NOBLESSE OBLIGE (US, 1981, Warren Sonbert)

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The style is relatively unchanged, but the images — press conferences, news events, disasters — convey his vision of the world in a new, direct, political fashion. Featuring startling footage of the City Hall riots after Councilman Dan White received a light prison sentence for slaying San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk, NOBLESSE OBLIGE opens a new chapter on Sonbert's career. —David Ehrenstein, L.A. Reader

NOBLESSE OBLIGE is masterfully edited work featuring imagery Sonbert filmed of protests in San Francisco following the murders of Mayor George Moscone and Councilman Harvey Milk at the hands of Dan White.

Sonbert modeled the structure of this film on Douglas Sirk’s TARNISHED ANGELS (1957). Sirk himself appears at the end of the film, engaging in conversation, over coffee, with filmmakers Nathaniel Dorsky and Jerome Hiler. Stills from that scene can be viewed below:

DOUGLAS SIRK (LEFT) AND NATHANIEL DORSKY (RIGHT) IN WARREN SONBERT’S NOBLESSE OBLIGE (1981). SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

JEROME HILER (LEFT) AND DOUGLAS SIRK (RIGHT) IN WARREN SONBERT’S NOBLESSE OBLIGE (1981). SOURCE: GARTENBERG MEDIA ENTERPRISES.

Furthermore, Senator Dianne Feinstein appears briefly in NOBLESSE OBLIGE. Her four seconds of screen time can be viewed below:

NOBLESSE OBLIGE
(US, 1981)

Director: Warren Sonbert

  • 25 minutes
  • 16mm
  • Color and B&W
  • Silent
Distribution Format/s: DSL/Downloadable 1080p .mp4 file on server

Published By: GME

Institutional Price: $250

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