Walls, fences, and armed guards. Borders of all kinds keep us in. But on the big screen at The Grand Lake Theater, you can get away, whether you need a heist, a prison break, another language, an illicit affair, or maybe an old-fashioned murder.
Once again, Noir City brings crime to Oakland – but in an entertaining way. Here are the crimes of the 1930, ’40, and ’50. And all in black and white. The festival runs from January 19 – 28.
Noir City is the only Bay Area film festival that plays double bills. (Do you remember double bills?) But this year, each English-language movie will be paired with a similar, but not too similar, international picture in a film in another language – with subtitles.
I’ve seen only a few films that will play at this festival. Here are the ones I’ve seen:
A- The Asphalt Jungle, Friday, January 26, 7:15pm
There’s no one main character in this noir directed by the great John Huston. Instead, we get to know six very different criminals as they set out together to steal a fortune in diamonds. Sam Jaffe plays the German egghead who plans the heist. Louis Calhern plays the wealthy and respectable lawyer with plans to take all the loot for himself. Marc Lawrence is a husband and father. The cast also includes Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore, Jean Hagen, and a not-yet famous Marilyn Monroe. The movie gets a bit slow at the end, with a speech we didn’t need to hear. Double billed with Four Against the World (Cuatro Contra El Mundo).
A- Elevator to the Gallows, Saturday, January 27, 7:30pm
Louis Malle launched his directing career, and arguably the New Wave, with this noir tale of a perfect crime gone wrong. Laced with dark, ironic humor, the film cuts back and forth between a murderer trapped in an elevator, the murderer’s lover wandering the streets searching for him (Jeanne Moreau in her breakout role), and two young lovers enjoying a crime spree in a car stolen from the murderer. And all of it is set to Miles Davis’ powerful jazz score. Read my Blu-ray review. Double billed with Strongroom (Ascenseur pour l’échafaud).
B+ Odd Man Out, 7:00pm, January 20, Saturday, 7:00
This Irish film from 1947 could easily be made in today’s Palestine. The police can always enter a house without being asked. James Mason stars as the leader of the underground Irish Republican Army. After killing a man by accident, the police are breaking their backs to get him and the people around him. Unfortunately, the film drags near the end, thanks to the overacting of Robert Newton. Double billed with Victims of Sin (Victimas Del).
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