Australian readers of FilmsNoir.Net are in for a veritable feast of noir-related movies from the 20’s to the 50’s on free-to-air television in 2008.

I have discovered that the national public broadcaster, The ABC, has licensed packages of old movies, including the RKO film library, for late-night broadcast. These movies will be broadcast ad-free on the ABC masthead free-to-air service, which is available on three channels: analog, standard-definition digital, and high-definition digital.

Movies of interest to noir aficionados scheduled for screening over the next two weeks are listed below. All these movies (except Split Second ) are referenced in the Filmography of the seminal noir book, A Panorama of American Film Noir, 1941-1953. Check local program schedules for screening dates and times.

Hitchcock Triple-Feature:
The Lodger (1926)
The 39 Steps (1935)
The Lady Vanishes (1938)

Cornered(1945)
Director: Edward Dmytryk

Split Second (1953)
Director: Dick Powell

The Lawless (1950 )
Director: Joseph Losey

The Set-Up (1949)
Starring Robert Ryan Director: Robert Wise

Body And Soul (1947)
Starring John Garfield Screenplay by Abraham Polonsky Director Robert Rossen

Journey Into Fear (1943)
Starring/Director: Orson Welles With Joseph Cotton Screenplay: Eric Ambler

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite

The US Library of Congress has just added 25 films to the National Film Registry, including two films noir: The Naked City (1948) and In A Lonely Place (1950).

In January the free City in Darkness film noir movie series screens at the main Kansas City Library at 625 Minnesota.

All show times are 6 pm Tuesdays:

The Killing (1956) (Jan. 8): Sterling Hayden masterminds a racetrack robbery in Stanley Kubrick’s classic heist thriller.

Thieves’ Highway (1949) (Jan. 15): A trucker’s journey of revenge against those who robbed and crippled his father. Jules Dassin directs. Starring Richard Conte and Lee J. Cobb.

Touch of Evil (1958) (Jan. 22): Orson Welles’ gritty masterpiece will be shown in its restored version. With Welles, Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh.

Kiss Me Deadly (1955) (Jan. 29): Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) runs afoul of nuclear espionage in this brutal noir entry from the 50s.

These on-line papers from the 2004 Conference of the Society for Critical Exchange make fascinating reading.

Shadowing Film Noir: Hollywood’s Political Unconscious

A Touch of Yellow in Film Noir
Sheng-mei Ma, Michigan State U.

‘Queer Eye’ for a ‘Straight Dick’: Contextualized Homosexuals in Film Noir
Scott F. Stoddart, Marymount Manhattan C

Face Plates: T-Men, Counterfeiting, and Noir Representation
Mark Osteen, Loyola C.

In their seminal book, A Panorama of American Film Noir, 1941-1953, authors Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton, closed the opening chapter with these thoughts on the recurring motifs of films noir in the classical period:

It is easy to come to a conclusion: the moral ambivalence, criminal violence, and contradictory complexity of the situations and motives all combine to give the public a shared feeling of anguish or insecurity, which is the identifying sign of film noir at this time. All the works in this series exhibit a consistency of an emotional sort; namely, the state of tension created in the spectators by the disappearance of their psychological bearings. The vocation of film noir has been to create a specific sense of malaise. (p.13)

In his Introduction to the English translation, James Naremore refers to the Surrealist critique of cinema, and makes this telling observation:

At certain moments, even in ordinary genre film or grade-B productions, [cinema] could involuntarily throw off bizarre images, strange juxtapositions, erotic plays of light and shadow on human bodies, thus providing an opportunity for the audience to break free of repressive plot conventions and indulge in private fantasies. (p.xi)

The Dryden Film Society will feature a season of 11 classic films noir in January and February at the Dryden Theatre in Rochester, NY, with the theme What Exactly Is Film Noir?.

Jim Healy, the Assistant Curator, has posted an excellent short essay on this theme to introduce the program, which includes new 35mm prints of The Big Sleep and Night And The City.

The release of The Big Sleep was originally held back by Warner Brothers until 1946 when the film was recut. The Society will screen a new 35mm print of the restored 1945 version, which will be followed by a short documentary about the two versions.

The full program:

Thursday, January 3
8pm THE BIG SLEEP (Howard Hawks, US 1946, 116 min.) New 35mm print

Thursday, January 10
8pm THE KILLERS (Robert Siodmak, US 1946, 105 min., 35mm)

Thursday, January 17
8pm OUT OF THE PAST (Jacques Tourneur, US 1947, 97 min., 35mm)

Thursday, January 24
8pm NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Edmund Goulding, US 1947, 111 min., 35mm)

Thursday, January 31 Double-Feature
7 pm THE BIG HEAT (Fritz Lang, US 1953, 90 min., 35mm)
8:45 pm HUMAN DESIRE (Fritz Lang, US 1952, 90 min., 35mm)

Thursday, February 7
8pm NIGHT AND THE CITY (Jules Dassin, US 1950, 101 min.) New 35mm print

Thursday, February 14
8pm LAURA (Otto Preminger, US 1944, 85 min., 35mm)

Thursday, February 21 Double-Feature
7 pm FORCE OF EVIL (Abraham Polonsky, US 1948, 78 min., 35mm)
8:30 pm HE RAN ALL THE WAY (John Berry, US 1951, 77 min, 35mm)

Thursday, February 28
8pm KISS ME DEADLY (Robert Aldrich, US 1955, 106 min., 35mm)

Further to yesterday’s post The Big Combo (1955): Quintessential Noir, I have uploaded this frames slideshow from the movie:

“You think this is a mink… you think these are the skins of little wild animals sewn together for your pleasure - you’re mistaken… these are the skins of human beings… people, who have been beaten, sold, robbed, doped, murdered by Mr Brown.”

“I live in a maze… a strange blind backward maze, and all the little twisting paths lead back to Mr Brown.”

Obsessed cop hunts down a psychotic crime boss

The Big Combo is the greatest film noir of the 50’s: put simply a masterpiece of the genre. Directed by maverick “B” director Joseph H. Lewis and filmed by master cinematographer John Alton from a tight screenplay from Philip Yordan, this movie is totally engrossing and visually stunning. Each scene is a study in composition and expressionist lighting. The cast is exceptionally strong and each player delivers a nuanced performance. The hip 50s score of David Raksin introduced over the opening credits is both surreal and portentous.

There are no femme-fatales but three women who are pivotal to a tragic story of sex, obsession, psychosis, and perverted love.

While not wishing to downplay Jean Wallace, who is arresting as the female lead, for me Rita, the stripper and erstwhile girlfriend of the obsessed cop, holds the central interest. Played beautifully by Helene Stanton, a B actress in her first role (followed by some other minor roles until she disappeared into obscurity in 1957), Rita is the most fascinating and real person in the story: any more about the role will risk spoilers.

Her scenes linger long in the memory, and when the film is over you realise how much integrity she has. That Helene Stanton could bring such depth to a supporting role is testimony to her strength as an actress and director Lewis’ ability to foster strong performances from raw talent.

If you only ever see one film noir, this is it.