A summer film noir series in the East Bay built around Imogen Smith's IN LONELY PLACES survey of non-urban noir will feature intros from Imogen, Eddie and David Thomson at selected screenings (see below). The venue: the Pacific Film Archive's screening room at the Berkeley Art Museum.

Here's the full schedule (sadly, no double features):

Fri June 6 7:00pm THE BREAKING POINT (Smith)
Sat June 7 4:30pm THE HITCH-HIKER (Smith)
Sat June 7 7:00pm DESERT FURY (Smith)
Sun June 8 4:30pm PURSUED (Smith)
Sat June 14 7:00pm SHADOW OF A DOUBT (Thomson)
Sat June 21 7:00pm THE RECKLESS MOMENT
Wed June 25 7:00pm DETOUR
Wed July 2 7:00pm THEY LIVE BY NIGHT (Thomson)
Sat July 5 4:30pm LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN
Sat July 12 7:00pm TOUCH OF EVIL
Fri July 18 7:00pm NIGHTMARE ALLEY (Muller)
Thurs July 24 7:00pm THE PHENIX CITY STORY (Muller)

After years of beseeching Eddie to reprise the legendary double bill of DESERT FURY/LEAVE HER TO HEAVEN that electrified a Castro Theatre audience back in 2004, I note that both films make the cut here--but they screen four weeks apart!

Clearly a "cream of the crop" series, with THE PHENIX CITY STORY being the only true rarity in the twelve-film lineup.

I can think of several films that cry out to be part of this series: the two I'll mention that add something thematically are THE RED HOUSE and THE LAWLESS. The former adds a macabre psychological component to the "backwoods noir" subgenre, while the latter adds social commentary to the "small town noir" subgenre. Including them would broaden the series past its "greatest hits" aura.