The 2009 Palm Springs Film Noir Festival heading darkly into town

April 19, 11:25 AMPittsburgh Stage and Screen ExaminerAlan Petrucelli

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Double-crossing dames.

Crooked cops.

Deep shadows and thick fog and faint jazz drifting from some gin joint peopled with familiar faces that just can¹t be quite placed.

A wet dark street reflecting gleams of light‹like stars looking up from the pavement.

A place where morals don’t count, and the law is a matter of opinion.

Welcome to the world of film noir.

Just what is film noir?

A style? A cycle? A genre? A reaction to World War II or a premonition of the loss of innocence the atomic bomb would bring about? A German expressionist view of a French existentialist philosophy for a cynical American audience?

All of the above?

None of the above?

Who cares, really?

(For the record, the term “film noir” (literal translation: “black film”) was coined by French critic Nino Frank in 1946 after viewing an exhibition of American films in Paris, including Laura, The Maltese Falcon, Double Indemnity, Woman in the Window and Murder, My Sweet. French intellectuals embraced this new, dark view of civilization at what was the first film noir festival.)

It’s been said that film noir is all about the story. True. But also, it¹s
all about the fun.

The Palm Springs Film Noir Festival (renamed The Arthur Lyons' Film Noir Festival in honor of its late founder) rears its dark and mysterious head May 28-31, 2009.

Founded in 2000, the festival includes an eclectic mixture of prestigious and obscure black-and-white movies from the classic film noir period. And sometimes, if they aren’t too old or decrepit, stars make appearance.

Alan K. Rode, the Director of the festival, promises us a dark (that means good) time. Here, he shares the list of the films and guest stars the festival has confirmed.

Thursday, May 28
7:30 p.m.
Bigger Than Life (1956) A forgotten, noir-stained classic directed by Nicholas Ray about an ill schoolteacher (James Mason) who experiences relief via a “miracle drug”---but ends up getting hooked and descends into a psychotic nightmare. This compelling nightmare tale wrapped in Eisenhower-era social commentary is a stunner! The film co-stars Walter Matthau and Barbara Rush. Babs is scheduled to be present at the screening.

Friday, May 29
10 a.m.
Armored Car Robbery (1950) The ultimate B-caper flick, directed by the late Richard Fleischer, with the toughest mug in noir, Charles McGraw, playing a gravel-voiced Los Angeles robbery-homicide dick matched against reptilian gang leader William Talman. Think of it as the film noir equivalent of King Kong vs. Godzilla, with relentless action leavened by sultry Adele Jergens as a duplicitous burlesque queen, strutting her stuff amid plenty of period L.A. location photography.

11:30 a.m.
The Grand Inquisitor (2008) the 22-minute short film produced and directed by noir expert Eddie Muller, brought legendary Marsha Hunt back to the screen. Both Muller and Hunt will be on hand to answer questions and sign autographs.



1 p.m.
The Bad Seed (1956) This American Gothic classic remains one of most darkly shocking movies of all time. A well-bred mother (Nancy Kelly) with an absentee husband (William Hopper) discovers that their loving daughter (Patty McCormack, below) might be dangerously sociopathic. Noir? If you say so. McCormack is scheduled to appear at the screening.


4 p.m.
Woman on the Run (1950) The sole witness to a gangland murder goes into hiding to avoid the police who want him to testify and the killers who want him dead. His estranged wife (Ann Sheridan), aided by an intrepid reporter (Dennis O’Keefe), scour San Francisco in a race against time to find her reluctant husband before it is too late. Filmed on location, this dark, delightful noir is the rarest of the rare; an exquisite transfer from an original 35mm print.

7:30 p.m.
The Garment Jungle (1957) Based on the true story of a muckraking New York journalist who was blinded by acid for trying to expose the evils of garment industry bosses, this film is one of the toughest expose pictures of the ’50s. The script by Harry Kleiner was dually directed by Robert Aldrich, who was replaced by Vincent Sherman. The result is seamless and the performances are uniformly first-rate, from a cast that includes Lee J. Cobb, Kerwin Matthews, Gia Scala, Richard Boone, Joseph Wiseman and a young Robert Loggia, who is scheduled to be present at the screening.

Saturday, May 30
10 a.m.
Criss Cross (1949) Originally intended as a Los Angeles police procedural, this seminal noir was refined by director Robert Siodmak into a sensually stylized look at the consequences of obsession. The action occurs around a robbery cooked up by a fatale heart breaker (Yvonne De Carlo), her obsessed ex-husband (Burt Lancaster) and a vicious gangster (Dan Duryea).

1 p.m.
Inside Job (1946) This is an authentic rarity from the Universal film vault that continues the Arthur Lyons’ tradition of screening newly-discovered B-noir films! Ann Rutherford and Preston Foster star as married ex-cons who seek rehabilitation, but end up being blackmailed into a robbery caper. This is the last work by legendary writer-director Tod Browning, and has not been screened theatrically for decades. Rutherford, one of only two surviving cast members of Gone with the Wind, is scheduled to attend the screening. You know the other one. Think.


4 p.m.
Desert Fury (1947) Lizabeth Scott in glorious Technicolor---swirls of yellow hair, emerald eyes, fire-engine red lips---is truly something to behold, but she’s only one of the attractions in this unique crime drama. Mary Astor struggles mightily to put the brakes on her daughter who is entranced with gangster John Hodiak, whose partner Wendell Corey is murderously miffed at being kicked to the curb. All the while, beefy lawman Burt Lancaster seems oblivious to the swirl of ardor surging all around him. Expect fast and furious dialogue dripping with innuendo, double entendres and dark secrets.

7:30 p.m.
Riff-Raff (1947) After a visually stunning opening by director (and former Hitchcock cinematographer) Ted Tetzlaff, the film morphs into a breakneck tour of tropical Panama City led by private eye Pat O’Brien. The double-crosses and plot twists pile up as O’Brien is aided by nightclub chanteuse Anne Jeffreys and hack driver Percy Kilbride while coping with the sinister bulk of the villainous Walter Slezak. Jeffreys is scheduled to be at the screening.

Sunday, May 31
10 a.m.
Brute Force (1947) Producer-writer Mark Hellinger’s most hard-boiled of prison noirs features “men on the inside” (Burt Lancaster, Charles Bickford, Howard Duff, Jeff Corey, Whit Bissell) who are matched against sadistic prison captain Hume Cronyn while pining for their “women on the outside” (Anita Colby, Ann Blyth, Yvonne De Carlo and Ella Raines). Beautifully directed by the late Jules Dassin, this picture is a classic example of post World War II noir realism.

1 p.m.
The Breaking Point (1950) The best film version of Hemingway’s novel To Have and Have Not (yes, it tops the Bogart-Bacall classic), shifts the story from Cuba to California, but retains the story’s central theme of heartbreak. As Skipper Harry Morgan, John Garfield gives a searing portrait of a man whose domestic woes and mid-life crisis leads to crime and death. Garfield’s magnificence is matched by Patricia Neal, as a stiletto-tongued femme fatale with Phyllis Thaxter, as his mousy but mighty spouse and Wallace Ford as the prototypical doomed schemer. Co-star Sherry Jackson is scheduled to appear at the screening.

4 p.m.
Female on the Beach (1955) The most wildly perverse of Joan Crawford’s diva films from the ’50s co-stars Jeff Chandler as a hunky beachcomber. Sexual obsession, blackmail and murder are folded into a froth of weird neighbors, thrown martini glasses, secret diaries, Malibu beach locations and overall camp noir.

7:30 p.m.
Thief (1981) The best neo-noir crime film of the last three decades . . . really? Michael Mann’s smashing directorial debut stars James Caan as a fiercely independent professional thief reaching to fulfill his dreams that includes a wife (Tuesday Weld), his former cell mate (Willie Nelson) and partner (Jim Belushi). The plan goes awry when he signs on to work for the Mob and a seemingly genial godfather (Robert Prosky, in his film debut). Extraordinary realism, incredible dialogue with a powerhouse performance by Caan.

Note: Scheduled films and guests are subject to availability and change.


All screenings will be held at the Camelot Theatre, 2300 East Baristo Road, Palm Springs, California. For tickets and/or more information, call (760) 325-6565 or visit  http://arthurlyonsfilmnoir.ning.com