8th Annual Palm Springs Film Noir Festival: Rare Screenings

The 8th Annual Palm Springs Film Noir Festival over May 29 – June 1, 2008 features a number of rare and obscure titles only available on the big screen. The festival will screen 12 features at Camelot Theatre, 2300 Baristo Road, Palm Springs Ca. – Telephone (760) 325-6565.

The program is a veritable feast of intriguing movies that have not been available for many years – two are so obscure I couldn’t find a poster:

Thursday May 29 7:30 pm – OPENING NIGHT
Special Guest: Angie Dickinson
The Killers (1964) 95m.
DIR: Don Siegel
Lee Marvin, Angie Dickinson, John Cassavetes, Clu Galager, Ronald Reagan

Remake of the Siodmak noir based on the Hemmingway short story.

Friday May 30 10:00 am
The Chase (1946) 86m.
DIR: Arthur Ripley
Robert Cummings, Steve Cochran, Peter Lorre, Michele Morgan

A down-and-out roustabout (Cummings) is hired by a vicious gangster (Cochran) and quickly gets down-and-dirty with his lovely wife (Morgan). Restored 16mm print.

Friday May 30 1:00 pm
The Threat (1949) 66m.
DIR: Felix Feist
Charles McGraw, Michael O’Shea, virginia Grey, Julie Bishop

Ruthless killer escapes prison, kidnapping the cop and D.A. who helped jail him while leading a wild escape into the California high desert. The action moves at a breakneck pace; a veritable highlight reel of malicious mayhem courtesy of ultimate noir baddie, CharlesMcGraw.

Friday May 30 4:00 pm
Special Guest: Margia Dean
Treasure of Monte Cristo (1949) 79m.
DIR: William Berke
Glenn Langan, Adele Jergens, Steve Brodie, Margia Dean

A freighter officer, (Langan) a descendant of the Count of Monte Cristo, is framed for murder and tries to puzzle it out. Shot on location in San Francisco and starring the husband and wife team of Langan and Jergens.

Friday May 30 7:30 pm
Special Guest Jayne Meadows
Lady in the Lake (1947) 105m.
DIR: Robert Montgomery
Robert Montgomery, Lloyd Nolan, Audrey Totter, Jayne Meadows

Robert Montgomery offers a terse rendition of Philip Marlowe from an unusual first-person camera perspective via Steve Fisher’s screen adaptation of Chandler’s novel of the same title.

Saturday May 31 10:00 am
Smooth as Silk (1946) 64m.
DIR: Charles Barton
Kent Taylor, Virginia Grey, Jane Adams, MIlburn Stone

Respected attorney (Taylor) concocts a plot of vengeance after learning his sweetheart has jilted him for a wealthy producer.

Saturday May 31 1:00 pm
Dead Reckoning (1947) 100m.
DIR: John Cromwell
Humphrey Bogart, Lizabeth Scott, Morris Carnovsky, William Prince

Bogart is a mustered out vet who heads down south searching for a buddy who took a powder on the Medal of Honor. He runs into big trouble with femme fatale Scott and gangster Carnovsky.

Saturday May 31 4:00 pm
Special Guest Karen Sharpe Kramer
Man in the Vault (1956)
DIR: Andrew V. McLaglen
William Campbell, Karen Sharpe, Anita Ekberg, Barry Kroeger

An innocent locksmith (Campbell) is seduced into participating in a robbery by femme fatale (Sharpe) to his eternal regret.

Saturday May 31 7:30 pm
Special Guest Carol Lynley
Bunny Lake is Missing (1965) 107m.
DIR: Otto Preminger
Laurence Olivier, Carol Lynley, Keir Dullea, Noel Coward

Lynley and her brother report the apparent disappearance of her daughter from a British preschool. The only problem is Police Supt. Olivier can find no evidence that the girl existed.

Sunday June 1 10:00 am
Without Warning (1952) 77m.
DIR: Arnold Laven PRODUCERS: Arthur Gardner and Jules Levy

Professional gardener Carl Martin (Adam Williams) ably portrays a vicious psychopath with a thing for young blondes… and garden shears. One of the first Hollywood send-ups of the redoubtable serial killer, superbly crafted and almost never shown theatrically.

Sunday June 1 1:00 pm
Special Guest Billy Gray
Talk about a Stranger (1952) 65m.
DIR: David Bradley
George Murphy, Nancy Davis, Billy Gray, Lewis Stone, Kurt Kasznar

A compelling tale about a young boy, convinced his new neighbor poisoned his dog, which launches a quest for justice that careens out of control. Camera work by John Alton.

Sunday June 1 4:00 pm
Night Editor (1946) 66m.
DIR: Henry Levin
William Gargan, Janis Carter, Jeff Donnell, Coulter Irwin

Police detective (Gargan) can’t report a murder he witnessed because it would involve exposing an adulterous affair he was having with a socialite (Carter) with an overactive libido.