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Wrapping up the Noir City Festival.
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Tuesday 8-16-10……….A NOIR CITY DOUBLE FEATURE!
The Story of Molly X (1949) – Noir City
Directed by Crane Wilbur. Screenplay by Crane Wilbur. Starring June Havoc, John Russell and Charles McGraw.
Hard-boiled June Havoc starts her own gang after her husband is killed. Things go pretty good for a while, but, as we often learn, crime doesn’t pay! She’s sent to a prison that’s more like a woman’s college than a penitentiary. Good beginning, nicely bizarre middle, lame ending.
3 out of 5 stars.
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Crashout (1955) – Noir City
Directed by Lewis R. Foster. Screenplay by Lewis R. Foster, Hal E. Chester and Cy Endfield. Starring William Bendix, Arthur Kennedy, William Tallman and Gloria Talbott.
Six inmates escape from prison and try to make their way to hidden loot, along the way they discover America. This was a great film! Every performance, every scene had just a little bit extra to really make it shine. The best of the fest!
4 out of 5 stars.
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Once again, Foster Hirsch introduced both of these films and held Q & A’s afterwards.
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I also read the short story “Crack” by James W. Hall. Voyeurism meets a nasty end.
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Wednesday 8-17-10
Among the Living (1941) – Noir City
Directed by Stuart Heisler. Screenplay by Lester Cole, Garrett Fort and Brian Marlow. Starring Albert Dekker, Susan Hayward, Harry Carey and Frances Farmer.
3 out of 5 stars.
More twins! Everyone thought the bad twin died 25 years ago, but he’s alive and well and on the loose! A nice hybrid of Film Noir and Horror.
Another introduction and Q & A from Foster Hirsch.
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I also read the short story “Deviances” by Frank Bill. From the new anthology NOIR @ THE BAR.
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That’s the end of Noir City Chicago 3. Six days in a row I made it out into the wilds of the Windy City, eight movies I made it to at the Music Box (and one I watched at home). For anyone that knows how much I hate going out in public, six days at a movie theater was quite a trial. There wasn’t a bad film in the bunch, but I liked “Loophole” and “Crashout” the best.
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