Friday, Jan 27 — BLUE COLLAR NOIR
THIEVES' HIGHWAY
1949, 20th Century-Fox, 94 min.
7:30 PM
One of NOIR CITY's perennial favorites, presented in a pristine 35mm print! WWII vet Richard Conte drives to San Francisco to sell a load of apples—and get revenge on the crooked broker (Lee J. Cobb) who crippled his father. Shot on-location in the city's once-thriving Embarcadero produce district, and featuring a terrific performance by Valentina Cortese. Screenplay by A. I. Bezzerides, from his novel Thieves' Market. Directed by Jules Dassin.
THE BREAKING POINT
1950, WB/UCLA, 97 min.
9:30 PM
John Garfield gives perhaps his greatest performance as world-weary fishing boat skipper Harry Morgan in this superb and darkly noir adaptation of Hemingway's "To Have and Have Not," one of the best, if unjustly neglected, films of the noir era. Preservation funding provided by Warner Bros. in association with The Film Foundation and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Screenplay by Ranald MacDougall, from the Hemingway novel. Directed by Michael Curtiz.. Preserved 35mm Print!
Saturday, Jan 28 — A PAIR OF 35MM PRESERVATIONS!
THE GREAT GATSBY
1949, Paramount [Universal], 91 min.
3:00, 7:00 PM
Resurrected at long last! This version of F. Scott Firzgerald's classic novel has been buried for decades, to make way for remakes. Thanks to our friends at Universal Pictures, Alan Ladd's noir-styled take on the timeless tale of shady success and unrequited love is again available, in a brand new print made exclusively for NOIR CITY! Screenplay by Cyril Hume & Richard Maibaum, from a play by Owen Davis, based on Fitzgerald's novel. Directed by Elliott Nugent. Preserved 35mm print!
NOT ON DVD!
$10 double feature shows start at 1:00 and 3:00.PM
THREE STRANGERS
1946, Warner Bros., 92 min.
1:00, 5:00, 9:00
Noir strays into the supernatural realm in this fantastic tale of three strangers (Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and Geraldine Fitzgerald) whose fates entwine with a mysterious Chinese idol and a winning lottery ticket. Deeply cynical, gloriously atmospheric. Never on DVD, almost lost in 35mm, we proudly present this forgotten classic in a brand new FNF-funded preservation print! Screenplay by John Huston and Howard Koch. Directed by Jean Negulesco.
NOT ON DVD!
Sunday, Jan 29 — ALL-DAY DASHIELL HAMMETT MARATHON!
ROADHOUSE NIGHTS
1930, Paramount [Universal], 68 min.
12:00 PM
This ultra-rare film—the first based on a Hammett book—is nominally taken from the author's classic gang-war novel Red Harvest, which proved too brutal and cynical even for pre-Code Hollywood. What's left is a merrily fun action-comedy starring Helen Morgan, Charles Ruggles, and Jimmy Durante. Screenplay by Garrett Fort; story by Ben Hecht, from the Hammett novel Red Harvest. Directed by Hobert Henley.
NOT ON DVD!
THE MALTESE FALCON
1931, Warner Bros., 80 min.
1:20
No, not the Bogart version, but the original—made the year after Hammett's landmark novel was published. This pre-Code adaptation flaunts a much sexier tone than John Huston's more famous 1941version. Some Hammett fans even prefer it. Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels star as Spade and Brigid. Screenplay by Maude Fulton & Brown Holmes, from the Hammett novel. Directed by Roy Del Ruth.
CITY STREETS
1932, Paramount [UCLA], 83 min.
3:00 PM
Gary Cooper plays a carny sharpshooter who goes crooked in order to free his love (Sylvia Sidney) from prison. The only story Hammett wrote specifically for the screen, it is brilliantly realized by director Rouben Mamoulian and legendary cameraman Lee Garmes. Restored print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive. Screenplay by Oliver H. P. Garrett, adapted by Max Marcin, from a story by Dashiell Hammett.
NOT ON DVD!
MR. DYNAMITE
1935, Universal, 67 min.
4:45 PM
Originally conceived as a second "Sam Spade" novel, Mr. Dynamite would end up being the most rarely-seen of all films based on the author's work. Edmund Lowe stars as a disreputable private dick hired by a gambler to solve a murder within the casino. Archival print courtesy of Universal Pictures! Screenplay by Doris Malloy & Harry Clork, from a story by Dashiell Hammett. Directed by Alan Crosland.
NOT ON DVD!
TICKETS FOR MATINEE 4-FILM SHOW
THE GLASS KEY
1942, Paramount/Universal, 85 min.
7:00 PM
Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake add glamorous sex appeal to Hammett's gritty and influential behind-the-scenes tale of the dirty work that goes on in big city politics. Director Stuart Heisler is at his rapid-fire best, eliciting terrific support from dashing Brian Donlevy and thuggish William Bendix. Screenplay by Jonathan Latimer, from the novel by Dashiell Hammett.
NOT ON DVD!
THE MALTESE FALCON
1941, Warner Bros., 100 min.
9:00 PM
NOIR CITY's 10th Anniversary celebration closes in the proper and righteous way: with an encore screening of the definitive film version of the most influential work of crime fiction ever written … "The stuff that dreams (and a million imitations) are made of." With legendary performances from Bogart, Mary Astor, Sydney Greenstreet, Peter Lorre, and S.F.'s own Elisha Cook, Jr. Written and directed by John Huston, from the novel by Dashiell Hammett. Perhaps your last chance to see it in glorious 35mm on a massive movie screen!
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