A new photo for FNB! By Halstan Williams, www.halstan.com
So looking forward to the dark this month! There are three great fests taking place in April.
“Criss Cross” is the first of many excellent film noir titles at the third annual TCM Classic Film Festival, which this year is celebrating style in the movies, from fashion to architecture and everything in between.
The festival runs Thursday through Sunday. “Criss Cross” screens at 10 p.m. Thursday and the Film Noir Foundation’s czar of noir Eddie Muller will introduce the film.
Other noirs include: “Raw Deal,” “Cry Danger,” “Vertigo,” “Chinatown,” “Fall Guy,” “Night and the City,” “Gun Crazy,” “Marathon Man,” “Seconds,” “To Catch a Thief” and “Black Sunday.”
Kim Novak is one of many Hollywood greats to attend the fest; check out the schedule for more info on events, interviews and discussions. (For a little comic relief from full-on noir fare, the always-entertaining Michael Schlesinger will introduce 1942’s “Who Done It,” in which Bud Abbott and Lou Costello play a pair of would-be writers posing as detectives.)
Starting Monday, April 16, is the 16th annual City of Lights City of Angels (COL•COA) film festival, which presents 34 French features and 21 shorts. Opening the fest is the North American premiere of “My Way” (“CloClo”), a biopic about French pop star Claude François. Directed by Florent-Emilio Siri, the film stars Jérémie Renier.
Closing the fest on Sunday, April 22, is a comedy called “The Intouchables,” by writer/directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Starring François Cluzet and Omar Sy, “The Intouchables” is the third highest grossing film of all time in France.
Other titles of particular interest include: “Michel Petrucciani,” “38 Witnesses,” “Guilty,” “A Trip to the Moon”/“The Extraordinary Voyage,” “Step Up to the Plate,” “The Art of Love,” “Another Woman’s Life,” “Le Skylab,” “Call Me Savage,” “Paris By Night,” “A Gang Story,” “Early One Morning,” “Hotel du Nord, “Americano, “Polisse” and “The Minister.”
“Paris By Night,” “A Gang Story” and “Early One Morning” are part of COL•COA’s film-noir series on Friday, April 20.
Femme fatale Gloria Grahame stars with Sterling Hayden in 1954’s “Naked Alibi,” the first film in the Hayden tribute. The second: “Suddenly,” 1954.
Friday, April 20, is also the opening night of Noir City: Hollywood, the 14th annual festival of film noir at the Egyptian Theatre, presented in collaboration with the Film Noir Foundation.
Opening night is an Alan Ladd double feature: “The Great Gatsby” and “This Gun for Hire.” The foundation’s Eddie Muller and fellow noir expert Alan K. Rode will introduce the movie.
The stellar lineup includes many rare films, several of which are not on DVD:
“Naked Alibi”/“Suddenly”
“Phantom Lady”/“Black Angel”/“The Window”
“T-Men”/“Strange Impersonation”
“Caged”/“Big House USA”
“Scene of the Crime”/“Reign of Terror”
“Slaughter on Tenth Avenue”/“Edge of the City”
“Johnny O’Clock/“Johnny Allegro”
“Shield for Murder”/“Private Hell 36”
“Okay, America”/“Afraid to Talk”
“The Maltese Falcon”/“City Streets”
“The Postman Always Rings Twice”
“Three Strangers”/“Nobody Lives Forever”
“Circumstantial Evidence”/“Sign of the Ram”
“Mary Ryan, Detective”/“Kid Glove Killer”
See you in the dark!
From FNB readers