Événement

NOIR CITY 8: PITFALL / LARCENY

7:30
PITFALL
(1948, Regal Films. 86 min. Scr. Karl Kamb, William Bowers (uncredited). Dir. Andre de Toth)
This independently produced gem is the most realistic exploration of adultery produced in 1940s Hollywood. Bored suburbanite Dick Powell drifts into a dalliance with hard-luck model Lizabeth Scott, only to find his life and family threatened by an obsessive private eye and a jealous ex-con. Director de Toth had the gifted Bill Bowers rewrite the script. The result is truly believable noir -- a wrenching tale of repressed lust and suburban ennui. Restored print courtesy the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Not on DVD!

9:30
LARCENY
(1948, Universal. 89 min. Scr. William Bowers, Herb Margolis, Lou Morheim. Dir. George Sherman)
John Payne and Dan Duryea play dandy grifters bent on bilking a wealthy war widow (Joan Caulfield). Both are tangled up with saucy Shelley Winters, who's more dangerous than a loaded .38. The cast has a field day firing Bowers's one-liners faster than speeding bullets. We screened this riotously entertaining, little-known gem in 16-millimeter at NOIR CITY 4, and now it's back for an encore . . . in a BRAND NEW 35-millimeter print courtesy Universal Pictures! Not on DVD!