Friday, Jan 22, 2016 • PHOTOGRAPHERS
REAR WINDOW
1954, Paramount Pictures [Universal]. 115 min. Scr. John Michael Hayes, based on a story by Cornell Woolrich Dir. Alfred Hitchcock
7:30 PM
Inveterately curious photojournalist L. B. Jeffries (James Stewart), confined to a wheelchair in his Greenwich Village apartment, amuses himself by using his camera to peer voyeuristically into the lives of his neighbors. When a cross-courtyard tenant goes missing, however, Jeffries is convinced she's been murdered. This enduring classic works on multiple levels: as a spine-tingling thriller, a clever romantic comedy, and a sly commentary on the pleasures and pitfalls of an observant and obsessive imagination.
THE PUBLIC EYE
1992, Universal Pictures. 99 min. Scr. and Dir. Howard Franklin
9:30 PM
"The Great Bernzini" (Joe Pesci) is a 1940s newspaper photographer with an uncanny knack for capturing the nastiest and most nefarious images of New York's nocturnal netherworld. While his keen eye depicts the city's denizens at their most desperate and despairing, he remains steadfastly objective in his work—until a gorgeous nightclub owner ropes him into a life-threatening underworld scheme. Howard Franklin's film is an evocative tribute to the legendary Arthur "Weegee" Fellig, whose news photos defined real-life noir.
Saturday, Jan 23 • Matinée • CURATORS AND CRITICS
THE DARK CORNER
1946, 20th Century-Fox. 99 min. Scr. Jay Dratler, Bernard C. Schoenfeld, from a story by Leo Rosten. Dir. Henry Hathaway
1:30 PM
Disgraced San Francisco private eye Bradford Galt (Mark Stevens), sprung from prison and seeking a fresh start, opens an agency in New York only to have trouble relentlessly dog him. He finds himself a fish out of water amidst a coterie of high society art snobs, and suspects that a treacherous ally from his past is trying to frame him for a murder. Luckily for Galt, his dedicated secretary (Lucille Ball) is both sexy and savvy. This self-aware detective story is both an exemplar of film noir style and one of the first parodies of the genre.
CRACK-UP
1946, RKO Radio Pictures [Warner Bros.]. 93 min. Scr. John Paxton, Ben Bengal, Ray Spencer, based on a story by Fredric Brown. Dir. Irving Reis
3:30 PM
George Steele (Pat O'Brien), esteemed art curator and critic, loses his job at the Contemporary Art Museum after suffering mental trauma from a train crash—only there's no record anywhere of the accident ever happening. His career ruined, Steele sets out to discover the truth with the aid of his glamorous reporter girlfriend, Terry Cordell (Claire Trevor), and quickly finds himself enmeshed in a shadowy conspiracy involving wartime espionage and sophisticated art forgery.
Saturday, Jan 23 • Evening Show • INTERNATIONAL NOIR
THE BITTER STEMS
LOS TALLOS AMARGOS
1956, Artistas Argentinos Asociados. 90 min. Scr. Sergio Leonardo, from the novel by Adolfo Jasca. Dir. Fernando Ayala
7:30 PM
This brilliant noir was lauded in its native country upon release—yet it remains virtually unknown in the rest of the world. Which is a crime, because Los tallos amargos is one of the best noir-drenched films of the 1950s—maybe ever. A deep-seated inferiority complex leads a Buenos Aires newspaper reporter (Carlos Cores) into a seemingly innocent correspondence-school scheme with a clever Hungarian ex-pat (Vassili Lambrinos). But as the money flows in, so do suspicions—driving one man to commit the perfect crime. Presented in a completely restored 35mm print from UCLA Film & Television Archive, with funding provided by the Film Noir Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Charitable Trust (The HFPA Trust).
GIRL WITH HYACINTHS
FLICKA OCH HYACINTER
1950, Terrafilm [Swedish Film Institute]. 89 min. Scr. and Dir. Hasse Ekman
9:30 PM
When beautiful, young Dagmar Brink commits suicide, her next-door neighbors are stunned—even more so by the note she leaves bequeathing the married couple all her possessions, including an enigmatic portrait of Dagmar—the "Girl with Hyacinths." Intrigued, the husband, a writer, begins his own exploration of the mysterious woman's sad, short life. Hasse Ekman once was considered Sweden's greatest film director; this film, starring his wife Eva Henning as Dagmar, is unanimously regarded as his defining achievement. The man who succeeded Ekman as Sweden's most renowned filmmaker, Ingmar Bergman, called it “An absolute masterpiece. Twenty-four carats. Perfect.”
Sunday, Jan 24 • CLASSICAL MUSICIANS
DECEPTION
1946, Warner Bros. 115 min. Scr. John Collier, Joseph Than, from the stage play by Louis Verneuil. Dir. Irving Rapper
1:30, 6:30 PM
Aspiring pianist Christine Radcliffe (Bette Davis) is reunited with her lover, cellist Karel Novak (Paul Henreid), whom she feared had perished in a Nazi concentration camp. Unfortunately, she's now the mistress of internationally renowned composer Alexander Hollenius (Claude Rains). Christine tries to orchestrate a productive professional relationship between the three that will allow all their artistic ambitions to flourish. Hollenius, however, is as creative manipulating human emotions as he is conducting an orchestra.
HUMORESQUE
1946, Warner Bros. 125 min. Scr. Clifford Odets, Zachary Gold, based on a short story by Fannie Hurst. Dir. Jean Negulesco
3:50, 8:45
Young Paul Boray fights his way out of the New York ghetto not with his fists, but with the hands, and heart, of a virtuoso violinist. His meteoric rise is funded by arts patron Helen Wright who despite being married, falls desperately in love with her protégé. Humoresque is that rarest of Hollywood offerings—a concoction of archly melodramatic artifice that is profoundly affecting, featuring a mesmerizing performance by John Garfield and perhaps the most deeply felt performance of Joan Crawford's legendary career.
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