de Corsia’s character is based on real-life enforcer Abe Reles, who died a similar death, and this remains de Corsia’s most impressive role. Look for Zero Mostel as in-over-his-head hood Big Babe Lazick. Raoul Walsh (WHITE HEAT) reputedly directed the majority of the film uncredited as a favor to his buddy, Bogart, when noted Broadway director Windust fell ill several days into shooting and did not recover for months. Trailer

CONVICTED, 1950, Sony Repertory, 91 min. Dir. Henry Levin. A tough remake of Howard Hawks’ THE CRIMINAL CODE, which was produced in 1931 and also based on the same play by Martin Flavin. Familiar noir scribe William Bowers adapted the original screenplay by Fred Niblo and Seton Miller. Glenn Ford stumbles into a bar fight when cornered by an aggravated drunk and, in the process, accidentally kills the man. Because the victim is a political hotshot’s son, Ford gets the book thrown at him, despite sympathetic D.A. Broderick Crawford trying to give him a break. Sentenced to the pen for manslaughter, things keep going wrong, including his friendship with uncompromising tough guy Millard Mitchell. Co-starring a great supporting cast that includes Dorothy Malone, Carl Benton Reid, Ed Begley, Frank Faylen, Martha Stewart and Will Geer.

Saturday, April 11 – 7:30 PM

Robert Ryan Double Feature:

THE RACKET, 1951, Warner Bros., 88 min. Dir. John Cromwell. Robert Ryan gives a ferocious performance as out-of-time gangster Nick Scanlon, squeezed between the cops (Robert Mitchum, as the most laconic police chief ever) and his own newly-dry-cleaned bosses who no longer do things "the Chicago way." Samuel Fuller’s original script, which stressed the commonality of crook and cop, was jettisoned by producer Howard Hughes, who’d made the original silent version of the film in 1928. William Wister Haines’ simplified storyline doesn’t distract from the fire (Ryan) and ice (Mitchum) battle between two of film noir’s biggest studs. Co-starring Lizabeth Scott, William Talman, William Conrad and Robert Hutton. Trailer

New 35mm Print! WOMAN ON PIER 13, 1949, Warner Bros., 73 min. Dir. Robert Stevenson. Howard Hughes developed this oddity (originally entitled I MARRIED A COMMUNIST) as a litmus test to sniff out Reds in the ranks of RKO. Robert Ryan, sympathetic for a change (and in real life an ardent lefty), stars as a San Francisco businessman whose past association with the "party" threatens his success and life. With Thomas Gomez and William Talman as commie comrades, the "party" looks like a gaggle of garden-variety gangsters straight out of a 1930s Warner Bros. melodrama. Laraine Day (THE LOCKET) is Ryan’s harried spouse. An amazing example of the anti-Communist propaganda of the early 1950s, although Hughes’ incessant tinkering led to the film being released too late to catch the wave of Red hysteria -- hence its title change and subsequent re-release. NOT ON DVD Trailer

Sunday, April 12 – 7:30 PM

Fritz Lang Double Feature:

WHILE THE CITY SLEEPS, 1956, Warner Bros., 100 min. Dir. Fritz Lang. An all-star cast literally boozes its way through this prescient tale of newspaper office politics. When a young comic-book-crazed delinquent (John Drew Barrymore -- yes, Drew’s dad) starts molesting and murdering women, the new head of the Kyne media empire (Vincent Price) offers the post of editorial director to the underling who catches the killer. The race is on between Dana Andrews, George Sanders, Thomas Mitchell and James Craig. But never count out Ida Lupino. A quirky, off-kilter film that dismisses the manhunt for the murderer to focus on the backstabbing among "friendly" colleagues. The star-studded rogue’s gallery also includes Rhonda Fleming (as Price’s adulterous wife) and Howard Duff. Warning: There is so much drinking in this film you may later dream up a hangover. NOT ON DVD Trailer

BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, 1956, Warner Bros., 80 min. Fritz Lang’s final American film offers the ingenious notion of a writer (Dana Andrews) framing himself for murder in order to prove the fallibility of the justice system and inhumanity of capital punishment. Well, it seemed like a bright idea at the time… Lang’s once-overwhelming visual style is sublimated to the clockwork mechanics of Douglas Morrow’s dense but brisk script, which the director brings to life despite a bargain-basement budget. Co-starring Joan Fontaine as Andrew’s long-suffering high-society girlfriend. The remake, starring Michael Douglas, is due out this spring, Here’s your chance to see the original before it’s deep-sixed. Print courtesy of George Eastman House. NOT ON DVD Trailer

Thursday, April 16 – 7:30 PM

Newspaper Noir Double Feature:

DEADLINE USA, 1952, 20th Century Fox, 87 min. Amazingly, the greatest newspaper movie ever made is just as relevant today as when writer-director (and former reporter) Richard Brooks made it. Veteran managing editor of the New York Day, Ed Hutcheson (Humphrey Bogart at his absolute best) suffers a one-two punch: His paper is being sold to its chief competitor, and the ex-wife (Kim Hunter) for whom he still carries a torch is about to remarry. What’s a guy with ink in his blood to do? Break open the front page for a daring exposé of the city’s biggest mobster, of course! A film guaranteed to have all out-of-work veteran journalists crying in their post-film cocktails. Co-starring Ed Begley, Warren Stevens, Paul Stewart and the great Ethel Barrymore. More

Ultra-Rare! CHICAGO DEADLINE, 1949, Universal, 87 min. Dir. Lewis Allen. A long-missing noir resurrected! Not as easy to resurrect is the woman star reporter Ed Adams (Alan Ladd) finds dead in a dingy skid-row brothel. Like any ace reporter, he pilfers her address book and starts piecing together the life story that brought Rosita Jean D’ur (Donna Reed) to such a bitter end. Gradually, the cynical newsie falls in love with the dead girl. Tiffany Thayer’s 1933 novel One Woman provides the source for a detective story with a heart more tender than the typical noir. We’re proud to present the only known 35mm print of this film in existence, courtesy of the UCLA Film and Television Archive. NOT ON DVD More

Friday, April 17 – 7:30 PM

New 35mm Print! Rare! THE OCTOBER MAN, 1947, MGM Repertory, 98 min. British director Roy Ward Baker (DON’T BOTHER TO KNOCK), working from a script by Eric Ambler (MASK OF DIMITRIOS), turned out this suspenseful and atmospheric psychological noir as his helming debut. Accident victim John Mills is released from the hospital after rehabilitation but still occasionally has blackouts. Given the green light to return to work by his doctor (Felix Aylmer), he goes to live in a weird, rambling old rooming house but remains wary of the other tenants. When a young girl (Kay Walsh) he loaned money to is found strangled in the nearby park, Mills becomes the prime suspect. Genuinely frightened that he might have done it in one of his "spells," Mills tries to resolve the mystery before the steel jaws of justice clamp shut. Joyce Greenwood is his loyal girlfriend, and Edward Chapman plays an officiously nasty neighbor who may know more than he lets on. NOT ON DVD Trailer | More

Rare! SLEEP, MY LOVE, 1948, 97 min. Ever hear the title of the obscure album by eccentric musician Roy Harper, "Flat Baroque and Berserk"? Well, that about sums up director Douglas Sirk’s (LURED, SHOCKPROOF) bizarre psychological thriller-cum-Claudette Colbert vehicle (produced by silent film star Mary Pickford, no less). Colbert awakens on a speeding train unaware of how she got there, only remembering she had a heated argument with her hubby (Don Ameche) the night before. A strange, menacing psychiatrist (George Coulouris) seems to be stalking her, but no one else believes the man exists. Enter family friend Robert Cummings (THE SABOTEUR, THE CHASE) who is slowly falling in love with the damsel in distress. Yet another cinematic riff in the GASLIGHT vein, Sirk employs his trademark subversion of bourgeois values and sexual mores. A rococo guilty pleasure that often comes off as a subtle spoof of the wife-driven-crazy subgenre. Look for Hazel Brooks as one of the most hilariously mercenary femmes fatales this side of Marie Windsor in THE KILLING. (Screened from a digital source.) NOT ON DVD More

Saturday, April 18 – 7:30 PM

Newly Restored 35mm Print! Rare! THE PROWLER, 1951, 92 min. Dir. Joseph Losey. A perverse, provocative film about a corrupt cop (Van Heflin) who sexually dominates a married woman (Evelyn Keyes) for material gain. Oh yeah, he murders her husband in the process -- then marries her. And she ends up giving birth in a Nevada ghost town. Hands down, Keyes’ best performance. Heflin’s desperately pathetic pursuit of his skewed vision of the American Dream lingers in the memory – potent, haunting and disturbingly all-too-similar to headlines we see in the news today. A rediscovered masterpiece and not to be missed. "…a bawdy, daring story…builds to an exciting climax." – Variety NOT ON DVD Review

Ultra-Rare! CHANCE MEETING (aka BLIND DATE), 1959, Paramount, 96 min. Dutch painter Hardy Kruger gets thrown in the deep end when his elegant French paramour Micheline Presle turns up a corpse. Police inspector Stanley Baker deduces Kruger must be the culprit until he hears the artist’s convincingly detailed back story of the affair. When Baker’s superior (Robert Flemyng) informs him a high-ranking diplomat in the House of Lords also was sleeping with Presle, the mystery deepens. Per usual, director Joseph Losey deftly investigates the inner workings of the human libido and demonstrates that slimy things are often found under rocks in upper-class gardens. "…This intelligent thriller from Joseph Losey is one of the director’s more underrated films." Britmovie NOT ON DVD

ANN SAVAGE MEMORIAL TRIBUTE AND SCREENING Approx. total running time of program: 240 min. On the final day of this year's Noir City festival, we pay tribute to our dear departed friend, actress Ann Savage, who garnered eternal cult movie fame as the star of the legendary B classic DETOUR and passed away on Christmas Day 2008. Join us for a memorial tribute featuring guest speakers, clips from Ann's films, and a screening of one of her rarest early pictures:

PASSAGE TO SUEZ, 1943, Sony Repertory, 72 min. André De Toth's great finale to the string of Lone Wolf spy thriller films, with Ann Savage as the femme fatale to Warren Williams eponymous series hero, in a new 35mm print! Capping off the event will be a special screening of:

MY WINNIPEG, 2007, IFC Films, 80 min. Ann’s last film role as filmmaker Guy Maddin's "mother" in the eclectic director's critically acclaimed "docu-fantasia." The Academy may have forgotten you on the Oscar telecast, Ann – but we haven't! Come celebrate the life of a unique actress and remarkable person! FREE ADMISSION! Trailer

Sunday, April 19 – 7:30 PM

Paul Stewart Double Feature:

WALK SOFTLY, STRANGER, 1950, Warner Bros., 81 min. Dir. Robert Stevenson. Charming gambler Joseph Cotten hides out in a cozy rooming house in a small town after absconding with a great deal of mob money. Cotten grows fond of his maternal landlady (Spring Byington) in spite of himself, and his softening of character accelerates after he meets and falls for wheelchair-bound Alida Valli (THE PARADINE CASE). But just as things start to get idyllic, Cotten’s weaselly partner Whitey (Paul Stewart) shows up wanting his share of the dough. The pair’s disintegrating, dysfunctional friendship exacerbates Cotten’s predicament, and it soon becomes clear the mob knows where he is. "…evokes the atmosphere of disillusionment and cynicism intrinsic to so many American films of the period." – Alternative Film Guide NOT ON DVD Trailer

CHICAGO SYNDICATE, 1955, Sony Repertory, 83 min. Director Fred F. Sears was known for churning out celluloid reams of timely drive-in fare (EARTH VS. THE FLYING SAUCERS, TEENAGE CRIME WAVE), and this taut tale of going undercover in the underworld is one of his more memorable. Accountant Dennis O’Keefe is convinced by the D.A. to infiltrate slick and oily mobster Paul Stewart’s organization after the gangster’s previous bursar is whacked. Songbird Abbe Lane (playing with her real-life hubby bandleader, Xavier Cugat) at Stewart’s nightspot is the head hood’s voluptuous squeeze who has taken out her own insurance policy with a bit of microfilm. Rising to the top of Stewart’s racket, O’Keefe encounters statuesque Allison Hayes (ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN), the murdered accountant’s daughter who may throw a spanner in the works with her plans for vengeance. Great shot-on-location Chicago ambience highlights the exteriors, including an exciting breakneck-paced finale. NOT ON DVD Review