Noirvember
What’s black and white and morally gray all over? For your grim delectation, Metrograph At Home presents a smorgasbord of sordid, mid-century noir films, each unhappy in its own way. A couple of fishing buddies pick up the wrong passenger in Ida Lupino’s landmark thriller "The Hitch-Hiker" (1953), while a group of gangsters choose the wrong fall guy in "Kansas City Confidential" (1952)—a key source of inspiration for "Reservoir Dogs" (1992)—and a series of love-blinded fellas fall for the wrong gal in "Blonde Ice" (1948). Even Frank Sinatra is getting his hands dirty, as a messed-up military man out to kill the president in "Suddenly" (1954). Whatever your selection, you’re in for a yarn with high stakes and low characters.
-
Scarlet Street
Directed by Fritz Lang | 102 mins | 1945
Fritz Lang’s heart-wrenching story of a guy with a painting habit (Edward G. Robinson), who has a square day job and a terrible mistake: loving a bad girl, a blonde schemer with a despicable boyfriend in tow. A seamy, gut-twisting noir, and one of the mos... -
The Red House
Directed by Delmer Daves | 100 mins | 1947
A haunted house movie lauded for its strange and singular charms, this proto-Lynchian mystery conjures a feeling of horror within a quaint rural setting. Edward G. Robinson stars as Pete Morgan, an aging farmer who lives with his sister, Ellen, and their... -
Hollow Triumph
Directed by Steve Sekely | 82 mins | 1948
John Müller is a man wanted on both sides of the law, and he knows it. Learning by chance of his uncanny resemblance to one Dr. Bartok, Müller decides that his best refuge lies in stealing this other man’s identity. "Hollow Triumph" stars and was produced... -
Blonde Ice
Directed by Jack Bernhard | 75 mins | 1948
For greed and sheer, amoral cunning, Claire Cummings, the icy blonde in question, gives "Double Indemnity"’s Phyllis Dietrichson a run for her money. This fleet, hard-hearted B picture opens on Claire canoodling with her lover at her very own wedding and... -
Loan Shark
Directed by Seymour Friedman | 80 mins | 1952
George Raft, who rose to fame playing underworld characters in the gangster flicks of the 1930s—and allegedly maintained some underworld connections of his own—begrudgingly proves that he can still pack a punch in this brutal, blue-collar 1952 noir. R... -
Kansas City Confidential
Directed by Phil Karlson | 99 mins | 1952
One of Tarantino’s primary sources of inspiration for "Reservoir Dogs" (1998), this no-nonsense 1952 noir—less brooding and more brutal than those of the ’40s—skillfully flips the heist movie on its head. Heading up the film’s memorably rough-hewn rogue’s... -
The Hitch-Hiker
Directed by Ida Lupino | 71 mins | 1953
There is no femme fatale in this muscular thriller, but there was nevertheless a dame pulling the strings: "The Hitch-Hiker" is Lupino’s fifth film as director, and the first American noir made by a woman to be given a mainstream release. Roy and Gilbert’s ... -
The Bigamist
Directed by Ida Lupino | 80 mins | 1953
For her second film of 1953, following "The Hitch-Hiker", director Ida Lupino outdid herself, also tackling one of the lead roles. She plays Phyllis, one of two women who, each unbeknownst to the other, is married to Harry Graham—a cozy arrangement undone w... -
Suddenly
Directed by Lewis Allen | 77 mins | 1954
Frank Sinatra shocked audiences of the day by following his Oscar-winning performance in "From Here to Eternity" (1953) with a masterful villainous turn: In this claustrophobic crime drama, Ol’ Blue Eyes plays John Baron, a psychologically damaged former s... -
New York Confidential
Directed by Russell Rouse | 87 mins | 1955
A distant relative of "The Godfather", this pitiless drama unfolds the heady last days of a powerful New York crime family. Richard Conte, who would later appear in the Coppola film, here plays hitman Nick Magellan, who’s brought into the fold of “The Sy...
