Dark Corners:
Film Noir from the Fox Archive
From June 6 through July 2, the Gene Siskel Film Center presents Dark Corners: Film Noir from the Fox Archive.
Following film noir series in 2001, 2004, 2006, and early 2008, we take another tour of the perennially fascinating cycle of moody crime movies that arose from the anxieties of post-World War II America, this time concentrating on the output of one of the most important noir studios, 20th Century Fox. Encompassed in the ten-film series are tributes to two recently deceased icons of noir: actor Richard Widmark and director Jules Dassin.
Fox was one of the first studios to explore the shadowy terrain of film noir, producing such early ventures in the movement as the 1942 Broadway mystery I WAKE UP SCREAMING and the 1944 Otto Preminger classic LAURA. At the same time that it was pioneering film noir, Fox was also leading the postwar semi-documentary movement with such fact-based, location-shot thrillers as HOUSE ON 92ND STREET and CALL NORTHSIDE 777. These two branches of the crime genre easily intermingled, and, as a result, Fox noirs tended to be grittier, with a more contemporary edge, than those from other studios, often incorporating extensive location work (as in KISS OF DEATH, THIEVES’ HIGHWAY, NIGHT AND THE CITY, and PANIC IN THE STREETS).
Illinois-raised Richard Widmark, who died on March 24 at the age of 93, made a sensational, Oscar-nominated debut as cackling psycho-killer Tommy Udo in KISS OF DEATH (1947). He continued to be a mainstay of Fox crime films, action films, and thrillers, evolving from psychotic villains (ROAD HOUSE) to antisocial antiheroes (NIGHT AND THE CITY, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET) to more upstanding heroes (PANIC IN THE STREETS), but never losing the high-strung intensity that marked his first performances. The five Widmark films mentioned above are all included in this series.
Jules Dassin, who died on March 31 at the age of 96, made his mark with a series of vigorous crime films in the late 1940s, including BRUTE FORCE, THE NAKED CITY, THIEVES’ HIGHWAY, and NIGHT AND THE CITY, the last two of which are included in this series. After being blacklisted, Dassin relocated to Europe, where he resurrected his career with such international hits as RIFIFI, NEVER ON SUNDAY, and TOPKAPI.
These visually resplendent films are all being presented in top-quality archival prints from the vaults of 20th Century Fox. The Film Center is pleased to welcome back Fox archivist Schawn Belston, who previously appeared here in 2005 to present a newly restored print of WILL SUCCESS SPOIL ROCK HUNTER? He will be present at the June 14 screening of NIGHT AND THE CITY to discuss film preservation and his experiences working with Jules Dassin on the restoration of the film.
Dark Corners: Film Noir from the Fox Archive was programmed by Brian Block and Martin Rubin.
Special thanks to Schawn Belston and Caitlin Robertson of 20th Century Fox.
--Martin Rubin
Saturday double-bill discount!
Buy a ticket for the 3:00 film noir on any Saturday in June, and get a ticket for the second film noir that day at this discount rate (tickets must be purchased at the same time): General Admission $7; Students $5; Members $4.
THE DARK CORNER
1946, Henry Hathaway, USA, 99 min.
With Lucille Ball, Mark Stevens
In this moody Manhattan murder mystery, a private dick on the skids (Stevens) is framed for murder, but his feisty gal Friday (Ball) won’t let him give up. Heading the supporting cast are William Bendix as a thug in a white suit, and Clifton Webb as a supercilious art dealer with a young wife (Cathy Downs) who’s too hot to handle. Alain Silver, in the seminal tome Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference to the American Style, calls DARK CORNER “the prototypical reflection of postwar malaise in film noir and a more effective statement about the price of social readjustment than THE BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES.” 35mm. (MR)
Friday, June 13, 6:00 pm
Monday, June 16, 8:00 pm
FALLEN ANGEL
1945, Otto Preminger, USA, 98 min.
With Dana Andrews, Alice Faye
A down-to-his-last-dollar drifter (Andrews) wanders into a seaside burg where the men all buzz around a hash-house honey pot (Linda Darnell), and a wealthy spinster (Faye) provides an irresistible target for seduction and betrayal. The anti-ANDY HARDY, FALLEN ANGEL presents a rancorous vision of small-town America, full of spite and frustration, but director Preminger, always one to avoid the pigeonhole, counterpoints the cynicism with a convincing testament to the power of love. 35mm. (MR)
Saturday, June 28, 4:45 pm
Wednesday, July 2, 6:00 pm
KISS OF DEATH
1947, Henry Hathaway, USA, 98 min.
With Victor Mature, Richard Widmark
This famous crime thriller is a hybrid of 1930s gangster film, postwar semi-documentary, and film noir. Most of the noir bite is supplied by Widmark’s legendary debut performance as Tommy Udo, who took screen psychopathy to a new level with his sadistic giggle, stylish black-shirted wardrobe, and envelope-pushing violence against sacrosanct targets. Victor Mature, solid but overshadowed, stars as a crook pressured by the district attorney (Brian Donleavy) to turn squealer. 35mm. (MR)
Saturday, June 21, 3:00 pm
Monday, June 23, 7:45 pm
LAURA
1944, Otto Preminger, USA, 88 min.
With Dana Andrews, Gene Tierney
One of the greatest American films of the 1940s, Preminger’s perverse, elegant, tightly scripted mystery-thriller-romance looks better than ever. After a glamorous Manhattan career woman gets a shotgun makeover, the police detective investigating the murder finds himself falling in love with the deceased. Andrews and Tierney make one of the most appealing noir couples, but they are nearly eclipsed by another duo: Andrews and his unexpected alter ego Clifton Webb, the latter in a legendary performance as acid-tongued Broadway columnist Waldo Lydecker. 35mm. (MR)
Friday, June 27, 6:00 pm
Saturday, June 28, 3:00 pm
NIGHTMARE ALLEY
1947, Edmund Goulding, USA, 111 min.
With Tyrone Power, Joan Blondell
“Excitingly tawdry...not easily forgotten.”--J. Hoberman, Village Voice
This legendary, long-unavailable classic of carnie noir taught many people the real meaning of the word “geek.” In a radical departure from his matinee-idol image, Power plays a sleazy sideshow hustler who’ll stop at nothing to grab the brass ring. Teaming up with an unscrupulous psychiatrist (belle dame sans merci Helen Walker), he parlays a phony mind-reading act into a sure-fire scam to fleece rich suckers on Chicago’s North Side. 35mm. (MR)
Friday, June 6, 6:00 pm
Monday, June 9, 8:00 pm
Schawn Belston in person!
NIGHT AND THE CITY
1950, Jules Dassin, UK/USA, 101 min.
With Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney
“Breathlessly exhilarating...NIGHT AND THE CITY is no less than the archetypal film noir.”--Nick Schager, Slant
Shot in London while director Dassin tried to sidestep the blacklist, this high-pressure man-on-the-run thriller stars Widmark in his most flamboyant performance as Harry Fabian, a smalltime hustler with delusions of grandeur who sees a chance to take over the London wrestling racket. The film’s visceral portrait of the wrestling milieu features an unforgettable movie debut by 71-year-old former champ Stanislaus Zbyszko, whose role here was recently cited by David Mamet as an inspiration for his new film REDBELT. 35mm. (MR)
Schawn Belston, Vice President of Film Preservation and Asset Management at 20th Century Fox, will be present for audience discussion at the Saturday screening.
Saturday, June 14, 3:00 pm
Wednesday, June 18, 8:00 pm
PANIC IN THE STREETS
1950, Elia Kazan, USA, 93 min.
With Richard Widmark, Jack Palance
GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT and A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE may have won the Oscars, but PANIC is the real gem of Kazan’s early career. Zealous Public Health officer Widmark and old-school cop Paul Douglas team up to hunt a murderer (Palance in an impressive debut) who is carrying a deadly plague infection that will go epidemic in 48 hours. Gritty New Orleans waterfront locations and tension-charged long takes set the tone in this genuinely exciting thriller with an apocalyptic edge. 35mm. (MR)
Saturday, June 7, 4:45 pm
Thursday, June 12, 6:00 pm
PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET
1953, Samuel Fuller, USA, 80 min.
With Richard Widmark, Jean Peters
A minor phenomenon of the early Cold War, the anti-commie genre produced one indisputable masterpiece: PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, in which a cynical pickpocket (Widmark) must choose between patriotism and profit after he swipes a top-secret microfilm. Writer-director Fuller displays a prodigious range of stylistic invention, finding fresh visual concepts for nearly every scene, but the key ingredient is the close-up, with the camera shoved in the actors’ faces so aggressively you can almost see their breath fogging the lens. 35mm. (MR)
Saturday, June 7, 3:00 pm
Wednesday, June 11, 8:00 pm
ROAD HOUSE
1948, Jean Negulesco, USA, 95 min.
With Ida Lupino, Richard Widmark
The mood is soft and smoky in this romance-oriented noir, gorgeously photographed by Joseph La Shelle. Cornel Wilde is the uptight manager of the title joint, and Widmark (carrying over his demented cackle from KISS OF DEATH) is his loose-cannon boss, but the film is owned by Ida Lupino, playing a been-around chanteuse from Chicago whose undubbed song performances, all heart and no voice, are truly amazing. 35mm. (MR)
Friday, June 20, 6:00 pm
Saturday, June 21, 5:00 pm
THIEVES’ HIGHWAY
1949, Jules Dassin, USA, 94 min.
With Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese
“One of the best noirs ever made...a terrific, fast-moving thriller.”--Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Although not as well known as BRUTE FORCE or THE NAKED CITY, this tough-as-nails tale of cutthroat corruption in the fruit-peddling trade is Dassin’s best American film (and his last before going into blacklist-imposed exile). Ace screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides (KISS ME DEADLY, ON DANGEROUS GROUND) drew on his own experiences as a truck-driver; of special note is the Code-bending heat generated by trucker Conte and streetwalker Cortese. 35mm. (MR)