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NOIR CITY 11: A HOUSE DIVIDED / THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR / LAUGHTER IN HELL

Monday, January 28: Pre-Code Proto-Noir Triple Bill

The price of admission gets you in for the TRIPLE bill.

7:00
A HOUSE DIVIDED
(1931, Universal, 70 min.)
One of the first talking pictures from legendary director William Wyler tells the magnificently melodramatic tale of a widowed fisherman (Walter Huston) on a small Pacific Island whose new mail-order bride (Helen Chandler) prefers the conjugal bed of the old man's son (Douglass Montgomery). The pitched battle between father and son leads to a crippling accident that brings the guilt and desperation to a boiling point, propelling the trio toward a stunning (and brilliantly realized) climax.

8:25
THE KISS BEFORE THE MIRROR
(1933, Universal, 67 min.)
Attorney Paul Held devises an "insanity" defense for a man accused of killing his adulterous wife. As Held builds the case, he suspects his own wife of cheating . . . and decides a "not guilty" verdict will allow him to murder his adulterous spouse! Director James Whale brings high style to this clever tale, shot on the same sets where he created Frankenstein.

9:45
LAUGHTER IN HELL
(1933, Universal, 70 min.)
Recently rediscovered after all existing prints were thought lost, this extraordinary rarity starts with Barney Slaney (Pat O'Brien) murdering his wife and her lover and being sentenced to a life of hard labor. A terrific adaptation of the novel by cult writer Jim Tully, but so obscure, no still photos remain! The only way to see it? In this theater, tonight!