FILM NOIR AND NEO-NOIR ON TV
Turner Classic Movie Channel
All times are PST. See TCM.com to confirm dates and times.
Thursday, September 2, 5:30 AM
CAGED (1950): This film noir in women in prison clothing details the transformation of a young pregnant widow, Elanor Parker, into a hardened convict. She learns the hard way from sadistic guards and the failure of a good hearted warden, Agnes Moorehead, to reform the prison. Dir. John Cromwell
Friday, September 3, 11:15 AM
THE BLUE DAHLIA (1946): A veteran, Alan Ladd, fights to prove he didn't kill his cheating wife. His shell-shocked war buddy, William Bendix, and a new love interest, Veronica Lake try to help him find the real culprit. Dir: George Marshall
Wednesday, September 8, 3:00 PM
THUNDER ROAD (1958): A fast-driving moonshiner, Robert Mitchum, locks horns with a Chicago gangster. Mitchum’s son James plays his younger brother who wants to follow in his footsteps. Jazz legend, Keely Smith co-stars. Dir. Arthur Ripley
Wednesday, September 8, 9:00 PM
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958):Orson Welles’ masterpiece about a narcotics agent, Charlton Heston, who risks his wife’s, Janet Leigh, life to investigate a crooked cop, played by Welles. Utterly fantastic cameo by Marlene Dietrich as a Mexican Gypsy whore—no, really, I mean it. Dir: Orson Welles
TCM salutes John Garfield!
Wednesday, September 8, 11:00
FORCE OF EVIL (1948): A crooked lawyer, John Garfield, tries to protect his numbers running brother from a ruthless crime boss, only to be destroyed by a citywide system of graft and corruption. Dir: Abraham Polonsky
Thursday, September 9, 12:30 AM
THE JOHN GARFIELD STORY (2003): A TCM original documentary that traces the film noir icon, and the first Method film actor, John Garfield's life and career from his humble childhood to his unjust blacklisting and premature death. His daughter, actress/teacher, Julie Garfield narrates. Dir: David Heeley
Thursday, September 9, 1:30 AM
CASTLE ON THE HUDSON (1940): A hardened crook behind bars, John Garfield, comes up against a reform-minded warden, Pat O’Brien. Ann Sheridan plays the girlfriend who has her own struggles with a two legged wolf. Dir. Anatole Litvak
TCM throws a Noir Fest!
Thursday, September 9, 5:00 PM
CORNERED ((1945): Dick Powell stars as a World War II vet out to revenge the murder of his wife who died fighting for the French Resistance. He suspects the man who ordered the execution of her and her comrades faked his own death. He sets out to find him. Dir. Edward Dmytryk
Thursday, September 9, 7:00 PM
ACT OF VIOLENCE (1949): An embittered veteran, Robert Ryan tracks down a POW camp informer, Van Heflin, now a respected member of his community. Mary Astor steals the film as the boozy bar fly and prostitute trying to help Heflin. Dir: Fred Zinnemann
Thursday, September 9, 8:30 PM
POINT BLANK (1967): Existential neo-noir at its best. Lee Marvin stars as a wraith like criminal out to get his share of the loot from a robbery after his partner shots him, leaves him for dead and absconds both with all the money and his wife. Angie Dickinson co-stars as his sympathetic sister-in-law who aids him. Dir. John Boorman
Thursday, September 9, 10:15 PM
GET CARTER (1971): Fantastic and brutal neo-gangster-noir. Hired gun Michael Caine searches for the truth behind his brother's death. The director went on to make another great gangster revenge picture thirty years later with Clive Owen called I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003). Dir: Mike Hodges.
Friday, September 10, 12:15 AM
JOHNNY COOL (1963): In this rather bizarre late period noir, Harry Silva stars as a Sicilian bandit given a new identity by an exiled mobster. The mobster offers to make him his heir in exchange for killing the men back in the states who betrayed him. Things get weird when the newly christened Johnny Cool meets a sexy divorcee, Elizabeth Montgomery. Dir. William Asher
Friday, September 10, 5:45 AM
BORN TO KILL (1947): This utterly bizarre film noir details the torrid affair between a killer, Lawrence Tierney, and a woman, Claire Trevor, who witnessed his crime. He marries her sister and things really heat about between the amoral pair. Dir. Robert Wise
Friday, September 10, 7:00 PM
LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN (1945): A jealous woman, Gene Tierney, will stop at nothing to destroy anyone that she perceives as a threat to her being first in her husband’s affections. The truth begins to dawn on her husband, Cornell Wilde, after a tragic “accident”. When she realizes that he no longer loves her, she designs the ultimate revenge. Dir. John M. Stahl
TCM salutes director Raoul Walsh
Saturday, September 11, 5:00 PM
WHITE HEAT (1949): A government agent, Edmond O'Brien, infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic, James Cagney in a stand out performance. “Top of the world, Ma!” This film marks when the traditional Warner Brothers’ interpretation of the gangster gave way to the more cynical and psychological film noir interpretation. Pointless trivia: Naked Gun 33 1/3 borrowed the plot. Dir: Raoul Walsh
Saturday, September 11, 7:00 PM
HIGH SIERRA (1941): Humphrey Bogart plays Roy Earle, a hardened criminal with a heart of gold, who finds love, redemption and a not so happy ending with the lovely and vulnerable Ida Lupino in this noir classic. This was one of three roles that George Raft refused that Bogart accepted, ironically the three roles that shot him into stardom after years of playing second bananas at Warner Brothers to among others, George Raft. Dir: Raoul Walsh
Saturday, September 11, 11:00 PM
THE MEN WHO MADE THE MOVIES: RAOUL WALSH (1973): Film clips and an exclusive interview capture the career of director Raoul Walsh best known for his Westerns and gangster films. He also contributed to the film noir genre. Dir. Richard Schickel
Monday, September 13, 3:15 PM
THE SECRET FURY (1950): A mysterious figure interrupts the wedding ceremony of a concert pianist, Claudette Colbert, and an architect, Robert Ryan claiming that she’s already married. When the betrothed pair investigates, they find evidence to back up his claim. Their search for the truth becomes clouded by her admission that she might have amnesia. Kelly Dir. Mel Ferrer
Tuesday, September 13, 5:00 PM
UNDERWORLD, U.S.A. (1961): A twelve year old boy witnesses the murder of his father and vows vengeance on gangsters responsible for the death. As a young man, played by Robert Stack, he infiltrates the rackets to carry out his plan. Dir. Sam Fuller
Tuesday, September 13, 11:15 PM
ON DANGEROUS GROUND(1952): Robert Ryan gives an emotionally charged performance as a city cop on the verge of a breakdown. After nearly killing a suspect, he’s sent out to the country to find the murderer of a young woman. There he encounters Ida Lupino, the blind sister of the main suspect. Can he overcome his personal demons and connect with her? Added bonus: John Ford Players Ward Bond and Olive Cary portray the murdered girl’s parents. Dir: Nicholas Ray
Saturday, September 18, 5:30 AM
THE BIG CLOCK (1948): A corrupt publisher, Charles Laughton, tries to frame a career-driven editor, Ray Milland, for murder. Based on the book by Kenneth Fearing, which was adapted a second time as the Kevin Costner vehicle No Way Out (1987). Dir: John Farrow
Wednesday, September 22, 3:00 PM
SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950): Film Noir meets Hollywood Gothic meets biting satire in this piece of perfection. A failed, and drowned, screenwriter, William Holden, tells us how he fell into a mercenary romance with a faded silent-film star, Gloria Swanson who probably would have told us a rather different story. Dir: Billy Wilder
Thursday, September 24, 8:00 AM
CONFLICT (1945): A seemingly happily married man, Humphrey Bogart, murders his wife so he can be free to marry her sister, Alexis Smith who unfortunately does not return his affection. His friend and neighbor, a kindly psychologist, Sydney Greenstreet, starts to suspect something. Dir: Curtis Bernhardt
Thursday, September 24, 2:00 PM
THE ARNELO AFFAIR (1947): A neglected wife, Frances Gifford, gets mixed up with an homme fatale, John Hodiak. When she tries to break it off, he threatens to implicate her in the murder of his girlfriend. This is a rare cinematic outing by master old time radio writer-producer Arch Oboler. Dir. Arch Oboler
Fox Movie ChannelTimes are PST. See their website to confirm dates and times. Thursday, September 2, 7:00 AM; PANIC IN THE STREETS (1950): 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. Director: Elia Kazan Friday, September 3, 4:31 AM; THE HOUSE ON 92ND STREET (1945): In this fact based documentary-style noir Nazi agents in New York City try to steal the atomic bomb formula. The film uses real locales like FBI headquarters and training facilities as well as using actual FBI surveillance footage to add to the story’s verisimilitude. Director: Henry Hathaway Sunday, September 5, 3:00 PM; NIAGARA (1953): Despite Joseph MacDonald’s Technicolor cinematography and its spectacular use of Niagara Falls, this film falls firmly into the noir category. A young couple, Jean Peters and Casey Adams, on vacation find themselves embroiled in a murderous plot involving their neighbors at the motor court. The wife, Marilyn Monroe, and her lover, Richard Allen, plot to kill her mentally unstable husband, Joseph Cotton, goes awry. Dir. Henry Hathaway Tuesday, September 7, 9:30 AM; SOMEWHERE IN THE NIGHT (1946): An amnesiac army veteran John Hodiak, returns from WWII trying to discover his lost identity and learns that he may be a murderer. He goes to L.A. with a reconstructed face, a 'Dear John' letter from his ex-wife, and a letter of credit from a friend 'Larry Cravat.' Taylor heads to Los Angeles to track down his friend and his own identity. A singer, Nancy Guild, and a night club owner, Richard Conte, try to help him. Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz Tuesday, September 9, 3:00 AM THE STREET WITH NO NAME (1948): In this documentary-style film noir, an agent Mark Stevens, goes undercover to expose the dealings of a crafty mobster, Richard Widmark, in a plot similar to Kiss of Death (1947). Shot by the great Fox studio cinematographer, Joe McDonald. Dir. William Keighley Tuesday, September 9, 7:00 AM; SHOCK (1946): A psychiatrist, Vincent Price, tries to kill the girl, Anabel Shaw, who witnessed his wife's murder. Lucky for him, she’s was committed to his care when she collapsed into a coma from the shock of witnessing the murder. Director: Alfred Werker Tuesday, September 9, 7:00 PM; THE VANISHING(1993): In this American remake of the Belgian neo-noir, a man, Kiefer Sutherland, haunted by the vanishing of his girlfriend still obsessively searches for her years later. The man who knows what happened leads him into a game of cat and mouse. Director: George Sluizer Sunday, September 12, 2:33 PM; THE DETECTIVE (1968): Based on the Roderick Thorp’s novel, a New York cop, Frank Sinatra, uncovers a world of sex, drugs and corruption as he investigates the murder of the gay man, the son of a politically connected department store magnate. Dir. Gordon Douglas Thursday, September 16, 9:00 AM; NIGHT AND THE CITY (1950): Richard Widmark gives the performance of a lifetime as desperate small time hustler Harry Fabian. Stranded in London, he dreams of the big score that will deliver him out of the bush league. He attempts to break into professional wrestling as a promoter with tragic results. Gene Tierney gives an outstanding performance as his long suffering girlfriend and chronic mark. Dir. Jules Dassin Friday, September 17, 3:00 AM; DANGEROUS CROSSING (1953): Adapted from John Dickson Carr’s radio play "Cabin B-13" for the series Suspense, a bride’s, Jeanne Crain, husband, Carl Bentz, disappears on board a luxury liner in the mid-Atlantic. She desperately searches to find him and to prove his very existence, since his name has vanished off the passenger list. Michael Rennie plays the sympathetic ship’s doctor whom she tries to convince of her sanity. Dir. Joseph M. Newman Friday, September 17, 3:30 PM; LAURA (1944): In this film noir based on the Vera Caspary novel, dedicated detective Mark McPherson, Dana Andrews, investigates the death of the beautiful Laura, brutally gunned down at the door of her flat. As he interviews her friends and lovers, a complicated portrait of her emerges and he finds himself falling for her. Dir. Otto Preminger Friday, September 17, 7:30 PM; NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947): Tyrone Power gives the performance of a lifetime in a change-of-pace role as a carnival con man that masters a mind-reading act, after killing the act’s originator and seducing his wife. He then teams up with an unethical psychiatrist to scam wealthy clients, an excellent adaptation of the highly disturbing novel by William Lindsay Gresham. Dir: Edmund Goulding Thursday, September 23, 10:00 AM; COMPULSION(1959): Gritty courtroom drama based on the true life case of Leopold and Loeb. The pair considered themselves Nietzschean supermen, above both law and morality, and tried to prove it by murdering a fourteen year old boy. They did not get away with their “perfect murder” and retained Clarence Darrow as their counsel. Names were changed in the film to protect the guilty. Bradford Dillman and Dean Stockwell play the killers, Orson Welles plays the lawyer. Dir. Richard Fleischer Sunday, September 26, 5:00 AM THE DARK CORNER (1946): A resourceful secretary helps her private eye boss, Mark Stevens, when he’s framed for murder. Can he find the real culprit before the cops find him? Clifton Webb and William Bendix are in on the frame, but how? Dir. Henry Hathaway Sunday, September 26, 7:00 AM VICKI (1953): In this remake of H. Bruce Humberstone’s I Wake Up Screaming (1941), a woman, Jeanne Crain, hunts for the murderer of her sister, Jean Peters. She joins forces with a corrupt cop’s prime suspect, her sister’s publicity man and her secret love, Elliott Reid, to find the real killer. Both films were adapted from the novel by Steve Fisher. Director: Harry Horner Thursday, September 30, 10:00 AM PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (1953): Sam Fuller’s esteemed noir revolves around an amoral sneak thief, Richard Widmark, who steals a girl of ill repute’s purse containing microfilm. He soon finds himself in the crossfire between the Feds and the Commies, but he’s only out for himself. Thelma Ritter steals the show as his friend, a small time grifter trying to make enough dough for her dream funeral. Dir. Sam Fuller
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