Événement

NOIR CITY X: ALL-DAY DASHIELL HAMMETT MARATHON

The price of admission gets you in for all four afternoon movies. Please note the afternoon films and the evening double feature are two separate tickets.

12:00
ROADHOUSE NIGHTS
(1930, Paramount [Universal], 68 min)
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.

1:20
THE MALTESE FALCON
(1931, Warner Bros. 80 min.)
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 1941 version. Some Hammett fans even prefer it. Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels star as Spade and Brigid. Screenplay by Maude Fulton and Brown Holmes, from the Hammett novel. Directed by Roy Del Ruth.

3:00
CITY STREETS
(1932, Paramount [UCLA], 83 min.)
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.

4:45
MR. DYNAMITE
(1935, Universal, 67 min.)
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 and Harry Clork, from a story by Dashiell Hammett. Directed by Alan Crosland.