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Following on the 12th edition of Noir City in San Francisco, this year’s edition goes international, exploding
the long-held belief that noir stories and style are a specifically American phenomenon. Focusing on the years
immediately following World War II, this year's festival features classic noir films from France, Mexico, Japan,
Argentina, Germany, Spain, Norway and Britain, as well as a complementary sampling of homegrown
Hollywood product.
Familiar American stars such as Robert Mitchum, Ava Gardner, Orson Welles, Dan Duryea and Lizabeth Scott
share the screen with international superstars Jean Gabin, Olga Zubarry, Toshirô Mifune, Ninón Sevilla and
Yves Montand. The 20+ films in this series should leave little doubt that the cinematic movement known as
"noir" spanned the globe, and its style, sexiness and cynicism crossed all international borders.
Film Noir Foundation members Foster Hirsch and Alan K. Rode will introduce selected shows each weekend;
see website for details.
October 18—30
Noir City DC: The 2014 Film Noir Festival
PÉPÉ LE MOKO
Sat, Oct 18, 1:00; Wed, Oct 22, 9:00
Parisian crook Pépé le Moko (the legendary Jean Gabin) thrives
within Algiers' Casbah, where the locals protect him from the
police. But a canny cop uses romance as the bait when Pépé
falls for a beautiful tourist. Exhibit A in the argument that the
French were the first to do "noir." (Note courtesy of Noir City.)
DIR/SCR Julian Duvivier; SCR Henri La Barthe, Jacques Constant, Henri Jeanson, from the novel
by La Barthe; PROD Raymond Hakim, Robert Hakim. France, 1937, b&w, 94 min. In French with
English subtitles. NOT RATED
BORDER INCIDENT
Sat, Oct 18, 3:00; Mon, Oct 20, 5:00
Agents of both countries go undercover to bust a gang
exploiting migrant workers on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Anthony Mann's rugged direction and John Alton's stunning
cinematography enhance this powerful crime drama. With
Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy, Howard Da Silva and
Charles McGraw. (Note courtesy of Noir City.)
DIR Anthony Mann;
SCR John C. Higgins; PROD Nicholas Nayfack. US, 1949, b&w, 94 min. NOT RATED
BRIGHTON ROCK (1947)
Sat, Oct 18, 5:00; Tue, Oct 21, 5:00; Wed, Oct 22, 4:30
The first adaptation of a Graham Greene novel to also benefit
from a Graham Greene screenplay, this is one of the best
British gangster films of all time. Richard Attenborough gives
an electrifying performance as Pinkie Brown, the sadistically
violent and strangely Puritanical leader of a gang of wayward
youth in pre-WWII Brighton, whose reckless ambition makes
him a target of big-time mobsters. Harry Waxman's shadowy
cinematography and the genuinely seedy locations cinch the
noir atmosphere.
DIR John Boulting; SCR Terence Rattigan, Graham Greene, from his
novel; PROD Roy Boulting. UK, 1947, b&w, 92 min. NOT RATED
#5 on AFI'S Top 10 Mysteries
#57 on AFI'S 100 Years…100 Movies
#75 on AFI'S 100 Years…100 Thrills
THE THIRD MAN
Sat, Oct 18, 7:10; Wed, Oct 22, 6:30 (Montgomery College
Show @ AFI Silver)
A pulp novelist in
postwar Vienna finds
himself enmeshed in the
hunt for an old friend,
now a notorious black
marketeer. Unanimously
considered one of the
greatest films ever made,
and cinema's most vivid
example of "high noir"
style, it stars Joseph
Cotten, Alida Valli,
Trevor Howard and
Orson Welles. Winner
of the Grand Prize at
Cannes and #1 on the
British Film Institute's list
of the 100 greatest British movies of the 20th century.
DIR/PROD
Carol Reed; SCR Graham Greene. UK, 1949, b&w, 104 min. NOT RATED
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY
Sun, Oct 19, 1:00; Mon, Oct 20, 8:45
Escaped convict John McCallum turns up at the East End home
of former lover Googie Withers, begging her for a hiding place
until the heat dies down. Withers, now married with teenage
stepdaughters, eventually relents and stashes him in the garden
bomb shelter. As the pressures of keeping her secret mount —
hiding him from her family, her sometime-lover Sydney Tafler and
his gangster brother John Slater, not to mention detective Jack
Warner — the story's tone moves from kitchen sink melodrama
to noir-tinged thriller. This little-seen gem may be the best film
from director Robert Hamer, better known for KIND HEARTS
AND CORONETS.
DIR/SCR Robert Hamer; SCR Angus MacPhail, Henry Cornelius,
from the novel by Arthur La Bern; PROD Michael Balcon. UK, 1947, b&w, 92 min. NOT RATED
JOURNEY INTO FEAR
Sun, Oct 19, 3:15; Tue, Oct 21, 3:30; Thu, Oct 23, 3:30
When an Istanbul
nightclub magician
takes a bullet meant
for him, American
arms expert Joseph
Cotten flees the
city, his passage
on a tramp steamer
arranged by Orson
Welles' Colonel Haki.
But also on the boat
are three figures from
the nightclub: dancer
Josette (Dolores del
Rio), her partner
Gogo (Jack Durant)
and the would-be assassin (Jack Moss, Welles' real-life business
manager). A battle of wits ensues as the mutually suspicious
passengers sort out friend from foe, culminating in a memorable
finale.
DIR Norman Foster; DIR/SCR Orson Welles; SCR Joseph Cotten, Ben Hecht, Richard
Collins, from the novel by Eric Ambler. US, 1943, b&w, 68 min. NOT RATED
New 35mm Print!
THE BLACK VAMPIRE [El vampiro negro]
Sun, Oct 19, 5:00; Mon, Oct 20, 7:00
This clever "feminist" reworking of Fritz Lang's classic M focuses
on the mothers of children stalked by a deranged pedophile.
Virtually unknown outside Argentina, and never screened in the
U.S. until 2014, the film can now be enjoyed in a new 35mm
print! Starring the radiant Olga Zubarry. (Note courtesy of Noir
City.)
DIR/SCR Román Viñoly Barreto; SCR Alberto Etchebehere, from the film M by Fritz Lang.
Argentina, 1953, b&w, 90 min. In Spanish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
New 35mm print courtesy of the Film Noir
Foundation at the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures
Courtesy of Rialto Pictures
IT ALWAYS RAINS ON SUNDAY
BRIGHTON ROCK
