IF...there will be SF films in the lineup (and we do expect RAW DEAL in the mix somehow, given the recent passing of Marsha Hunt), here are the relevant titles that have not yet been repeated since their original screening at NC:
NC, TITLE
1, Lady From Shanghai
1, Shadow of a Woman
1, Where Danger Lives
1, Race Street
1, Born to Kill
1, Nora Prentiss
1, Woman on Pier 13, The
1, Raging Tide, The
1, Midnight Story, The
1, Lineup, The
2, I Want To Live!
5, Raw Deal
6, D.O.A.
6, Story of Molly X, The
7, Johnny Stool Pigeon
8, Red Light
10, Point Blank
At the moment, we are thinking that Eddie is not going to go strongly into SF noir, given the current venue situation. The fate of the Castro Theater remains up in the air due to the postponement of the Historic Preservation Commission meeting that was supposed to address the all-important seating issue (that meeting has been rescheduled for February 1st (immediately after the conclusion of NC).
Given that there is still some small chance that the Castro may be spared and that it will still operate in a way that can support moviegoing, we're figuring that Eddie will hold off in hopes that he might be able to do a full "SF noir redux" there in the future (possibly the 25th).
So our guess is that RAW DEAL will run with one other SF noir, or with another Claire Trevor film.
There are a number of solid-to-excellent noirs not set in SF that have not seen the light of day at NC in quite some time. Here is a short list of those:
NC, TITLE
2, Letter, The
2, Reckless Moment, The
2, Leave Her to Heaven
2, Caged
3, M (1951)
3, Where the Sidewalk Ends
3, Murder, My Sweet
3, Crime Wave
4, Strangers on a Train
4, They Live By Night
4, Narrow Margin, The
4, Nightmare Alley
4, Hollow Triumph
5, 99 River Street
5, Big Combo, The
5, Damned Don't Cry, The
These films haven't screened at the Bay Area NC in sixteen years. There are a lot of favorites here: we'd expect some of them to make the cut.
Here are some films that haven't been shown in the past eleven years:
NC, TITLE
6, Moonrise
6, Night and the City
7, Alias Nick Beal
7, Big Clock, The
8, Niagara
8, Gangster, The
8, Armored Car Robbery
8, A Place in the Sun
9, Gaslight
9, Don't Bother to Knock
9, My Name is Julia Ross
9, Crashout
9, Loophole
10, Laura
10, Three Strangers
On this list we find a number of FNF brain trust personal favorites. If there's going to be an evening where Eddie takes a breather, the combination of THE NARROW MARGIN and ARMORED CAR ROBBERY would be right up Alan Rode's alley (so to speak). Another pairing where Eddie might turn over the reins would be something like THREE STRANGERS, which could pair with THE MASK OF DIMITRIOS to provide a Lorre-Greenstreet double bill.
While THE ASPHALT JUNGLE was shown in the "heist festival" in 2017, they can still get a Marilyn Monroe double bill with NIAGARA and DON'T BOTHER TO KNOCK.
With a likely lineup of 24 films (no "double double" on Sundays--though there is an In'n'Out Burger over in Eddie's home town of Alameda), it's also possible to showcase 1-2 worthy films from each of the preceding 19 festivals. That might permit some foreign noir to appear in the lineup as well.
The key question that we can't answer yet: how many of the films in the upcoming show will NEVER have been screened at NC before? But here are a few titles that fit into that category which have a chance to make the lineup:
Cornered
The Fallen Sparrow (good espionage double bill)
The Brasher Doubloon
T-Men
Guilty Bystander
Danger Signal (good Zachary Scott double bill)
Quicksand
Drive a Crooked Road (good Mickey Rooney double bill)
House by the River
Captain Carey USA
The Lawless
Suddenly
Shield for Murder
The Scarf
So we've listed 45 films plus RAW DEAL that we think could be in the running for this year's lineup. Let's see how many of those actually make it. Take your guesses...five? ten? fifteen? Will these films comprise 10% of what's screened? 50% ZERO percent?
We'll know soon enough...
Responses