https://brattlefilm.org/film-series/noirvember/
1946, of course, is the year that noir broke out big-time on American screens. (It’s also the year that most folks still erroneously think that the term film noir was coined.) The Brattle has assembled an 11-film collection of 1946 titles that it will screen from November 19-25 (yes, this year in Boston you can have your Thanksgiving turkey AND a vintage film noir on the big screen—watch out for that food coma, however…)
It’s a solid list, with a few surprises and several glaring omissions—here’s the lineup in rough order of how they will screen:
GILDA
NOTORIOUS
GREEN FOR DANGER (UK)
THE STRANGER
THE LOCKET
BLACK ANGEL
SO DARK THE NIGHT
THE VERDICT
THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
THE BIG SLEEP
THE BLUE DAHLIA
You can have a double dessert of THE BIG SLEEP and THE BLUE DAHLIA on Thanksgiving—that’s not a bad deal!
I’ll let you chime in with the films that should be on the list in place of second-stringers like SO DARK THE NIGHT and THE VERDICT.
Of course the Brattle is throwing with the prattle about “Noirvember,” a term that I’m afraid we are stuck with even though there is nothing more intrinsically “noir” about the month compared to any other, save for its onomatopoeic accessibility for the “glibsters” of the world looking for another “ca-ching” moment. And you could argue that I’m just grumpy because French noir has had the month all to itself for quite awhile…but those days are surely over. Get ready for the “Noirvember” T-shirt (in seven different shades of black)…
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