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| Eddie Muller Presents: | |
| NOIR CITY 2: The 2nd Annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival | |
| "This Time, the Women are on Top" | |
| January 16 - 29, 2004 | |
| Film Program and Times | |
| Friday, January 16 Ann Savage In Person! | _____ |
| Detour | |
| 8:00 | |
| 1945, PRC. 69 min. Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer. | |
| Tom Neal, Ann Savage. This tawdry masterpiece is for many the ultimate expression of noir fatalism. On his way to Hollywood, a lovelorn sap picks up the hitchhiker from Hell. Ann Savage is unforgettable as scheming, consumptive Vera. Discussion and Q&A with Ms. Savage following the film. | |
| Saturday, January 17 James M. Cain & the Queens of Noir | _____ |
| Double Indemnity | |
| 1:00, 5:15, 9:40 | |
| 1944, Paramount. 106 min. Dir. Billy Wilder. | |
| Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck, Edward G. Robinson. The ne plus ultra of noir. Cainıs story, Raymond Chandlerıs script, Wilderıs cunning showmanship and seven Oscar nods spawned Hollywoodıs dark renaissance of mordant murder thrillers. It still hasnıt been equaled. | |
| Mildred Pierce | |
| 3:05, 7:20 | |
| 1945, Warner Bros. 109 min. Dir. Michael Curtiz | |
| Joan Crawford, Jack Carson, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett. Crawford gives her signature performance (an Oscar winner) as the ultimate maternal martyr, in thrall to her own femme fatale daughter! How noir can you get? A perfect marriage of soap opera and hard-edged pulp. | |
| Sunday, January 18 A Glorious Pair of Lupinos | _____ |
| The Man I Love | |
| 1:00, 5:00, 9:10 | |
| 1946, Warner Bros., 96 min. Dir. Raoul Walsh | |
| Ida Lupino, Robert Alda, Andrea King, Bruce Bennett, Martha Vickers. As flinty torch singer Petey Brown, Ida Lupino offers a radiantly romantic vision of the post-WWII American woman able to settle everybodyıs hash but her own. As perfect as the Gershwin tune itıs named for. | |
| Road House | |
| 3:00, 7:00 | |
| 1948, 20th CenturyFox. 95 min. Dir. Jean Negulesco. | |
| Ida Lupino, Richard Widmark, Cornell Wilde, Celeste Holm. A star-powered faceoff between two film noir icons: sassy Ida Lupino and psychotic Richard Widmark. Sparks fly when Ida takes a job crooning in Widmarkıs rural roadhouse, but when she throws him over for his boyhood chum (Cornel Wilde) the joint really starts jumping. | |
| Monday, January 19 Love is a Flame That Destroys | _____ |
| The Postman Always Rings Twice | |
| 2:50, 7:00 | |
| 1946, MGM. 113 min. Dir. Tay Garnett. | |
| Lana Turner, John Garfield. MGM sat on James M. Cainıs white hot tale of infidelity and murder for twelve years, before figuring out how to camouflage the storyıs sordid specifics as a "womanıs picture." | |
| Tomorrow Is Another Day | |
| 1:00, 5:05, 9:30 | |
| 1951, Warner Bros. 90 min. Dir. Felix Feist. | |
| Ruth Roman, Steve Cochran. | |
| Guaranteed to be the sleeper hit of this yearıs festival! An ex-con and a dime-a-dance dame flee from a murder and find love on the lam. Virtually unknown, but packed with revelatory set pieces, this is director Feistıs low-rent masterpiece. | |
| Tuesday, January 20 Crawford vs. Stanwyck: Round 2 | _____ |
| Possessed | |
| 7:00 | |
| 1947, Warner Bros. 108 min. Dir. Curtis Bernhardt. | |
| Joan Crawford, Van Heflin, Raymond Massey, Geraldine Brooks. Unrequited love spurs Joan Crawford to schizophrenia, murder, and another Oscar nomination. One of Joanıs most rarely screened noirs, proudly presented in a recently unearthed 35mm print. | |
| The Strange Love of Martha Ivers | |
| 9:00 | |
| 1946, Paramount. 115 min. Dir. Lewis Milestone. | |
| Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Kirk Douglas, Lizabeth Scott. Stanwyck is the cast-iron magnate of an East Coast steel town. When her childhood boyfriend returns home, passions are reignited and buried secrets unearthed. Kirk Douglası movie debut. | |
| Wednesday, January 21 Maughamıs Fallen Women | _____ |
| The Letter | |
| 1:00, 5:00, 9:00 | |
| 1940, Warner Bros. 95 min. Dir. William Wyler. | |
| Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson, Gale Sondergaard. From the story by W. Somerset Maugham. Wife of a Malaysian plantation owner kills her lover in a fit of jealousy, then concocts a seemingly airtight alibi. Fate, and the victimıs wife, have other ideas. Steamy and atmospheric, with stylistic flourishes soon to become noir staples. | |
| Christmas Holiday | |
| 3:00, 7:00 | |
| 1944, Universal, 93 min. Dir. Robert Siodmak. | |
| Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly, Gale Sondergaard, Dean Harens. A troubled woman spends a stormy night spinning the tale of her tragic marriage to a murderous Mamaıs boy. Forget Itıs a Wonderful Life this is our idea of proper Yuletide fare, served up by noir's preeminent director, from the novel by W. Somerset Maugham. | |
| Thursday, January 22 Accidents Will Happen | _____ |
| The Accused | |
| 7:00 | |
| 1949, Paramount. 101 min. Dir. William Dieterle. | |
| Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey, San Jaffe. A spinsterish college professor rebuffs a studentıs amorous advances with a tire iron. Now a murderess, sheıs suddenly irresistible to men. Is that dogged detective really after the truth or her? | |
| The Reckless Moment | |
| 9:10 | |
| 1949, Columbia. 82 min. Dir. Max Ophuls. | |
| Joan Bennett, James Mason, Geraldine Brooks. Suburban housewife goes to extraordinary lengths to cover up a murder committed by her daughter. Then roguish blackmailer James Mason enters the picture: sadist or saint? Recently remade as The Deep End. | |
| Friday, January 23 Technicolor Noir | _____ |
| Leave Her to Heaven | |
| 7:00 | |
| 1946, 20th Century Fox, 110 min. Dir. John Stahl. | |
| Gene Tierney, Cornell Wilde, Jeanne Crain. Donıt let the lush Technicolor gloss fool you this big-budget melodrama is black at the core, as perverse and malignant as it got in the 1940s. Novelist Wilde falls for gorgeous Tierney, but has no idea what horrors lurk behind those gleaming emerald eyes. | |
| Desert Fury | |
| 9:30 | |
| 1947, Paramount. 95 min. Dir. Lewis Allen. | |
| Lizabeth Scott, Burt Lancaster, Mary Astor, John Hodiak, Wendell Corey. A gender-bender, as well as a genre-bender. Weıre not sure how to classify it, except as outrageously gay. Will luscious Liz tear apart the special bond shared by gangsters Hodiak and Corey? Is Astor really her Mom? Just how clueless is beefcake Burt? Must be seen to be disbelieved. | |
| Saturday, January 24 Women Behind Bars | _____ |
| Caged | |
| 1:00, 5:30, 10:00 | |
| 1949, Warner Bros. 96 min. Dir. John Cromwell. | |
| Eleanor Parker, Agnes Moorehead, Hope Emerson, Jan Sterling. Sentenced to prison for her role in the failed robbery that killed her husband, a vulnerable innocent undergoes a degrading transformation. Oscar-nominated Eleanor Parker gives the performance of her career, surrounded by a cellblock of great character actresses. | |
| I Want to Live | |
| 3:00, 7:30 | |
| 1958, United Artists. 120 min. Dir. Robert Wise. | |
| Susan Hayward, Simon Oakland, Theodore Bikel | |
| Based on San Francisco Examiner articles by Ed Montgomery. . Hayward won an Oscar for her portrayal of Barbara Graham, a party girl accused of murder who proclaimed her innocence all the way to Californiaıs gas chamber. Great Fifties jazz score by Johnny Mandel. | |
| Sunday, January 25 Stanwyck vs. Crawford: Round 3 | _____ |
| Witness to Murder | |
| 1:15, 5:10, 9:20 | |
| 1954, United Artists. 83 min. Dir. Roy Rowland. | |
| Barbara Stanwyck, George Sanders, Gary Merrill. A distaff Rear Window. Career woman Stanwyck witnesses neighbor George Sanders strangle a victim in his swanky digs. Itıs the word of a single woman against a renowned author (and closet Nazi), so guess whom the LAPD believes? Highlighted by the brilliant camerawork of noir shadowmeister John Alton. | |
| Sudden Fear | |
| 3:00, 7:00 | |
| 1952, RKO. 110 min. Dir. David Miller. | |
| Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame. Back by popular demand is another of Joan Crawfordıs Oscar-nominated noir thrillers, a huge hit at last yearıs festival. Playwright Joan marries actor sheıs rejected, doesnıt realize heıs planning to drop the curtain on her. With vivid support from Jack Palance and Gloria Grahame. Shot in S.F. | |
| Monday, January 26 Women with a Secret | _____ |
| Crime of Passion | |
| 7:00 | |
| 1957, United Artists, 85 min. Dir. Gerd Oswald. | |
| Barbara Stanwyck, Sterling Hayden, Raymond Burr. San Francisco newspaper columnist Barbara Stanwyck falls for virile but passive L.A. cop Sterling Hayden and abandons her career for a life of suburban ennui. She soon puts a homicidal spin on keeping-up-with-the-Joneses, including an affair with noir heavyweight Raymond Burr. | |
| The Velvet Touch | |
| 9:00 | |
| 1948, RKO. 97 min. Dir. John Gage. | |
| Rosaliyn Russell, Leo Genn. Rosalind Russell takes her only trip into Dark City as a renowned Broadway actress who accidentally kills her producer. Her greatest performance is covering up the crime. Costarring Sydney Greenstreet, Claire Trevor, Leo Genn, and Leon Ames. | |
| Tuesday, January 27 Seriously Disturbed Dames | _____ |
| The Locket | |
| 7:00 | |
| 1946, RKO. 86 min. Dir. John Brahm. | |
| Laraine Day, Robert Mitchum, Brian Aherne. A groom hears myriad wedding-day tales of his brideıs troubled past. This dazzling and dizzying psychological drama uses a web of interlocking flashbacks to show how a womanıs childhood obsession for a prized locket dictates the course of her life. | |
| Decoy | |
| 9:00 | |
| 1946, Monogram. 76 min. Dir. Jack Bernhard. | |
| Jean Gillie, Edward Norris, Sheldon Leonard. We proudly present this long-buried derelict delight! Jean Gillie gives a jaw-dropping performance as the femme fatale leader of a gang that revives a dead man from the gas chamber (!) to lead them to buried loot. Pure squirm-inducing Poverty Row pleasure. Never on television, never released on video, this is an absolute must-see! | |
| Wednesday, January 28 Woolrichıs Women | _____ |
| Phantom Lady | |
| 1:20, 5:00, 9:00 | |
| 1944, Universal. 87 min. Dir. Robert Siodmak. | |
| Ella Raines, Allen Curtiz, Franchot Tone, Elisha Cook Jr., Thomas Gomez. 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 bit of shadowy mystery out of writer Cornell Woolrichıs masterpiece of suspense. | |
| Deadline at Dawn | |
| 3:10, 7:00 | |
| 1946, RKO. 83 min. Dir. Harold Clurman. | |
| Susan Hayward, Bill Williams. Paul Lukas. Snarling, sexy Susan Hayward plays a taxi dancer who has until sunrise to help a sad-sack sailor clear himself of an impending murder charge. A classic Cornell Woolrich premise is given a liberal spin by writer Odets and Group Theatre founder Clurman, directing the only film of his career. | |
| Thursday, January 29 Double Date with Ann Sheridan | _____ |
| The Unfaithful | |
| 7:00 | |
| 1947, Warner Bros. 109 min. Dir. Vincent Sherman. | |
| Ann Sheridan plays a woman whose sexual indiscretion leads to murder and a tangled web of deceit. Isnıt that always the way? Noir scribe David Goodis applies his typically thorny plotting to this reimagining of The Letter, transposed to late Fortiesı Los Angeles. With Lew Ayres, Zachary Scott, and Eve Arden. | |
| Woman on the Run | |
| 9:15 | |
| 1950, Fidelity Classics. 77 min. Dir. Norman Foster. | |
| Ann Sheridan returns, closing out the festival with a reprise of our most popular film from last year! A poignant love story unfolds as an embittered wife reluctantly searches for her missing husband, the target of a murderer. Another chance to catch this long-lost classic, shot entirely on location in S.F. Costarring the underrated Dennis O'Keefe. | |
| __________________________________________________ | |
| All films at the historic Castro Theatre | |
| 129 Castro Street near Market Street San Francisco, California | |
| Phone 415 621- 6120 | |
| All films in 35mm | 'Desert Fury' & 'Leave Her to Heaven' in I.B. Technicolor | |
| PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION : | |
| The theatre is accessible by the Market Street subway system "Muni Metro" lines K, L, M, C and the F Market streetcar. All stop a few feet from the theatre. Muni bus lines 33,35,37 & 24. BART riders transfer to Muni Metro at the Embarcadero, Montgomery, Powell or Civic Center stations. | |