Noir City: Chicago
July 31 - August 6
A festival of classic and undiscovered film noirs.
Special guest HARRY BELAFONTE
The Music Box and the Film Noir Foundation proudly present a week-long festival of film noirs. Nine films will be shown on the big screen, many of them will be presented as double bills pairing undisputed classics with complementary rarities. Most screenings through Monday will include an introduction and discussion by Noir experts Eddie Muller and Foster Hirsch.
Noir City: Chicago’s special guest will be legendary actor-singer Harry Belafonte. Mr. Belafonte will be at the Music Box on August 1 at 7:30 for a screening of the 1959 film noir “Odds Against Tomorrow.” Following the screening, Mr. Belafonte will be interviewed on stage about the film.
Film noir is recognized as a unique example of an organic cinematic movement, one that produced many of the best and most time-tested Hollywood films of the forties and fifties. These tough-as-nails crime stories, told in a distinctly American vernacular but informed by a darkly romantic European visual sensibility, continue to entrance audiences in each successive generation.
The Film Noir Foundation, created by writer and film historian Eddie Muller, is committed to rescuing and restoring America’s noir heritage. All FNF proceeds from NOIR CITY festivals go to finding and restoring films in danger of being lost or permanently damaged. For information on how you can join the FNF’s campaign and receive its fantastic bi-monthly magazine, the Noir City Sentinel, visit: www.filmnoirfoundation.org.
LINKS:
Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Tribune
Time Out Chicago
Ticket Information
Single feature tickets (not including “Odds Against Tomorrow”): $10, available day-of at the box office.
Double feature tickets (both films must be seen on the same day, does not include “Odds Against Tomorrow”): $12 available day-of at the box office.
“Odds Against Tomorrow” screening with Harry Belafonte (August 1, 7:30):
$15 in advance, available through Ticketweb
Tickets will also be available at the box office on August 1 for $20, while supplies last
Save money with the ALL NOIR PASS
(includes all 8 films AND the special event on August 1. A savings of up to $50)
$50 in advance, available only through Ticketweb
$55 week-of, available only at the box office.
Films Include:
Framed July 31, 5:20pm; July 31, 9:40pm; August 4, 7:30pm
Richard Wallace, 1947, 86m
In this rarely-seen piece of prime pulp, taciturn everyman Glenn Ford barrels his broken-down truck into a rural Northern California town and is quickly engulfed in a tangle of adultery, embezzlement, and murder. Janis Carter is the long, tall drink of delicious poison he can’t resist, a frosty exemplar of the forties’ film noir femme fatale. The script is by Ben Maddow (The Asphalt Jungle).
The Lady From Shanghai July 31, 7:30pm; August 4, 5:30pm; August 4, 9:30pm
Orson Welles, 1948, 86m
Orson Welles takes the classic femme fatale tale to globe-spanning lengths and hallucinatory heights. Hard-luck seaman Michael O’Hara (Welles) tumbles into the net of mysterious Elsa Bannister (Hayworth) only to find himself caught in the murderous conspiracies of her viperous cohorts. One of the most startlingly inventive crime films released by a Hollywood studio in the 1940s.
Double Indemnity August 1, 2:30pm; August 5, 7:30pm
Billy Wilder, 1944, 106m
This classic tale of ill-fated lovers who plot murder for lust and profit was nominated for seven Oscars, lighting the fuse for the explosion of mordant murder dramas that erupted in Hollywood during the postwar years. From the stinging dialogue to stunning cinematography to the archetypal performances of the three leads, Double Indemnity has been often imitated but never equaled.
The Prowler August 1, 4:40pm; August 5, 5:15pm; August 5, 9:45pm
Joseph Losey, 1951, 92m
Joseph Losey’s greatest American film is resurrected in all its bleak splendor in this 35mm restoration by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, funded by the Film Noir Foundation. Desperate, materialistic cop Webb Garwood (Heflin) stalks a lonely, affluent Los Angeles housewife and decides to win her love in time-honored noir tradition: by knocking off her husband.
Odds Against Tomorrow August 1, 7:30pm
Robert Wise, 1959, 96m
Harry Belafonte in Person! A trio of disgruntled, discarded men (Belafonte, Ed Begley, Robert Ryan) join forces to rob a bank in upstate New York, with explosive results. Join us for this very special event, celebrating one of the great artists of our time, and the 60th anniversary of one of the most provocative and suspenseful crime films ever made.
The Killers August 2, 1:30pm; August 2, 6:20pm; August 6, 5:00pm; August 6, 9:40pm
Robert Siodmak, 1946, 105m
This landmark in the Hollywood noir movement takes the famous 1927 Ernest Hemingway short story as the jumping-off point for a crime saga often called the Citizen Kane of film noir. At the center of the whirlwind of double-crosses are white hot stars-to-be Lancaster and Gardner—perhaps the sexiest pairing ever in a film noir.
The Breaking Point August 2, 4:00pm; August 2, 8:45pm; August 6, 7:20pm
Michael Curtiz, 1950, 97m
John Garfield plays fishing boat skipper Harry Morgan, a desperate man in the throes of a mid-life crisis whose acceptance of a nefarious operator’s “easy money” brings heartbreaking results. The entire cast is pitch-perfect, with Patricia Neal (the tart-tongued ‘other woman’) and Phyllis Thaxter (Morgan’s devoted wife) particular standouts.
Chicago Syndicate August 3, 5:00pm; August 3, 9:40pm
Fred F. Sears, 1955, 83m
A rarely-seen example of 1950s-syle “exposé noir,” purporting to show the inner workings of American organized crime. Dennis O’Keefe plays a “forensic accountant” enlisted by the cops to go undercover in the gang of local crime boss Arnie Valent. The on-location tour of 1955 Chicago is absolutely priceless.
Call Northside 777 August 3, 7:10pm
Henry Hathaway, 1948, 111m
The first Hollywood film shot on location in Chicago. Jaded newspaper reporter P.J. McNeal (Jimmy Stewart) takes up the cause of convict Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) after the con’s mother spends her life savings trying to clear her son. Call Northside 777 can be enjoyed both as an elegiac ode to the vanished old-school newspaper business and as a film noir. Either way it’s a terrific film—especially for Chicagoans eager to see a big screen version of the city, circa 1948.