Film Noir and Neo Noir in the Theaters

Film Noir & Neo Noir
in the Theaters

NOIR CITY CHICAGO

NOIR CITY: Chicago Returns

Defying media reports about the demise of repertory cinema and 35-millimeter film, the latest edition of NOIR CITY: Chicago, coming to the Music Box Theatre August 23–29, presents another astounding lineup of classic films noir—including the three brand new 35mm restorations funded by the Film Noir Foundation, which joins forces each year with the Music Box to present NOIR CITY: Chicago. As always, NOIR CITY features both celebrated classics and wonderful rarities: some newly rescued from extinction and presented in glorious new film prints, others screening for the first time in gorgeous digital restorations. NOIR CITY: Chicago celebrates its 5th anniversary with the Chicago premieres of the FNF's latest film restoration projects: Try and Get Me! (1950), Repeat Performance (1949) and High Tide (1948). We'll post a link to the complete schedule on the Music Box website when it's available.

The Czar of Noir Returns to TCM

FNF prez Eddie Muller returns to TCM with a fistful of pulp. "The Czar of Noir" will host Turner Classic Movies' "Friday Night Spotlight" in June, presenting 16 movies over four nights, all highlighting the work of seminal or significant noir writers. Muller, who was TCM host Robert Osborne's guest this past January for "A Night in Noir City," was asked by the network to solo-host one month of its new "Spotlight" feature, in which a guest host both programs and presents a festival of thematically linked films. The segments were recorded in March at TCM headquarters in Atlanta, and it should be no surprise that Muller stayed within his usual noir milieu, choosing to aim his "spotlight" at writers Dashiell Hammett, David Goodis, James M. Cain, Jonathan Latimer, Raymond Chandler and Cornell Woolrich. The shows air on June 7th (Hammett), 14th (Goodis), 21st (Latimer and Cain) and 28th (Woolrich and Chandler). Check out the schedule on TCM.

Dream without Sleeping

The Crooked WaySan Francisco's Roxie Theatre presents two weeks of electrically eclectic film noir programming with I Wake Up Dreaming 2013, May 10— May 23. The festival features 30 films comprising familiar favorites as well as titles unfamiliar even to noir die-hards. Programmer Elliot Lavine pays tribute to pulp fiction master Cornell Woolrich, radio writer/genius Arch Obler, MGM glamour girl turned hardcore noir goddess Joan Crawford, and the dynamic duo of Hugo Hass and Beverly Michaels among others. Best of all, I Wake Up Screaming opens the festival, besides being an outstanding film noir and featuring a character named after Woolrich, it rhymes. Visit the Roxie's website for full details.

TV NOIR/NEO-NOIR

Check our monthly listings for noir and neo-noir films coming up on TCM and the Fox Movie Channel.

NOIR CITY E-MAG

Noir City e-mag

At left, the cover of NOIR CITY® — the Film Noir Foundation's latest quarterly e-magazine issue. For access to the best writing on noir available today, and to enjoy one of the most cutting-edge interactive multimedia cinema publications in the world, subscribe to NOIR CITY. Start by adding your name to our mailing list and then making a donation to the FNF of $20 or more. Take a look! Review samples of our articles here.

FNF Twitter Updates

Keep Us Posted!

Keep us posted on noir news and events in your area! Email Anne Hockens, Film Noir Foundation news and events editor.

Blu-Ray & DVD Releases

Panic in the Streets20th Century Fox is bringing Elia Kazan's Panic in the Streets (1950) on Blu-ray. In this tense noir, a policeman (Paul Douglas) and a doctor (Richard Widmark) race against time to find two gun-happy hoodlums (Zero Mostel and Jack Palance) who are somewhere in the streets of New Orleans carrying the pneumonic plague. Score by Alfred Newman and cinematography by Joseph MacDonald. Release Date: March 26, 2013.

Ministry of FearCriterion is now offering a new 2K digital restoration of Fritz Lang's Ministry of Fear (1944) on both DVD and Blu-ray. In this effectively paranoiac and suspenseful noir, a recently released mental patient (Ray Milland) finds himself embroiled in a fantastic espionage plot after getting his fortune told at a fete. Watch for a wonderfully chilling performance by Dan Duryea as a conspiratorial tailor. Extras include an interview with Fritz Lang scholar Joe McElhaney, trailer and an essay by critic Glenn Kenny. + MORE CRITERION RELEASES.

Strangers in the NightOlive Film has released Anthony Mann's atmospheric film noir—and NOIR CITY 9 favorite—Strangers in the Night (1944) on DVD and Blu-ray. World War II veteran John (William Terry) visits a California town to meet his cherished wartime pen pal Rosemary. At her creepily gothic home, he finds a painting of her and her mother who tells him that Rosemary is gone but will be back soon. As the days go by, John becomes suspicious, but unsure of exactly what he is suspicious of. Helen Thimig gives one of the most impressive performances in film noir as the mother. + MORE OLIVE FILM RELEASES.

In Tay Garnett's noir classic The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946), illicit lovers (John Garfield and Lana Turner) plot to kill the woman's older husband. She wants to own her own restaurant, the eternal ambition of heroines created by James M. Cain, author of the original novel. The producers managed to stay quite faithful to the book while excising the sado-masochistic nature of the character's sexual relationship. Extras on Warner's newly released Blu-ray include an introduction by film historian Richard Jewell, two TCM documentaries—The John Garfield Story and Lana Turner: A Daughter's Memoir, and the original radio adaptation of the film on the OTR series, Screen Guild Theater Broadcast (1947) with Turner and Garfield reprising their roles. Warner was originally slated to release Bob Rafelson's 1981 re-make co-starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lang on Blu-ray concurrently, but there's no sign of it yet.

In Nicholas Ray's Born to Be Bad, an ambitious girl (Joan Fontaine) steals her cousin's (Joan Leslie) husband (Zachary Scott), but keeps her lover (Robert Ryan) on the side. No need to tell you that this won't end nicely. Bonus features: Contains an alternate ending with never-before-seen footage! + MORE WARNER ARCHIVES RELEASES.

TCM and Universal teamed up to release Dark Crimes Film Noir Thrillers, a 3-disc set comprising Stuart Heisler's adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett hard-boiled classic The Glass Key (1942) with Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy and William Bendix; Robert Siodmak's Phantom Lady (1944) based on the novel by Cornell Woolrich and starring Ella Raines, Alan Curtis and Franchot Tone; and George Marshall's The Blue Dahlia (1946) which reunited Glass Key co-stars Lake, Ladd and Bendix with a screenplay by Raymond Chandler. Extras include an introduction by Ben Mankiewicz and a Digital Image Gallery with behind-the-scenes photos, TCM Database articles, publicity stills, lobby cards, movie posters and scene stills. You can order it here.
+ MORE TCM RELEASES

Film Noir meets Hollywood Gothic meets biting satire in Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), now available on Blu-ray from Paramount. A failed, and drowned, screenwriter Joe Gillis (William Holden) tells us how he fell into a mercenary romance with a faded silent-film star, Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) who probably would have told us a rather different story. Admirable support provided by Erich von Stroheim as Max, her devoted butler and chauffer. Paramount went all out with the extras which include an audio commentary track by Wilder biographer Ed Sikov, a baker's dozen of featurettes, and a deleted scene.

Bullhead

In Michaël R. Roskam's Oscar nominated Bullhead (2011), steroid fueled cattle farmer Jacky Vanmarsenille (Matthias Schoenaerts) becomes involved with a meat racketeer and, shortly later, embroiled in criminal investigations of the shooting of a police officer and of the local illegal hormone trade. The reemergence of a childhood friend, and Jacky's interest in his friend's sister, complicates Jacky's already unstable life. Special features include a making of featurette, interviews with star Schoenaerts and director Roskam, director's commentary, as well as Roskam's 2005 short film The One Thing to Do (2005)—also starring Schoenaerts. Now available on DVD and Blu-ray from Image Entertainment.

MGM's has added several noir titles under their Limited Edition Collection brand. The films are available on demand from various retailers, including Amazon and the Warner Archive. In Budd Boetticher's The Killer is Loose (1956), a seemingly mild mannered embezzler (Wendell Corey), recently released from prison, tries to avenge his wife's accidental shooting by Detective Sam Wagner (Joseph Cotton) by killing Sam's wife (Rhonda Fleming). Can Sam stop him? + MORE MGM RELEASES

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