I always feel compelled to put that word ("curation") in fright quotes, as it has become more frightfully pretentious the more it is used in conjunction with film programming...

That aside--a feature on the series that included a brief interview with Imogen Smith revealed that the bulk of the series was conceived by the PFA's director Susan Oxtoby, with Imogen adding THE BREAKING POINT and THE RECKLESS MOMENT (proving that when she is ready to abandon her East Coast hauteur she will clearly migrate to Newport Beach!).

The film that slips through the cracks in the feature/interview is NIGHTMARE ALLEY, which is a shame, as it's the greatest film in the series and deserves more exposure, especially since it now has to compete with the del Toro version. More evidence of this regrettable neglect comes from Bologna's Cinema Ritrovato, whose alarming oversprawl (it has decided to hop on the recent "restoration" bandwagon to screen films made in the 21st century...) doesn't have room for NIGHTMARE ALLEY in this year's Edmund Goulding retrospective.

I'll still hold out for THE RED HOUSE, and consider it to be the major oversight of both the festival and Smith's book. Perhaps--perhaps--it might surface in the NC lineup in 2027 should Eddie go with an "80th anniversary" theme (which is a tailor-made concept that could be used for the next six years, as it would make available the vast bulk of the post-WWII film noir boom).