FILM NOIR AND NEO NOIR IN THE THEATERS
Lust and Larceny Invades
the Emerald City
Seattle welcomes Noir City for the fourth time February 19th through 25th at the SIFF Cinema. This year’s festival includes seven of the double features from the San Francisco series. The Film Noir Foundation’s latest preservation project, a completely restored version of Robert Parrish’s undeservedly underrated noir Cry Danger (1951) starring Dick Powell, Rhonda Fleming, and Dick Erdman will screen Saturday night. Other rarely seen stand outs include the George Raft vehicle, Red Light (1949), a religiously themed revenge story directed by Roy Del Ruth; André de Toth’s Slattery’s Hurricane (1949), a tale of adultery and drug smuggling starring Richard Widmark,; and a B-noir reworking of Hitchcock’s 1935 classic The 39 Steps, Robert Siodmak’s delightful Fly-By-Night (1942).
In addition to the movies, Seattleites will get a unique opportunity to spend some quality time with the czar of noir, Eddie Muller, president of the Film Noir Foundation and co-programmer of Noir City. First, Muller will host a film noir dinner at The Signature restaurant on Wednesday, Feb. 24; tickets for the dinner need to be purchased ahead of time. Then on Sunday, Feb. 21, at 3:30pm, join Eddie for an intimate chat about all things noir at the Sorrento Hotel's Fireside Room. This event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Purchase tickets for the festival and/or the dinner here.
FILM SERIES
I See a Darkness
Berkley’s Pacific Film Archive pays homage to master horror producer Val Lewton with their ten film series, Complicated Shadows: The Films of Val Lewton, running January 22 through February 13. Best known for producing Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942), Lewton also produced a couple of great film noirs, Jacques Tourneur’s The Leopard Man (1943) based on a Cornell Woolrich story and Mark Robson’s atmospheric thriller about Satanist, The Seventh Victim (1943). In addition to those titles, this series will also include the rarely screened juvenile delinquency drama, Youth Runs Wild (1944) which has never been available on any home entertainment format.
Oh, Rochester!
George Eastman House’s Essential Noir series continues through the end of February at the Dryden theatre. Every Thursday, they will showcase a film chosen for its distillation of the noir ethos. February’s programming includes Otto Preminger’s disturbing portrait of a cop gone over the edge, Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950) starring Dana Andrews. Fritz Lang’s Beyond a Reasonable Doubt also starring Andrews, will screen as half of a double feature saluting Joan Fontaine, along with Norman Foster’s Brit Noir, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) which stars Burt Lancaster as a troubled vet trying to survive in post-war England. A quintessential noir classic, Tay Garnett’s The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), faithfully adapted from James M Cain’s hardboiled masterpiece, rounds out the series.
AT THE ARTHOUSE
Brit Noir Strikes Again
Rialto Pictures tours its 60th Anniversary restored print of one of the greatest films of all time, Carol Reed’s The Third Man (1949) through February, 2010. This fantastic film about a naive American, Joseph Cotten, investigating the death of his friend, Orson Welles, in post-World War II Vienna never loses its impact or its timeliness. “Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock” Check out Rialto’s website to see when it’s coming to your neck of the woods.
A Little Distribution for Red Riding
Britain’s Channel Four’s 2009 three film adaptation of David Peace’s acclaimed Red Riding quartet will be playing in various theatres and festivals this February and March around the U.S. This brutal neo-noir series consists of three stories, set in Yorkshire in three different years, 1974, 1980 and 1983, the plots extrapolated from real events. In each film, morally ambiguous police men investigate serial killings. The novel set in 1977 was excluded in the adaptations. IMDB feature dates and show times for each feature: Julian Jarrold’s Red Riding: 1974; James Marsh’s Red Riding: 1980; Anand Tucker’s Red Riding: 1983.
BEYOND THE CINEMA
On Line Noir
B. J. West’s short The Smiling Man (2007) can now be viewed on line. In this film, adapted from a short story by Keoni Chavez featured in his collection, Fog City Nocturne (2006), impoverished private eye Nick Chambers takes on a Herculean task for a mysterious client. He must find an unnamed man somewhere in post-World War II San Francisco, his only clue a photo of the missing man.
The FNF’s Eddie Muller announced that the Foundation will join forces with Back Alley Noir to bring film noir devotees the very latest news. When FNF webpage readers have a question for the Foundation or want to post their own noir news, they can do so via BAN’s discussion board which will also serve as the official discussion board for the FNF.
BAN’s moderator Steve-O also acts as the editor for Noir of the Week, a website that examines a different film noir every week. Go here to read the latest.
Criterion will release Götz Spielmann’s critically acclaimed neo-noir Revanche (2008) on February 16th. An ex-con and a prostitute flee their grim existence, working in a Viennese brothel, by committing a robbery. Their lives then become tragically entangled with those of the cop pursuing them and his wife’s. This edition features a restored high-definition digital, director approved transfer of the film; a video interview with Spielmann; The Making of: Revanche; Spielmann’s student short Foreign Land with an introduction by the director; the U.S. theatrical trailer; a new English subtitle translation; and an essay by critic Michael Wood.
Sony Pictures unleashes a bevy of bad beauties on February 9th with the releases of Bad Girls of Film Noir Volume 1 and Volume 2. The first volume features Earl McEnvoy’s The Killer That Stalked New York (1950); Henry Levin’s Two of A Kind (1951); Irvin Rapper’s Bad for Each Other (1953); Maxwell Shane’s The Glass Wall (1953) directed by Maxwell Shane; as well as two bonus features, Terry Moore on Two of a Kind and an episode of All Star Theatre, “The Payoff”. The second set includes Henry Levin’s Night Editor (1946); Hugo Haas’ One Girl's Confession (1953); Lewis Seiler’s Over-Exposed (1956); the indescribably wonderful Women's Prison (1956) directed by Lewis Seiler; and a bonus feature, “Remember to Live”, another All Star Theatre episode.
St. John Legh Clowes’ controversial at the time No Orchids for Miss Blandish (1954) makes its DVD debut on the 23rd. Based on the James Hadley Chase novel, which Hollywood deemed unfilmable due to its sex, violence and low morality, a beautiful heiress is kidnapped on her wedding night by a vicious gang. She falls for their leader and the pair plans to run off together, depriving the gang of her ransom. Trouble ensues. Bonus content includes a video interview with Richard Gordon and Richard Nielson by Joel Blumberg; commentary with Richard Gordon, Richard Nielson hosted by Tom Weaver; the British trailer; American trailer; and a photo gallery.
Dennis Dimster’s Double Identity (2010) makes its DVD debut on the 23rd, after a limited theatrical release under the title, Fake Identity. Val Kilmer stars as an American doctor in Bulgaria who finds himself crossed up in a spy plot when he’s mistaken for a diamond smuggler. He then falls for a beautiful British agent, Izabella Miko, and, to complicate things even further, she’s a double agent. No word on extras from releasing studio, First Look Pictures.
Crooner turned noir tough guy Dick Powell’s directorial debut, Split Second (1953), is now available from The Warner Archive for purchase as a download or a made-to-order DVD-R. In this terse thriller, a murderous escaped convict, Stephen McNally, holds five travelers hostage in order to force a doctor to attend one of his wounded fellow escapees. To make things worse, an atom bomb test is scheduled nearby in a few hours. Will he let them go in time to avoid obliteration?
For extended coverage of the FNF's screenings, festivals, and other activities as well as articles on noir-related events, film reviews, and more, subscribe to our bimonthly electronic magazine, the NOIR CITY SENTINEL. Start by adding your name to our mailing list and then make a donation to the FNF in any amount. Peruse samples of our articles here.
Keep us posted on noir news and events in your area! Email Anne Hockens, Film Noir Foundation news and events editor.