The first film screened was "The Sweet Smell of Success." The Music Box Theater had a capacity crowd for this film. In all my years of attending this festival, I cannot recall a film being sold out. The audience reaction to the Alexander Mackendrick film was extremely positive. Eddie Muller introduced the film and shared some stories of the production history.

"The Man With the Golden Arm" was the second film screened. This Otto Preminger production was considered exceptionally controversial and daring when it was originally released, but some of the drug addiction scenes seem tame after the passage of seventy years. As we have commented before on the Blackboard, the movie adaptation is not faithful to Nelson Algren's novel. Eddie Muller informed the audience that John Garfield had purchased the rights to the book, but died before he could star in the movie. Similarly, the unfortunate Garfield was also interested in Martin Goldsmith's "Detour," but Producers Releasing Corporation obtained the film rights before he could.

"The Man With the Golden Arm" lapsed into the public domain when its copyright was not renewed. Any number of cheap versions are in circulation. I was pleased that the Film Noir Foundation secured an excellent print to screen that was far better than any that I have seen to date. The film included quite a few scenes that were omitted or trimmed from the public domain copies.

"The Man With the Golden Arm" is a Chicago themed story that took place in the poverty stricken Polish Triangle, the near West Side, and the Wicker Park neighborhoods. These actual locales are fifteen minutes away from the Music Box Theater which is situated in the gentrified Lakeview neighborhood. The film adaptation skips mentioning most of the city's geography and uses only a few familiar references such as "Clark Street" and "Lincoln Park."

Frank Sinatra's character "Frankie Machine" is a Polish-American as are almost all of the other characters. Machine's real surname is Majcinek. The overcrowded tenement slums are inhabited by residents who struggle to save pennies and rent their one room apartments. In the Algren book, Frankie wears his Army issued jacket and boots because he cannot afford to buy civilian clothing.

Algren disliked working with Otto Preminger and eventually tried to sue him, but could not afford to continue the litigation and dropped the case. The author was especially displeased with the marathon poker game in the movie. Frankie was, of course, a dealer at illicit card games, but the book did not contain such sequence. The "Hollywood Ending" is totally at odds with the novel.

Kim Novak was a Chicagoan who attended Wilbur Wright Junior College on Austin Avenue. John Conte who played the alcoholic pool hall manager "Johnny" a/k/a "Drunky" was the former husband of Marilyn Maxwell.

Elmer Bernstein scored both "The Sweet Smell of Success" and "The Man With the Golden Arm." The latter film has one of the most powerful and recognizable title themes. Emile Meyer acted in both films. He was cast as a cop in both.