Lured (1947) is an American film noir directed by Douglas Sirk and starring George Sanders, Lucille Ball, Charles Coburn, and Boris Karloff. Lured is a remake of a French film directed by Robert Siodmak (The Killers, The Spiral Staircase). It was titled Personal Column in the United States. Sandra Carpenter (Ball) is an American in London. She came to the U.K. with a show that closed. To make ends meet in the meantime, she works as a taxi dancer. One of her colleagues was a victim of the “Poet Killer” who lures women through newspaper ads in the personal columns. Sandra meets with the Scotland ..read more

Daisy Kenyon (1947), based on the best-selling novel by Elizabeth Janeway, is one of many films referred to as “women’s pictures” during Hollywood’s Golden Age. In many ways, it fits that genre perfectly, especially with Joan Crawford—“an old hand at being emotionally confused” according to The New York Times review—playing the title role. However, in director Otto Preminger’s hands, it’s so much more, with the male protagonists, Henry Fonda and Dana Andrews, also grabbing the spotlight. Andrews plays prominent attorney, Dan O’Mara who is married to Lucile (Ruth Warrick). T ..read more

Leave Her to Heaven (1945) is a Technicolor film noir directed by John Stahl, produced by William A. Bacher and Darryl F. Zanuck, and starring Gene Tierney, Cornel Wilde, and Jeanne Crain. It is based on the best-selling novel by Ben Ames Williams published in 1944. Jo Swerling adapted the screenplay. Cornel Wilde and Gene Tierney Tierney plays Ellen Berent, a rich socialite who meets novelist Richard Harland (Wilde) on the train to New Mexico. She thinks Richard resembles her dead father and that mesmerizes Ellen. Ellen’s relationship with her father seems to have been a strang ..read more

Title: MOGULS: The Lives and Times of Hollywood FilmPioneers Nicholas and Joseph Schenck By: Michael Benson and Craig Singer Publisher: Citadel Press ISBN 978-0-8065-4308-6 (hardcover) ISBN: 978-0-8065-4310-9 (ebook) When you think about movie moguls from Hollywood’s Golden Age, who comes to mind? You’ve probably heard or know something about Louis B. Mayer, Darryl F. Zanuck, Samuel Goldwyn, and maybe Harry Cohn. All of these men were the public faces of powerful movie studios. But were they really the ones in charge? Authors Michael Benson and Craig Singer examine the lives of two brothers ..read more

Human Desire (1954) is an American film noir directed by Fritz Lang and starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Grahame, and Broderick Crawford. Peggy Maley, Kathleen Case, and Edgar Buchanan round out the supporting cast. Korean War veteran Jeff Warren (Ford) is a train engineer for the Central National Railroad. Jeff’s involvement with Vicki Buckley (Grahame) puts him in peril with Vicki’s sadistic husband Carl (Crawford). Will Jeff and Vicki be able to overcome the evil shadow of Carl Buckley? Gloria Grahame and Glenn Ford Fritz Lang (1890 – 1976) was an Austrian-German-American directo ..read more

A Letter to Three Wives (1949) is an American romantic comedy-drama film directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Jeanne Crain, Linda Darnell, and Ann Sothern. The supporting cast includes Kirk Douglas, Paul Douglas, Jeffrey Lynn, Connie Gilchrist, Barbara Lawrence, and Thelma Ritter. The film is based on the novel A Letter to Five Wives (1945) by John Klempner. Mankiewicz wrote the screenplay based on an adaptation by Vera Caspary (Laura). The cinematography was by Arthur C. Miller, with music by Alfred Newman. A Letter to Three Wives was one of Twentieth Centur ..read more

 All About Eve (1950) is an American drama written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm. Other cast members include Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlow, Thelma Ritter, and Marilyn Monroe. Broadway star Margo Channing (Davis) has recently turned 40 and is wondering how long she can sustain her career. Then one evening after Margo’s latest performance, her best friend Karen Richards (Holm) brings a seemingly helpless superfan named Eve Harrington (Baxter). Eve followed Margo’s career when she was on tour in San Francisco and now ..read more

It’s that time of year again. The air gets a little crisper, the days are shorter, and NOIR CITY Chicago is back at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N Southport Ave., Chicago, IL 60613. urner Classic Movies’ Noir Alley Host and president of the Film Noir Foundation, Eddie Muller, and author and film historian Alan K. Rode will again be this year’s hosts. As per the Music Box website, “Under the banner, ‘Darkness Has No Borders’ this year’s NOIR CITY festival features thematically linked double bills pairing foreign language films with movies made in the United States and United Kingdom.” The w ..read more

A Personal FavoriteConsidered Alfred Hitchcock’s personal favorite of all his films, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), is also the only film he ever shot entirely on location. Hitchcock picked Santa Rosa, CA, because it exemplified, at least it did in 1942, the ideal American town. Film critic Bosley Crowther said in his review of the film, “The flavor and ‘feel’ of a small town has been beautifully impressed in this film by the simple expedient of shooting most of it in Santa Rosa, Calif.” No Prima Donnas One of the reasons Shadow of a Doubt was Hitchcock’s favorite was due to ..read more

Boomerang! (1947) is based on a true crime. A minister is murdered in a small town in Connecticut and John Waldron (Arthur Kennedy), a young drifter, is arrested and charged with the crime. Arthur Kennedy and Dana Andrews The prosecuting attorney Henry Harvey (Dana Andrews) is under pressure from local politicians to convict Waldron. The evidence points toward Waldron’s guilt, but Harvey has his doubts. Directed in a semidocumentary style by Elia Kazan, the movie features an impressive supporting cast that includes Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb, Karl Malden, and Sam Levine. Elia Kaz ..read more