Danger & Despair's  

Edward G. can't decide if he's ready for the warden's new furniture in 'Black Tuesday'  1957  

   
  on 16mm film  
  1950's THRILLERS:  
  The Affect of Television on The American Cinema  
   

 

 

 

 

 

     
As television became popular in the mid-twentieth century, movie goers opted to stay home with the new small screens. Subsequently Hollywood's box office sales dwindled. The financial impact of this cultural change forced the studios to reduce their film budgets, which in turn, affected the quality of most of their product. In this series we have a look at four unusual examples of 1950's production values in Hollywood's 'B' features.
 
Highlighting this series are two ultra rare titles, 'Appointment with a Shadow' & 'Black Tuesday' neither available on VHS much less DVD.
     
     
  We are proud to present all four films as The Knitting Circle and The City Club continue our mission of discovering and presenting impossibly rare and lost film titles on vintage 16mm film.  
     
     
  Downtown San Francisco  -  Free Admission  
  Reservations required to be admitted, reserve seats now at  screenings@hotmail.com  
     
     
 

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  WEDNESDAY   August  6th   7:00 pm     Rare Title    
 
'CRY TOUGH'     1959    United Artists
w/ John Saxon, Linda Cristal, Joseph Calleia
 
Miguel Estrada (John Saxon) was a member of a local gang before he went to prison for a year, and now that he is out he wants to walk the straight-and-narrow. His attempts at getting away from the life that binds him to the gangs are not anything his father can understand, and the gangs are not going to let him just walk away.
 
'This was the first film directed by Paul Stanley, and its theme of second-generation Puerto Ricans living in New York's Spanish Harlem would be picked up again in 1961's smash success, West Side Story.
     
  Stanley who directed few features, but hundreds of Television episodes also produced TV programs like The Virginian and Combat.  
     
     
     
     
  WEDNESDAY   August  13th   7:00 pm  
 
'THE COME ON'    1956   Allied Artists Pictures

w/ Anne Baxter, Sterling Hayden, John Hoyt & Jessie White

     
  Drifter meets Grifter in this steamy story where Dave Arnold (Sterling Hayden) gets taken for a ride when he hooks up with the seductive Rita, played by Anne Baxter.  Dave's thinks he's hit the jackpot when he first spots Rita coming out of the surf on a tropical beach.   Then he finds out that she's involved with a violent and brutal John Hoyt, who's in fact a high class Grifter.  
 
Will it lead to M-U-R-D-E-R?   Things definitely get hotter when the sun goes down in paradise.  
       
    Directed by Russell Birdwell who started directing in the 1920's, then switched to the role of publicist on such classics as 'Gone With The Wind" and 'Rebecca'. Birdwell returned later in his career, to once again direct features, of which 'The Come On' is our favorite.  
       
    Sterling Hayden was a Bay Area resident for a long period and lived on his house boat in Sausilito.  
     
     
     
     
  WEDNESDAY   August  20th   7:00 pm    Super Rare Title!!    
     
  'APPOINTMENT WITH A SHADOW'    1957  
  Universal-International Pictures  
     
  w/ George Nader, Joanna Cook Moore & Brian Keith  
                      
  Directed by: Richard Carlson  
  Photography - William E. Snyder  
                         (Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, Second Chance)  
     
  While trying to score the lowdown on a big story, an alcoholic reporter becomes the target of a diabolical murder plot.  
     
  Ultra Rare "Lost" Thriller unearthed in 2006 when The Knitting Circle discovered a 16mm print. The only film book to list information on this movie is Spencer Selby's early work on the canon 'Dark City: The Film Noir',  
 
Filming began with Jeffrey Hunter in the lead, but a serious case of hepatitis caused him to be replaced with George Nader after one day of shooting. 'Appointment with a Shadow' is one of a handful of films directed by actor Richard Carlson from 'I Led 3 Lives' fame.
     
     
     
     
  WEDNESDAY   August  27th   7:00 pm     Super Rare Title!!  
 
'BLACK TUESDAY'    1954     United Artists
w/ Edward G. Robinson, Peter Graves & Jean Parker
     
  Vicious gangster Vincent Canelli pulls off a daring prison escape just moments before going to the electric chair, taking with him Peter Manning - a bank robber and cop killer who was to die right after him. Taking several hostages along, they try to get their hands on the loot from Manning's robbery to finance their escape from the country  
 
The rarest Edward G. Robinson film of all time and a unique throw-back to Robinson's early performances in 1930's Gangster films. Highly recommended!
       
    Stark style and abrasive imagery frame this distinctively 1950's Thriller which is an excellent example of reduced production values found in the American cinema of the 1950's. 'Black Tuesday' co-stars Peter Graves from the original TV series 'Mission Impossible' and Milburn Stone the weathered physician from Dodge City in TV's 'Gunsmoke'.  
       
    Directed by Hugo Fregonese who also helmed 'One Way Street' 1940, 'Blowing Wind' 1953 & 'Man in the Attic'  1953  
       
    Written by Sydney Boehm, (High Wall '47, Undercover Man '49, Side Street '50, The Big Heat  '53, Rogue Cop '54 & Six Bridges to Cross ' 55). Boehm later in his career wrote for television programs such as 'The Naked City'  
       
       
     
     
  Every Wednesday Night In August  
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-   Luscious Libations of all varieties  -  Doors & Bar open at 6:00 pm  -  Films at 7:00 pm   -

 
     
  Reserve seats now and get the location   screenings@hotmail.com  
     
       -  Femme Fatales admitted,...but Gunsels, check your Rods at the door... for GOD SAKES !*^#@??!!!   -  
     
     
 
 
  The DDKC Screenings are private film events, admission is by invitation only through a request and is solely at the discretion of Danger & Despair and the City Club!  At least according to our attorneys who tell us...
  " The Screenings are private events!, ...and DON’T FORGET IT !! "
 
 
     
 

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