THE 4TH ANNUAL FESTIVAL OF FILM NOIR - JUNE 17 THROUGH JULY 5 2007
June 17-18: THIEVES' HIGHWAY (2:30, 6:20) / HOUSE OF STRANGERS (4:25, 8:15)
June 19-20: B-movie triple feature:
CANON CITY (3:35, 7:45) / THE HOODLUM (5:15, 9:20) / UNDER AGE (6:30)
June 21-23: MURDER, MY SWEET (2:30, 6:30) / OUT OF THE PAST (4:30, 8:30)
June 24-25: MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (4:10, 7:00) / CAUSE FOR ALARM! (5:30, 8:20)
June 26-27: THE KILLING (4:45, 8:00) / BREAKDOWN (6:30)
June 28-29: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (5:00, 8:20) / T-MEN (6:35)
June 29 -30: special late-night screening: SCREAMING MIMI (10:00 - separate admission)
June 30-July 1: LE CERCLE ROUGE (3:20, 7:30) / PLUNDER ROAD (6:00)
July 2-3: CAUGHT (4:45, 8:00) / THE RECKLESS MOMENT (6:30)
July 4-5: THE BROTHERS RICO (3:10, 6:45) / THE GARMENT JUNGLE (5:00, 8:35)
PROGRAM NOTES:
JUNE 17 & 18 (SUNDAY AND MONDAY)
TWO WITH RICHARD CONTE
THIEVES' HIGHWAY (2:30, 6:20)
Dir. Jules Dassin - 1949 - 94m
We begin our festival with a marvelous drama starring Richard Conte as a trucker on a revenge kick, alongside Lee J. Cobb, Millard Mitchell and the sultry Valentina Cortesa. Gorgeously photographed on location in San Francisco’s extinct produce district and on central California’s oil lamp-lit roads, THIEVES’ HIGHWAY is one of the finest mid-period noirs, by turns suspensful and sexy. The screenplay by A.I. Bezzerides (KISS ME DEADLY, ON DANGEROUS GROUND), who died this past New Year's Day, is sharp as a tack.
HOUSE OF STRANGERS (4:25, 8:15)
Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz - 1949 - 101m
A sterling cast anchors this rich melodrama of a banking family torn apart by greed and deception. Edward G. Robinson plays the patriarch, Richard Conte, Luther Adler and Paul Valentine are the brothers at odds, and the fantastic Susan Hayward is the woman in the middle. Like most of director/writer Mankiewicz’s films (such as NO WAY OUT, ALL ABOUT EVE and A LETTER TO THREE WIVES), HOUSE OF STRANGERS is an intelligent drama, crackling with wit.
JUNE 19 & 20 (TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY)
B-MOVIE TRIPLE FEATURE! THREE MOVIES FOR THE PRICE OF ONE!
CANON CITY (3:35, 7:45)
Dir. Crane Wilbur - 1948 - 82m
The fantastic cinematography of noir legend John Alton propels this exciting thriller as Scott Brady, Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell and cronies bust out of prison and terrorize a snowy Colorado town. Shot in semi-documentary style on location, we follow the cops as they “X”-off their most-wanted list one thug at a time. Watch for Star Trek’s DeForest Kelley in an early role.
THE HOODLUM (5:15, 9:20)
Dir. Max Nosseck - 1951 - 61m
Real-life troublemaker Lawrence Tierney (real- life brother of CANON CITY’s Scott Brady) plays one of the most amoral and nasty hoods ever to darken the cinema screen. And it’s all in the family as brother Edward Tierney co-stars, too. A low-budget gem which 
somehow slipped past the censors’ radar.
UNDER AGE (6:30)
Dir. Edward Dmytryk - 1941 - 59m
A truly mind-boggling tale from the director of MURDER, MY SWEET. What could two homeless, hitchhiking teens to do to survive but join a roadside brothel? A very rare screening of an early noir oddity from Edward Dmytryk, who would go on to successes such as MURDER, MY SWEET before being a friendly witness during the Hollywood witchhunts. Co-stars the doomed-in-real-life Tom Neal (DETOUR).
JUNE 21 - 23 (THURSDAY THROUGH SATURDAY):
MURDER, MY SWEET (2:30, 6:30)
Dir. Edward Dmytryk - 1944 - 95m
Tough-as-nails Raymond Chandler adaptation pointed star of musicals Dick Powell in an entirely new direction as the hardboiled dick, Philip Marlowe. In this compusively twisted mystery, Marlowe is hired by Moose Malloy, a petty crook just out of prison after a seven year stretch, to look for his former girlfriend, Velma, who has not been seen for the last six years. The case is tougher than Marlowe expected as his initially promising enquiries lead to a complex web of deceit involving bribery, perjury and theft, and where no one's motivation is obvious, least of all Marlowe's.
OUT OF THE PAST (4:30, 8:30)
Dir. Jacques Tourneur - 1947 - 97m
OUT OF THE PAST is so perfect a film noir that it is considered a textbook example of the genre. In his first starring role, Robert Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey, the friendly but secretive proprietor of a mountain village gas station. We learn through flashbacks about Jeff’s dark past, and so begins a twisted saga of double and triple crosses. Fantastic supporting cast includes Kirk Douglas, Jane Greer and Rhonda Fleming. A masterpiece from the director of classics such as NIGHT OF THE DEMON and I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE.
JUNE 24 & 25 (SUNDAY & MONDAY)
TWO ULTRA-RARE MELODRAMAS!
MY NAME IS JULIA ROSS (4:10, 7:00) - RESTORED 35MM PRINT!
Dir. Joseph H. Lewis - 1945 - 65m
Julia Ross (Nina Foch) secures employment, through a rather noisy employment agency, with a wealthy widow, Mrs. Hughes (Dame May Whitty), and goes to live at her house. Two days later, she awakens in a different house in different clothes and with a new identity. A twist on the “things are not what they seem” theme from the director of GUN CRAZY.
CAUSE FOR ALARM! (5:30, 8:20)
Dir. Tay Garnett - 1951 - 74m
A great rediscovery, this is a tense thriller from the director of THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, with Loretta Young as Ellen Jones, the doting wife of an invalid husband (Barry Sullivan), who suffers from extreme paranoia. When a wrong-headed letter leads to horrendous tragedy, it’s a downward spiral for this happy suburban family.
JUNE 26 & 27 (TUESDAY & WEDNESDAY):
THE KILLING (4:45, 8:00)
Dir. Stanley Kubrick - 1956 - 85m
Kubrick struck gold with this hyper-stylized, nail-biting caper classic, co-written by Jim Thompson. Sterling Hayden heads a ragtag gang intent on pulling a racetrack heist, shown in complex flashbacks as the plan comes together piece by piece. Incredible supporting cast includes Jay C. Flippen, Elisha Cook, Jr., Marie Windsor, Vince Edwards, Timothy Carey and many others.
BREAKDOWN (6:30)
Dir. Edmund Angelo - 1951 - 76m
A lost gem getting an ultra-rare screening! Adapted by Robert Abel from his own play, THE SAMSON SLASHER, BREAKDOWN tells the tale of an amateur boxer (William Bishop) sprung from prison who falls in love with the niece of the hanging judge who sentenced him, with bleak results. Of particular note is the climactic boxing match, surely one of the most relentless in screen history, and the supporting cast (particularly Wally Cassel as a clearly gay, and spurned, boxing trainer) is excellent. This was the sole cinematic effort from stage director Angelo, who also produced, and cast his wife, Ann Richards.
JUNE 28 & 29 (THURSDAY & FRIDAY)
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET (5:00, 8:20)
Dir. Samuel Fuller - 1953 - 80m
Guild favorite Sam Fuller scarcely used Dwight Taylor’s source material, a languid courtroom romance, in crafting this pugnacious potboiler. PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is strictly Fuller film noir - lean and wicked straight to its core. Barely out of prison, loner and pickpocket Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark) quietly helps himself to the contents of a woman’s purse. His victim, Candy (Jean Peters), turns out to be an unwitting courier for the communist underground - she’s carrying stolen government secrets - and greedy, apolitical McCoy tries playing both ends against the middle with unfortunate results.
T-MEN (6:35)
Dir. Anthony Mann - 1948 - 92m
Director Anthony Mann's hard-boiled approach and the stylistic cinematography of John Alton (who shot last week’s CANON CITY) make this semi-documentary tale of government treasury agents infiltrating a large counterfeit ring an exciting crime drama. Dennis O’Keefe and Alfred Ryder shine as the T-MEN.
JUNE 29 & 30 (FRIDAY & SATURDAY) - LATE NIGHT NOIR!!
SCREAMING MIMI (10:00)
(Separate Admission - Not part of the day's double-feature)
Dir. Gerd Oswald - 1958 - 79m A deliriously bizarre noir-camp gem! Bodacious Anita Ekberg is a woman confined to an asylum after nearly being murdered who yearns to be free so that she can go back to... stripping. Is it noir? Is it horror? Is it pure camp? Hard to tell, but in any case, it remains one of the weirdest movies of the 1950s. Gypsy Rose Lee co-stars.
JUNE 30 & JULY 1 (SATURDAY & SUNDAY)
LE CERCLE ROUGE (3:20, 7:30) - RESTORED 35MM PRINT!
Dir. Jean-Pierre Melville - 1970 - 140m - In French with English Subtitles
Alain Delon and Gian Maria Volonté are two hoods brought together by chance who attempt a jewel heist in this startling, vaguely surreal noir from the director of LE SAMURAI. Never before released in the U.S., it’s finally been restored and issued here in a gorgeous color 35mm print.
PLUNDER ROAD (6:00)
Dir. Hubert Cornfeld - 1957 - 72m - Cinemascope
On a dark night of pelting rain, five men stage a well-planned train robbery and pull off a massive gold heist. How they attempt to get away is the subject of this offbeat thriller, shot in bleak widescreen Cinemascope, spare on the dialogue, long on the atmosphere.
JULY 2 & 3 (MONDAY & TUESDAY)
TWO BY DIRECTOR MAX OPHULS
CAUGHT (4:45, 8:00)
Dir. Max Opuls (Ophüls) - 88m - 1949
One of three brilliant melodramas made in the U.S. by Max Ophüls (LA RONDE, LOLA MONTES). The emotionally charged CAUGHT features Barbara Bel Geddes as Leonora, a would-be society girl who marries rich Robert Ryan, only to discover herself literally trapped by her innocent dream to marry into money. James Mason co-stars as a sympathetic doctor to whom she turns for support. Sumptuously photographed by the legendary Lee Garmes.
THE RECKLESS MOMENT (6:30)
Dir. Max Opuls (Ophüls) - 78m - 1949 - shown on video
Joan Bennett’s daughter accidentally kills her sleazy mobster boyfriend, and mother throws herself into trying to cover up the crime in this provocative melodrama. Bennett gives one of the best performances of her career, as does James Mason as an tragic extortionist who begins to figure prominently in both the murder mess and Joan’s own domestic one. As with CAUGHT, this splendidly nuanced work has emerged as one of the standouts of the noir cycle, its ironies revealing themselves subtly and slowly, resonating long after the film is over. Note: due to a lack of print availability, we are showing this on an excellent-quality digital video.
JULY 4 & 5 (WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY)
THE BROTHERS RICO ( 3:10, 6:45) - RESTORED 35MM PRINT!
Dir. Phil Karlson - 1957 - 92m
We conclude our noir series much as we began, with Richard Conte. Here he’s a “retired” mobster leading the straight life... until the mob comes gunning for his two brothers. Director Karlson (KANSAS CITY CONFIDENTIAL, SCANDAL SHEET) brings his rough-hewn edge to a story by French pulp writer Georges Simonon. It’s an all-American, corporate, impersonal view of organized crime - a world where the bottom line often trumps the idea of “family”.
THE GARMENT JUNGLE (5:00, 8:35)
Dir. Robert Aldrich, uncredited (and Vincent Sherman) - 1957 - 88m
A family torn asunder again, only this time it’s the father (Lee J. Cobb) who has given in to the mob as he tries to keep unions out of his shop. When union-friendly son Kerwin Matthews appears on the scene, it’s a spark which leads to conflagration. Gia Scala turns in her own fiery performance as the girlfriend of a union leader who joins the fight. Director Robert Aldrich (of KISS ME DEADLY and THE BIG KNIFE) was fired from the picture before completing principal photography after a falling-out with the studio and was replaced by the late Vincent Sherman. It is believed that Aldrich completed at least 75% of the shooting before being replaced, and it bears his unmistakable stamp, though he was denied screen credit.