Film Noir and Neo Noir in the Theaters
FESTIVAL SCREENINGS
Noir City Returns to Chicago
Dames! Guns! Dames with Guns! Hey, Chicagoites, NOIR CITY 2 is coming your way August 13 through 19 at the historic Music Box Theatre. The festival showcases 35mm prints of ten film noirs ranging from well known classics like Joseph H. Lewis’s Gun Crazy (1950) to the lesser known, but recently restored Cry Danger (1951) (Dir. Robert Parrish). Also screening, a double feature salute to director Robert Siodmak, the darkly paranoid Cry of the City (1948) and the utterly charming, Fly By Night (1942). In several of this year’s noirs, some well-known stars display their sinister side: Marilyn Monroe as a psychopathic babysitter in Don’t Bother to Knock (1952) (Dir. Roy Ward Baker); Tyrone Power as a ruthless carny turned religious fake in Nightmare Alley (1947) (Dir. Edmund Goulding); and John Garfield as a desperate small time crook on the lam in He Ran All the Way (1951) (Dir. John Berry).
FNF Board members, Alan K. Rode, author of Charles McGraw: Biography of a Film Noir Tough Guy, and Foster Hirsch, author of The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir, will co-host the event. Check out the Music Box website for ticket and programming details for NOIR CITY CHICAGO.
And remember, for the price of admission, not only do you get to see a great double feature, but you also contribute to film preservation. All FNF proceeds from NOIR CITY festivals go to finding and restoring films in peril of being lost or permanently damaged.
FNF Teams Up with SFJFF
The Film Noir Foundation is proud to co-present Barry Levinson’s Bugsy (1991) at this year’s San Francisco Jewish Film Festival running July 24 through August 9. The film centers on gangster Bugsy Siegel’s efforts to open The Flamingo, which marked the beginning of Las Vegas’ transformation to Sin City. The film details not just his struggle to build the casino, but also his struggle to balance his personal life between his family and his mistress Virginia Hill. Warren Beatty, who played Siegel, met his future wife Annette Bening on set when she portrayed Hill. The film screens once at The Castro Theatre on July 29th. Check out the SFJFF website for details on the screening and for information on the rest of the fest.
FILM SERIES
True Crime Wave Hits Berkeley
True crime stories have always held a fascination for American film going audiences. Berkley’s Pacific Film Archive celebrates this genre with their series Criminal Minds screening July 23 through August 13. The series spans from the 50s to the 70s and over a large array of styles. Of particular interest for noir fans are their showings of: Fred Sear’s Cell 2455, Death Row (1955) the tale of a delinquent who wound up on San Quentin’s death row; Robert Wise’s I Want to Live (1958) which tells the tale of local girl gone bad “Bloody Babs”; John Brahm’s The Lodger (1944) shot by Lucien Ballard with a murderer based on Jack the Ripper; as well as Richard Fleischer’s Compulsion (1959) featuring a pair of thrill killers patterned on Leopold and Loeb. Check out complete program notes here.
ARTHOUSE
Southern Neo-Noir
In Debra Granik’s Winter’s Bone (2010), a young woman desperately searches for her missing father when he misses a court date, risking the family’s property which he has put up for bail. She travels through the underbelly of the Meth drug culture pervading the Ozarks with the help of her ruthless uncle. The film is adapted from the novel by the contemporary noir writer Daniel Woodrell. Check out the official site to see where it’s playing in your neck of the woods.
BEYOND THE CINEMA
Philly Noir
Artist Mark Khaisman works in an unusual medium, painting with tape. He layers packing tape onto acrylic panels which are then placed on a light box. The resulting images have the depth and feeling of film. Typically the pieces hang as a set. Most of the pieces are inspired by different images from popular culture, among them images from film noir. Check out Gallery Two and Gallery Three at his official website to see two of his noir inspired works.
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 quarterly 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!
Keep us posted on noir news and events in your area! Email Anne Hockens, Film Noir Foundation news and events editor.
The international hit film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo arrives July 6 in the US on DVD and Blu-ray. Based on Stieg Larsson's international best seller, and directed by Niels Arden Oplev, the film details the investigation of a wealthy girl's decades-old disappearance by an intrepid but recently besmirched journalist Mikael Blomkvist, played by Michael Nyqvist. His reporting prowess is complimented by the wizardly computer research skills of the titular character, mysterious hacker Lisbeth Salander, played by Noomi Rapace. Viewers should be forewarned: the film depicts scenes of intense–and arguably gratuitous–sexual violence against women. The Music Box Films Home Entertainment release includes interviews with star Noomi Rapace, director Niels Arden Oplev, and The Vanger Family Tree.
The pleasingly diverse Columbia Pictures Film Noir Classics, Vol. 2 arrives on July 6. The set features Fritz Lang’s Human Desire (1957), based on Emile Zola’s La Bete Humaine; Phil Karlson’s The Brothers Rico (1957); Jacques Tourneur’s adaptation of David Goodis’ Nightfall (1957); Irving Lerner’s City of Fear (1959); and Richard Quine’s Pushover (1954). Unfortunately, no extras have been announced.
Italy’s award-ladened thriller The Girl by the Lake (2007) makes its American DVD debut on July 13 from MPI. Andrea Molaioli’s thriller follows a detective, Toni Servillo, as he investigates the murder of a young woman in a small town in Northern Italy. As with all small towns around the world, everyone living there has something to hide. It’s based on an international bestseller, Karin Fossum’s Inspector Sejer novel Don’t Look Back.
The fine folks at Warner’s are bringing out Film Noir Classic Collection, Vol. 5 on July 13. A small warning: not all of the films in the set are true film noirs, but rather genre pictures with noirish aspects. This set includes: Edward Dmytryk’s Cornered (1945); Anthony Mann’s Desperate (1947); Phil Karlson’s The Phenix City Story (1955); Harold Clurman’s Deadline at Dawn (1946); Richard Fleischer’s Armored Car Robbery (1950); Don Siegel Crime in the Streets (1956); Gerald Mayer’s Dial 1119 (1950); and Vincent Sherman’s Backfire (1950). The only extras are trailers for Dial 1119 and Cornered.
Joon-ho Bong’s critically acclaimed thriller, Mother (2009) makes its debut on DVD and Blu-ray on July 20 from Magnolia Home Entertainment. The devoted mother of a mentally disabled son descends into the corrupt underworld lurking beneath her village to clear him from a charge of murder. Would it kill Magnolia to put some effort into their DVD releases and include some extras?
July 27th brings the DVD release of three film noir classics from Olive Films. First off, Charlton Heston’s film debut, William Dieterle’s Dark City (1950). Heston plays a sucker hunting down the three guys who ripped him off in a poker game. Next, Alan Ladd stars in Lewis Allen’s Appointment with Danger (1951) as postal inspector who goes undercover to find a murderer. Lastly, Rudolph Maté’s Union Station (1950) unwinds the tale of a secretary, Nancy Olson, who tries to convince the Union Station’s top cop, William Holden, that her boss’s blind daughter has been kidnapped.
Recently Released
VCI released Russell Rouse’s classic film noir New York Confidential (1955) on June 29. Broderick Crawford stars as a ruthless mobster who brings in an enforcer, Richard Conte, to restore discipline in the ranks. Things get complicated when Conte falls for Crawford’s daughter, played by Ann Bancroft. The DVD was digitally re-mastered and restored from the original negative. The bonus features include audio commentary by FNF board member, film historian and author Alan K. Rode and film writer, Kim Morgan.
Carol Reed’s exciting Night Train to Munich (1940) receives the royal treatment from Criterion. The smart script was written by Frank Launder and Sidney Gilliat, the team that penned Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes (1938). During World War II, a Czech scientist and his daughter find themselves in the caught in a web of espionage. Released June 29, DVD special features include a new, restored high-definition digital transfer; a new video conversation between film scholars Peter Evans and Bruce Babington; and a booklet featuring an essay by film critic Philip Kemp.
Neo-noir meets black comedy in writer-director Jack Goldberger’s Don McKay (2009), in its DVD and Blu-ray release on June 29 from Image Entertainment. Thomas Haden Church plays the title character who returns to his home town after twenty five years. He soon finds himself involved with his terminally ill high school sweetie, Elizabeth Shue. She soon involves him into a web of deceit and murder. Special features include commentary track by Director Jake Goldberger and Producer Jim Young, deleted scenes, and trailer.