Academy Award winner Eva Marie Saint will appear at the Laemmle Royal tonight for a Q&A and screening of “Exodus” (1960), directed by noir great Otto Preminger.
Archives for March 2015
Another outstanding TCM Classic Film Fest!
March 30, 2015 by
A huge thank you to everyone at the TCM Classic Film Fest for another great event. TCM staff outdid themselves in terms of top-notch programming and events, and volunteers went out their way to be pleasant, helpful and polite.
We had a great time binge-watching! One of many highlights was “The French Connection” and Q&A with director William Friedkin and Alec Baldwin at the TCL Chinese Theatre.
I will run a more detailed roundup story at a later date.
What to see, what to see: TCM Classic Film Fest starts today
March 26, 2015 by
The TCM Classic Film Festival is in full swing today and runs through Sunday in Hollywood. “There’s nothing like watching a movie on a screen with a big audience,” said head programmer Charlie Tabesh at yesterday’s press conference. This year’s theme is history and Tabesh added that he is particularly looking forward to the film “1776,” directed by Peter H. Hunt, who will be in attendance along with stars William Daniels and Ken Howard.
Last night, I stopped by the Formosa Café to mingle with fellow scribes. Several people shared my view that it’s tough to decide what to see and to strike a balance between longtime favorites and exciting new discoveries. I know, I know – what a good problem to have!
One thing’s for sure: I will attend the opening party and will see the newly restored film noir “Too Late for Tears” (1949, Byron Haskin), starring Lizabeth Scott, Arthur Kennedy and Dan Duryea.
For now, I will leave you with this shot from one of last year’s poolside screenings at the Hollywood Roosevelt. (Photo courtesy of TCM.) Life is good!
Poolside screenings at the Hollywood Roosevelt are a special treat.
Miss Crawford would have been pleased … I think
March 24, 2015 by
A fun time was had by all Monday night at the Joan Crawford birthday party and screening at Laemmle NoHo 7 in North Hollywood! Thanks to Greg Laemmle and his staff, Warner Archive and Shakar Bakery. And of course everyone who attended!
In case you missed it, here are some vids, pix and a trivia fix.
We showed “Possessed” (1947, Curtis Bernhardt):
and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962, Robert Aldrich):
Trivia Questions
1. What was Joan’s given name and where was she born?
2. The name Joan Crawford was the second-place winner from a contest held by MGM to rename their new star. The top choice was rejected because it already belonged to another actress. What was it?
3. Joan won the Best Actress Oscar for her 1945 performance in “Mildred Pierce.” That was the only time she won but she was nominated for Best Actress two other times. Name the movies.
4. What did Joan’s professional resume have in common with Bette Davis’s as young women?
5. Joan starred with Clark Gable in eight films. Name the first one.
The Laemmle NoHo 7 at night
Film Noir Blonde gushing re: JC
Rat cake, anyone?
Eek! Greg Laemmle reacts to the cake, a superb creation by Shakar Bakery. The cake references an unforgettably gross moment in “Baby Jane.”
Trivia Answers
1. Lucille Fay LeSueur, San Antonio, Texas.
2. Joan Arden.
3. “Possessed” 1947 and “Sudden Fear” 1952
4. They were both dancers – Joan was a Broadway showgirl who came to Hollywood to play flappers (“Our Dancing Daughters” 1928 was a breakout film). She was Fred Astaire’s first on-screen dance partner. Bette Davis studied dance with Martha Graham.
5. “Dance, Fools, Dance” 1931. Their last was “Strange Cargo” 1940. Both married, their affair was called: “the affair that nearly burned Hollywood down.”
Happy Birthday to a noir grande dame, Lady Joan
March 20, 2015 by
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
Film Noir Blonde
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously in Film Noir Blonde and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Pick of the Week: Joan Crawford Marathon & Laemmle’s NoHo 7 Party, Monday, March 23
Next Monday is Joan Crawford’s birthday; she was born March 23, 1905. And, if you’re an Angeleno, you can celebrate all day – first by catching one or more of the seven Crawford movies, including three noirs, running on Turner Classic Movies on Pacific time from 3:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (And on Eastern time, from 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.).
Then, head to Laemmle’s NoHo 7 in North Hollywood (5240 Lankershim Blvd.), and watch two of Crawford’s very best noirs on the big screen starting at 7:30 p.m.: 1947’s too often neglected “Possessed” and 1962’s Robert Aldrich-directed masterpiece, “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” co-starring the one and only Bette Davis and
“He’s just not that into you …” does NOT go over well with Miss Crawford. The very talented Van Heflin plays the heel in “Possessed.”
The event will be co-hosted live (with cake, a trivia contest and prizes) by Film Noir Blonde. Shakar Bakery is providing the cake.
Tickets are $11 for one film or $15 or both. Prizes are courtesy of Warner Archive.
Happy Birthday, Joan!
Film noir titles
8:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m.): “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (Robert Aldrich, 1962)
2 p.m. (11 a.m.): “Flamingo Road” (Michael Curtiz, 1949).
6 p.m. (3 pm.): “Mildred Pierce” (Michael Curtiz, 1945).
Other JC titles: “The Caretakers” (Hall Bartlett, 1963); “Torch Song” (Charles Walters, 1953); “Goodbye, My Fancy” (Vincent Sherman, 1951), “Humoresque” (Jean Negulesco, 1946).
The real-life rivalry of Bette Davis and Joan Crawford infused “Baby Jane” with extra tension.
Saturday, March 21
8:45 a.m. (5:45 a.m.): “White Zombie” (Victor Halperin, 1932).
Sunday, March 22
8 a.m. (5 a.m.): “Gilda” (Charles Vidor, 1946).
2:30 a.m. (11:30 p.m.): “Torment” (Alf Sjoberg, 1944). This psychological thriller about a sadistic teacher (Stig Jarrel) tormenting two young lovers (Mai Zetterling, Alf Kjellin), filmed in pseudo-German expressionist-style, was the first big hit by its young screenwriter: enthusiastic film-noir fan Ingmar Bergman. (In Swedish, with subtitles.)
4:15 a.m. (1:15 a.m.): “Miss Julie” (Alf Sjoberg, 1951). The famous prize-winning film version of playwright August Strindberg’s dark, terror-filled theatrical classic about a sadomasochistic romance between a susceptible aristocrat (Anita Bork) and a brutal groom (Ulf Palme). (In Swedish, with subtitles.)
Tuesday, March 24
2:15 a.m. (11:15 p.m.): “Wait Until Dark” (Terence Young, 1967).
Wednesday, March 25
10 p.m. (7 p.m.): “The Blue Gardenia” (Fritz Lang, 1953).
‘The Long Goodbye’ is a highlight of Altman at the Aero
March 19, 2015 by
On Friday, March 20, the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica will present “The Long Goodbye” (1973, Robert Altman) as part of a weekend tribute to this stellar director. This event is free to all current American Cinematheque members, with regular pricing for non-members. There will be an introduction by Kathryn Altman, who will sign her book Altman in the lobby at 6:30 p.m. The movie is at 7:30 p.m.
The Long Goodbye/1973/United Artists/112 min.
One of the best films of the ’70s or an ugly, boring travesty of a well respected detective novel?
Elliott Gould and Nina Van Pallandt in “The Long Goodbye.”
Decide for yourself as you watch Robert Altman’s 1973 movie of “The Long Goodbye,” by Raymond Chandler. The film, starring Elliott Gould as private investigator Philip Marlowe, divided critics, earning the above-mentioned rave from Time Out and the snooty slam from Leslie Halliwell.
It was primarily Gould’s free-wheeling interpretation of the beloved PI that drew ire. Charles Champlin called him an “untidy, unshaven, semi-literate dimwit slob.”
An entertaining yarn, soaked in ’70s atmosphere, the movie captures the sunny, scruffy, solipsistic mood and look of Malibu, Calif., at the start of the Me Decade. Marlowe’s next door neighbors, for example, are pot-brownie-baking, clothing-optional candlemakers. We only see them from a distance but in a way they are timeless party girls, a ’70s version of “The Girls Next Door.”
And “The Long Goodbye” stretches the vocabulary of film noir. As Foster Hirsch, author of “Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo Noir,” writes: “For all its self-indulgence and contradiction – the film both satirizes and seeks acceptance as a cool, contemporary L.A. mystery story – Altman’s ‘new age’ noir suggested the genre’s elasticity at a time when it was considered passé. Produced before nouveau noir had taken root, ‘The Long Goodbye’ anticipates the full-force genre revival of the 1980s and 1990s.”
We meet Marlowe late one night as he’s trying to round up food for his hungry cat (Morris the Cat in the role that launched him to stardom). The story spices up when Marlowe’s friend Terry Lennox (Jim Bouton) asks him, after a marital spat, to drive him to Tijuana.
Marlowe doesn’t have much else going on (besides cat care, of course) and so they make the trip; Marlowe heads back on his own to find that Lennox’s wife is dead. The police press Marlowe for info on Terry’s whereabouts, hoping that a little jail time will jog his memory (David Carradine plays Marlowe’s cellmate). They ease up after Terry Lennox commits suicide, having first written a letter confessing to the murder.
Marlowe’s not buying the suicide, but turns his attention to a new client. The sun-kissed and sophisticated Eileen Wade (Nina van Pallandt) wants Marlowe to find her missing hubby Roger Wade, a boozy writer, (played by the wonderful Sterling Hayden, a veteran of film noirs like “Asphalt Jungle” and “The Killing”).
Searching for Roger isn’t all that challenging, but Marlowe has his hands full with a visit from psychopathic gangster Marty Augustine (director Mark Rydell) and his hoods (including young Arnold Schwarzenegger). They’re sniffing around for a load of cash that Terry Lennox was supposed to deliver to Mexico. Surprise, surprise, the cash never made it. So the surly, anti-social Marlowe plods on toward the truth, trying not to get any sand on the shag carpets. [Read more…]
Feast your eyes: TCMFF, Noir City and COLCOA
March 18, 2015 by
Over the next several weeks, there will be lots to see on the big screen in Los Angeles.
First, the TCM Classic Film Festival runs March 26-29 in Hollywood. This year’s theme is history as portrayed by Hollywood. Noir treats include: “Too Late for Tears,” “Nightmare Alley” and “Psycho.” More info is here.
The festival takes place at various venues in Hollywood.
Tickets are now on sale for Noir City Hollywood. The 17th annual edition of the fest runs April 3-19 at the American Cinematheque’s Egyptian Theatre. There’s so much noir goodness – oops, I mean badness – to choose from. I am particularly looking forward to the Humphrey Bogart programming as well as the Dorothy B. Hughes double feature: “Ride the Pink Horse” and “The Fallen Sparrow.” Criterion just released “Ride the Pink Horse” on Blu-ray and DVD, which is great, but I can’t wait to see this at the Egyptian.
The Egyptian Theater is at 6712 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood, CA 90028.
Mais oui! The always-outstanding City of Angels City of Lights (COLCOA) festival runs April 20-28. “The Soft Skin” restored? I’m in! Check the web site for more info starting March 31. This is a first-rate festival and should not be missed!
The COLCOA festival is held at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, 90046.
Film Noir File: Carol Reed’s ‘Odd Man Out’ is a great Irish drama and a great thriller
March 13, 2015 by
By Film Noir Blonde and Mike Wilmington
The Film Noir File is FNB’s guide to classic film noir, neo-noir and pre-noir on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). The times are Eastern Standard and (Pacific Standard). All films without a new review have been covered previously and can be searched in the FNB archives (at right).
Pick of the Week
“Odd Man Out” (U.K.; 1947, Carol Reed). Tuesday, March 17, 8 p.m. (5 p.m.).
Carol Reed’s 1947 British thriller “Odd Man Out” is one of the great suspense dramas and one of the great film noirs. It’s an Irish odyssey that wrings every drop of tension from its subject. It’s also a story of love and death that plunges you into deepest night, and cracks your heart as you watch it.
James Mason always considered Johnny his best performance.
The film revolves around Irish revolutionary Johnny McQueen, played by James Mason in a near-perfect performance.
As the film follows its dying protagonist – shot during an I. R. A. bank robbery and desperately trying to make his way to safety while being hunted by both the police and his friends – it creates an indelible portrait of a city at night, populated by a gallery of unforgettable characters.
That city is Belfast, though it’s never named as such. It’s a metropolis torn into bloody fragments, yet also seething with humanity, humor, embattled faith, bloody conflict and mad poetry. The city is stunningly photographed in rich blacks and ivory whites by cinematographer Robert Krasker in nearly the same palette he and Reed later used for 1949’s “The Third Man.”
Mason’s Johnny is not a naturally violent outlaw, but an idealist who is simply trying to hold onto life. The wounded IRA man runs a gauntlet of terror, escaping from the bank where he was shot, wandering from place to place, from homes to bars to city scrapheaps, constantly a fugitive, sometimes helped, often recognized, safe only for fleeting moments.
Kathleen Ryan plays Johnny’s love interest.
Johnny’s main contacts are his lover Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan), also loved by the stern police inspector (Denis O’Dea) on Johnny’s trail; the elderly, frail, art fancier Father Tom (W. G. Fay); and an opportunistic little man named Shell (F. J. McCormick), who lives in an attic with two fellow eccentrics – Robert Newton as the alcoholic painter Lukey, and Elwyn Brooke-Jones as the failed medical student Tober.
Johnny’s suffering keeps bringing out the best and the worst in the people he encounters. The first act of “Odd Man Out” is a near-Hitchcockian masterpiece of suspense. The final act hits a mixture of irony, poignancy and terror that few films reach.
Mason always considered Johnny his best performance, and it may well be – though other Mason performances are in the same class: Humbert Humbert in “Lolita,” Norman Maine in “A Star is Born,” Ed Avery in “Bigger Than Life,” Trigorin in “The Sea Gull” and Sir Randolph in “The Shooting Party.” McCormick’s Shell is a magnificent portrayal as well – beautifully restrained and sly, full of fallibility, weakness and a near-demonic will. You’ll never forget Shell even if you didn’t know or won’t remember this superb actor’s name.
The script, a gem, was adapted from his bestselling novel by F. L. Green, who was born in England and died (in 1949) in Belfast, and playwright R. C. Sherriff (“Journey’s End”). It was produced and directed by Reed, then at the peak of his powers as a filmmaker.
If you’ve never seen “Odd Man Out,” try to catch it this time: a great Irish drama and film noir, a great Carol Reed film and James Mason performance, and a great story of suffering and redemption, while running and hiding in Belfast, city of night.
Saturday, March 14
7 a.m. (4 a.m.): “Killer’s Kiss” (Stanley Kubrick, 1955).
8:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m.): “The Big Clock” (John Farrow, 1948).
12 a.m. (9 p.m.): “Dead End” (William Wyler, 1937).
2 a.m. (11 p.m.). “The Town that Dreaded Sundown” (Charles B. Pierce, 1976). Based on fact, this indie low-budget movie about a Texas serial killer influenced a host of less factual slasher movies later on. With Ben Johnson and Dawn Wells.
3:30 a.m. (12:30 a.m.): “In Cold Blood” (Richard Brooks, 1967).
Monday, March 16
10 a.m. (7 a.m.): “Fury” (Fritz Lang, 1936).
11:45 a.m. (8:45 a.m.): “Saboteur” (Alfred Hitchcock, 1942).
1:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m.) “The Wages of Fear” (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1953). One of the greatest of all suspense films, this legendary French shocker is Clouzot’s nerve-rending account of four expatriate drivers trying to escape a horrible little South American backwater by driving two truckloads of nitroglycerin to a burning oil field over dangerous mountain roads.
A masterpiece of dark cynicism and blazing suspense, it’s even tenser and scarier than Clouzot’s more famous thriller “Diabolique.” The film boasts an incredible script (by Clouzot and Jerome Geronimi, from Georges Arnaud’s novel), amazing camerawork and razor-sharp editing. There’s also a fantastic cast: Yves Montand, Charles Vanel, Peter Van Eyck, Folco Lulli, Daniel Gelin and the director’s long-suffering wife, Vera Clouzot.
“You sit there, waiting for the theater to explode!” claimed the 1954 American theater ads, and they weren’t far wrong. William Friedkin’s 1977 remake “Sorcerer,” with Roy Scheider, though a fine, underrated film, pales by comparison. (French, with subtitles.)
Also available from Criterion in DVD and Blu-ray with a documentary as well as interviews with Montand and others.
Laura Linney plays Patricia Highsmith, Rendez-Vous with French Cinema opens at the Crest Theater in Westwood
March 12, 2015 by
Laura Linney
Laura Linney plays the role of crime writer Patricia Highsmith in the new stage drama “Switzerland,” by Joanna Murray-Smith, at the Geffen Playhouse in Westwood. The play opens Friday and runs through April 19.
Highsmith (1921-1995), a Texas-born novelist and short-story writer, was much admired in Europe and is considered part of the Existentialist tradition started by Dostoyevsky, Conrad, Kafka and Camus. Alfred Hitchcock’s 1951 film adaptation of her novel, “Strangers on a Train,” which she published in 1950, put her career on the fast track.
In the play, Highsmith is near the end of her life and residing in the Swiss Alps. A visit from a young American man (played by Seth Numrich) sets the drama in motion.
“There’s something sort of exotic about [doing theater in Los Angeles],” Linney told the LA Times.
The Geffen Playhouse is at 10886 Le Conte Ave. in Westwood.
Also starting Friday in Westwood: The Crest Theater, in association with Emerging Pictures, will present the 20th annual Rendez-Vous with French Cinema – a first-time look at some of France’s most exciting modern cinema. Rendez-Vous runs through March 19.
The Crest Theater is 1262 Westwood Blvd.
Celebrate Joan Crawford’s birthday at Laemmle’s NoHo 7
March 10, 2015 by
See “Possessed” & “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” on the big screen!
Laemmle Theatres and Film Noir Blonde are pleased to present a double feature on Monday, March 23, at Laemmle’s NoHo 7, to mark Joan Crawford’s birthday.
A gifted actress and the ultimate movie star, Joan Crawford found that by the mid-1940s, her career had stalled. She restarted it with the help of film noir, namely 1945’s “Mildred Pierce,” by director Michael Curtiz, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar. Whether she played a tough broad or a lady in distress, Crawford was especially well suited for the genre’s expressionistic intensity. She starred in many film-noir titles between 1945 and 1962.
On Monday, March 23, Laemmle’s NoHo 7 will pay tribute to her legacy with a special double bill from Warner Bros.: “Possessed” (1947, Curtis Bernhardt) and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962, Robert Aldrich).
The program will start at 7:30 p.m., with “Possessed” and “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” at 9:55. Tickets are $11 each, $15 for the double feature.
There will be a special birthday cake for Ms. Crawford’s fans and Warner Bros. Archive will provide select prizes. Laemmle’s NoHo 7 is at 5240 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91601, 818-762-4600. Laemmle’s main number is 310-478-3836.
Film Noir Blonde
Joining the party will be Jacqueline Fitzgerald, founder and editor of FilmNoirBlonde.com. Fitzgerald will introduce the movies.
In “Possessed” (also starring Van Heflin and Raymond Massey) Crawford gives a memorable performance as a woman who can’t get over a bad relationship. In “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” she is Blanche Hudson, a once-glamorous Hollywood actress who lives with her demented sister (Bette Davis), a former child star.
Full reviews are available here:
“Possessed” http://bit.ly/1saxBHV
“Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” http://bit.ly/1z7ctQ7
From FNB readers