GENRE FILMS
EDITH KIEL & JAN VANDERHEYDEN AND FLEMISH POPULAR CINEMA
Jan Vanderheyden (Belgium)
Jan Vanderheyden and Edith Kiel make their first feature film in 1934. DE WITTE (WHITEY), based on the popular picaresque novel by Ernest Claes, will remain the biggest success in Flemish cinema for decades. Their second film, the romantic operetta ALLEEN VOOR U (ONLY FOR YOU, 1935) is made with the same technical skills and visual flair, but is…
THE HITCH-HIKER
Ida Lupino (US, 1953)
Beyond its obvious cultural significance as the only classic film noir directed by a woman (actress Ida Lupino), THE HITCH-HIKER is perhaps better remembered as simply one of the most nightmarish motion pictures of the 1950s. Inspired by the true-life murder spree of Billy Cook, THE HITCH-HIKER is the tension-laden saga of two men on a camping trip (Edmond O'Brien and Frank Lovejoy) who are held captive by a homicidal drifter (William Talman).
2019 - BEST SPECIAL FEATURES AWARD
Felix E. Feist (US)
Blinded by love, homicide lieutenant Ed Cullen (Lee J. Cobb, fresh off originating the role of Willy Loman on Broadway in DEATH OF A SALESMAN) goes to great lengths to cover up a murder. His coquettish girlfriend Lois (Jane Wyatt, best known as the mother in FATHER KNOWS BEST) has killed her scheming husband before he could bump her off. John Dall (GUN CRAZY) co-stars as Ed’s kid brother Andy, a rookie on the force who is determined to break his first big case.
tHE MOST DANGEROUS GAME / GOW THE HEADHUNTER
Merian C. Cooper / Edward A. Salisbury (US)
THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME is a superb, pre-Code action-adventure film. Based upon a famous short story by Richard Connell, it follows big game hunter, Bob Rainsford, (Joel McCrea), as he becomes quarry for another, the opulently deranged Count Zaroff, (floridly played by Leslie Banks). Utilizing some of the amazing sets made for King Kong, the film is...
NEVER FEAR
Ida Lupino (US, 1949)
Ida Lupino made a unique mark of filmmaking of the era by focusing on social issue films that dramatically brought to the fore such taboo subjects as serial killers (THE HITCH-HIKER) bigamy (THE BIGAMIST), rape (OUTRAGE) and out-of-wedlock birth (NOT WANTED). In NEVER FEAR, a beautiful young dancer whose body, and promising career, is suddenly crippled by polio. Her dance partner and fiancé wants to see her through her illness, but the angry, self-pitying she prefers to go it alone. Her father takes her to the Kabat-Kaiser Institute for rehabilitation, where she meets fellow patients on her tough road to recovery.
NIGHT TIDE
Curtis Harrington (US, 1961)
Erotic ecstasy becomes psychic terror!
A sailor on shore leave becomes fascinated by a woman who poses as a mermaid in an oceanfront carnival. As their relationship blossoms, Johnny (Dennis Hopper) realizes that Mora (Linda Lawson) is more than a sideshow illusionist. She seems to be a descendent of the mythical sirens of the sea, and is under the mesmeric control of a mysterious woman (Marjorie Cameron) who beckons Mora to return to her home beneath the waves.
THE TARNISHED ANGELS
Douglas Sirk (US, 1957)
Set in the 1930s Depression era during Mardi Gras in New Orleans, THE TARNISHED ANGELS covers three days in the lives of a trio of flying-circus performers, headlined by former WWI fighter-pilot hero Roger Shumann (Robert Stack) and his beautiful blonde wife, LaVerne (Dorothy Malone). Romantic complications arise when newspaper reporter Burke Devlin (Rock Hudson) falls in love with LaVerne while covering their daredevil aerial show. Legendary filmmaker Douglas Sirk (MAGNIFICENT OBSESSION, ALL THAT HEAVEN ALLOWS, WRITTEN ON THE WIND, IMITATION OF LIFE) directed this masterpiece based on a novel by William Faulkner (PYLON), adapted for the screen by George Zuckerman. Featuring Troy Donahue in one of his earlier roles.
TOO LATE FOR TEARS
Byron Haskin (US)
When a pair of film noir icons like Lizabeth Scott and Dan Duryea collide, sparks are sure to fly. Jane Palmer (Scott) and her husband Alan (Arthur Kennedy) mysteriously have $60,000 literally dropped in their laps. The circumstances seem mighty suspicious to Alan, who wants to turn the money over to the police. But in a materialistic rapture, Jane won’t let it…
2020 - PERSONAL CHOICE AWARD (Lorenzo Codelli, Juror)
TRAPPED
Richard Fleischer (US)
Before making Hollywood epics such as 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA (1954) and BARABBAS (1961) director Richard Fleischer started his career in the mid 1940’s with a series of low-budget B-features, often taking crime stories and transforming them into taut noir dramas. TRAPPED is the story of an uneasy alliance of a convicted counterfeiter (played by a young Lloyd Bridges) with Federal T-Men in the search to track down the forger of treasury bills.
WOMAN ON THE RUN
Norman Foster (US)
Join the wild chase around San Francisco as a man goes into hiding after witnessing a gangland execution. Police bird-dog his wife Eleanor (Ann Sheridan), certain she’ll lead them to her husband, whose testimony against the killer could bring down a crime kingpin. But Eleanor and her hubbie are Splitsville—she never wants to see him again. When roguish…