Thursday May 7 Opening Night
***
7:30 PM
SLIGHTLY SCARLET (1956)
99 min RKO. D: Allen Dwan.
James M. Cain’s hard-boiled Love’s Lovely Counterfeit is liberally adapted for the screen with a lurid emphasis on the duality of co-star knockouts Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl. Portraying sisters under the décolletage, Fleming is the traditional good girl while Dahl consumes men and merchandise with equal abandon as a just-out- of-stir, lustful kleptomaniac. John Payne is tasked with blackmailing Fleming’s mayoral candidate boyfriend (Kent Taylor) for sinister rackets boss Ted de Corsia. But as the mounting betrayals are turbo-charged by the sexual energy of the two sisters with manes of flaming Technicolor red hair vying for Payne, matters quickly go off the rails! This kaleidoscopic fever dream was expertly lensed by ace noir cinematographer John Alton (Academy Award® winner for An American in Paris) and is now restored by the Film Noir Foundation in all of its wide screen and color-laden glory!
Scheduled Special Guest: Vincent Pirozzi, Vice President, Roundabout Entertainment Inc.
Festival opening night reception for all access pass holders & special guests following the screening.
Friday May 8
10:00 AM
HELL DRIVERS (1957)
108 min. Rank/Park Circus D: Cy Endfield
Grit your teeth and hunker down for a gritty, action packed thrill ride through the backroads of post WWII Great Britain! Ex-con Stanley Baker begins again by trod ding an honest path as a hauling truck driver but discovers that he has entered a world just as brutal, corrupt and violent as the one he left behind (less comely co-star Peggy Cummins). Blacklisted director Cy Endfield, who became a cinematic virtuoso during his U.K. exile expertly helms a future Who’s Who of British cinema led by a despicably evil Patrick McGoohan along with Sean Connery, Gordon Jackson, Jill Ireland, David McCullum and the wonderful Herbert Lom.
1:00 PM
GUNN (1967)
World Premiere of Brand-new Digital Restoration!
95 min. Paramount D: Blake Edwards. The template neo-noir television series Peter Gunn made its transference to the big screen in June 1967 courtesy of original series creator Blake Edwards who co-wrote the script with William Peter Blatty (The Exorcist). Craig Stevens reprises his role as super-cool Peter Gunn hot on the trail of the successor to a murdered crime boss while navigating through a tangle of double crosses and LA locations. He’s assisted by copper Edward Asner and girlfriend chanteuse Laura Devon. With: former Lyons festival guest star Sherry Jackson, Helen Traubel, Albert Paulsen, J. Pat O’Malley and Regis Toomey. Not on streaming or Blu ray.
4:00 PM
CITY GIRL (1938)
63 min. Fox/Disney. D: Alfred J. Werker.
This fast paced programmer proves that crime pays… until it doesn’t! A hash slinger (Phyllis Brooks) tires of living in a cold water flat with bickering parents while sipping ice cream sodas on Saturday night with her impoverished lawyer boyfriend (Robert Wilcox). Her sweet tooth for nightclubs and glitz becomes a whirlwind collage involving a hold-up and lying to the police. Things appear grim until she hooks up with the city’s top gangster (Ricardo Cortez). The subsequent medley of romance, divorce, murder, a car wreck, fake identities and undercover sleuthing is singularly entertaining. With: Douglas Fowley, Chick Chandler, Adrienne Ames, and Charles Lane. Watch for Lon Chaney Jr. in a bit part as a gangster. Shown in 35mm. Not on streaming and Blu ray.
6:00 PM
Kirk Ellis book signing
They Kill People: Bonnie and Clyde, a Hollywood Revolution and America’s Obsession with Guns and Outlaws.
7:30 PM
BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
111 min. Warner Bros. D: Arthur Penn.
The landmark film that forever altered how Hollywood made movies and Americans perceived their cinema and culture. Nominated for ten Academy Awards (winning two) with unforgettable performances by Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the infamous Depression era outlaws. Stellar support is achieved by Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons (Best Supporting Actress) Produced by Beatty and photographed by Oscar winner Burnett Guffey. Written by David Newman, Robert Benton and an uncredited Robert Towne. With: Denver Pyle, Dub Taylor, Evan Evans, and Gene Wilder.
Scheduled Special Guest: Writer/Producer: Kirk Ellis.
Saturday May 9
10:00 AM
MANHANDLED (1949)
World Premiere of brand-new digital restoration!
96 min. Paramount. D: Lewis S. Foster. Dorothy Lamour enjoyed a brief hiatus from the Road pictures with Bing and Bob to star in her only film noir. Lamour is a psychiatrist’s secretary who records an account of an unemployed writer (Alan Napier) confessing to the shrink (Harold Vermelyea) about recurrent nightmares of bludgeoning his wealthy wife to death. When the wife turns up dead, both the suspects and plot twists featuring a nefarious private detective (Dan Duryea) quickly stack up as the cops (a rumpled Sterling Hayden and wiseacre Art Smith) investigate. Based on the 1945 novel The Man Who Stole a Dream by L. S. Goldsmith and co-written by director Lewis Foster (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Crash out) this entertaining picture flopped at the box office, but remains extremely worthy. Not on streaming or Blu ray.
1:00 PM
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943)
69 min. RKO/Warner Bros. D: Jacques Tourneur. A Canadian nurse (Frances Dee) travels to the Caribbean’s Dutch-colonized Saint Sebastian Island to care for the comatose wife of sugar baron Paul Holland (Tom Conway). But Dee’s new surroundings create a seductive coercion – and not just because she’s falling in love with her employer. Warned by Conway that the island’s lush beauty cloaks its dark history and ominous decay, the nurse becomes increasingly beguiled by the native voodoo cult. This now-famous collaboration between Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, Out of the Past) and uber-creative producer Val Lewton deftly blends the horrific legacy of European imperialism and slavery into an atmospheric masterpiece about the boundaries between the living and the dead. Often termed the West Indian version of Jane Eyre, this ground-breaking picture was cited by Tourneur as his personal favorite. With: James Ellison, Edith Barrett, James Bell, Theresa Harris and Sir Lancelot.
Scheduled Special Guest: Producer-Actor Wyatt McCrea, grandson of Joel McCrea and Frances Dee.
4:00 PM THE MOB (1951)
87 min. Sony-Columbia. D: Robert Parrish.
When Bill Bowers pens the dialogue, you can count on the action and dialogue being fast, furious and funny— even in a tough story of a New York cop (Broderick Crawford) going deep undercover to thwart waterfront racketeers. When Crawford becomes too facile in pretending to be a crook, the real bad guys (an ominous Ernest Borgnine and menacing Neville Brand) decide to turn up the heat. This rugged melodrama with a mysterious twist maintained Crawford’s stardom at Columbia begun with his Oscar winning turn in All the King’s Men. Directed by Robert Parrish (Cry Danger). With: Richard Kiley, Betty Buehler, Lynne Baggett and John Marley. Shown in 35m
***
6:30 PM
Scott Eyman book signing: Joan Crawford- A Woman’s Face
***
7:30 PM
THE DAMNED DON’T CRY (1950)
103 min. Warner Bros. D: Vincent Sherman. The signature Joan Crawford film noir! This “rags-to mink stole” saga is ostensibly based on the life of Bugsy Siegel moll Virginia Hill but also emulates Crawford’s determined ascent from impoverished Lucille Fay LeSueur to Tinseltown immortality. Joan alternately loves and discards Kent Smith, David Brian and Steve Cochran as she maneuvers her way to the top of a national crime syndicate. Filmed on location in Palm Springs including sequences at Frank Sinatra’s former Twin Palms estate in the Movie Colony. With: Selena Royle, Hugh Sanders, Richard Egan and Morris Ankrum.
Sunday May 10
10:00 AM
LET US LIVE (1939)
68 min. D: John Brahm.
Former convict “Brick” Tennant (Henry Fonda) is an Honest-John cabbie who is mistakenly identified with a friend as the perpetrators of a murderous bank robbery on the eve of his marriage. Can his bride (Maureen O’Sullivan) and a crusading detective (Ralph Bellamy) save Fonda from the machinations of a remorseless justice system railroading him into the death house? Inspired by the infamous Sacco & Vanzetti case, this overlooked gem is expertly helmed by émigré director John Brahm (Hangover Square, The Locket), scripted by Anthony Veiller and Allen Rivkin and shot by Lucien Ballard. Despite its age, this picture continues to pack a dramatic punch. Shown in 35mm
1:00 PM
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY (1947)
92 min. D: Robert Hamer.
A former barmaid (Googie Withers) scrapes by as a housewife in London’s deprived East End with two kids from a previous marriage and an older husband. When her former lover (John McCullum) escapes from Dartmoor Prison, he prevails on Withers to hide him in her household to escape the police dragnet. This superbly crafted picture—dark in subject matter, yet incredibly moving— is one of the most acclaimed productions of post war British cinema and was aptly described by William K. Everson as ‘the definitive British noir.” Adapted from Arthur Le Bern’s novel and directed with great sensitivity by Robert Hamer. Also starring Jack Warner. Filmed on location in Bethnal Green where 80 tons of Nazi bombs fell in September 1940, killing over 500 Londoners.
4:00 PM
NO WAY OUT (1950)
20th Century Fox/Disney, 106 min. D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Sidney Poitier made a scintillating screen debut as Dr. Luther Brooks who treats a pair of low life criminal brothers who are wounded while attempting to rob a gas station. Ray Biddle, a virulent racist (Richard Widmark at his most incendiary) refuses to be treated by a black man and accuses Dr. Brooks of murder after his brother dies. The incident touches off a firestorm that threatens to erupt in an all-out race war. Caught in the middle is Johnny’s ex-wife Edie (Linda Darnell) mired in the ingrained racism of her neighborhood despite a growing awareness of the world beyond its confines. Widmark and Poitier deliver riveting performances, and Darnell quietly steals the show as a woman seeking to escape the ignorance of her upbringing. Joseph Mankiewicz’s Oscar® nominated screenplay pulls no punches in its squirm-inducing depiction of the deep rooted racism that remains a major chapter of America’s legacy. A powerful film that is, sadly, just as relevant today as it was three quarters of a century ago..