Friday, October 8, 2010

Noir City DC 2010


The Film Noir Foundation and AFI roll out Noir City DC October 16th-November 3rd, and it looks to be another raging success. The lineup this year is an embarrassment of riches:

Border Incident-Anthony Mans's gritty illegal immigrant noir, featuring amazing work by cinematographer John Alton.

Stranger on the Third Floor-Arguably the first film noir.

Vertigo-Hitchcock directs Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak in one of the truly essential American films.

Criss Cross-Robert Siodmak directs Burt Lancaster and Yvonne de Carlo in a 100% perfect film noir. A masterpiece.

Act of Violence-Robert Ryan and Van Heflin in this long dark night of the soul. A beautiful and brilliant (and vastly underrated) masterpiece.

Pitfall-Lizabeth Scott, Dick Powell, and Raymond Burr in Andre De Toth's love triangle from hell. One of my favorite films.

Pushover-Yet another underrated masterpiece! Bad girl Kim Novak and bad cop Fred McMurray fall in love and hell opens under their feet.

The Night of the Hunter-Robert Mitchum and Lillian Gish square off in this Flannery O'Connor meets Caligari nightmare. Brilliant--and not to be missed on the big screen.

And more!

This is an extraordinary collection of films, a mix of established gems and overlooked works of genius. If you live in or around the DC area (or if you just happen to be in town for the Jon Stewart/Stepehn Colbert rally on the National Mall), do not pass up an opportunity to see some of the these works on the big screen in the gorgeous AFI facility.

3 comments:

Cullen Gallagher said...

Great lineup. Got to see a 35mm print of Pitfall at Anthology Film Archives as part of their One-Eyed Auteurs series.

Eddie said...

Hey Jake,

Thanks for the boost. And just letting you know that I really like the essays you submitted for the next issue of the Sentinel. Really good stuff. I will be in DC for the screenings October 22–24, so I hope I get to see you there.

Jake Hinkson said...

Eddie-Glad to hear it! I hope to see you in DC.

Cullen-When was that? Was it a good print? I've never seen a Liz Scott movie on the big screen, so I'm super pumped about Pitfall in DC.