on 12/19/2024, 10:08 am, in reply to "Re: NC 22: Winsome Women Turn Wicked (sans Stanwyck, Crawford, Scott, Lupino--and Cummins)"
What's clearly happening here is a way for Eddie to cover as many of the "new" dames that will be in his re-christening of the DARK CITY DAMES book as he can in all 2025 festival incarnations. The "big dames" would just get in the way of that.
From the writeup at the NC site, it's clear that such was somewhat of a daunting task, since Eddie decided to actually add a lot of new material to the book (as opposed to what happened with the second edition of DARK CITY). That was a lot to sandwich into a festival, considering that he also wanted to showcase the "original" DARK CITY DAMES as well: Keyes, Totter, Windsor, Greer, Savage and Gray. Here's the explanation from the NC site:
In addition to those acclaimed favorites, the program also highlights films starring nine other actresses notable for their performances in crime films of the era: Joan Bennett, Peggie Castle, Rhonda Fleming, Marsha Hunt, Ella Raines, Ruth Roman, Jan Sterling, Claire Trevor, and Helen Walker. (Not coincidentally, the expanded edition of Muller’s book includes new profiles of these women.)
Three for Keyes and three for Gray (and how important is she for THE KILLING? It's Windsor's moment to shine there, but--oddly--the writeup at the site for THE KILLING doesn't even mention Windsor!) seems like a lot. Clearly Keyes in THE PROWLER is a rock solid choice, but she's the most problematic aspect of 99 RIVER STREET (which is presented as a Peggie Castle showcase, even though her character exits rather quickly). And HELL's HALF ACRE is really a trifle, which (again) showcases the actress with less screen time (Windsor).
And it seems to me that Trevor got short shrift as compared to Gray--a double bill of MURDER MY SWEET and BORN TO KILL (a film not shown in the Bay Area NC series since NC 1 back in 2003!!) would have been the way to go for her.
We get Rhonda Fleming three times, but Trevor and Sterling only once. I also wonder why Eddie didn't ditch THE SLEEPING CITY and play NIGHTMARE ALLEY--it has great parts for Gray and Helen Walker. My guess is that some of this will get rectified in LA and DC, where he might be given a larger festival size.
Agreed that WOMAN IN THE WINDOW/SCARLET STREET is a double bill that should have happened, though I'm quite fond of THE RECKLESS MOMENT. (And who knows? Maybe SCARLET STREET wasn't available.) It would be more interesting to see Bennett in the two-plus phases of her career: first, the two films with Lang; then, in the transition to matron (HOLLOW TRIUMPH/RECKLESS MOMENT--plus HIGHWAY DRAGNET, a true guilty pleasure).
Ruth Roman's career in noir is spotty at best, so she's added for bulk and as an excuse to keep hyping TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY (which is good, but not as good as Eddie thinks it is). Perhaps Alan Rode will pick up on this and invite Roman's still-surviving ex-husband, legendary Hollywood agent Budd Moss, out to Palm Springs for another screening of this one: those two could literally talk up a storm!
Jan Sterling probably deserved a second showcase--she's in CAGED, but she's well down the "food chain" of that film. Adding in a film like SPLIT SECOND would've been a good choice as a companion for ACE IN THE HOLE--plus it would've given us a look at a "Dark City Dame" who was sadly left out this equation entirely--I'm talking about Alexis Smith, who deserves her own spotlight.
So book commerce has dictated a particular approach that is sub-optimal but still has a nice slice of good to great movies, with many of them slammed against one another in Eddie's ungainly fashion.
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