nwFilmCenter

Killer Ladies: Film Noir

How did they get so bad? Some have secrets, some want revenge and some are just damn tired of their husbands. If pulling the trigger is unladylike, getting some sucker to do the deed is no problem. The vintage femme fatales in these classics from the golden age of noir - indelible in their 35mm glory-will take you back to nights of dark intrigue and cold bargains by women who mean business.

Fri, Apr 6, 2007 at 7 PM Sat, Apr 7, 2007 at 9:30 PM	MILDRED PIERCE DIRECTOR: MICHAEL CURTIZ US Mildred Pierce will do anything to provide for her cherished daughter Veda until the murder of Monte Beragon reveals a sordid love triangle between Monte, Mildred and Veda. Mildred, a former housewife turned self-made business woman, leaves her husband for Monte, a shiftless Southern Californian heir. Veda, who is also attracted to Monte, leaves her fiancé and attempts to seduce her mother's lover. Jealousy ensues and in the end Veda kills Monte and the smothering Mildred tries to take the wrap to save her daughter. Joan Crawford earned herself an Oscar for her portrayal of the Mildred, a 1940's heroine counterpart to a hard-boiled detective. Adapted from James M. Cain's novel of the same name, Mildred Pierce is quintessential noir. ( 113 min ) Double feature with THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the Friday double feature or click here for the Saturday double feature. ^ Top
Fri, Apr 6, 2007 at 9:15 PM Sat, Apr 7, 2007 at 7 PM	THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE DIRECTOR: JOHN FRANKENHEIMER US After being tormented by recurring nightmares, Major Bennett Marco seeks out his war comrade and the subject of recurring nightmares, Raymond Shaw. Together they uncover a conspiracy that is as far reaching as China and as close to home as Shaw's own Mother. Featuring phenomenal performances by Frank Sinatra, Janet Leigh and, most notably, Angela Lansbury as the ambitious, manipulative mother. This beautiful example of later noir uses intellectual intrigue and the political tensions of the time to create an iconoclastic psychological thriller. ( 126 min ) Double feature with MILDRED PIERCE. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the Friday double feature or click here for the Saturday double feature. ^ Top
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 at 7 PM Sat, Apr 14, 2007 at 9 PM	THE LETTER DIRECTOR: WILLIAM WYLER US Bette Davis is the jealous and conniving Leslie Crosby, a woman men can't resist. While her husband is off inspecting his rubber plantation she takes the opportunity to murder her lover. Although she devises a story that makes the murder look like self-defense, unfortunately, a letter exists which proves her guilt. She manipulates both her lawyer (Robert Crosbie) and her husband in order to acquire the letter and get off the hook. As the lawyer who is both drawn and repelled by the calculating Leslie, Crosbie embodies countless males destroyed by women unafraid to get heir way. ( 95 min ) Double feature with THE MALTESE FALCON. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the Friday double feature or click here for the Saturday double feature. ^ Top
Fri, Apr 13, 2007 at 9 PM Sat, Apr 14, 2007 at 7 PM	THE MALTESE FALCON DIRECTOR: JOHN HUSTON US Having worked as a screenwriter, John Huston turned to directing in this faithful adaptation of Dashiell Hammett's crime novel about the search for the elusive Falcon of Malta. Humphrey Bogart is the classic detective Sam Spade, who, while searching for answers about the death of his partner is caught in the evil web of a woman he is powerless to resist. With wonderfully wicked performances by Peter Lorre and Sidney Greenstreet. ( 101 min ) Double feature with THE LETTER. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the Friday double feature or click here for the Saturday double feature. ^ Top
Sun, Apr 15, 2007 at 7 PM	OUT OF THE PAST DIRECTOR: JACQUES TOURNEUR US Shot mostly at night, OUT OF THE PAST palpably creates the oppressive fatalism at the heart of film noir. The complex screenplay, adapted by Geoffrey Homes from his own novel, begins when a seemingly simple private detective (Robert Mitchum) is hired to track down the mistress (a lethal Jane Greer) of an underworld boss, soon following malignant corruption from character to character. Co-starring Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming, "Tourneur's masterpiece . . . [is] a civilized treatment of an annihilating melodrama."-Andrew Sarris. ( 97 min ) ^ Top
Fri, Apr 20, 2007 at 7 PM Sun, Apr 22, 2007 at 7 PM	DOUBLE INDEMNITY DIRECTOR: BILLY WILDER US Hailed by many as the definitive film noir of the 40's, DOUBLE INDEMNITY recounts the story of insurance agent Walter Neff and the greedy, scheming Phyllis Dietrichson who conspires to bump off her husband and collect his life insurance. Adapted by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler from James M. Cain's novel of the same name, the story may take place in sunny, middle-class Los Angeles, but its moodily lit interiors, rhythmic narration, and dark morality sketch a world noir to the core. ( 106 min ) Double feature with WOMAN IN THE WINDOW on Friday. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the double feature. ^ Top
Fri, Apr 20, 2007 at 9 PM Sat, Apr 21, 2007 at 9:15 PM	WOMAN IN THE WINDOW DIRECTOR: FRITZ LANG US Always be weary of women walking alone in the night. When his wife and children leave on vacation, a genial professor visits the apartment of a beautiful woman whom he meets while admiring her portrait in a gallery window. Just as rapidly, he's plunged into a world of murder and blackmail. "Not only a dazzling piece of suspense, but also a characteristically stark demonstration of Lang's belief in the inevitability of fate: Robinson, basically a good man, makes one small slip...and he's doomed."-TIME OUT. ( 99 min ) Double feature with DOUBLE INDEMNITY on Friday. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the double feature. ^ Top
Thu, Apr 26, 2007 at 7 PM Sun, Apr 29, 2007 at 8:30 PM	GUN CRAZY DIRECTOR: JOSEPH H. LEWIS US Wild "Annie Oakley" sideshow marksman Annie Starr falls for Bart Tare after he impresses her with his own sharp shooting skills. Bart joins her act and the two are momentarily happy, but destitute circumstances force them to a life of crime-on-the-run. Peggy Cummins plays the platinum blond Annie, a woman who thrives off violence and leads the sensitive, gun crazy Bart to passion-ridden doom. A virtual paen to sex and violence, Lewis' swift noir masterpiece was a precursor to BONNIE AND CLYDE. ( 86 min ) Double Feature with KISS ME DEADLY on Sunday. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the double feature. ^ Top
Fri, Apr 27, 2007 at 8:30 PM Sat, Apr 28, 2007 at 7 PM	ANGEL FACE DIRECTOR: OTTO PREMINGER US Ambulance driver Frank Jessup gets a call to go to a hillside estate, not realizing it would drive his life off-course forever. While saving Mrs. Tremayne's life, he meets her stepdaughter Diane and lands a new job as the Tremayne family chauffeur. "The fascination that Frank, the lower class ambulance driver, develops for the spoiled but beautiful and wealthy Diane not only evokes the traditional noir motivations of sex and money but the danger of obsessive relationships as well."-Silver & Ward. ( 91 min ) Double feature with KISS ME DEADLY on Saturday. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the double feature. ^ Top
Sat, Apr 28, 2007 at 8:45 PM Sun, Apr 29, 2007 at 6:30 PM	KISS ME DEADLY DIRECTOR: ROBERT ALDRICH US "A drive through the night, a lady in distress, a roadblock, a car crash, torture and murder, Rosetta in code, a mushroom cloud over Malibu...KISS ME DEADLY is the culmination of the cold-war paranoia film, evoking a combustible world of nihilism and disconnected souls, with private eye Mike Hammer lurching throughout the LA labyrinth in search of the great Whatsit, a MacGuffin that becomes a metaphor for a world up-ended and on the brink of oblivion."-NATIONAL FILM THEATER, LONDON. "A key film of the modern era, a touchstone for the French New Wave, and as ferocious a movie as has ever been made in America."-Martin Scorsese. ( 105 min ) Double feature with ANGEL FACE on Saturday and GUN CRAZY on Sunday. Double features cost an additional $2 to stay for both films. To purchase an advanced ticket for the double feature, be sure to select the DOUBLE FEATURE rather than the single ticket. Click here to buy tickets for the Saturday double feature with ANGEL FACE or click here to buy tickets for the Sunday double feature with GUN CRAZY. ^ Top