The Film Noir festival, Noir City, returns to the legendary Egyptian theater in Seattle for the 2018 edition from February 16 through 22, with exceptional films from the most “noir” of decades, 1941 to 1951. The festival presents 18 classic films as they were experienced on their original releases, pairing a top-tier studio “A” with a shorter, low-budget second feature, or “B” film. All but two of the films will be presented in glorious 35mm.
The host of Noir City, Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, will also be back to delight audiences with twisted tales and anecdotes about each film. If you’ve seen his show “Noir Alley” on Turner Classic Movies, then you know what an incomparable master of the darkest corners of human motivation he is. Eddie is available for interviews via phone or SKYPE.
Opening Night the Egyptian will be transformed into a haven for gangsters, molls, vixens, and villains, with Noir-themed wine and a shadowy cityscape photo booth to capture patrons at their sinister best. Presented in 35mm, the Opening Night film, The Maltese Falcon (1941), John Huston’s remarkable directorial debut, sets the tone for this year’s stellar line-up. The As include The Blue Dahlia (1946), starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, which incredibly is making its first appearance in Noir City, and Flesh and Fantasy (1943), by renowned French director Julien Divivier and featuring a dazzling cast including Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, and Robert Cummings.
The Bs include Quiet Please, Murder (1942), a surprisingly racy film starring George Sanders as a cunning forger that must match wits with an equally cunning femme fatale (Gail Patrick), and Bodyguard (1948), a film that ironically stars real-life lawbreaker Lawrence Tierney as a lawman framed for a murder in a meat-packing plant. This breakneck-paced thriller is also distinguished by the co-writer, Robert Altman.
On closing night, the Film Noir Foundation’s latest restoration, an independently made noir crowd pleaser The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950), will have its Seattle premiere (the world premiere is only a couple of weeks earlier at the San Francisco Noir City). Thanks to the generosity of FNF donors, the Foundation was able to fully fund the restoration of this film. Starring Lee J. Cobb, this James M. Cain-style thriller gets maximum impact from its San Francisco locations, including a memorable climax at Fort Point.
“We are excited for this year’s Noir City to return,” says SIFF Artistic Director Beth Barrett. “The 1915 Masonic Temple building that houses the Egyptian has some dark shadows of its own. There’s definitely no better or more atmospheric movie palace to host Noir City in Seattle, one of the greatest movie-going cities in the nation.”
NOIR CITY 2018 LINEUP
The Maltese Falcon (35mm)
Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart), a cynical, tough-talking private eye, becomes ensnared in a web of deceit when a simple missing persons case becomes a deadly hunt for a missing statuette.(d: John Huston c: Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Sidney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, 1941 101 min)
Quiet Please, Murder (35mm)
A book thief/forger sells a fake book to a Nazi through a female agent. A detective tries to uncover who the forger is and gets in the middle of a three way struggle for rare books and revenge in a public library. (d: John Larkin c: George Sanders, Gail Patrick, Richard Denning, 1942, 70 min)
Shadow of a Doubt (35mm)
In Alfred Hitchcock’s glimpse into the dark side of suburbia, a young woman discovers her visiting uncle may not be the man he seems to be. (d: Alfred Hitchcock c: Joseph Cotton, Teresa Wright, Hume Cronyn, 1943, 108 min)
Address Unknown (35mm)
The film tells the story of two families caught up in the rise of Nazism in Germany prior to the start of World War II. (d: William Cameron Menzies c: Paul Lukas, Peter van Eyck, Carl Esmond, 1944, 75 min)
Flesh and Fantasy (35mm)
Two members of a gentlemen’s club tell three tales of the supernatural in this atmospheric pre-cursor to “The Twilight Zone.” (d: Julien Divivier c: Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Boyer, Edward G. Robinson, Robert Cummings, 1943, 94 min)
Destiny (35mm)
Originally conceived as a fourth “episode” in Flesh and Fantasy, this expanded story is about a cynical ex-con and the blind girl that may be the key to his redemption. (d: Reginald Le Borg c: Alan Curtis, Gloria Jean, Frank Craven,1944, 65 min)
Mildred Pierce (35mm)
Joan Crawford delivers a ferocious, Oscar®-winning performance as a hard-working housewife who struggles to provide the best life for her little girl Veda, only to find herself trapped in a dark world of thwarted desires. (d: Michael Curtiz c: Joan Crawford, Zachary Scott, Ann Blyth, Eve Arden, Bruce Bennett, 1945, 111 min)
Jealousy (35mm)
A successful alcoholic writer is murdered and his wife is accused. (d: Gustav Machatý c: Jane Randolph, John Loder, Karen Morley, Nils Asther, 1945, 71 min)
The Blue Dahlia (35mm)
Writer Raymond Chandler’s only original screenplay is a classic about a returning vet being framed for his unfaithful wife’s murder. (d: George Marshall c: Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Doris Dowling, William Bendix, 1946, 96 min)
The Big Sleep (35mm)
Private detective Philip Marlowe is hired by a rich family. Before the complex case is over, he’s seen murder, blackmail, and what might be love. (d: Howard Hawks c: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Martha Vickers, Dorothy Malone, Elisha Cook Jr., 1946, 114 min)
Kiss of Death (Digital)
With his law-breaking lifestyle in the past, an ex-con, along with his family, attempt to start a new life, knowing a betrayed someone from the past is bound to see otherwise. (d: Henry Hathaway c: Victor Mature, Richard Widmark, Coleen Gray, Karl Malden, 1947, 99 min)
Blind Spot (35mm)
Veteran Columbia star Chester Morris delivers a terrific performance as a hard-drinking, hard-luck writer who pitches his skeptical publisher an ingenious “locked room” mystery . . . only to have the crime come true. (d: Robert Gordon c: Chester Morris, William Forrest, Constance Dowling, 1947, 73 min)
I Walk Alone (Digital)
An ex-convict leaves prison expecting his equal share from his ex-partner. But his partner has no intention of sharing. (d: Byron Haskin c: Burt Lancaster, Kirk Douglas, Lizabeth Scott, Marc Lawrence, Wendell Corey, 1948, 97 min)
Bodyguard (35mm)
An ousted Los Angeles homicide detective goes to work for a widow and is framed for murder. (d: Richard Fleischer c: Lawrence Tierney, Priscilla Lane, Phillip Reed, Steve Brodie,1948, 62 min)
The Accused (35mm)
When a college student grows inappropriately fond of his psychology professor and tries to rape her, she fights back. But as she defends herself, she accidentally kills her attacker. (d: William Dieterle c: Loretta Young, Robert Cummings, Wendell Corey, Douglas Dick, 1949, 101 min)
The Threat (35mm)
Murderer Arnold “Red” Kluger has a score to settle: When he was convicted, he promised revenge on the people who put him in prison. (d: Felix E. Feist c: Charles McGraw, Virginia Grey, Michael O’Shea, Anthony Caruso, 1949, 66 min)
The Man Who Cheated Himself
A woman in the process of divorce shoots her husband and gets her police lieutenant boyfriend to help hide the body. (d: Felix E. Feist c: Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, John Dall, Harlan Warde,1950, 81 min)
Roadblock
An honest LA insurance detective becomes corrupt and turns to crime after falling in love with a gold-digger model. (d: Harold Daniels c: Charles McGraw, Joan Dixon, Lowell Gilmore, 1951, 73 min)
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