*All times are PT. Please check your local listings to confirm dates and times.
Monday, September 2, 3:15 AM – 5:00 PM PT
Here are the noirs...
11:30 AM
THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (1949): Nicholas Ray’s fiercely romantic noir about a young innocent, Farley Granger who gets mixed-up with hardened criminals and a violent escape after serving an unjust prison sentence. Cathy O'Donnell plays the girl who becomes his lover in an ill-fated romance. Based on the Edward Anderson novel Thieves Like Us. Dir. Nicholas Ray
1:15 PM
BRUTE FORCE (1947): In this brutal film noir, a convict (Burt Lancaster) plans a daring and violent escape from a sadistic prison. FNF prez and Noir Alley host Eddie Muller said of the film’s ending, “the climax of Brute Force displayed the most harrowing violence ever seen in movie theaters.” Gritty noir photography provided by Oscar winner William Daniels. Dir. Jules Dassin
6:15 PM
EACH DAWN I DIE (1939): A crooked DA frames crusading reporter Frank Ross (James Cagney) for drunk driving and manslaughter. He goes to the big house and meets a charismatic racketeer and lifer "Hood" Stacey (George Raft). The pair develops an intense friendship causing “Hood” to become a better man. Can he help his unjustly convicted buddy? Dir. William Keighley
Wednesday, September 4, 5:00 PM
THE THIN MAN (1934): Dashiell Hammett’s urbane but fun-loving sleuths Nick and Nora Charles, along with their pup Asta, investigate the disappearance of an inventor in this classic blend of laughs and suspense. Shot in just two weeks by director Woody "One-Shot'' Van Dyke and cinematographer James Wong Howe, this gem set the gold standard for the sophisticated comedy—inspiring five sequels as well as countless inferior imitations. Van Dyke previously directed Myrna Loy and William Powell in Manhattan Melodrama and spotted the terrific chemistry of their off-screen banter between takes. He insisted on casting the pair as Hammett’s hard-drinking super-couple and the glamorous pair became one of the movies' great romantic teams. Shot by the legendary cinematographer James Wong Howe. The film garnered four Oscar nominations, Best Picture, Best actor for Powell, Best Director, and Best Writing, Adaptation for Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett. Dir. Woody Van Dyke
Friday, September 6, 7:15 PM
ALL THE KING’S MEN (1949) In this Best Picture Oscar winner, Broderick Crawford, who also won an Oscar for his performance, stars as backwoods lawyer Willie Stark, whose canny and calculating populist politics take him to national prominence—before chicanery and deceit lead to his shocking and sudden demise. Robert Penn Warren based his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel on the rise and fall of 1930s Louisiana governor Huey “Kingfish” Long, and this film version is given a dark noir patina by writer-director Rossen (Johnny O’Clock, Body and Soul), Oscar-nominated for both his script and direction, and DP Burnett Guffey. Mercedes McCambridge won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Stark’s ruthless political aide Sadie Burke, and John Ireland received an Academy nod as Jack Burden, a conscience-stricken newsman turned Stark press agent. Dir. Robert Rossen
Saturday, September 7, 2:45 PM
BULLITT (1968): When mobsters kill the witness Frank Bullitt (Steve McQueen) was assigned to protect, he uses unorthodox methods to investigate the case. Beautiful San Francisco location work and a breathtaking car chase sequence add additional pleasure to watching this fine neo-noir, not to mention the iconic Lalo Schifrin score. Dir. Peter Yates
Saturday, September 7, 9:00 PM & Sunday, September 8, 7:00 AM
OUT OF THE PAST (1947): In this quintessential film noir, small town gas station owner Jeff Bailey’s (Robert Mitchum) past catches up with him when a stranger passing through town recognizes him. He tells his girlfriend Ann Miller (Virginia Huston) about his previous via flashback, of course. Jeff was a private eye falls for the gangster’s moll (Jane Greer) that he’s supposed to find for her lover Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas). She’s allegedly stolen $40,000 from Whit and he wants her and the dough back. As in all good noirs, nothing is really as it seems. Watch for future noir siren Rhonda Fleming as a duplicitous secretary. Based on Geoffrey Homes’ excellent pulp novel Build My Gallows High and shot by legendary cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Dir. Jacques Tourneur
Sunday, September 8, 1:30 AM
THE FALCON’S BROTHER (1942): Gay Lawrence, aka "The Falcon," investigate his brother Tom’s apparent suicide with the help of his sidekick Lefty (Don Barclay). He uncovers a Nazi plot along the way. Gay and Tom are portrayed by real life brothers George Sanders and Tom Conway. Look for Keye Luke in a small part. Dir. Stanley Long
Monday, September 9, 11:00 AM – 5:00 PM
11:00 AM
A WOMAN’S FACE (1941): The soon to be queen of the noirs, Joan Crawford, starred in this suspenseful drama as a facially scarred blackmailer who’s given a new outlook on life after plastic surgery. Can she adjust to a normal life and stop her ex-accomplice’s nefarious plan to murder his nephew? Dir. George Cukor
5:00 PM
ANGEL FACE (1953): An ambulance driver (Robert Mitchum) romances a beautiful but unstable woman (Jean Simons) who gets him a job as a chauffeur and promises him the capital to open his own garage. Murder and disaster follow. Mona Freeman plays the girlfriend he dumps for better things. Her reaction to his behavior, especially when he tries to come back to her, makes her character transcend the usual thankless good girl roles in noir. Dir. Otto Preminger
Tuesday, September 10, 3:00 AM
BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948): Robert Mitchum ditches his fedora and trench coat for a Stetson and chaps in this evolutionary noir-stained Western. Robert Wise’s stellar “A” picture debut is complemented by screenwriter Lillie Hayward’s adaptation of Luke Short’s novel transplanting the rain slicked alleys of 1940s Los Angeles into the wide-open spaces of the 19th-century West. Gorgeously lensed by ace noir cinematographer Nicholas Musaraca, this picture was the forerunner of a darker genre of Westerns that became preeminent on the big and small screens during the next decade. Dir. Robert Wise
Tuesday, September 10, 3:00 AM
7:00 AM
CRIMINAL COURT (1946): Lawyer Steve Barnes (Tom Conway) plan to run for D.A. is almost derailed when he accidentally kills the owner of a nightclub (Robert Armstrong) where Barnes’ girlfriend Georgia Gale (Martha O'Driscoll) sings. Luckily, he’s able to conceal his connection to crime. Unluckily, Georgia is arrested for the murder when she finds the body. What to do? Dir. Robert Wise
8:15 AM
THE SET-UP (1949): An aging boxer (Robert Ryan) defies the gangsters who've ordered him to throw his last fight, believing that he can still be a champ. Audrey Totter plays his devoted wife who begs him to retire from boxing before he’s destroyed. Dir. Robert Wise
9:30 AM
BORN TO KILL (1947): This utterly bizarre film noir details the torrid affair between a killer (Lawrence Tierney) and the narcissistic woman (Claire Trevor) who witnessed his crime. He marries her sister and things really heat up between the amoral pair. Dir. Robert Wise
Tuesday, September 10, 10:15 PM
IMPACT (1949): A woman’s (Helen Walker) plot to kill her wealthy husband (Brian Donlevy) goes awry and her lover is killed instead, and the authorities misidentify the body as the husband’s. So, hubby goes into hiding, so that she’ll fry for murder. Things get complicated when he falls for a sweet and beautiful widow (Ella Raines). Dir. Arthur Lubin
Wednesday, September 11, 11:15 AM
OUT OF THE FOG (1941): A racketeer (John Garfield) terrorizes a small fishing community and seduces a tailor’s daughter (Ida Lupino). The tailor and his friend must figure out how to fight the racketeer to keep their only solace, their fishing boat, from being destroyed in an “accident” and to save the daughter from throwing her life away on the racketeer. Dir. Anatole Litvak
Thursday, September 12, 11:15 AM
DR. CRIPPEN (1963): This Brit noir tells the real-life story of Dr. Crippen (Donald Pleasence) who was hanged in London in 1910 for poisoning his wife (Coral Browne) but protested his innocence to the end. Crippen’s tale also inspired Robert Siodmak’s touching period noir The Suspect (1944). Dir. Robert Lynn
Thursday, September 12, 7:45 PM
ALPHAVILLE This noir inspired Nouvelle Vague sci-fi features the first appearance of Lemmy Caution (Eddie Constatine), Jean-Luc Godard’s tribute to the classic noir era’s trench coat wearing private eyes. Secret agent Caution is sent in to dismantle Alphaville’s sentient computer and its strangle hold on the city’s citizens. Along the way he is aided by Natacha who struggles against her conditioning to prize logic over emotion. Dir. Jean-Luc Godard
Friday, September 15, 3:45 PM – 5:00 PM
Not all noir but all influenced the genre
3:45 AM
THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943): A young woman (Kim Hunter) leaves school to investigate the disappearance of her beautiful and mysterious older sister (Jean Brooks). She finds out some interesting facts, one, her sister was married and two, she was part of a satanic set. The husband (Hugh Beaumont), a poet (Erford Gage) and a psychiatrist (Tom Conway) aid her search for the truth about her sister. Produced by horror icon Val Lewton. Dir. Mark Robson
5:00 AM
CAT PEOPLE (1942): Produced by the legendary Val Lewton, this atmospheric and heartbreaking horror film tells the tale of Irina (Simone Simon), a beautiful and charming Serbian emigree who meets and marries all-American architect Oliver (Kent Smith). She is reluctant to consummate their marriage and he turns to his friend and coworker Alice (Jane Rudolph) with tragic and frightening results. Producer Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur styles merge to produce one of the greatest films of the genre. Lensed by the noted noir cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca. Dir. Jacques Tourneur
6:15 AM
THE CURSE OF THE CAT PEOPLE (1944): This is far from a traditional sequel as it focuses on the trauma resulting from the events of the first film. The survivors from Cat People, Oliver (Kent Smith) and Alice (Jane Randolph) are now married and have a child, Amy (Ann Carter). Oliver fears Amy’s vivid imagination, due to the events leading to the death of his first wife Irena (Simone Simon) whom he believes was driven mad by her belief in her homeland’s legends. When the lonely Amy wishes for a friend, Irena appears. Meanwhile, Amy is also befriended by an elderly neighbor whose daughter envies their connection to an unhealthy degree and who may well be dangerous. Dir. Gunther von Fritsch & Robert Wise
7:30 AM
BEDLAM (1946): Not a noir but we’re including it for our Val Lewton completist. Nell Bowen (Anna Lee), the protégé of Lord Mortimer, wants to help change the conditions of notorious St. Mary's of Bethlehem Asylum (Bedlam). In response, the head of St. Mary's, George Sims (Boris Karloff), uses his political savvy to have Nell committed. Being within St. Mary's does not deter the courageous Nell and she displays her own manipulative skill to rid herself and the mistreated inmates of the sadistic Sims. Dir. Mark Robson
9:00 AM
ISLE OF THE DEAD (1945): Gen. Nikolas Pherides (Boris Karloff) takes leave from the 1912 Balkan War to visit a small island in Greece, where his wife is buried. While there, a plague breaks out—Pherides and a group of travelers are is forced to quarantine there. Soon, locals and foreigners alike succumb to the influence of Madame Kyra (Helene Thimig), who accuses a nurse (Ellen Drew) of being a vampire and the true cause of the recent deaths. The film's script was inspired by the painting of the same name by Arnold Böcklin, which appears behind the title credits. It was written by producer Val Lewton’s frequent collaborator Ardel Wray. Dir. Mark Robson
10:15 AM
THE GHOST SHIP (1943): In this dark thriller, a young merchant marine officer (Russell Wade) begins to suspect that his ship's captain (Richard Dix) is mentally unbalanced when crewman Louie (Lawrence Tierney) dies in a horrible accident after challenging the captain’s authority. However, as more mysterious deaths occur, his shipmates are convinced that the ship is haunted. Dir. Mark Robson
11:30 AM
I WALKED WITH A ZOMBIE (1943): Producer Val Lewton’s take on Jane Eyre focuses on naïve nurse Betsy Connell (Frances Dee) who is brought to the Caribbean by plantation owner Paul Holland (Tom Conway) to tend to his catatonic wife (Christine Gordon). His alcoholic brother (James Ellison) blames Paul for his wife’s condition. In one of the most uncomfortable scenes in cinematic history, a Calypso singer (Sir Lancelot) reveals an embarrassing family secret. Betsy is determined to cure her charge and comes to believe that she is a zombie. Dir. Jacques Tourneur
12:45 PM
THE LEOPARD MAN (1943): Legendary B horror producer Val Lewton strays into noir territory with this suspenseful tale of a leopard on the prowl for human prey in a small New Mexican town. The night club performer (Jean Brooks) responsible for letting the leopard loose and her manager (Dennis O'Keefe), who dreamed up the stunt, began to suspect that a man, and not the leopard, is responsible for the deaths of several young women. Based on Cornell Woolrich’s novel, Black Alibi. Dir. Jacques Tourneur
2:00 PM
THE BODY SNATCHER (1945): In this Val Lewton production, based on the real-life resurrection men Buke and Hare, Dr. Toddy MacFarlane (Henry Daniell) needs cadavers for his medical experiments, ultimately intended to treat a young disabled girl. He turns to the services of John Gray (Boris Karloff) and his assistant, Joseph (Bela Lugosi), to dig up recently buried corpses. Eventually, Gray crosses the line into murder. Dir. Robert Wise
3:30 PM
VAL LEWTON: THE MAN IN THE SHADOWS (2007): Martin Scorsese narrates this tribute to one of the most creative and imaginative producers of all time who created a timeless canon of beautiful and unsettling films on meager budgets including two supernatural noirs, The Leopard Man (1943) (Dir. Jacques Tourneur) and The Seventh Victim (1943) (Dir. Mark Robson). Dir. Kent Jones
Friday, September 13, 10:30 PM
GERMANY YEAR ZERO (Germania anno zero) (1948): The concluding chapter of Roberto Rossellini’s War Trilogy is the most devastating, a portrait of an obliterated Berlin, seen through the eyes of a twelve-year-old boy. Living in a bombed-out apartment building with his sick father and two older siblings, a brother who is hiding from the police and a prostitute sister, young Edmund is mostly left to wander unsupervised, getting ensnared in the black-market schemes of a group of teenagers and coming under the nefarious influence of a Nazi-sympathizing ex-teacher. Dir. Roberto Rossellini
Saturday, September 14, 5:28 AM
LADY GANGSTER (1942): An aspiring and failing at it actress (Faye Emerson) aids a criminal gang in a robbery and winds up taking the rap. Before she's sent to prison, her conspirators try to double cross her, but she’s too smart from them and manages to steal and stash the loot. Her former partners want the dough and to make life tough for in her the big house. A prison breakout follows…She eventually finds purpose and redemption in an unexpected romance. Look for early performances by a couple of actors who went on to bigger things on T.V.: Jackie Gleason and William Hopper. Dir.: Robert Florey (as Florian Roberts)
Saturday, September 14, 9:00 PM & Sunday, September 15, 7:00 AM
A LADY WITHOUT A PASSPORT (1950) Immigration inspector Frank Westlake (James Craig) investigates the murder of an illegal immigrant. His investigation leads him to an illegal immigration ring and romance with Marianne Lorress (Hedy Lamar), a refugee from Vienna who survived internment in a German concentration camp. Dir. Joseph H. Lewis
Monday, September 16, 5:00 PM – 3:00 AM
5:00 PM
TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944): This is not a noir, but we are writing it up since it is playing with three other Bogie and Bacall films which are noir. Hawks introduced Lauren Bacall to the world in this adventure tale based on Hemingway’s novel of the same name. He also introduced her to her co-star Bogart who fell in love with her and she him much to Hawks’ chagrin. It was, in fact, Hawks’ wife Slim that spotted Bacall on a magazine cover and insisted he make her over as an actress. Back to the plot of the movie, Skipper Bogie gets involved with the French resistance, meets a sexy singer (Bacall) accompanied by Hoagie Carmichael, and must decide between his self-interest and his better nature. Dir. Howard Hawks
7:00 PM
THE BIG SLEEP (1946): In Howard Hawks’ clever and sophisticated adaptation of Raymond Chandler’s novel, private eye Philip Marlowe’s (Humphrey Bogart) investigates the involvement of an opium addled (and nymphomaniacal) society girl (Martha Vickers) in the murder of a pornographer. He also must determine if her sister (Lauren Bacall) is helping or hindering him. Dir. Howard Hawks
9:00 PM
DARK PASSAGE (1947): Adapted from a story by David Goodis, this noir follows convicted wife murderer Vincent Parry’s (Humphrey Bogart) escape from jail and subsequent hunt for the real killer of his wife. Sympathetic stranger Irene (Lauren Bacall) encounters him during his jail break and aids him. Agnes Moorehead steals the show as Irene’s shrewish friend who knew Vincent and his wife prior to the murder. Dir. Delmer Daves
11:00 PM
KEY LARGO (1948): A returning veteran (Humphrey Bogart) tangles with a ruthless gangster (Edward G. Robinson) during a hurricane while falling for his dead war buddy’s widow (Lauren Bacall). Claire Trevor steals the film with her Oscar winning performance as the gangster’s alcoholic and emotionally abused girlfriend. Dir. John Huston
1:00 PM
BACALL ON BOGART (1988): Lauren Bacall hosts this extraordinary documentary on her life on- and off-screen with her late husband, Humphrey Bogart. The pair made several seminal noirs together Howard Hawks’ The Big Sleep (1946), Delmer Daves’ Dark Passage (1947) and John Huston’s Key Largo (1948). Bogart also starred in the film noir that started the genre, John Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1939). Dir. David Heeley
Tuesday, September 17, 8:45 PM – 12:45 AM
8:45 PM
MURDER AHOY (1964): Miss Marple takes to the seas to investigate murder on a naval training ship for delinquent boys. This one is an original screenplay with only one element borrowed from Agatha Miss Marple story They Do It with Mirrors. Dir. George Pollock
10:45 PM
THE LADY VANISHES (1938): A young bride-to-be Iris (Margaret Lockwood), traveling across Europe by train, meets a charming spinster Miss Froy (Dame May Whitty), who then disappears into thin air. When no believes Miss Froy even existed outside Iris’ imagination, including Dr. Hartz (Paul Lukas), a brain surgeon, she turns investigator and finds herself drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure. A young musicologist (Michael Redgrave) helps her with her quest. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Tuesday, September 17, 7:00 PM
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958): Orson Welles’ masterpiece about a narcotics agent (Charlton Heston) who unintentionally put his wife (Janet Leigh) in grave danger when he investigates a crooked cop (Orson Welles). Utterly fantastic supporting performance by Marlene Dietrich as a Mexican Gypsy whore- no, really, I mean it. Dir. Orson Welles
Wednesday, September 18, 3:00 PM – 8:45 PM
3:00 PM
WHITE HEAT (1949): “Top of the world, Ma!” A G-man (Edmond O'Brien) infiltrates a gang run by a mother-fixated psychotic, James Cagney in a standout performance. This film marks the cinematic movement away from the traditional Warner Brothers’ portrayal of the gangster to the more cynical and psychological film noir interpretation. Virginia Kellogg garnered an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story for the film. Pointless trivia: Naked Gun 33 1/3 borrowed the plot. Dir. Raoul Walsh
5:00 PM
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1946): Drifter Frank (John Garfield) takes a job with roadside diner owner Nick Smith (Ceil Kellaway). Frank begins a torrid affair with Nick’s younger and extremely sexy wife (Lana Turner). Betrayal, murder, perversion of the law, and divine justice follow. Based on the novel by James M. Cain. Dir. Tay Garnett
7:00 PM
BORN TO KILL (1947): This utterly bizarre film noir details the torrid affair between a killer (Lawrence Tierney) and the narcissistic woman (Claire Trevor) who witnessed his crime. He marries her sister and things really heat up between the amoral pair. Dir. Robert Wise
Friday, September 20, 6:00 AM
STRANGERS ON A TRAIN (1951): Childlike but charming psychopath Bruno (Robert Walker) suggests that he and Guy (Farley Granger), a tennis player with political ambitions, crisscross murders. Unfortunately, Guy realizes too late that Bruno wasn’t joking. Guy’s unwanted wife shows up murdered and he has no alibi. Screenplay by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith. D.P. Robert Burks’ outstanding work earned an Oscar nomination for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Friday, September 20, 6:00 AM – 5:00 PM
11:00 AM
BERLIN EXPRESS (1948): A multinational group of travelers find themselves thrown together to thwart the assassination of a prominent pacifist scientist by defiant Nazis bent on destabilizing post-war Germany. This improbable but intelligent thriller is a true rarity: a shot-on-location look at the resistance Allied powers faced reorganizing the vanquished German citizenry in the aftermath of WWII. Robert Ryan (the laconic American) and Merle Oberon (trying a sketchy French accent) head a cast comprising representatives of each Allied Zone: Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. Although spiced with shadowy noir dramatics (lensed by Oberon’s husband, Lucien Ballard), the film’s most fascinating aspect is its time capsule view of global geopolitics in the rapidly closing window between the Marshall Plan and the building of the Berlin Wall. Dir. Jacques Tourneur
12:30 PM
THE TALL TARGET (1951): In this film noir cloaked as historical fiction, a determined detective (Dick Powell) tries to prevent the assassination of President-elect Abraham Lincoln during the train ride to his inauguration. It’s helmed by legendary noir director Anthony Mann and shot by Paul Vogel, the cinematographer responsible for Lady in the Lake’s first person P.O.V. Dir. Anthony Mann
2:00 PM
TERROR ON A TRAIN (1955): Birmingham’s Chief Constable (Harold Warrender) enlists the aid of retired Major Peter Lyncort (Glenn Ford), a former member of the Royal Canadian Engineers' bomb disposal unit, when the police find a bomb on a train filled with explosives. Lyncort’s marital problems add more pressure to an already tense situation. Dir. Ted Tetzlaff
3:30 PM
THE NARROW MARGIN (1952): In this seminal noir, a tough cop (Charles McGraw) meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's moll, (Marie Windsor) on a tense train ride. Can he keep her alive long enough for her to testify? Dir. Richard Fleischer
Saturday, September 21, 11:30 AM
EDGE OF THE CITY (1957): A black stevedore, (Sidney Poitier) and a white army deserter (John Cassavetes) forge a deep bond while attempting to stand up to union corruption. Jack Warden co-stars as their abusive boss. Dir. Martin Ritt
Saturday, September 21, 5:00 PM – 9:00 PM
5:00 PM
DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS (1995): Denzel Washington stars as "Easy" Rawlins, a WWII veteran in Los Angeles who picks up some freelance detective work searching for a mysterious white woman, Daphne Monet (Jennifer Beals), who's hiding out in the city's African American enclave. Before Easy knows what's hit him, he's up to his ears in crooked cops, cutthroat crooks, and corrupt politicians. Featuring spectacular supporting turns by Don Cheadle and Tom Sizemore, a terrific score by Elmer Bernstein, and vivid period cinematography by Tak Fujimoto. Dir. Carl Franklin
7:00 PM
ONE FALSE MOVE (1992): Violent criminals Ray (Billy Bob Thornton) and Pluto (Michael Beach) go on the lam with Ray’s girlfriend Fantasia (Cynda Williams) after they murder and rip-off a series of drug dealers. The FBI believes they are headed to Fantasia’s small hometown in Arkansas. The feds coordinate with the local sheriff Dale (Bill Paxton) who has a personal interest in the fugitives. Co-written by Thornton and Tom Epperson. Dir. Carl Franklin
Saturday, September 21, 9:00 PM & Sunday, September 22, 7:00 AM
SPLIT SECOND (1953): In this tense thriller, escaped convicts hold hostages in a ghost town that's the target of a nuclear bomb test. One of the cons (Stephen McNally) falls for one of the one of the hostages (Alexis Smith) and things get even tenser. Dir. Dick Powell
Monday, September 23, 11:00 PM
HARPER (1966): In this neo-noir, soon to be divorced private eye (Paul Newman) sets out to find the missing millionaire husband for his crippled wife (Lauren Bacall). The trail leads to a religious cult and a kidnapping plot. His investigation also leads him to Shelley Winters as a faded starlet. Janet Leigh plays his estranged wife whom Harper still loves. Dir. Jack Smight
Tuesday, September 24, 9:30 AM -5:00 PM
A mini-noir marathon
6:30 AM
CRY WOLF (1947): A woman (Barbara Stanwyck) visits her late husband's family to claim her inheritance and soon finds herself in conflict with her scientist brother-in-law (Errol Flynn). Things take a gothic twist when she discovers agonizing cries coming from his secret laboratory. Richard Basehart, as always, raises the film out of its slightly silly story with his supporting performance. Dir. Peter Godfrey
8:00 AM
THE RED HOUSE (1947): In this Southern Gothic noir, young and innocent Meg (Allene Roberts) lives with her Uncle Pete (Edward G. Robinson) and Aunt Ellen (Judith Anderson) on an isolated farm. When Meg asks her friend Nat to help Pete on the farm, she unwittingly stirs up a tragic past centered on a mysterious “red house” hidden on her uncle’s property. Miklos Rózsa’s haunting score contributes much to this disturbing thriller. Based on the novel by George Agnew Chamberlain. Dir. Delmer Daves
10:00 AM
FOG OVER FRISCO (1934): Heiress Val Bradford (Margaret Lindsay) investigates the disappearance of her reckless sister Arlene (Bette Davis) who has been playing around in the San Francisco underworld, along with her ineffectual fiancé (Lyle Talbot), In the process, Val joins up with reporter Tony Sterling (Donald Woods) and press photographer Izzy Wright (Hugh Herbert). Dir. William Dieterle
11:15 AM
THE SEVENTH VICTIM (1943): A young woman (Kim Hunter) leaves school to investigate the disappearance of her beautiful and mysterious older sister (Jean Brooks). She finds out some interesting facts, one, her sister was married and two, she was part of a satanic set. The husband (Hugh Beaumont), a poet (Erford Gage) and a psychiatrist (Tom Conway) aid her search for the truth about her sister. Produced by horror icon Val Lewton. Dir. Mark Robson
12:45 PM
A STOLEN LIFE (1946): Wealthy aspiring painter Kate (Bette Davis) falls for Bill (Glenn Ford). Her manipulative twin Pat, also played by Davis, steals him away. Kate tries to concentrate on her art after the pair marries, taking lessons from a talented but arrogant painter (Dane Clark). A twist of fate gives her the chance to impersonate her sister and fulfill her dream of being Bill’s wife, but things do not go as planned. Dir. Curtis Bernhardt
2:45 PM
DEAD RINGER (1964): In this late era noir, Bette Davis stars as twins, the rich and mean Margaret and the other poor and put-upon spinster Edith meet after many years at the funeral of Margaret’s husband Frank. Edith snaps when she discovers from Margaret why Frank dumped her and married Margaret instead. Edith shoots her sister, takes her place and tries to make “Edith’s” death look like a suicide. Edith's boyfriend, police sergeant Jim Hobbson (Karl Malden) and Margaret's lover Tony (Peter Lawford) soon complicates things. Dir. Paul Henreid
Wednesday, September 25, 9:15 AM
BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955): A one-armed veteran (Spencer Tracy) uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero's family. Noir icon Robert Ryan shines as the bigoted boss of the town. This film earned three Oscar nominations: Spencer Tracy for Best Actor in a Leading Role; John Sturges for Best Director; and Best Writing, Screenplay for Millard Kaufman. Dir. John Sturges
Wednesday, September 25, 10:30 AM
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962) A crazed, aging star (Bette Davis) torments her sister (Joan Crawford) in a decaying Hollywood mansion. This beautiful Hollywood gothic noir features a duet of superbly fearless performances by two legendary actresses. Nominated for five Oscars, but only one win, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White for Norma Koch Dir. Robert Aldrich
Thursday, September 26, 9:30 PM
KLUTE (1971) Small town detective John Klute (Donald Sutherland) journeys to the Big Apple to search for a missing friend. He has only one lead: an obscene letter from the man to New York City prostitute Bree Daniels (Jane Fonda). He unravels both the mystery of the missing man and of the call girl. Fonda won a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her portrayal of the disturbed and disturbing Bree. Dir. Alan J. Pakula
Saturday, September 28, 3:15 PM
MURDER, MY SWEET (1944): The film that graduated Dick Powell from romantic musical lead to noir tough guy. Raymond Chandler’s detective and knight errant, Philip Marlowe's (Powell) search for a singer name Velma, leads him through a tangled web of blackmail and murder. Along the way, he finds himself embroiled with a wealthy man’s unscrupulous gold-digging wife (Claire Trevor) and the step-daughter that despises her (Anne Shirley). Mike Mazurki gives a standout performance as the mentally challenged and extremely physically powerful ex-con that hires Marlowe to find Velma. “Cute as pants.” Dir. Edward Dmytryk
Saturday, September 28, 9:30 PM & Sunday, September 29, 7:00 AM
HIGH WALL (1947): Quintessential postwar noir! Brain-damaged vet Robert Taylor confesses to murdering his unfaithful wife and is sentenced to a sanitarium. His doctor (sexy Audrey Totter) gradually realizes he might not be guilty. Taylor gives his best performance ever in this neglected gem, which glistens with director Curtis Bernhardt's feverish rain-soaked noirscapes. Dir. Curtis Bernhardt
Sunday, September 29, 2:45 PM
VERTIGO (1958): An old friend hires ex-cop Scotty (Jimmy Stewart) to follow his beautiful but emotionally disturbed wife (Kim Novak) through the gorgeously shot streets of San Francisco. Stewart gives an intensely dark performance as Scotty spirals further and further into romantic obsession. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
Monday, September 30, 5:00 PM
IN COLD BLOOD (1967) Bleak adaptation of Truman Capote’s groundbreaking true crime book. Two men (Robert Blake and Scott Wilson) brutally murder a small-town Kansas family, thinking that ten thousand dollars is hidden in the house. They flee with the forty-three dollars that they actually found, and the FBI hunts them. Dir. Richard Brooks
Marriage on the run: Cathy O'Donnell and Farley Granger in They Live by Night on September 2
George Raft and James Cagney in Each Dawn I Die on September 2
Myrna Loy and William Powell in The Thin Man on September 4
Broderick Crawford, Mercedes McCambridge and John Ireland in All the King's Men on September 6
Eddie Muller presents Out of the Past on the September 7-8 edition of NOIR ALLEY
Brothers Tom Conway and George Sanders in The Falcon's Brother on September 8
Joan Crawford stars in A Woman's Face on September 9
Noir western Blood on the Moon screens September 10
Tom Conway stars in Criminal Court on September 10
Born To Kill screens September 10
Ida Lupino in Out of the Fog on September 11
Donald Pleasence stars in Dr. Crippen on September 12
Val Lewton's haunting The Seventh Victim on September 15 and 24
Simone Simone returns in The Curse of the Cat People on September 15
Boris Karloff in The Isle of the Dead on September 15
Val Lewton's The Ghost Ship screens September 15
Jacques Tourneur's I Walked with a Zombie on September 15
Boris Karloff stars in The Body Snatcher on September 15
Rossellini's Germany Year Zero screens September 13
Faye Emerson stars in Lady Gangster on September 14
Hedy Lamar stars in a Lady without a Passport presented by Eddie Muller on the September 14-15 edition of NOIR ALLEY
Lauren Bacall lights up in To Have and To Have Not on September 16
North Beach, San Francisco — on the set of of Dark Passage on September 16
Claire Trevor in Key Largo on September 16
Margaret Rutherford in Murder Ahoy on September 17
Charters and Caldicott awoken in The Lady Vanishes on September 26
James Cagney stars in White Heat on September 18
Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train on September 20
Berlin Express screens September 20
Marie Windsor and Charles McGraw in The Narrow Margin on September 20
Denzel Washington stars in Devil in a Blue Dress on September 21
Cynda Williams in One False Move on September 21
Dick Powell directs: Split Second presented by Eddie Muller on the September 21-22 edition of NOIR ALLEY
Paul Newman is Harper screening September 23
Gothic noir, The Red House, on September 24
Bette Davis and Karl Malden in A Stolen Life on September 24
Ernest Borgnine confronts Spencer Tracy in Bad Day at Black Rock on September 25
Joan Crawford and Bette Davis in What Ever Happened to Baby Jane on September 25
Dick Powell as Marlowe in Murder, My Sweet on September 28
Eddie Muller presents High Wall on the September 28-29 edition of NOIR ALLEY
Scott Wilson in In Cold Blood on September 30