Strangers on the Third Floor

[Steve-O]

great crowd at NY's Film Forum last night for While the City Sleeps and Strangers on the Third Floor.

The double feature was a sellout. The print for Strangers (from the Library of Congress) is fantastic looking. The last 20 seconds or so of the film doesn't have audio but the rest was quite good. I've never seen it that clear.

Before Strangers they brought out one of the daughters of star Margaret Tallichet -- Catherine Wylder -- she looked just like her even today. Leading lady Tallichet was married to William Wyler and retired from movies shortly after Strangers and raised a family. Catherine Wylder told a funny story her mother told her about how Peter Lorre used to eat raw onions... and her mother couldn't stand it. She suspects that Lorre may have been trying to get a good reaction from her mother on screen -- since she apparently was new to acting.

Wilder mentioned the only time she'd seen Strangers on the Third Floor was alone watching it on TV in the middle of the night once. She was a bit taken back by the full crowd.

Audience was on it's best behavior. They loved both movies and clearly enjoyed themselves.

Strangers really needs to be seen by more people...

a few random thoughts: Because of the crowd I couldn't find any BAN guys there... (where were you David?!) but I know a few of you were in the seats

While the City Streets should really be shown widescreen. The film originally screened in "Superscope" 2.00 : 1 but it was screened in 1.33 : 1 (academy 4X3). TCM doesn't bother screening it that way either.

[noirguru]

great crowd at NY's Film Forum last night for While the City Sleeps and Strangers on the Third Floor.

The double feature was a sellout. The print for Strangers (from the Library of Congress) is fantastic looking. The last 20 seconds or so of the film doesn't have audio but the rest was quite good. I've never seen it that clear.

Before Strangers they brought out one of the daughters of star Margaret Tallichet -- Catherine Wylder -- she looked just like her even today. Leading lady Tallichet was married to William Wyler and retired from movies shortly after Strangers and raised a family. Catherine Wylder told a funny story her mother told her about how Peter Lorre used to eat raw onions... and her mother couldn't stand it. She suspects that Lorre may have been trying to get a good reaction from her mother on screen -- since she apparently was new to acting.

Wilder mentioned the only time she'd seen Strangers on the Third Floor was alone watching it on TV in the middle of the night once. She was a bit taken back by the full crowd.

Audience was on it's best behavior. They loved both movies and clearly enjoyed themselves.

Strangers really needs to be seen by more people...

a few random thoughts: Because of the crowd I couldn't find any BAN guys there... (where were you David?!) but I know a few of you were in the seats

While the City Streets should really be shown widescreen. The film originally screened in "Superscope" 2.00 : 1 but it was screened in 1.33 : 1 (academy 4X3). TCM doesn't bother screening it that way either.
Steve-O, since they didn't have a scope print, I'm curious was the academy print, pan and scan?

[Richard]

Wish I'd been there.


Steve-O, since they didn't have a scope print, I'm curious was the academy print, pan and scan?

My question, too.

Richard

[Steve-O]

no... it' wasn't pan and scan.

Superscope is tricky because I believe (correct me if I'm wrong) but many SS films were shot in Academy but then screened in widescreen (like the western Vera Cruz). This was a cheap and dirty way to make films look widescreen. Superscope didn't use the whole film's negative but cropped the top and bottom.

I don't know whether movies like Invasion of the Body Snatchers or While the City Sleeps were actually shot with Superscope in mind... I will tell you all TV airings I've seen and the screening at the Film Forum last night appear to screen the whole negative causing there to be too much space above and below in a shot. Which actually makes the movie look strange (way too much headroom on Dana Andrews throughout most of the film making him look short)

Here's a shot of Ida Lupino from City. This is how it looked last night. Notice all the space above her head?

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/6729/wtcscig9td.jpg

The yellow lines represent where I "think" the film was probably screened in theaters in the 1950s. I exaggerated it a bit... it probably wasn't cropped that tight.

The FF appeared to screen it in Academy but zoomed it in a bit to tighten it up. An opening "New York City" lower third didn't show up on the screen which makes me suspect that.

Here's an example (again from TCM). Notice how much extra space there is on the top and bottom of screen?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUMgG810ovA

[noirguru]

Steve-O, you are correct sir! I, did some research on superscope and when the films were shot, standard spherical lenses were used, not like CinemaScope, which used anamorphic lenses to shoot the film! That's why, no pan and scan on Academy prints!

[David]

great crowd at NY's Film Forum last night for While the City Sleeps and Strangers on the Third Floor.

The double feature was a sellout. The print for Strangers (from the Library of Congress) is fantastic looking. The last 20 seconds or so of the film doesn't have audio but the rest was quite good. I've never seen it that clear.

Before Strangers they brought out one of the daughters of star Margaret Tallichet -- Catherine Wylder -- she looked just like her even today. Leading lady Tallichet was married to William Wyler and retired from movies shortly after Strangers and raised a family. Catherine Wylder told a funny story her mother told her about how Peter Lorre used to eat raw onions... and her mother couldn't stand it. She suspects that Lorre may have been trying to get a good reaction from her mother on screen -- since she apparently was new to acting.

Wilder mentioned the only time she'd seen Strangers on the Third Floor was alone watching it on TV in the middle of the night once. She was a bit taken back by the full crowd.

Audience was on it's best behavior. They loved both movies and clearly enjoyed themselves.

Strangers really needs to be seen by more people...

a few random thoughts: Because of the crowd I couldn't find any BAN guys there... (where were you David?!) but I know a few of you were in the seats

While the City Streets should really be shown widescreen. The film originally screened in "Superscope" 2.00 : 1 but it was screened in 1.33 : 1 (academy 4X3). TCM doesn't bother screening it that way either.

Steve,

I gave you a head's-up in the 'Film Forum This Friday' thread. I left work early to shoot upstate and help my brother with some (literal)
heavy lifting, and never would have made it back for showtime. Broke my heart to miss the film and you guys, but it was a time-sensitive
issue. The Forum shows noirs pretty regularly, so next time..