The Back Alley Forums http://www.backalleynoir.com/ Film Noir discussion board en Fri, 18 May 2012 06:52:11 GMT vBulletin 60 http://www.backalleynoir.com/images/misc/rss.png The Back Alley Forums http://www.backalleynoir.com/ Interactive Neo-Noir http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2278-Interactive-Neo-Noir&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 20:12:02 GMT Hey Everyone,

This is my first post and must say I'm ecstatic to find somewhere with a wealth of information on this genre I have fallen in love with. Please bear with me as I am not an expert on this genre.

The main reason I'm writing this is to chat a little bit about interactive Noir stories. We've all seen the classic films, read novels and short stories... but one form of Noir media that has a lot of untapped potential is interactive Noir.

Think about it: instead of watching Spade pursue the Maltese Falcon you get to find clues leading to the Maltese Falcon yourself AS Sam Spade. This is what drew me into Noir, an interactive Film/Game by the name of Tex Murphy - Pandora Directive. I played this game as a child and fell in love the style, the grit, the flawed protagonist. As I completed the games I craved more and stumbled upon an entire genre of films and stories that has really impacted my life.

Has anyone else had experience with interactive Noir stories? Please share as I have devoured my fill of films/novels and am seeking to once again return to a Noir world where I control the flawed character at the helm.

-James ]]> Neo-noir and Noir TV Fatigued Gumshoe http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2278-Interactive-Neo-Noir Postcard from ... San Francisco - Financial Times http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2276-Postcard-from-San-Francisco-Financial-Times&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 12:30:29 GMT The downtown streets and weather match the mood and look of a black-and-white film Image:... The downtown streets and weather match the mood and look of a black-and-white film
1947’s ‘Dark Passage’ starring Humphrey Bogart and Clifton Young

It is just after 6pm on a Friday as I close up our second-floor office on Post Street. I’m heading for San Francisco’s 10th annual film noir festival and the downtown streets and weather outside match the mood and look of a black-and-white film.

Dashiell Hammett, in his apartment nearby at 891 Post, wrote of evenings like this in the 1920s. He knew the locale so well and it figures heavily in The Maltese Falcon and other detective novels he teased out on his typewriter there.

Downstairs, I raise my coat collar and step out on to the wet, shining sidewalk. Down these mean streets a man must go, or at least that was Raymond Chandler’s insistence in The Simple Art of Murder.
Though the classic period of film noir production drew to a close in the late 1950s, the genre remains popular and thousands of fans attend festivals staged in US cities by the Film Noir Foundation. The latest begins in Hollywood this weekend but the biggest is the annual Noir City festival in San Francisco.

The city’s streets have thrown up many noir movie locations. Across the road from my office, a boarded-up flower stand is where James Stewart, in a brown suit and fedora, once stooped to pin an orchid to Kim Novak’s blouse in Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958). I walk on a few yards to Union Square, pausing to look back towards the Stockton Street tunnel, where Miles Archer’s body was found after he was shot with a single bullet through the heart in The Maltese Falcon (1941).
The rain has become as torrential and incessant as in The Big Sleep (1946) but I take shelter on an old-fashioned streetcar and my destination is soon in front of me – the neon lights of the Castro Theatre, a 1920s movie palace that is hosting the opening night of Noir City.
By the ornate period box office, a tall woman dressed in 1940s clothing is there to greet me. I grab a seat near the front and watch a mighty Wurlitzer organ rise from beneath the stage. The organist plays “The Lady is a Tramp” and other femme fatale favourites, before a sharp-suited Eddie Muller, the festival organiser, takes the stage, after being introduced as “the Tsar of Noir, the Mayor of Dark City”.
I wonder how sunny California ever gave birth to such dark cinema, inspired by pulp fiction and German expressionism and defined by French film critic Nino Frank. Muller tells us about the 40-film season he recently presented in Paris in front of audiences of 350, but there are four times that number in the packed Castro.
Profits from the festival go towards restoring and preserving 35mm celluloid prints of classic film noir but Muller says the spread of digital projection systems is putting such screenings at risk.
We savour what remains, as 1947’s Dark Passage, set in San Francisco and starring Humphrey Bogart (below with Clifton Young) and Lauren Bacall, plays on opening night. There are some rare Dashiell Hammett films ahead during the 10-day programme, bus tours of famous film noir locations and a party with torch singers and burlesque artistes.

As I head home, the streets of San Francisco, charged with rain, darkness, neon and memories, seem as magical as any movie.
The Noir City festival at the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, runs from this weekend until May 6. The next San Francisco festival (www.noircity.com) will be in January 2013. For details of other festivals see www.filmnoirfoundation.org

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More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2276-Postcard-from-San-Francisco-Financial-Times LACMA film series celebrates California noir - Los Angeles Times http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2274-LACMA-film-series-celebrates-California-noir-Los-Angeles-Times&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 12:30:29 GMT Image: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/.a/6a00d8341c630a53ef0168eb8ce9a8970c-600wi ...
Los Angeles is the city of sunshine and light, the city that's like a day at the beach, the city that ... you get my drift. That line of chat may work with the suckers, the tourists and the rubes, but if you live here, you know there's a corrosive darkness lurking below the surface in perpetually sunlit L.A., a spiritual malaise that makes this town rotten to the core.

Hardly the City of Angels, this is a place where bad people come to do worse things and live to tell the tale. Or so the crackerjack films featured in “The Sun Sets in the West: Mid-Century California Noir” would have you believe.

Starting Friday at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Bing Theater, in conjunction will the museum’s “California Design, 1930-1965” exhibition, “California Noir” features a superb selection of 10 little-seen films that benefit greatly from the widescreen, 35mm treatment. Though the films are squeezed into four packed nights, it’s genuinely exciting to have a classic repertory series back at LACMA, especially one of such first-rate quality from beginning to end.

While many studio noirs were shot in Southern California but pretended to be set elsewhere, the films in this series (including one, “Experiment in Terror,” that is set in San Francisco) are situated in recognizable locales. It’s fascinating to see vanished neighborhoods such as Bunker Hill, old friends such as downtown’s Main Street and historical minutiae such as newspaper racks for long-gone papers like the Herald and the Examiner.Because these are mostly noirs from the 1950s they tend as a group to be harder, edgier and just plain crazier than the postwar, 1940s standards. And no film fits that bill better than Robert Aldrich’s “Kiss Me Deadly,” which opens the series at 7:30 Friday night.

Working from an unsettling A.I. “Buzz” Bezzerides script loosely adapted from the Mickey Spillane potboiler, Aldrich’s 1955 film stands out from the crowd. Strident yet poetic, a highly stylized vision of breathtaking savagery and nuclear hell, this is film noir pushed to the limit and beyond, a borderline irrational version of an already extreme genre. And its controversial ending can never be forgotten, no matter how hard you try.

The great rarity of the series, at this point unavailable on domestic DVD, is Joseph Losey’s “M,” from 1951. If you've seen the film it is based on — Fritz Lang’s classic about a child murderer hunted by the criminal underground as well as the police — you know how audacious the thought of a remake is, but Losey handles it beautifully.

Photographed in and around downtown Los Angeles, with the finale shot in the iconic Bradbury Building, Losey’s “M” is little-known partially because the director was blacklisted soon after the film’s release. (An earlier Losey gem from the same year, the corrosive “The Prowler” starring Van Heflin and Evelyn Keyes, is also part of the LACMA series.)
Also quite rare, so much so that the print LACMA is showing was lent by a private collector, is the unusual 1956 full-color noir “Slightly Scarlet,” adapted from James M. Cain’s “Love’s Lovely Counterfeit” and directed by the veteran Allan Dwan, whose career dates back to the early silents and who has some 400 credits to his name. Starring Rhonda Fleming and Arlene Dahl as a pair of red-haired sisters who get mixed up in crime and punishment, it gets more deliciously delirious as it goes on.
Two other films also have considerable cult reputations. “Nightfall” was directed by cult helmer Jacques Tourneur from a novel by noir icon David Goodis and shot by Burnett Guffey. It stars Aldo Ray and Anne Bancroft (in her first film role) in a particularly tricky plot that involves bank robbery, amnesia and sadistic criminals who say of their victims, “The tougher they are, the more fun they are.”

As unusual as they get, and much beloved by Martin Scorsese, is Irving Lerner’s lean, muscular and micro-budgeted “Murder by Contract.” Shot in eight days by the great Lucien Ballard, it stars Vince Edwards (pre-Dr. Ben Casey) as a nihilistic contract killer who spouts Nietzschean philosophy and sees his job as strictly business: “Instead of price-cutting, throat-cutting.” LACMA’s Bernardo Rondeau, who programmed the series, says this is “what an Antonioni drive-in feature may look like,” which is as good a description as any.

If star-driven vehicles are more your taste, “California Noir” has two tasty morsels, starting with the Burt Lancaster classic “Criss Cross,” a Robert Siodmak-directed heist drama that offers a stunning look at long-gone Bunker Hill as an added bonus.

Also on view is a bravura Joan Crawford vehicle with a great title, “The Damned Don’t Cry.” Crawford is introduced as Loran Hansen Forbes, “a socialite oil heiress from back East, the darling of cafe society” out in Desert Springs whose past, the movie reveals, is more than slightly sordid.

Holding down the fort for San Francisco is Blake Edwards’ “Experiment in Terror,” which has bank teller Lee Remick, yes, terrorized by a crazed criminal in some of S.F.'s most iconic locales. And speaking of iconic locales, Samuel Fuller’s visceral “The Crimson Kimono” opens with an unforgettable Los Angeles moment: stripper Sugar Torch (Gloria Pall) running down a neon-lighted Main Street in full costume, her blond hair flowing, before getting gunned down right in the middle of traffic. Noir doesn’t get any noirier than that, even in California.

RELATED:
LACMA's next big project: L.A. hip-hop
Film Independent reveals Los Angeles Film Festival lineup
Review: 'California Design 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way'
-- Kenneth Turan
Photo: Gaby Rodgersand Ralph Meekerin "Kiss Me Deadly." Credit: United Artists / Photofest



More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2274-LACMA-film-series-celebrates-California-noir-Los-Angeles-Times Max Payne 3 review - shoot, dodge, drink - Metro http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2273-Max-Payne-3-review-shoot-dodge-drink-Metro&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 00:15:37 GMT Home (http://www.gamingunion.net/) / Features (http://www.gamingunion.net/features/) / The Ultimate Max Payne Movie Cast List PS3X360PC Wed, May... Home / Features / The Ultimate Max Payne Movie Cast List PS3X360PC Wed, May 16th, 2012, 3:04pm EDT by Lauren Alessandra***(@fozzness) RSS

Many of the Ultimate Movie Cast Lists we have done so far are of titles that haven't been made into movies yet, so for Max Payne we have some hurdles to jump over and some parts to re-cast. And with Max Payne 3 on the horizon, what better time to tackle this beast.
I for one have not seen the entirety of the Max Payne film that was made in 2008. It starring Mark Wahlberg as Max and Mila Kunis as Mona Sax, however, I am well aware of its poor performance in the box office. With that in mind, all of the parts cast are based purely off of their original characters from the video game; not the adaptation.
One of the magnificent things about Max Payne is its film noir-esque story telling style packed with inner monologues and dark settings. It follows the story of a man who literally lost everything after the tragic murder of his wife and daughter. With the help of his past work as a homicide detective, he now works to right the wrongs of his past and get back at the people who stole his "American Dream".
I would imagine this film being treated a bit like Sin City; however, it shouldn't be a carbon copy. Since the cutscenes in Max Payne are like a comic book it's only natural that the film be treated in much the same way, so until a director is willing to shine new light on Max Payne's cinematography without straying too far from the source material, we can speculate on which actors would be best suited for these very powerful characters.

First, who to play our troubled hero. In the 2008 film, this was played by Mark Wahlberg who is primarily known for his rough 'em up roles like Dignam in The Departed. I, for one, am a fan of Mark's work as an actor. I like to watch him; however, I will admit that he was a bit of a poor choice for such a role. Although Max Payne is pretty rough around the edges, his foundation before the game begins is that of the American Dream; married with children. This shows a softer side to his character, which is different to the rough guy stereotype. This is why I'd like to see Jon Hamm take on Max. His work in Mad Men is really impressive and with a bit more buff, I could really see him bring the role to life.
Alex Balder's role is that of the best friend. Although he's not in it for long, I feel like Alex Balder's role should be fleshed out a bit in the film. This may be difficult, since his death is what sets everything in motion, but films are a different beast. Based off of his performance in Drive, I really feel like Bryan Cranston could pull it off. I guess the catch is whether or not he would want to be in it. As for the crooked DEA Agent BB, I decided to go with a man who's known for his crooked characters, Matt Damon. Need further proof? Watch The Departed and The Talented Mr. Ripley. As for NYPD Deputy Chief Jim Bravura, his character design reminds me so much of Ian Holm in A Life Less Ordinary is scary.
As for the Punchinello crime family, I think Ethan Hawke would fit Vinnie Gognitti, Ethan Suplee would fit Jack Lupino (American History X) like a glove, and I'd love to see Jeremy Sisto as Angelo Punchinello. It's no mystery that Judi Dench is a legend too, so seeing her as the main antagonist Nicole Horne would be absolutely amazing.
I went through I lot of actresses while searching for who I felt would play Mona Sax well. In the film they chose Mila Kunis, who I love but don't really believe fit the role in which she was playing. Shannyn Sossamon has been out of the spotlight for awhile, but she had a really interesting look and wonderful talent in the films she lead in like A Knight's Tale and 40 Days and 40 Nights. I really would like to see her comeback in a role like this.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not too familiar with Russian actors, but I'm confident that Benedict Cumberbatch would be able to handle the role of our Russian gangster, Vladimir Lem. Brian Cox should also be able to nail the role of Alfred Woden considering his resume. Most of you may know him as William Stryker in X2.

Finally for the role of Michelle Payne. I feel like her story should also be expanded in the film adaptation and I really feel like Claire Danes would do an exceptional job. Her innocent demeanor is just so enchanting. It would be hard to not feel a sort of sadness for her death.
Now, I really don't think this film can be made any time soon, nor do I want it to be made without some kind of interesting new take on it. Basically, I just don't want it to be another Sin City or a diluted copy of it. Max Payne has to go back to its Noir roots and I hope which ever director decides to explore it in the future will give it the necessary care it deserves.
Incase you missed any of our previous cast lists, you can check them out here.




TAGS: The Ultimate Movie Cast List, Max Payne 3, Rockstar Games, Take Two Interactive, PS3, Xbox 360, PC




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More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2273-Max-Payne-3-review-shoot-dodge-drink-Metro For the Love of Film Blogathon III: The White Shadow and Streaming Restored ... - Smi http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2270-For-the-Love-of-Film-Blogathon-III-The-White-Shadow-and-Streaming-Restored-Smi&goto=newpost Thu, 17 May 2012 00:15:37 GMT Image: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/movies/files/2012/05/Rear-window-thumb.jpg Image:...
From The White Shadow. Courtesy National Film Preservation Foundation.

May 14–18 marks the third annual “For the Love of Film” campaign. Hosted by Marilyn Ferdinand’s Ferdy on Films, Roderick Heath’s This Island Rod, and Farran Smith Nehme’s Self-Styled Siren, the blogathon raises money for specific preservation projects.

The first blogathon helped finance the restoration of two Westerns, The Sergeant (1910), which contains the earliest narrative footage from Yosemite, and The Better Man (1912), a Vitagraph short with tinted intertitles. Both films were rediscovered at the New Zealand Film Archive. Thanks in part to the “For Love of Film” blogathon, they were included in the National Film Preservation Foundation‘s box-set Treasures 5: The West 1898–1938.
Last year the blogathon donated preservation funds to the Film Noir Foundation to restore The Sound of Fury, a 1950 thriller starring Lloyd Bridges and directed by soon-to-be-blacklisted Cy Enfield. Physical restoration of the film will take place next year, and a repremiere is scheduled for the 2014 Noir City 12 festival in San Francisco.

This year the blogathon has selected The White Shadow, another New Zealand restoration project I first wrote about here. Directed by Graham Cutts, The White Shadow is an important early credit for Alfred Hitchcock, who would later become one of cinema’s most significant directors. Film restorer Eric Grayson wrote this on his excellent Dr. Film blog:
We only have the first half of this film that Alfred Hitchcock co-directed. It isn’t really a Hitchcock film, and it isn’t complete, and Hitchcock remembered it as not being very good. Exactly the kind of thing I’d love to see! Why? Because it will show just how Hitchcock developed as a director.
To movie buffs, one of the most frustrating aspects of film preservation is the fact that it’s almost impossible to see the finished products. Archives can restore a feature film, but often can’t show it outside of a museum or festival setting. Donor restrictions on materials, rights issues, the costs of making and shipping prints—all these factors can make it illegal or prohibitively expensive to screen restored titles, or make them available to home markets.
That’s what makes this year’s “For the Love of Movies” blogathon so significant. Rather than fund a restoration (since The White Shadow has already been restored), it is funding access. Once it reaches its goals, the National Film Preservation Foundation will host an online version on its website, complete with a new musical score by Michael Mortilla.
James Stewart and Grace Kelly in Rear Window.

Viewing films online has its drawbacks, but at least it enables people to see what preservationists are doing. Coincidentally, to publicize the Casablanca 70th Anniversary Three-disc Blu-ray + DVD Combo Edition from Warner Home Video, Warner Bros. Digital Distribution is hosting a complimentary screening of the film today on the Casablanca movie Facebook Page at 7:00 p.m. ET and again at 7:00 p.m. PT. You must begin watching Casablanca prior to 9:00 p.m. PT through the film’s Facebook Page. Only one screening per Facebook account is permitted.
Films like Casablanca, Ben-Hur, and Gone With the Wind are first in line for upgrading whenever a new preservation format or standard is established. For instance, Warners released an “Ultimate Collector’s Edition” of Casablanca in 2008. But studios and archives are sitting on thousands of other titles that might not get restored. If you love movies, you should jump at the opportunity to actively target titles you want to preserve and protect.
NFPF director Annette Melville reminded me, “Exhibiting films on the web is far from ‘free.’ The biggest obstacle is paying for the bandwidth to carry the surge in web traffic. We had a wake-up call when a single repatriated film went viral, increasing our web-hosting bill more than 3000%! Clearly to continue on this route, we will need donors committed to increasing film access and willing to support it.”
The goal of “For the Love of Film” blogathon is $15,000, enough to host The White Shadow online for three months.
Since those participating in the blogathon are supposed to write something about Hitchcock, I’ll add the following. In addition to being one of the medium’s best directors, Hitchcock understood the business of film better than most of his peers. Fairly early in his career, the director obtained artistic control over his projects. For his British titles, he could pick his stories and cast, determine what and how to shoot, and oversee editing. Apart from some budgetary and censorship limitations, films like The 39 Steps (1935) and The Lady Vanishes (1938) look exactly the way Hitchcock wanted them to.
James Stewart, Grace Kelly and Alfred Hitchcock on the set of Rear Window.

However, Hitchcock didn’t own the films themselves. They belonged to his producers, which is one of the reasons why so many of his British titles have fallen into public domain. As a result, it has been difficult to fund their restoration, and for the most part they are available in this country in cheap, badly duped versions.
When he came to the United States, Hitchcock was under contract to David O. Selznick. Their relationship gave Hitchcock access to great stars like Ingrid Bergman and writers like Ben Hecht, but it also limited him to what Selznick wanted to do.
In the 1950s, Hitchcock was still working under contract to studios like Paramount, but he arranged to have rights for certain projects revert to him after a specified time. Rear Window, for example, was released by Paramount in 1954 and rereleased in 1962. Hitchcock obtained control of the rights and film elements in 1967. Unfortunately, he decided to scrap what was considered to be extraneous film and sound elements, and to store the remaining camera negative, separation masters, and sound tracks in a non-air-conditioned warehouse.
Using these materials, Rear Window was reissued in 1970. But when Universal tried to reissue the film again in 1983, the negatives were faded and damaged, and the optical soundtrack could not be used.
Robert Harris and James Katz undertook a new restoration in 1997, this time resurrecting a Technicolor dye transfer process that had been dormant since 1974. During their restoration they got an appreciation of just how brilliant a filmmaker Hitchcock was. For example, there are no dissolves from one scene to another in Rear Window. Instead, Hitchcock would have cinematographer Robert Burks fade to black between scenes. Amazingly, these fades were performed in the camera, not in a lab. Hitchcock was so confident about his timing, pacing, and rhythm that he felt comfortable risking his shot on the set rather than waiting to use a film lab’s optical process.
Hitchcock went on to establish a media empire of sorts, making feature films, producing and hosting a long-running television series, and even adding his name to books and magazines. By doing so, he remains one of the most recognizable directors over 20 years after his death.



More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2270-For-the-Love-of-Film-Blogathon-III-The-White-Shadow-and-Streaming-Restored-Smi SFIFF last Friday: Kenneth Branagh interviewed at Castro Theater - SFGate.com (blog) http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2266-SFIFF-last-Friday-Kenneth-Branagh-interviewed-at-Castro-Theater-SFGate-com-(blog)&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 23:12:41 GMT . Image: http://blog.sfgate.com/bicycle/files/2012/04/SFIFF-1.jpg (http://blog.sfgate.com/bicycle/files/2012/04/SFIFF-1.jpg) . The San... .

.
The San Francisco Film Society gave this year’s Founder’s Directing Award to Kenneth Branagh on Wednesday night at the Warfield theater, but on Friday night the actor/director, who’s arguably best known from his popular film adaptations of William Shakespeare’s work, was in the glorious Castro Theatre for an onstage interview with CalShakes director Jonathan Moscone. Branagh’s 1988 noir thriller film Dead Again rounded out the evening.
Founder’s Directing Award recipient Kenneth Branagh at his tribute at the 55th San Francisco International Film Festival, April 27, 2012. Photo by Tommy Lau, courtesy of San Francisco Film Society Moscone started off by reading a litany of headlines & quotes about Branagh from over the years — and pointed out how many times the phrase “renaissance man” has used to describe the Belfast-born blonde, who has directed and acted in numerous stage, film and and TV productions. In addition to directing the Bard’s Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, Love’s Labour’s Lost and As You Like It, he also helmed Dead Again, Swan Song, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Magic Flute, Sleuth, and Thor. He co-launched the Renaissance Theater Company in 1987 and has been nominated for five Academy Awards and five Golden Globe Awards, and has won an Emmy Award and three BAFTA Awards.

He did a lot a relatively young age (Branagh wrote his autobiography at age 28 — the first installment, anyway) and that raised some eyebrows– and possibly prompted some schadenfreude when a rare clunker surfaced. Janet Maslin wrote that of his direction in 1994

More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2266-SFIFF-last-Friday-Kenneth-Branagh-interviewed-at-Castro-Theater-SFGate-com-(blog) James Mason (15 May 1909 - 27 July 1984) http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2264-James-Mason-(15-May-1909-27-July-1984)&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 15:46:24 GMT Attachment 516 (http://www.backalleynoir.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=516) The Man Between (1953) James Mason was in a number of British crime... Click image for larger version.  Name: Man-Between-1953-.jpg  Views: 6  Size: 14.0 KB  ID: 516
The Man Between (1953)

James Mason was in a number of British crime films, mysteries and thrillers, including Catch as Catch Can (1937), I Met a Murderer (1939), This Man Is Dangerous (1941), The Night Has Eyes (1942), Alibi (1942), They Met in the Dark (1943), and most famously, Odd Man Out (1947). In America in 1949 he was in Caught and The Reckless Moment, both directed by Max Ophüls. He was in East Side, West Side (1949), One Way Street (1950), Pandora and the Flying Dutchman (1951), Lady Possessed (1952) (also producer and writer), 5 Fingers (1952), Face to Face (1952), Charade (1953) (also producer and writer), A Star Is Born (1954), Bigger Than Life (1956), Cry Terror! (1958), North by Northwest (1959), Stranger in the House (1967), and many, many more.
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]]> Film Noir Surly http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2264-James-Mason-(15-May-1909-27-July-1984) Joseph Cotten (May 15, 1905 – February 6, 1994) http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2265-Joseph-Cotten-(May-15-1905-–-February-6-1994)&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 15:05:28 GMT Attachment 514 (http://www.backalleynoir.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=514) In Shadow of a Doubt with Teresa Wright Joseph Cheshire Cotten was... Click image for larger version.  Name: shadow-of-a-doubt.jpg  Views: 4  Size: 28.6 KB  ID: 514
In Shadow of a Doubt with Teresa Wright

Joseph Cheshire Cotten was an inaugural member of the Mercury Theater and a confederate of Orson Welles, and when Welles went to Hollywood Cotten went with him. He was in Citizen Kane (1941), The Magnificent Ambersons (1942), Shadow of a Doubt (1943), Journey into Fear (1943), Gaslight (1944), Since You Went Away (1944), Duel in the Sun (1946), Portrait of Jennie (1948), The Third Man (1949), Under Capricorn (1949), Beyond the Forest (1949), Walk Softly, Stranger (1950), The Man with a Cloak (1951), The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952), The Steel Trap (1952), Niagara (1953), A Blueprint for Murder (1953), The Bottom of the Bottle (1956), The Killer Is Loose (1956), The Halliday Brand (1957), Touch of Evil (1958), The Last Sunset (1961), Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964), The Money Trap (1965), The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) and many, many more.
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]]> Film Noir Surly http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2265-Joseph-Cotten-(May-15-1905-–-February-6-1994) Noir fiction essay collection http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2262-Noir-fiction-essay-collection&goto=newpost Tue, 15 May 2012 01:20:27 GMT The LA Review of Books has put together a really cool ePub collection of essays on noir fiction, you can check it out here: http://bit.ly/Jg0iYR ... The LA Review of Books has put together a really cool ePub collection of essays on noir fiction, you can check it out here:
http://bit.ly/Jg0iYR

Anyone know of any other interesting essays and critiques about noir? ]]> ACME Bookstore - noir books otsmith http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2262-Noir-fiction-essay-collection <![CDATA[Anita O'Day]]> http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2258-Anita-O-Day&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 17:00:03 GMT Watched the 1970 flick Zig Zag with George Kennedy over the weekend. You're typical thriller plot ... but overcooked with some swinging 60s style. (I'll take the Monkees trippy movie Head if I want that!) And the George Kennedy as leading man experiment never seemed like a good idea... but the movie was watchable.

The sad part is Anita O'Day is in it. She looks like she's trying hard not to show that she's high out of her mind... in the movie she plays a jazz singer (!) in a club owned by Blackula.

Here's a better look at O'Day (maybe not clean and sober even in '63 but the clip is outstanding)

]]> Video clips, music, images and movie posters Steve-O http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2258-Anita-O-Day Sinners and Saints Revs Up The Violence - Guardian Express http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2256-Sinners-and-Saints-Revs-Up-The-Violence-Guardian-Express&goto=newpost Mon, 14 May 2012 06:26:51 GMT By Dayne Archer

If William Kaufman filmed “Sinners and Saints,” his neo-noir, hardboiled cop drama, on a shoestring budget and a prayer, then the proficiency with which he films the action says otherwise. Kaufman makes good use of New Orleans’ seedy underbelly, and he throws in more than enough beatings and gunfights to satisfy an audience for whom overkill doesn’t exist.

Johnny Strong stars as Detective Sean Riley, whose marriage falls apart when his son dies of leukemia. With his patience running thin, Riley risks losing his badge after he leads a raid in which he shoots a wounded suspect to death; however, his Captain (Tom Berenger) sends him with Detective Will Ganz (Kevin Phillips) to track down whoever is responsible for murdering dozens of two-bit hoodlums. As it turns out, the trail leads to a drug kingpin named Rhykin (Jürgen Prochnow) and the group of rogue, covert operatives who’ve taken to literally burning the competition at his behest. The operatives set their sights on Colin (Sean Patrick Flanery), Riley’s war buddy who’s trying to stop them before they turn New Orleans into their personal stomping ground.

Riley and Ganz fight Rhykin’s lackeys in a series of high-pitched gun battles that Kaufman and his crew choreograph with an attention to detail that even big-budget movies like The Expendables tend to omit. The two detectives aim, reload, use hand signals to guide each other in the middle of a firefight, and spring back and forth from cover to blast their way through the Big Easy’s most dangerous corridors and streets. Take, for instance, how Riley blinds his opponents with a concussion grenade before he charges into the room and riddles them with more holes than a cheese grater. Mark Rutledge captures the chaos with the steady hand that the cinematographers of Battle: Los Angeles and Cloverfield seem to lack, and Kaufman shoots the sequences long enough so that the audience can clearly see who’s shooting whom. Michael Bay and Tony Scott, both of whom have helmed so many huge blockbusters like The Rock and Transformers that they can sell one on their involvement alone, use uninteresting set-pieces as an excuse to shake the camera and cut haphazardly from one shot to the next; Kaufman, who directed Cuba Gooding Jr. in The Hit List, knows what he has, and he’s not afraid to use it.

Although Kaufman offers decent shootouts at a discount price, his script takes pages from the same playbook of tropes — the two cops who set aside their differences to work together, the climactic gun battle, the icy villain in a suit, etc. — that just about every police procedural thriller (Above the Law, Dirty Harry and Rush Hour) recycles to a fault. It’s a credit to Strong, who has a memorable role in Blackhawk Down as a Delta Force sniper who fights off hundreds of terrorists to save a downed pilot, that he can sell it convincingly. He plays tough but with enough sensitivity to evoke some degree of inner turmoil. If nothing else, he hits his marks, and he makes his fights look good; in a film like Sinners and Saints, that’s all an actor really needs to do.




More... ]]> Neo-noir and Noir TV Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2256-Sinners-and-Saints-Revs-Up-The-Violence-Guardian-Express <![CDATA[Great books: Fred Astaire, Hollywood's women, and film noir - Philadelphia Inquirer]]> http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2254-Great-books-Fred-Astaire-Hollywood-s-women-and-film-noir-Philadelphia-Inquirer&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 18:14:48 GMT There’s no end to movie books — star memoirs, critical career overviews, coffee table “making of” commemorations (The Art of John Carter: A Visual Journey — really?!), sex-laden, scandalous tell-alls. Heck, somebody’s even written a book about movie stars on bikes.
But is that a bad thing? Of course not. For the serious film addict, watching movies is never enough. We crave more information, more insight, more dirt. So here are three compelling, original, cinema-inclined new books:

The Astaires: Fred & Adele, Kathleen Riley (Oxford University Press, $27.95)
Fred Astaire authority Kathleen Riley has written the essential critical biography of the dashing, debonair singing/dancing star and his older (by 2½ years), amazingly talented sister, Adele. The two kids from Omaha were, by the midst of the Roaring Twenties, true pop icons — drawing record crowds in smash musical productions on Broadway and in London. Riley goes deep into their complicated relationship: Adele was a self-possessed and cocky cutup who was magic on her feet — she was full of instinctive grace and inspiration — and it’s fascinating to learn that young Fred felt completely inadequate and clumsy by comparison. The deft dance moves that look effortless in his fantastic run of Hollywood musicals were actually the result of tireless training and rigorous rehearsals. Riley reveals how he once huddled in self-doubt, steeped in feelings of unworthiness and despair, as he watched what Adele could do.
Film footage of Fred and Adele singing and dancing together does not exist, but as Riley traces the siblings’ career — from a kiddie routine on Jersey Shore boardwalks, to opening in “rat trap,” third-tier burlesque halls, to the George and Ira Gershwin and Cole Porter shows that brought them fame and acclaim — the author vividly conveys the charisma, chemistry, and swinging aplomb that made Fred and Adele stars.
Long before there was Fred and Ginger, there was Fred and Adele, and now we know why.

The Beauty and the Real (Mick LaSalle, Stanford General Books, $24.95)

It is a constant lament, and more than that, a career threat: In Hollywood, as an actress gets older — pushing beyond her 30s, say — the roles become less interesting, less challenging, and simply less. Male stars work steadily into their 50s, 60s, and beyond, but for the actresses with whom they once shared top billing, the movies just aren’t there.
Not so in France, where the likes of Juliette Binoche (age 48), Isabelle Huppert (59), Nathalie Baye (63), and a daunting lineup of their contemporaries not only continue to work, but are doing some of the best work of their lives. And younger French stars are following in their footsteps, apprenticing, collaborating. Mick LaSalle, longtime film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, examines why, in France, right now, there “is a blossoming of female brilliance and originality of a kind that has never happened anywhere at any period of film history, with but one glorious exception … .” That exception, LaSalle notes, is in the Hollywood of the 1930s.

“Indeed, today’s Hepburns, Davises, Crawfords, Garbos, and Stanwycks are not American. They’re French.”

That’s quite a thesis, but in The Beauty of the Real — subtitled What Hollywood Can Learn from Contemporary French Actresses — LaSalle makes a wonderfully informed, impassioned case. In interviews with many of the leading ladies of the moment, and in his in-depth survey of French films, most of which, alas, have failed to gain American theatrical distribution, he uncovers an alternate universe where movies about women, and men and women, and women and women, all of them grappling with real-life issues, take precedence over movies about giant robots from outer space.

“The French are very good at depicting the power dynamics within relationships, mainly because they’re willing to admit such dynamics exist,” LaSalle writes in a chapter wryly titled “Marriage and Adultery (Same Thing).”

This is a book that will make you seek out Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s stunning performance in Rien a faire, and Sandrine Kiberlain’s heartbreaking turn in Mademoiselle Chambon. And it will make you want to see just about anything with Agnes Jaoui in it, because LaSalle writes this:

“There comes a moment in many, perhaps most, of Agnes Jaoui’s films in which she looks at someone as though gazing into their depths … and then smiles as though, having taken their measure, she has found them worthy of attention. These are always warm moments, because in those seconds, she is also looking, in a sense, at us, and we feel the glow of her approval.”

Film Noir, The Directors (edited by Alain Silver and James Ursini, Limelight Editions, $24.99)

If you’re into film noir, then you’re probably into the Film Noir Reader series — Alain Silver and James Ursini’s four volumes of critical essays covering the waterfront of hard-boiled detective and crime thrillers, movies full of double-dealing femmes fatales and the saps who fall for them.

In the Hollywood historians’ new spinoff, Film Noir, The Directors, Silver and Ursini have produced an absorbing anthology with more than two dozen essays, praising and appraising the key filmmakers of noir’s classic period. Packed with rare publicity stills and revealing behind-the-scenes photographs, the book offers chapters on Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly), Jules Dassin (Night and the City), Samuel Fuller (Pickup on South Street), Fritz Lang (Woman in the Window), Ida Lupino (The Hitch-Hiker), Nicholas Ray (In a Lonely Place), Raoul Walsh (High Sierra), Orson Welles (Touch of Evil), Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity), and many more.
A big-time book celebrating a genre, or a filmmaking style, that director (and film critic) Paul Schrader once famously reduced to its essence: “small-time, unredeemed, unheroic.”

Yes!

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Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com. Read his blog, “On Movies Online,” at www.philly.com/onmovies



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]]> ACME Bookstore - noir books Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2254-Great-books-Fred-Astaire-Hollywood-s-women-and-film-noir-Philadelphia-Inquirer The Last Seduction (1994) http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2253-The-Last-Seduction-(1994)&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 12:58:09 GMT “I am a total f##king bitch,” Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino), laughing while having sex on-top, in the saddle position. A seemingly ordinary... “I am a total f##king bitch,” Bridget Gregory (Linda Fiorentino), laughing while having sex on-top, in the saddle position.

A seemingly ordinary neo noir excels because of the central character – a femme fatale who is brought to forceful life by the acting of Linda Fiorentino under the subtle direction of John Dahl.

At first glance, the film seems common. The story appears familiar. A femme fatale manipulates men to get her way. Fans of film noir and crime drama have witnessed the plotline countless times. Yet, the main character differs from the femme fatale of cinema past. Unlike some of the dislikable characters who haunted classic film noir, Bridget performs as a likeable femme fatale. She’s a paradox.

The Femme Fatale

An Anti Heroine. In the film’s opening, Bridget Gregory directs and scolds salesmen in a boiler-room telemarketing office in New York City. She knows how to sell, close deals, and manage men.

After work, she races to her apartment to meet her husband, who brings home a large amount of cash. Bridget loves money –lots of it. She fondles it, smells it, and licks it.

The Primary Chumps

Chump # 1. Clay Gregory (Bill Pullman) is Bridget’s husband. He’s a bright fellow. A doctor preparing for residency, he illegally sells prescription drugs to drug dealers to please his wife’s lust for money. Stressed after netting $700,000 in a harrowing drug deal, he slaps Bridget, igniting a chain reaction.

Chump #2. Mike Swale (Peter Berg) serves as the patsy. He hails from small town. Not content with marrying a ‘cowgirl’ and having ‘cow babies’ in upstate small town, he yearns for excitement in his relationships. In small town, Mike meets Bridget. He’s an easy mark because his libido does most of his thinking.

Her Motive

Bridget craves all of the illegal drug money free and clear. Not willing to answer to anybody, she hungers for total liberation that she believes wealth brings and will do anything to get it. Her only interest is her own, and so greed is good.

Also, a darkish disorder dwells deep within Bridget. She seems to scorn men. She uses men to her advantage, catching them, conquering them, and bending them to her will. She values money, power, and independence over relationships. She enjoys humiliating men, deriding them as ‘eunuchs,’ ‘Neanderthals,’ ‘maggots,’ and ‘sex objects.’ A trace of revenge lurks in Bridget’s behavior towards men.

Bridget operates on her terms and her terms only – she controls the game and the men.

An Ancient Character Recast

Bridget emerges as a modern reincarnation of the lethal woman.

Since the beginning of time, the femme fatale has anchored deep in our individual and collective mind. Religion, art, literature, film, and mainstream media have portrayed the femme fatale in a code of sinister representations: harlots, misfits, molls, she-wolves, sirens, spiders, spies, vampires, vixens, witches, and other forms. The images conjure deception, destruction, and death, exposing weakness, lust, and greed under the veneer of society’s acceptable face.

During the classic film noir era, the femme fatale character flourished. The deadly women of classic noir were generally disliked, detested, and sometimes hated by patriarchal society. Their creators - James M. Cain, Raymond Chandler, et al. - echoed prevailing sentiment. Powerful, seducing women operating outside the confines of the household threatened the rigid order of dominating men and domesticated women. Frequently, classic film noir reinforced misogyny amongst the zealous fringes of the moral majority. As lightening rods, femme fatales induced moral anger, fury, and wrath.

In Bridget, John Dahl evokes some of the enduring cultural images of the femme fatale and also presents modern, distinguishing characteristics. Let’s look at some of the signs, and their meanings, that the director uses to sculpt the characteristics of his dangerous woman.

The Traditional Signs of a Cinematic Femme Fatale

Black Skirt, Black Stockings, Black Cape. In the presence of her prey, Bridget wears primarily black clothing. Chic and sexy, her clothes could be worn at a funeral, a witches’ brew, or a vampire outing. A familiar code, her clothes signal darkness, hinting of her ability to trap and drain life.

Animal Instincts. Bridget’s behaviors display the characteristics of a wild animal. When Bridget first meets Mike Swale in small town’s bar, she sticks her hand in his crotch, then pulls out her hand, and smells it. She sniffs the odors of her target’s genitals, analyzing sexual condition and social pecking order. She selects her sexual target. She’s the alpha wolf.

Psychopathic Gestures. In an act of utter disrespect towards the sacred values of mainstream Americana, Bridget puts out her cigarette in Grandma’s home-made apple pie. Bridget’s assault on Grandma’s wholesome goodness underscores the diametric difference of the independent femme fatale from the dependent family woman. Bridget is not Mrs. Susie Homemaker. Clever, calculating, and cold-hearted, Bridget’s attitude lacks affection, simpatico, and warmth. She does not say please. She does not say thank you. Her manners are reptilian.

Magical Powers. Bridget’s seductive power conquers. In ancient times, she could have seduced Rome for Egypt. Her ability to write backwards suggests evil. In medieval times, she would have burned at the stake.

Cunning Intelligence. Her schemes leap several steps ahead of her prey. She sets up men for their self destruction. Working by wit, Bridget lures and traps, changing personas to fit the situation, adapting like a chameleon. Sweet and nasty, Bridget bakes chocolate chip cookies for one of her victims and then sticks nails under the tires of his car. Caring and crafty, she convinces a man to unzip his pants so she can ram him through a windshield. Methodical and mean, she investigates her patsy’s past, sniffing for weakness and fear. She outsmarts her quarry - dysfunctional men.

Predatory Copulation. Bridget does not just hump and dump – she ensnares. She feeds her men sex to leash them. Sexual climax comes at the expense of manipulation, subjugation, and ruin. Bridget’s calculating use of her sexuality rivals the power of Dirty Harry’s Magnum .44, and is just as symbolic if not more so. She’s armed and dangerous.

The Modern Signs of a Cinematic Femme Fatale

Bridget distinguishes from cinematic femme fatales of classic film noir and even neo noir.

The Main Character. Bridget is the central character of the story, not just a prop in a svelte dress foiling the male protagonist. We see her world from her view, from close to medium range. All eyes focus on her. She is the anti heroine who fully drives the story, enchanting and entertaining us with mischief.

A Liberated Feminist. Set aside her criminal behavior and bad manners for a moment and she illustrates the modern feminist – powerful, independent, and in-charge. Bridget lives by her own code, wielding her power in pursuit of freedom and sovereignty.

Wit and Humor. Bridget possesses a sharp sense of dark humor. At ease with herself, she enjoys her dry wit and deadpan style. Her satirical wit makes her stand apart from Phyllis Dietrichson (Barbara Stanwyck), Cora Smith (Lana Turner), Kitty Collins (Ava Gardner), Matty Walker (Kathleen Turner), Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), and other humorless femme fatale heavies.

Eroticism. At turning points in the plot, the film’s simulated sex scenes accent the character of Bridget and drive the story forward with apt style. The scenes are erotic but not pornographic. The eroticism highlights Bridget’s power over men. Bridget could be the witty sister of Matty Walker of Body Heat (Kasdan -1981). The two films serve as examples of erotic noir – a branch of neo noir. The simulated sex in erotic noir differentiates from the suggested sex in classic film noir.

How She Seduces Viewers

Bridget is a paradox. Despite her bad behavior and attitude, we want to like her. Her likability separates her from many femme fatales. Although Bridget descends from the gene pool of femme fatales of the classic noir era, she’s not detestable like Phyllis Dietrichson of Double Indemnity (Wilder- 1944).

Why like Bridget?

She not only seduces, but amuses. She entertains tragically comic. Our pleasure of the chumps’ misfortune allows us to enjoy the majority of Bridget’s clever escapades. We laugh with her. We applaud several but not all of her conquests. Most of the time, we cheer her on.

Her brazen ability to operate outside the social norms of the silent majority mesmerizes. Her audacity marvels. Her smarts impress. She enjoys ‘bending the rules’ and ‘playing with people’s brains.’ As the storyline evolves, she unleashes the unexpected. A naughty prankster, she’s also a nasty troublemaker, a vicarious fantasy.

Dahl’s lens is the keyhole through which we eye Bridget. The director reveals the juicy life of a wild woman from a big city running amok in a small town. Bridget as an aggressive outsider contrasts with the naive locals. The sharp contrast focuses attention, keeping us on edge.

As film noir fans, we feed on scandal, lust, greed, seduction, betrayal, and ruin of our beloved, wayward characters. Film noir is our National Enquirer. Bridget beckons us with tantalizing headlines, front-page news, and sensational pictures.

Despite her strength of cunning and sexuality, Bridget’s weakness of absolute greed looms. Her greed is a familiar trait of film noir characters. Her defect raises the dramatic question - does she self destruct like so many film noir characters.

An Award Winning Character

Dahl constructs Bridget as an award winning character, but with a minor flaw. Dahl omits a back story about Bridget. We don’t know why she scorns the male species. In Luis Buñuel’s film Belle de jour (1967), which stars Catherine Deneuve as an upper-class woman who secretly spends her afternoons working as a prostitute (while her husband works as a surgeon), the director suggests the woman’s behavior was caused by her being molested as a child. Buñuel presents a brief, effective flashback. In Bridget’s case, Dahl leaves us wondering about the causes of her antisocial state.

Linda Fiorentino won prestigious awards and nominations for her efforts in The Last Seduction, as did John Dahl. Applaud John Dahl for selecting Linda for the role of Bridget. Above all applaud Linda. Her ability to play Bridget with sensual ease and subtle humor delivers a distinctive character. Linda’s performance cements the unabashed Bridget in our minds. Also give credit to screenwriter Steve Barancik whose script and dialogue allowed Linda to breathe life into the character. And appreciate Joseph Vitarelli for the jazzy music that highlights Bridget’s improvisational wit and satirical tone. All four artists created Bridget as a likeable femme fatale.

“I can be very nice when I try.” Bridget ]]> Noir reviews Hard-Boiled-Rick http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2253-The-Last-Seduction-(1994) 5 Great Things To Do This Week - SW Iowa News http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2252-5-Great-Things-To-Do-This-Week-SW-Iowa-News&goto=newpost Sun, 13 May 2012 05:58:34 GMT Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 8:50 pm, Sat May 12, 2012. MOVIE: Film noir fans will enjoy a special screening of “M” with a... Posted: Sunday, May 13, 2012 12:00 am | Updated: 8:50 pm, Sat May 12, 2012.
MOVIE: Film noir fans will enjoy a special screening of “M” with a post-show talk by filmmaker Mark Hoeger on Wednesday. Hoeger is a film instructor at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. The presentation begins at 7 p.m. at Film Streams, 1340 Mike Fahey St., Omaha. Tickets are $9 general; $7 for students, seniors, teachers, military and those arriving by bicycle; and $4.50 for Film Streams members. Advance tickets can be purchased at filmstreams.org.

CARNIVAL: The Celebrate CB carnival in Bayliss Park begins Thursday at 4 p.m. featuring rides, games and food. Hours are Thursday and Friday, 4 to 10 p.m., and Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.
MUSEUM: See the exhibition of Egyptian artifacts and all of Joslyn Art Museum’s permanent collections for free Friday as part of the Association of Art Museum Directors’ Art Museum Day, coinciding with International Museum Day. The museum, located at 2200 Dodge St., Omaha, is open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and special activities include two guided public tours focusing on the permanent collection (10:30 a.m. and 1 p.m.) and hands-on activities for younger visitors in the EdTech Gallery and Kids Can Do Art station (all day).

PARADE: The Celebrate CB parade is Saturday starting at 10:30 a.m. at Ninth Avenue and Main Street and heads north connecting with Pearl Street to West Broadway. Then, it comes back on Main Street to Story Street, where it goes one block to the east to Fourth Street and back south to the beginning point. Festivities continue in Bayliss Park after it.
GARDENING: Lauritzen Gardens, First and Bancrofts streets in Omaha, will hold its Spring into Spring Plant Sale Saturday and Sunday, May 19 and 20, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Guests can shop from a variety of Lauritzen Gardens-grown plants and a hand-picked selection of plants from area plant societies and vendors. Horticulture staff and garden club representatives will be onsite to answer questions and share their knowledge. Event is included with regular garden admission and is free for members.




More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2252-5-Great-Things-To-Do-This-Week-SW-Iowa-News Thumbs Up: Enjoy the dark side of cinema at Film Noir festival - The Desert Sun http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2251-Thumbs-Up-Enjoy-the-dark-side-of-cinema-at-Film-Noir-festival-The-Desert-Sun&goto=newpost Sat, 12 May 2012 09:15:00 GMT For those who love the dark side of cinema, especially the black-and-white classics, this is a great weekend in Palm Springs. The Arthur Lyons Film... For those who love the dark side of cinema, especially the black-and-white classics, this is a great weekend in Palm Springs. The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival started Thursday and continues through Sunday at Camelot Theatres.
Among the 12 films in the festival is a 1949 noir version of “The Great Gatsby” starring Alan Ladd, which will be shown at 7:30 tonight. The closing film, “Possessed,” a 1947 film starring Joan Crawford in an Oscar-nominated performance, airs at 4 p.m. Sunday.
For more information visit arthurlyonsfilmnoir.ning.com or call (760) 325-6565.



More... ]]> Film Noir News Film Noir Press - Noir news from the internet http://www.backalleynoir.com/showthread.php?2251-Thumbs-Up-Enjoy-the-dark-side-of-cinema-at-Film-Noir-festival-The-Desert-Sun