A Noir Year Begins...

January 2013 brings, at last, the much-anticipated Noir City XI, San Francisco's 11^th annual film noir festival. Presented by the Film Noir Foundation at the city’s landmark movie palace, the Castro Theatre, the festival runs from January 25 – February 3 and will showcase 27 films!

Noir City XI begins with an opening night tribute to genre legend Peggy Cummins. Following Film Noir Foundation founder/author/film historian Eddie Muller’s onstage interview with Miss Cummins, Gun Crazy (1950), the noir classic that made her an icon, will screen. Other festival highlights include three world premiere restorations along with the U.S. premiere of 4K digital restorations of Sunset Blvd. (1950) and Experiment in Terror (1962). Also premiering will be 4K digital restorations of two of 1953’s first 3-D films, Inferno and Man in the Dark.

But wait, there’s more…

Returning with the 2013 festival will be the Noir City Nightclub event, set for Saturday night, February 2, at San Francisco's Regency Lodge. There'll be music - from jazz to noir-pop to the torch stylings of songstress Laura Ellis - and dancing and cocktails and a walk on the wild side courtesy of "international striptease sensation" Evie Lovelle.

Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, who not only founded the FNF in 2002 but also emcees the San Francisco festival (and nightclub), is also about to appear on Turner Classic Movies. Beginning at 8pm Eastern/5pm Pacific on Thursday, January 17, Muller will co-host "A Night in Noir City" with Robert Osborne. On the schedule are five films: Cry Danger (1951) starring Dick Powell and Rhonda Fleming, Phil Karlson's 99 River Street (1953) with John Payne and Evelyn Keyes, Tomorrow is Another Day (1951) with Steve Cochran and Ruth Roman, Michael Curtiz's The Breaking Point (1950) starring John Garfield and Patricia Neal and The Prowler (1951), directed by Joseph Losey and starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes.

Robert Osborne and Eddie Muller, A Night in Noir City, January 17

In his 1998 book Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir, Muller contended that among the many film varieties to come out of the studio era, film noir held up best: "Film noir pointed toward the black core of corruption in our "civilized" society and our primitive essence. The struggle of the individual to transcend or escape provided the emotional tension. That's the theme that makes noir so compelling for the contemporary crowd." Muller was onto something, for over time film noir has proven to be a genre of lasting appeal. With each successive year, the popularity of Noir City has grown, its program schedule has expanded and the Film Noir Foundation has been able to restore ever more films. Today, San Francisco's noir-fest is the kick off point for other film noir festivals around the country, with Noir City events following in Seattle in February, Los Angeles in April, Chicago in August and Washington, DC, in October.

Click here to learn more about Noir City
Click here to learn more about the Film Noir Foundation

Peggy Cummins and Eddie Muller backstage at TCM's 2012 Classic Film Festival

 

Read More

For the Love of Film (Noir): Renoir, Ryan and a splash of vodka...

This review was part of the For the Love of Film: The Film Preservation Blogathon to benefit the Film Noir Foundation.

San Francisco's annual film noir festival, Noir City 9, ran for ten days at the end of January. From all reports the festival, an event that showcased 24 films, was a great success. I would say, from my own experience, it was a smash.

Elisha Cook, Jr. in Stranger on the Third Floor

My first blog on the festival covered opening night, a double bill featuring High Wall (1947) and Stranger on the Third Floor (1940). The evening included a torchy performance by songstress Laura Ellis, special guest Judy Wyler Sheldon, daughter of director William Wyler and actress Margaret Tallichet (one of the stars of Stranger on the Third Floor) and a riveting Serena Bramble montage of films noir/neo-noir/crime set in San Franciscco. Hosting the festival was Film Noir Foundation founder Eddie Muller, "czar of noir," the perfect emcee for a serious noirfest.

On January 26th I trekked to San Francisco's glorious Castro Theatre once more, this time for a screening of French director Jean Renoir's fabled (and final) Hollywood effort, The Woman on the Beach (1947) starring Robert Ryan, Joan Bennett and Charles Bickford. While the festival's theme was "Who's Crazy Now?" and each film reflected lunacy of some kind, this night's double feature also honored Robert Ryan. In his introduction, Eddie Muller talked about the vicious, venal roles that were Ryan's trademark. Muller contrasted Ryan's filmography of villainous character with the man's generous and humane off-screen values. The enthusiastic packed house cheered when Muller announced that Robert Ryan's daughter Lisa was in the audience.

In introducing The Woman on the Beach, Muller disputed the conventional wisdom that RKO mangled Renoir's film following a disastrous preview. Muller, who knows his noir intimately, told a different story. It was true, he said, that a negative preview did occur, but it was Renoir not RKO who aggressively edited the film afterward. Apparently Renoir was rattled by the audience reaction and lost confidence in his ability to connect with American movie-goers...then he began to cut...and cut.

Charles Bickford in The Woman on the Beach

The Woman on the Beach is, as one might expect, a visually arresting film. Crashing waves, vast sand dunes, ruins of a wrecked ship on a desolate beach, rocky cliffs...fog, wind, rain. The plot concerns a Coast Guard officer (Ryan) who has survived a torpedo disaster at sea and suffers nightmares and mood swings in the aftermath. He encounters a dark beauty (Bennett) gathering firewood on a misty shore and is drawn into a harrowing triangle. Charles Bickford plays the woman's husband, a celebrated artist, now blind, withdrawn from the world and bitter.

Evidence of heavy editing is hard to miss; there is often little flow from scene to scene. And though the film is beautifully photographed and atmospheric, the script is much less inspired. Ryan and Bickford are interesting, but Bennett is inconsistent and lacks allure as the femme fatale. It is a flawed film, but it has its moments and is well worth seeing.

I planned to leave right after the first film, it was a work night after all, but when Muller announced that Rain Organics Vodka would be serving complimentary shots at intermission, I decided to linger a bit. Luckily I was early in the drink line and had enough time, as I let my ice melt, to peruse merchandise for sale on the mezzanine. Eddie Muller's book, Dark City, was on display and one day soon it will be mine. I referred to a borrowed copy when reviewing Warner Home Video's last film noir collection. The book is full of fascinating information and stylishly written...in the noir tradition.

This was my first Noir City, it won't be my last.

Click here to learn more about the Film Noir Foundation.

Read More

"Who's Crazy Now?" - Noir City 9, Opening Night

Stranger on the Third Floor

So…I paid my 10 bucks to park in the lot adjacent to Sullivan’s Funeral Home on Market Street in San Francisco and was heading for the Wells Fargo ATM near 16^th...I checked my phone and noticed a text message…my friend Dick, who I was to meet for dinner before attending opening night of San Francisco’s 9^th annual film noir festival.

I called him to find out where he was…on Castro St. between 18^th and 19^th - also on his way to an ATM. After we got our cash we met at Market and Castro and walked over to Café La Taza on 18^th to get a bite.

By the time I finished my meal, glass of wine and coconut ice cream-over-a-warm-cookie dessert, it was quarter to seven and time to get to the theater…the line, we knew, would be long…

It was, and with our print-your-own-tickets in hand we got on line and waited for the doors to open. An eclectic crowd, we agreed...a sprinkling of ladies dressed in ‘40’s finery but most in street wear staring into space or talking with friends. Dick and I talked about my godson Nicky who’s thinking of going to his first big music concert, Coachella in April. 

Noir City at San Francisco's Castro Theatre



Once inside we checked seating on the main floor and quickly headed up the steps to the balcony. The Castro has 1,400 seats, so if you get there reasonably on time it’s not hard to find decent seats.

The evening was obviously sold out - the theater filled quickly. Then the lights dimmed, music swelled and we were treated to an intoxicating 6-minute montage created by Serena Bramble featuring clips from the countless noir and neo-noir and crime-themed films set or shot in San Francisco…from The Maltese Falcon to Dark Passage to Vertigo to Basic Instinct and many others in between and beyond…the montage culminated with the greeting, “Welcome to Noir City” and the crowd erupted with cheers and applause…(watch the montage below!)



The Castro Theatre

Next, Eddie Muller, founder of the Film Noir Foundation, took the stage. After introducing this year’s young and slinky Ms. Noir City, he talked about film noir and about the work of preservation and his passion for it. The first screening of the night, High Wall (1947) is one of three newly restored films to premiere at the festival. The UCLA Film & Television Archive supervised the creation of preservation prints with funding provided by the FNF. Muller thanked everyone for coming - the evening’s proceeds, he said, paid for the restoration of the film we were about to see. Finally, he dedicated the event to his friend, mystery writer Joe Gores, who very recently passed away.

The theme of Noir City 9 is Who’s Crazy Now? and both opening night films reflected that premise in spades…High Wall is primarily set in a psychiatric institution, and Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) is about a reporter who suffers a paranoid episode (and fanastic dream) and features an out-and-out madman.

Robert Taylor, High Wall

High Wall stars Robert Taylor, still a major Hollywood star but slightly past his prime at the time this film was made. He and Herbert Marshall do the heavy lifting in this dark confection. Leading lady Audrey Totter was having a big year in 1947 with starring roles in this film as well as The Lady in the Lake, and a co-starring role in The Unsuspected. She’s a little stiff as Taylor’s psychiatrist, but the script doesn't give her much help.  Thankfully, Totter’s natural sex appeal manages to peek through from time to time. Herbert Marshall, who often played weak upstanding men, is the villain here. In a part that vaguely echoes his role in Hitchcock’s Foreign Correspondent, he is one of the strengths in this flawed thriller. To enjoy High Wall, suspension of disbelief is mandatory…the film is an entertaining snapshot rather than a stark reflection of the dark subtext of the post-war late ‘40s.



Laura Ellis

 Intermission. The evening continued with a performance by chanteuse Laura Ellis who, clad in a gorgeous emerald green figure-hugging gown (think Gilda) crooned a luscious ballad that swept me back several decades to a time before my time. A protégé of The Manhattan Transfer’s Alan Paul, Ellis was a wonderful surprise. Would love to hear her version of “Green Eyes” or “Tangerine” and will be keeping an eye on her tour schedule.

The evening just kept getting better. Muller returned with the special guest of the night, Judy Wyler Sheldon, daughter of director William Wyler and actress Margaret Tallichet. Tallichet was leading lady of the night's second feature, Stranger on the Third Floor. Sheldon, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and is on the board of the San Francisco Silent Film Society, recounted an anecdote about the first time she saw this film.

William Wyler and Margaret Tallichet


In the 1970s a small local film club advertised a screening of Stranger on the Third Floor and Sheldon decided to attend; she hadn't seen any of her mother's films up to that point. She decided to invite her dad and mom to come along - which they did. As it turned out, the screening was in the home of the club's president and when Judy showed up with not only her husband but her illustrious father and her mother, one of the film's stars, all jaws dropped. She mentioned to the rapt Noir City 9 audience that she hadn't been sure how her father would take not being the center of attention for once, but he turned out to be game and the evening was a big hit. Sometime later Judy Sheldon attended another of the film club's screenings and noticed that the check her father had written to cover admittance had never been cashed but was in a frame on the wall.

Scenes from Stranger on the Third Floor

Stranger on the Third Floor is a 64 minute "B" effort from RKO. BUT. It has been called America's first film noir for its stylistic elements - highlighted by one fabulous and surreal dream sequence. Art Director Van Nest Polglase was involved in just about every RKO film made from 1931 to 1942...including Citizen Kane (1941). Watch Stranger and Kane - a visual connection is unmistakable. The film also boasts cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca (Out of the Past). While there are recognizable faces in the film (Peter Lorre as "the stranger," Elisha Cook, Jr. as Briggs), the two leads are relatively unknown. Margaret Tallichet made few films and was more occupied with her marriage to William Wyler and their family. John McGuire, who plays the reporter, had bit parts in Shadow of a Doubt, White Heat and Sands of Iwo Jima but was off the big screen by 1952. Lorre doesn't have that much screen time, but his scenes are mesmerizing and chilling. Though essentially a "B" morality tale, Stranger on the Third Floor is a must-see for those interested in the evolution of film noir...and American cinema...

Noir City 9 runs through January 30...if there's any chance you can attend - do! This is one of the premiere noir fests in the world and worth every penny of the $10 ticket price ($100 for a festival pass). I'll be back on Wednesday for Jean Renoir's legendary The Woman on the Beach (1947).

Read More

NOIR CITY 9 - Schedule announced for 9th annual San Francisco festival

The ninth annual San Francisco film noir festival, Noir City 9, will run from Friday, January 21, through Sunday, January 30, at the historic Castro Theatre; 24 films noir, both celebrated and obscure, will screen.

A presentation of the Film Noir Foundation, this festival is the centerpiece of the organization's effort to find and preserve films in danger of irreparable damage. The foundation's advisory council includes best selling novelists James Ellroy and Dennis Lehane, actress Marsha Hunt and film historian/critic Leonard Maltin.

Film Noir Foundation founder and president Eddie Muller, known as "the czar of noir," is a writer and filmmaker who frequently speaks at noir screenings. Earlier this year he was a special guest at Robert Osborne's 2010 classic film festival in Athens, GA, where he introduced the screening of Double Indmenity. Muller has also provided commentary on noir DVDs (Fallen Angel, The Lineup, They Live by Night and many others).

The Film Noir Foundation also produces festivals in Chicago and Washington, DC.

Click here for screening times and pricing.

The Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)

Friday Jan. 21

High Wall (1947), with Robert Taylor and Audrey Totter

The Stranger on the Third Floor (1940), starring Peter Lorre, considered "the first American film noir"

Saturday Jan. 22

Strangers in the Night (1944), directed by Anthony Mann
Gaslight (1944), with Ingrid Bergman, Charles Boyer and Joseph Cotten

They Won’t Believe Me (1947), with Robert Young, Susan Hayward and Jane Greer

Don’t Bother to Knock (1952), with Richard Widmark and Marilyn Monroe

Sunday Jan. 23

A Double Life (1947), directed by George Cukor, with Ronald Colman (watch a clip featuring Colman's Oscar-winning performance below)
Among the Living (1941), with Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward and Frances Farmer

Monday Jan. 24

The Lady Gambles (1949), with Barbara Stanwyck

Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) directed by Anatole Litvak, with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster

Tuesday Jan. 25

The Dark Mirror (1948) directed by Robert Siodmak , with Olivia de Havilland and Lew Ayres

Crack-Up (1947), with Pat O’Brien, Herbert Marshall and Claire Trevor

Wednesday Jan. 26

The Woman on the Beach (1947)

The Woman on the Beach (1947), directed by Jean Renoir, with Robert Ryan and Joan Bennett

Beware My Lovely (1952), with Ida Lupino and Robert Ryan

Thursday Jan. 27

The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947), with Humphrey Bogart and Barbara Stanwyck

My Name is Julia Ross (1945), with Nina Foch and George Macready

Friday Jan. 28

Crashout (1955), with William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy and William Talman

Loophole (1953), with Barry Sullivan and Charles McGraw

Saturday Jan. 29

Blind Alley (1939) directed by Charles Vidor, with Chester Morris, Ann Dvorak and Ralph Bellamy

Secret Beyond the Door (1948) directed by Fritz Lang,  with Joan Bennett and Michael Redgrave (this year’s “incomprehensible” film)

The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945) directed by Robert Siodmak, with George Sanders, Geraldine Fitzgerald and Ella Raines

So Evil My Love (1948), with Ann Todd, Ray Milland and Geraldine Fitzgerald

Sunday Jan. 30
Angel Face (1952), directed by Otto Preminger, with Jean Simmons and Robert Mitchum
The Hunted (1948), with Preston Foster and Belita

Read More