<<< April 13 - 16, 2006 >>>

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No, your eyes are not decieving you! It may not seem like that much time has passed, but it’s already our Eighth Annual Festival of Film Noir. As every twelve months go by, we think that we’re going to be hard-pressed to still unearth enough hard-to-see, doom-laden masterworks. Yet each year we’re surprised at all the glittering, rare noir gems that we’re able to pry out of forgotten vaults and warehouses (King Vidor’s RUBY GENTRY and BEYOND THE FOREST, Vincent Sherman’s THE DAMNED DON’T CRY, Jacques Tourneur’s NIGHTFALL, Mitchell Leisen’s NO MAN OF HER OWN and Felix Feist’s ultra-rare THE MAN WHO CHEATED HIMSELF), to name but a few in this season’s crop. And that’s not even counting the endless, sought-after noirs where just no screenable prints are available – at least, not yet! Miraculously, films that we once believed we’d probably never be able to show are now occasionally surfacing in new prints – this time out, there’s Gordon Douglas’ BETWEEN MIDNIGHT AND DAWN, Jean Negulesco’s NOBODY LIVES FOREVER and Ted Tetzlaff’s THE WINDOW (the latter two funded by The Film Noir Foundation). We’ll also be showing Fay Lellios’ excellent documentary, THE LONG HAUL OF A.I. BEZZERIDES, a celebration of the life of A.I. Bezzerides; novelist, screenwriter of several noirs (including KISS ME DEADLY and THIEVES’ HIGHWAY), contemporary of William Faulkner and John Fante, and the last of the proletariat poets. And at the Aero Theatre, a program of our Noir Greatest Hits from our past (including GUN CRAZY, CRISS CROSS and THE PHANTOM LADY). Pull up your collar, hunker down in your seat and prepare to escape into another uneasy age as the lights go down. For more on film noir from our series programmer Eddie Muller click here.

GUN CRAZY, 1949, RKO (Warner Bros.), 86 min. Dir. Joseph H. Lewis. A young man (John Dall) infatuated with firearms gets in way over his head when he falls for a reckless woman (Peggy Cummins) with a craving for armed robbery. Influential on everything from later 1950’s film noir to Arthur Penn’s BONNIE AND CLYDE. Arguably the most hyper-charged, adrenaline-fueled B-movie of all time. Look for a shot of Las Palmas Avenue right alongside the Egyptian Theatre!

KISS ME DEADLY, 1955, UA (Sony), 105 min. Dir. Robert Aldrich. Many critics see it as the apotheosis of film noir style. Others regard it as the definitive statement on American paranoia in the Atomic Age. Still others see it as a proto-feminist send-up of author Mickey Spillane’s hugely popular macho fantasies, brilliantly adapted here by screenwriter, A.I. Bezzerides. You’ll just have to watch it and decide for yourself, as Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) bounces his thick head around Los Angeles in search of "The Great Whatsit." Discussion following with John Kirk and Robert Aldrich's 1st assistant director Bob Justman.

Saturday, April 15 – 7:30 PM

Robert Siodmak Classic Double Feature:

THE SPIRAL STAIRCASE, 1946, Disney, 83 min. Dir. Robert Siodmak. When he made this film, Siodmak's reputation for suspense rivaled Hitchcock's. A dread-drenched atmosphere permeates this spine-tingling Gothic thriller. Dorothy McGuire is memorable as a mute servant girl who becomes the terrified target of a serial killer preying on handicapped women. A superb cast, including Ethel Barrymore, Elsa Lanchester and Rhonda Fleming, give vivid life to scripter Mel Dinelli's adaptation of Ethel White's novel Some Must Watch.

CRISS CROSS, 1949, Universal, 87 min. Dir. Robert Siodmak. When he died in 1947, producer Mark Hellinger had just begun pre-production on this crime-infected love story. Thanks to the inspired vision of director Siodmak, CRISS CROSS now stands as perhaps the most darkly poetic rendering of amour fou in all film noir. Burt Lancaster and Dan Duryea plot a daring heist, while vying for the affections of sensual Yvonne DeCarlo. Remade by Stephen Soderbergh as THE UNDERNEATH.

Sunday, April 16 – 6:30 PM

Cornell Woolrich Classic Double Feature:

PHANTOM LADY, 1944, Universal, 87 min. Dir. Robert Siodmak. Loyal and lovely Ella Raines is "one hep kitten" as she high-heels her way through the noir demimonde, searching for the missing woman who can save her boss from execution. Siodmak wrings every juicy bit of shadowy mystery out of writer Cornell Woolrich's masterpiece of suspense. Famous for Elisha Cook's manic interlude as a wigged-out jazz drummer, beating his sticks to a frenzy! One of the 1944 films that triggered Hollywood's infatuation with dark artistry.

Brand New 35mm Print! THE WINDOW, 1949, Warners, 73 min. Dir. Ted Tetzlaff. The best adaptation of Cornell Woolrich ever, and a classic suspense film: a young boy (Bobby Driscoll) with a hyperactive imagination witnesses a murder in the apartment upstairs, but can't get anyone to believe him. The killers close in. Suspense stretched to the limit! With Arthur Kennedy, Ruth Roman, Barbara Hale, Paul Stewart. Presented in a brand new 35mm print funded by The Film Noir Foundation.