AND the tradition of cribbing from previous MCP presentations continues with the just-announced schedule for Noir City 21. Look for the film titles in bold, with diacritical markings that will be explained at the bottom of the list: these are the ones that MCP screened at the Roxie Theater either in 2017 or 2022.

Friday January 19
NEVER OPEN THAT DOOR (Argentina)/STREET OF CHANCE (US)
Saturday January 20
matinee: UNION STATION (US)/CAIRO STATION (Egypt)*
evening: ODD MAN OUT (UK)*/VICTIMS OF SIN (Mexico)
Sunday January 21
LA BETE HUMAINE (France)/HUMAN DESIRE (US)
Monday January 22
BLACK TUESDAY (US)/LE TROU (France)
Tuesday January 23
THEY MADE ME A FUGITIVE (UK)/AIMLESS BULLET (Korea)
Wednesday January 24
PLUNDER ROAD (US)#/HARDLY A CRIMINAL (Argentina)
Thursday January 25
WITHOUT PITY (Italy)/BITTER RICE (Italy)*
Friday January 26
THE ASPHALT JUNGLE (US)/FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD (Mexico)
Saturday January 27
matinee: ACROSS THE BRIDGE (UK)/ZERO FOCUS (Japan)#
evening: ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (France)/STRONGROOM (UK)
Sunday January 28
MURDER BY CONTRACT (US)/SMOG (Italy-US)

* film screened at A RARE NOIR IS GOOD TO FIND 2, 2017
# film screened as part of MIDCENTURY MADNESS, 2022

So that's a total of five films that NC 21 overlaps with previous MCP programming efforts, keeping that "something borrowed" percentage over 20%

There is one glitch in the "one English language noir/one foreign-tongued noir" approach, with the two Italian films on Thursday. (The "fudge" here is that in WITHOUT PITY, one of the characters is an American GI.) Ironically, a strong argument could be made that this is best double bill in the festival.

The "new" Argentine restoration is not actually new: it was screened previously (as was also the case with THE BLACK VAMPIRE). It's good to see FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD appear in the US, as it's another film featuring the under-known femme fatale Leticia Palma. (Sadly, though, there are dozens of other Mexican noirs still languishing: FOUR AGAINST THE WORLD took nearly a decade to have a screening in the US after being shown several times in Morelia.)

The newly restored version of VICTIMS OF SIN has been playing around the country, and has been screened several times at the Roxie Theater this month, but Eddie is banking on the fact that much of his audience doesn't deign to travel to the Mission District.

Of the films "lifted" from MCP's efforts, it's most gratifying to see ZERO FOCUS and PLUNDER ROAD--both part of the 2022 "MID/MAD" marathon--get a shot in front of a larger audience. In the case of the former, the influence of co-programmer/co-hst (and co-respondent?) Imogen Smith is probable: ZERO FOCUS has played in a Criterion Channel Japanese noir series.

As is usually the case, the film pairings tend to be too pat in their likeness or unrelated to the point of randomness, but--as they say--that's show biz.

A good festival overall, buoyed by some canny cribbing from you-know-who--but not as strong as the international show in 2020.