The Silver Screen Oasis

It's that time of year again, folks! Next month I'll be presenting my annual film noir extravaganza at the Roxie Theater in San Francisco! Here's the inside dope with a rundown of the line-up of films. To get full descriptions, check out the Roxie website at http://roxie.com/events/details.cfm?eve ... 45F0C5EF8D

I WAKE UP DREAMING—2011 : The Legendary and the Lost!
TWO THRILLING WEEKS of sensationally RARE film noir straight from the shadowy depths of Hollywood’s hidden vaults!
FRI MAY 13 – THUR MAY 26
TWENTY-EIGHT excitingly different films—FOURTEEN amazing double-features—will blossom madly once again this spring as FILM NOIR returns to the historic 102 year old Roxie Theater in San Francisco! Highlighting our current cavalcade of legendary but seldom screened noir classics are PHANTOM LADY (1944), Robert Siodmak’s brilliant adaptation of Cornell Woolrich’s novel of erotic suspense; MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944), Fritz Lang’s sinister tale of murder and espionage; another Cornell Woolrich classic, the haunting supernatural noir NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1948); and star-director Robert Montgomery’s curiously elusive RIDE THE PINK HORSE (1947) taken from the great novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. All four of these films, along with THE WEB (1947) starring perennial fan favorite Edmond O’Brien and the often-overlooked SMOOTH AS SILK (1946), will be presented in beautiful 35mm studio archive prints from Universal!
Alongside these legendary classics will be NEWLY RESTORED 35mm PRINTS of NINE incredibly RARE noirs from COLUMBIA PICTURES / SONY, including: Edmond O’Brien again in 711 OCEAN DRIVE (1950); ace cinematographer John Alton’s magnificent AMAZING MR. X(1948); the ravishing Ann Dvorak in the uninhibited 1940 proto-noir CAFÉ HOSTESS; saucy Evelyn Keyes in the sadly neglected noir comedy DANGEROUS BLONDES (1943); slippery Franchot Tone in the thrilling private-eye noir I LOVE TROUBLE (1948); and a pair of unusual 50s B curios from director Fred Sears—the notorious Caryl Chessman expose CELL BLOCK 2455, DEATH ROW (1955) and the ultra rare cold-war melodrama THE 49th MAN (1953).
Of special additional note are the screenings of two rare and singularly important noirs: Edgar G. Ulmer’s RUTHLESS (1948) and John Parker’s unforgettable 1955 masterpiece of nightmare noir, DEMENTIA. Both are being presented in 35mm prints!
Programmed exclusively for the Roxie Theater by Elliot Lavine.

Here’s the whole line-up:

FRI MAY 13
PHANTOM LADY (1944)
DEMENTIA (1955)

SAT MAY 14
MINISTRY OF FEAR (1944)
STREET OF CHANCE (1942)

SUN MAY 15
THE NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES (1948)
THE AMAZING MR. X (1948)

MON MAY 16
GUILTY BYSTANDER (1950)
C-MAN (1949)

TUES MAY 17
THE GREAT FLAMARION (1945)
ONCE A THIEF (1950)

WED MAY 18
RUTHLESS (1948)
WHISPERING CITY (1948)

THURS MAY 19
CUSTOMS AGENT (1950)
SMOOTH AS SILK (1946)

FRI MAY 20
DANGEROUS BLONDES (1943)
CAFÉ HOSTESS (1940)

SAT MAY 21
RIDE THE PINK HORSE (1947)
I LOVE TROUBLE (1948)

SUN MAY 22
711 OCEAN DRIVE (1950)
THE WEB (1947)

MON MAY 23
THE VIOLENT YEARS (1956)
DANCE HALL RACKET (1953)

TUES MAY 24
CELL 2455, DEATH ROW (1955)
CHAIN GANG (1950)

WED MAY 25
WORLD FOR RANSOM (1954)
THE 49th MAN (1953)

THURS MAY 26
KISS ME DEADLY (1955)
WITNESS TO MURDER (1954)

Oh Lord, if only I could either move to CA or somehow make the trek from West Virginia to California every week. Why can't they hurry up and invent teleportation already.

Among many others, I'd love to make the showing of The Violent Years. Such a fun movie. That opening scene is one of my all-time favorites. (Not sure what that says about me...)

-Stephen

Dewey,

711 Ocean Drive AND Ride the Pink Horse and Fritz Lang and Robert Siodmak!!!

You know MoraldoRubini (Marco) and I will be there! Hopefully, ChiO will be able to join us again this year!

Who knows, maybe lunch, dinner or drinks can be in our future this year???

I hope so!

I'm so glad to see Phantom Lady (yay! my favorite) and The Great Flamarion on the list!

You've got me so intrigued with Smooth as Silk and Dangerous Blondes too. I'll have to keep my eye out for these two.

Wendy, PHANTOM LADY is a big favorite of mine, too. In fact, after CRISS CROSS, it's my favorite Siodmak film. It's really curious to me why a film with as much street cred as PHANTOM LADY has yet to see the light of day on DVD. The same could also be said of MINISTRY OF FEAR and RIDE THE PINK HORSE; not so coincidentally all three being under the control of Universal. SMOOTH AS SILK is also a Universal title, but it's hardly known to anyone at all. DANGEROUS BLONDES (a noir comedy!) is a Columbia picture, owned and controlled by Sony. It wouldn't surprise me at all to see this one among their DV-R releases one day soon.
Lynn, I'm truly looking forward to seeing both you and Marco down at the Roxie next month. And yes, drinks are definitely in our future. I have it on good authority that Justice ChiO will be in the house!
and Stephen, you have no idea how pleased I am that a film with Edward D. Wood's estimable fingerprints on it will finally appear in one of my noir fests. Although there will no doubt be many who challenge the inclusion of THE VIOLENT YEARS in this line-up, all I can say to them is, "Oh Yeah?" Wish you could be here, too!

ROAD TRIP!!!!

May 22 & 23 are the key nights for me. Just an issue as whether to put those on the front-end or back-end or middle. THE VIOLENT YEARS is noir extraordinaire. And I've never seen DANCE HALL RACKET. But to miss DEMENTIA -- with my latest obsession, Chicago's own Bruno VeSota-- on the Big Screen.... 19th-25th?

O, the Agony. It's a Noir Nightmare.

If only TCM could do this kind of programming.

Marco & Lynn -- save me the middle seat.

My cup of strychnine and here I sit without a straw! As always, Mr. D. brings a wealth of unseen cinema to a place I won't be able to visit anytime soon. Hopefully, those who love rolling in this type of filth will report back and give us the dirt on these treasures--and please don't wash your hands!

Ark - One of these days we'll get you on a jet airliner and deposit you into
your own honorary seat at the Roxie for the full two-week measure!
ChiO - I feel your pain. I only hope you choose well...

I like "Phantom Lady" a lot. The "jazz nightmare" sequence is stunning.

Aren't there copyright problems with a lot of Cornell Woolrich's stuff? Something like that, coupled with a lack of big name stars, probably means no one is rushing to release this on DVD.

Mike, I think that scene from PHANTOM LADY is probably one of the most dynamic
and unique in all of Noir; it absolutely sizzles.
And here it is:
[youtube][/youtube]
As for copyright issues surrounding Woolrich-penned films, the only one that
I know for certain falls under that category would be THE MARK OF THE WHISTLER.
With PHANTOM LADY, it seems to be nothing more than a glaring omission on the
part of MCA-Unviersal, who owns and controls the film. Given the ultra-high
rep of this film, it seems very curious as to why it's never been released on DVD.

Incredible! and ewwwww! There's a whole subtext in that clip! It's so sexual, and you get a feeling that these guys are all hopped up on something other than alcohol.

The shot of Cook putting his hand on the back of her neck, forcing her inside the jazz club, starts the whole thing off...and it's totally frightening to me. I never was comfortable with a guy who would put his hand on my neck like that to propel me ANYWHERE. It usually meant the end of the date for me. It's such a giveaway that a man wants power over you.

Dewey1960 wrote:With PHANTOM LADY, it seems to be nothing more than a glaring omission on the
part of MCA-Unviersal, who owns and controls the film. Given the ultra-high
rep of this film, it seems very curious as to why it's never been released on DVD.

It's pricey, but DVDbeaver lists Phantom Lady as having a Region 2-PAL release. It's included in a set of Robert Siodmak films, which also contains Cobra Woman (1944) and The Killers (1946).
http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film2/DVDRevie ... ection.htm
There is also a region 4 (Australia) release, under the Universal Film Noir banner.
http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/804344

I hope it does get a region 1 release soon. My guess is it may be a part of their DVD on-demand Universal Vault Series.

I'd love to see a region 1 release, but I just thank goodness that TCM finally showed it and someone let me know about this movie. It's great!

Check out this sensational clip. It's from the 1955 film DEMENTIA and it happens to be the co-feature with
PHANTOM LADY on opening night of the fest--Friday the 13th of May! This has been my dream / nightmare
double feature for years and now a 35mm print of DEMENTIA has emerged from the shadows... (the version
we'll be playing is the original first cut and does not have the intrusive voice-over narration)
[youtube][/youtube]