Through to June 10, Astoria’s Museum of the Moving Image will present the first comprehensive retrospective of this director’s films since his death in 1997.

The noir films included are “Pickup on South Street” (1953) and “Underworld USA” (1961), “Shock Corridor” (1963), “The Naked Kiss” (1964), “The Big Red One” (1980) and the controversial “White Dog” (1982), a study of racial hatred that Paramount Pictures chose not to release in the United States at the time of its completion because of its subject matter.

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Connecticut College will offee a “Film Noir” course June 11 – July 16, Mondays and Wednesdays, 6:15 to 10 p.m. by Fred Guida.

“[The Course] will focus on Hollywood films depicting a dark, gloomy and cynical world of corruption and despair.”

For detailed information, go to: www.conncoll.edu/academics/aca_summer_session.htm

This blog has posted a Film Noir – The Master List.

There are 32 films noir, as listed in my Films Noir Catalog, that also appear in the New York Times Best 1000 Films (which are not ranked):

Crossfire (1947)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Force of Evil (1948)
High Sierra (1941)
Laura (1944)
M (1931)
M (1951)
Midnight (1934)
Notorious (1946)
Ossessione (1943)
Out of the Past (1947)
Pickup on South Street (1953)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Suspicion (1941)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
The Big Clock (1948)
The Big Heat (1953)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Killers (1946)
The Letter (1940)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
The Scoundrel (1935)
The Set-Up (1949)
The Third Man (1949)
The Verdict (1946)
They Live by Night (1948)
Touch of Evil (1958)
White Heat (1949)
You Only Live Once (1937)

The Racket (1951): May 25 2007 Turner Classic Movies

“The Racket boldly begins where the Senate crime committee left off!” The big national crime syndicate has moved into town, partnering up with local crime boss Nick Scanlon…

The Third Man (Criterion US$40)

With Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli and Trevor Howard in a
classic film noir set in World War II Vienna. Penned by Graham Greene
and directed by Carol Reed, it features provocative performances and off-kilter
atmospheric shots of Vienna, wherec it was shot on location.

This new two-disc set includes a new, restored high-definition
digital transfer of the British version of the film and great extras.
Commentaries by Steven Soderbergh and writer Tony Gilroy, and film
historian Dana Polan , a 2005 documentary, Shadowing ‘The Third Man,
a 1968 episode from the BBC’s Omnibus series featuring a rare interview
with GrahameGreene, and an unusual 2000 Australian documentary Who Was
the Third Man?

Scarface (Universal US$15)

Howard Hawks’ seminal 1932 gangster movie. The rise and fall of mobster Tony
Camonte (Paul Muni).

The on-line catalog has been updated and now lists 684 noir, proto-noir, and crossover-noir  movies, with full production details.

The listing is fully searchable and can be filtered by Year of Production, Country of Origin, Language, and related genres.

The Films Noir Catalog

Palm Springs 2006 Film Noir Festival May 31 – June 3 2007

If you are lucky enough to be in Palm Springs, you can catch cinema screenings of these classic films noir at the Palm Spring FilmNoir Festival – some not seen on the big screen since the 1940′s:

Thursday June 1 7:30 pm – Special Guest James Darren
The Brothers Rico (1957)
DIR: Phil Karlson
Richard Conte, Kathryn Grant, James Darren
Conte, a once-gangster-turned straight is forced by his old cronies to help locate his younger brother but is duped all the way.

Friday June 2 10:00 am – Special Guest James O’Keefe
T-Men (1948)

DIR: Anthony Mann
Dennis O’Keefe, Alfred Ryder, Mary Meade, Wallace Ford
Treasury agents go undercover to expose a counterfeiting ring, but as in all noir, things go awry. One of the best examples of the semi-documentary noir style, with the killer combination of director Mann and cinematographer Alton keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Friday June 2 1:00 pm – Special Guest Richard Erdman
The Blue Gardenia (1953)
DIR: Fritz Lang
Anne Baxter, Richard Conte, Ann Sothern, Richard Erdman, Raymond Burr
In this solid film by one of the seminal directors of film noir, a bewildered Baxter finds herself accused of murder and desperately tries to find out what to do about it.

Friday June 2 4:00 pm
Ace In The Hole (1951)
DIR: Billy Wilder
Kirk Douglas, Jan Sterling, Robert Arthur
One of the most grimly cynical and riveting films ever made about the human condition. Excellent all around, the controversy surrounding the film inspired Paramount executives to rename it privately “Ass in the Wringer.” A MUST SEE TO GRASP THE UNDERPINNINGS OF NOIR!

Friday June 2 7:30 pm – Special Guest Coleen Gray
The Killing (1956)
DIR: Stanley Kubrick
Sterling Hayden, Coleen Gray, Vince Edwards, Marie Windsor, Elisha Cook
This case study of a racetrack heist, full of double-crosses, duplicity and murder, put Kubrick’s name on the map. Full of a cast of colorful characters and plot twists, this is pure dynamite!

Saturday June 3 10:00 am
Madonna’s Secret (1946)
DIR: William Thiele
Francis Lederer, Gail Patrick, Ann Rutherford, Linda Stirling
In this almost unheard-of film, the sister of a murdered model sets out to find the killer. John Alton’s atmospheric photography sets the mood beautifully. RARE! Miss it and you’ll probably never see it again!
Immediately following the film:
Writer’s forum about Film Noir by “The Dark City Players”

Saturday June 3 1:00 pm – Special Guest Beverly Garland
The Steel Jungle (1956)
DIR: Walter Doniger
Perry Lopez, Beverly Garland, Ted de Corsia, Ken Tobey
Dark prison drama with convicted bookie Lopez squeezed between the prison warden and his deadly racketeer boss.

Saturday June 3 4:00 pm
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
DIR: Jean Negulesco
Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, Zachary Scott, Faye Emerson
Mystery writer Lorre becomes obsessed piecing together the history of a notorious phantom criminal. ONE OF THE BEST EVER! DON’T DARE MISS IT!

Saturday June 3 7:30 pm – Special guest Constance Towers
Shock Corridor (1963)
DIR: Samuel Fuller
Constance Towers, Peter Brock, Gene Evans, James Best
Journalist Brock gets admitted to a mental institution to uncover a murder but ends up insane himself. Another powerful and unusual work by the legendary Fuller.

Sunday June 4 10:00 am
The Crooked Way (1949)
DIR: Robert Florey
John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew, Rhys Williams
Amnesiac war vet returns home only to find he has his own sordid past. Tough and gritty, with Alton’s usual great photography, a fine film that somehow manages to overcome the drooling and teeth-gnashing by the infamous Sonny Tufts. RARE!

Sunday June 4 1:00 pm – Special Guest Jaqueline White
Crossfire (1947)
DIR: Edward Dmytryk
Robert Young, Robert Mitchum, Robert Ryan, Gloria Graham, Jacqueline White
One of four war buddies is a violent racist and murders two men, one of them his friend. One of the first post WWII films to deal seriously with the issue of anti-Semitism. Powerful stuff.

Sunday June 4 4:00 pm – Special Guest Anne Jefreys
Riffraff (1947)
DIR: Ted Tetzlaff
Pat O’Brien, Anne Jeffreys, Walter Slezak, Percy Kilbride
A retrospective of the Palm Springs Film Noir Festival, in that it was the first film we ever showed! In Panama, private detective O’Brien battles villains who are trying to procure a map to lucrative oil fields. Fun from beginning to end, great script, photography, direction, the works.

Sunday June 4 7:30 pm
A Place In The Sun (1951)
DIR: George Stevens
Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, Shelley Winters, Keefe Braselle, Raymond Burr
Based on Theodore Dreiser’s AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY, this film brilliantly deals with the emptiness of the idle rich and American morals, all leading to murder. Winner of six Oscars.