Never Open That Door (1952), shown at Noir City Hollywood.

Wonderful programming choices highlighted the 25th Anniversary of Noir City at Hollywood’s Netflix Egyptian Theatre displayed depravity, darkness, and deceit across the world, truly demonstrating that “darkness has no borders.”. Spot on pairings of United States noirs and international classics presented themes and stylistic flourishes which revealed similar influences and passions but covered in different angles.

The Festival kicked off March 22 with the newly restored, suspenseful Argentinian feature “Never Open That Door,” a powerful blending of two Cornell Woolrich short stories with darkly ironic plot twists a la “The Twilight Zone” or “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.” Masterful lighting captured and foreshadowed the duplicitous nature of characters, often highlighted through the use of mirrors and masks. The theme of both could be things don’t always turn out the way you think, be it siblings disagreeing over gambling or a blind mother seeing the duplicity and ugliness of her son. “The Window” followed, also based on a Woolrich short story suggesting don’t always believe what you see.

Victor Mature and Coleen Gray in Kiss of Death, shown at Noir City Hollywood.

For the Saturday matinee, “Kiss of Death” featured great performances from a rookie Richard Widmark as one of cinema’s most heinous villains and the hunky Victor Mature in a fictional story shot as noir neorealism in sites around New York City. Brian Donlevy plays a sympathetic District Attorney while Karl Malden shows intensity as a hard as nails detective, all framed by powerful lighting and production design.

One of those intriguing pairings showed up Saturday, with the double feature “Union Station”/“Cairo Station.” While set in Chicago, “Union Station” features the majestic Los Angeles’ Union Station as well as underground tunnels at the Pacific Electric Building as a kidnapper is hunted down. Filmmakers make great use of the building and its space, while also showing the wide variety of people that go through each day. “Cairo Station,” the second half of the double bill, offered atmosphere and intrigue as workers, male and female, fought for their rights to work and earn a decent living, all around the bustling city. Great use is made of music, mood, and lighting, bringing to life the trials and tribulations of hardworking Egyptians struggling to get by.

Lizabeth Scott in Desert Fury (1947), shown at Noir City Hollywood.

Sunday’s matinee showing of “Desert Fury” converted noir to Technicolor in a cinegoon’s wet dream. Before the Festival, Muller called the film “the greatest gay movie ever made in Hollywood,” easily discernible in how relationships between lovers, siblings, and families moved fluidly and too friendly. The jagged Sedona, Arizona countryside illuminated the story of conniving, manipulative schemesters with attractive young Liz Scott and Burt Lancaster highlighting a cast including Mary Astor and John Hodiak gambling for love and money.

A brilliant pairing of “La Bete Humaine” and “Human Desire” followed, tied together by the same story but taking alternative angles. The French version was the more humane of the two, showing deeper and richer characters framed by painterly touches and lighting. JThe two leads live in pain. Jean Gabin brings worldly weariness to his train engineer, caught in a web of medical and mental confusion. Simone Simon brings sympathetic vulnerability to the damaged , trying to survive any way she knows how. Romance and sadness intermingle, revealing the deep human connection. “Human Desire” is rougher, meaner, and direct, with less likable, hard bitten characters out for themselves.

The brisk heist film “Armored Car Robbery” opened Monday night, blending robbery gone wrong with a hard nosed police detective out to shut them down. Slimy William Talman plans an elaborate heist with three somewhat reluctant companions, only to see it go wrong. Determined detective Charles McGraw is out for bear and revenge, letting nothing stand in his way. Filming locations included the under construction Vineland Overpass of the 101 Freeway, long gone Wrigley Field, the westside oil fields, and a simple roadside inn off of Ventura Boulevard, while glimpses of the downtown Central Library, City Hall, and Broadway. The ironic but violent ending foreshadows that off “Asphalt Jungle.” I skipped the second film for the night.

Before the screening of “Brute Force” Tuesday, the nephew of director Jules Dassin answered questions from Alan Rode about his beloved uncle, reiterating how much he was beloved by his family and sorely missed after he moved to Europe after being blacklisted. He stated that Dassin was one of the smartest people he had met, well read and analytical, but also devoted to a sense of justice and righteousness. This steely honesty is on full exhibit in the powerful “Brute Force,” a strong denunciation of fascism and authoritarianism. The conniving, sadistic prison guard Hume Cronyn rules the prison with an iron fist, until he meets his match with the tough, hard bitten Burt Lancaster and his fellow cellmates and prison compatriots, fighting for justice and honesty. Production design implies so much in this film, with a stolid, isolated prison situated on its own island, with tunnels to nowhere underneath. Strong performances by all, including women like Ann Blyth, Ella Raines, Yvonne De Carlo, and Anita Colby almost shadows in the story. Once again I missed the second half of the program.

Edward G. Robinson’s granddaughter Francesca participated in a Q and A with Rode, describing how tender, protective, and watchful her grandfather was over her, even attending Parent Teacher meetings and surviving blacklisting. She stated that he considered “Black Tuesday” and “Cincinnati Kid” two of his best films, and the screening of the prison escape movie proved why. Stuck on death row, a steely, amoral Robinson, angry Peter Graves, and others escape, taking journalists and guards hostage. The brutal psychopath is out for blood, but Graves urges honor among thieves. Though low budget, Stanley Cortez’ masterful lighting and Miklos Rozsa’s driving score provide a powerful punch.

Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor in The Narrow Margin (1952), shown at Noir City Hollywood.

After skipping the bottom half of the double feature Wednesday, I attended the Thursday screening of “The Narrow Margin,” one of the best B movies ever made, shot in and around the train tracks and tunnels around Chatsworth. Mark Fleischer, son of director Richard Fleischer, recalled how the film pushed his father into “A” pictures, along with a touching story of how his grandfather Max Fleischer and Walt disney reconciled their friendship after his father was hired to direct “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea.” A harrowing, thrill ride of survival on a cross country train ride, the film featured funny throwaway jokes on the Mann Act along with strong lighting emphasizing shadows and suspense, with reflections and mirrors propelling the story. Suspense strongly and realistically builds without the use of a soundtrack, putting the audience on the edge of their seats. Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor shoot dirty looks and icy quips at each other. While I missed “Rififi” this night, it also features a scene employing no music or dialogue, masterfully building suspense.

Friday night featured what Muller and Rode called Agra-Noir, blending neo-realism with hard bitten noir. “Bitter Rice,” the top half of the bill, took a look of struggling Italians after World War II. Women of all shapes and professions go off for the spring planting and harvesting of rice, bringing up thoughtful discussions of immigration and labor and what it means to truly provide. Sensuality and fatalism underpin the story of women power and the fight between good and evil, and the seesawing of morality between Doris Dowling and Silvano Mangano. Raf Vallone and a slimy Vittorio Gassman complete the main cast. Jules Dassin’s “Thieves”’Highway” completed the double bill, a hard-nosed look at what it takes to get food to Americans’ tables. Struggling truckers compete against each other and amoral buyers at the food market, in a moral race to the bottom. Richard Conte plays a tough, morally upright veteran looking to break corruption and sleaziness in the food industry.


Warren William in The Mind Reader, shown at Noir City Hollywood.

All films on Saturday, March 30 focused on charlatans, hucksters, and fakirs looking to make a quick buck at the naivete and gullibility of others but finding themselves played by even more conniving tricksters. Warren William, always looking for a mark, starred in the Pre-Code “The Mind Reader,” foreseeing a great future for himself and flunky Allen Jenkins and helper Clarence Muse, only to get his just desserts. For once, thieving rich businessmen get caught holding the bag. A masterful Mexican version of “The Twilight Zone,” “In the Palm Of Your Hand” featured elegant, glamorous production design and lighting as a high end fortune teller plots to fleece upscale females but finds himself caught up in treachery and double dealing, unable to read his own future. The night ended with the screening of a nitrate print of “Nightmare Alley,” one of the best film noirs made. Set up with strong foreshadowing and character development deftly doled out in its strong script. A selfish, manipulative narcissist plots his way to fame and fortune, unable to foresee his own future. Tyrone Power gives one of his best performances vulnerable and likable even at his most dastardly. Details and design matter, accentuated by strong performances by Joan Blondell, Coleen Gray, and especially the conniving Helen Walker.

Sunday’s closing films featured corrupt crime bosses getting caught up in their own misdeeds, letting narcissism and self delusion run away with them. Richard Conte also displayed his acting chops, switching between vileness and protectiveness. Conte stars as a narcissistic crime boss in “Under the Gun,” who gets caught for murdering a victim and finds himself locked up in a dark prison camp. Will his selfishness lead to disaster? In “New York Confidential,” Conte plays a hired killer to Broderick Crawford’s mob boss Lupo, torn between doing his job and falling for Lupo’s passionate, hard-bitten daughter Anne Bancroft. Will loyalty or love win out? The Festival concluded with a newly restored “Le Samourai,” a sleek Jean-Pierre Melville take on the lonely hitman, coming to the end of the road. Bleak and shot desaturized, the film shows the handsome Alain Delon on the run from both gangsters and the police, bringing film noirs to a showy close.

Eddie Muller and Alan Rode provided insightful introductions to films, setting them up without giving anything away. Brian Light once again displayed parts of his wonderful poster collection, highlighting great key art by wonderful artists from around the world. All in all, the Festival screened films that showed how little duplicity and corruption has changed over the decades, providing a sad window to what society often deals with today. Noir City provides both an entertaining and thoughtful look at motion pictures that inform and educate audiences.