The French Had a Name for It '24

THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT ‘24
A TWO-PART "GRAND FINALE" FOR THE SERIES THAT CHANGED THE HISTORY OF FILM NOIR

PART TWO: NOV 29-DEC 3 • ROXIE THEATRE
PRESENTED BY MID-CENTURY PRODUCTIONS

FRENCH '24 PART TWO

PART TWO of THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT ’24 has changed just a bit from what audiences were previewed in our festival program—but change is a good thing! We’re even happier with what we will be bringing you at the Roxie starting on Friday, November 29.

Our “film club” gets a Black Friday treat in the Roxie screening room with two 1960s films from André Cayatte (featured with five films in Part One). TWO ARE GUILTY and TRAP FOR CINDERELLA show that Cayatte was a master of misdirection and only got better as French noir became more baroque in the decade of the New Wave…

Saturday, November 30 we continue with the “film club” and honor three of their favorite “hunks” who were rediscovered during our ten-year series run. Robert Hossein, Raf Vallone and the star-crossed Henri Vidal each are allowed to shine in five films that show the sure-handed nature of French film noir in the 1950s and 1960s.

On Sunday, December 1, the action shifts to the Big Roxie and we pull out all the stops. First, a four-film matinee mini-marathon featuring the singular Erich von Stroheim, the legendary “man you love to hate” that reveals his skill and versatility in a long (and criminally unknown) phase of his career as a French film star. These rarities from the 30s and 40s will blow your mind!

That evening, the incomparable Jeanne Moreau returns into two strikingly different films—BAY OF ANGELS, where her charisma is deadly as a magnetic compulsive gambler, and BACK TO THE WALL, where she’s an unfaithful wife who proves to be a lot more sympathetic than her revenge-besotted hubby!

Monday, December 2 is our farewell triple bill for the great Jean Gabin—a trio of films focused on his often-fraught relationship with women. He’s teamed with three superb actresses—Madeleine Robinson, Danielle Darrieux and Françoise Arnoul—and you won’t want to miss it!

Finally, all good things (must) come to an end, and we close out the FRENCH series on Tuesday, December 3 with a return to its beginning: the very first double bill we presented in November 2014—two incendiary (and still sadly underseen) films by Henri-Georges Clouzot: MANON and THE TRUTH (aka LA VÉRITÉ). The latter features Brigitte Bardot in a film that is best described as “a referendum on her sexuality.”

"By rediscovering and popularizing French film noir, Malcolm has upended everything we knew and thought we knew about the noir genre ... French noirs are as entertaining as American noirs, with the added difference that they were truthful and realistic about love and sex as practiced by consenting adults."—Mick LaSalle, SF Chronicle

ALL-FESTIVAL PASS

► All-festival passes ($99 for all 18 films) go on sale November 1 and conclude on November 13. Single seats will be available on November 14. Don’t miss our parting shot!

BUY PASS

DON MALCOLM ON SUBSTACK

More information about the entire festival lineup is featured on Don Malcolm’s Substack and in printed materials available at the Roxie Theater.

'24 Part Two: the "final finale"

In a week...Bardot/Gabin! And don't forget Daniel Gélin

Part One all-festival pass on sale now!

French '24 = 14 + 19 (!) but let's focus on Part One right now...

FRENCH NOIR: THE BIG PICTURE

Other than thirty-three (33), the salient number here is: one hundred fifty-five (155). That’s the total of rare French films noirs screened at the Roxie Theater since 2014 in Don Malcolm’s landmark festival, which comes full circle in its two-part, 33-film “grand finale” this fall.

Ten years since the FRENCH series began, it’s still astonishing how many of these rare, lost films still await rediscovery. Don estimates that the series has shown about 25% of the true “French film noir canon”—a total of over six hundred noirs made between 1931 and 1966.

FRIDAY- NOV 29 LITTLE ROXIE

André Cayatte

6:00 PM TWO ARE GUILTY / LE GLAIVE ET LA BALANCE

Three men are arrested for the kidnapping and murder of a young boy, but only two are guilty. Can the justice system correctly identity the two who are guilty? (1962, dir. André Cayatte, 130m)

8:30 PM TRAP FOR CINDERELLA / PIÈGE POUR CENDRILLON

The amnesiac survivor of a deadly fire must sift through conflicting facts to determine her identity—and whether she was the murderer or the intended victim. (1965, dir. André Cayatte, 115m)

SATURDAY MATINÉE- NOV 30 LITTLE ROXIE

Robert Hossein / Raf Vallone!

12:30 PM ENOUGH ROPE / LE MUERTRIER

An obsessive police detective tries to determine if two mysterious murders are somehow connected. (1963, dir. Claude Autant-Lara, 104m)

2:30 PM NO ESCAPE / LE PIÈGE

An Italian fugitive murderer and the widowed daughter-in-law of a lecherous French hotel owner plan to run away together despite threats from the jealous old man to denounce them to the police. (1958, dir. Charles Brabant, 89m)

SATURDAY EVENING - NOV 30 LITTLE ROXIE

André Cayatte

5:15 PM DESPERATE DECISION / LA JEUNE FOLLE

During the Irish revolution, a troubled young woman searches for her brother and falls in love with the man who inadvertently killed him... (1952, Yves Allégret, 84m)

7:00 PM THE STROLLERS / QUAI DE GRENELLE

Jean-Louis’ life turns into a living hell when he comes to Paris and is mistaken for a robbery suspect. (1950, dir. Emil-Edwin Reinert, 100m)

9:00 PM THE BEAST AT BAY / LA BÊTE À L'AFFÛT

A beautiful, wealthy young widow goes on the lam with a charismatic murder suspect.(1948, dir. Pierre Chenal, 95m)

SUNDAY MATINÉE - DEC 1 BIG ROXIE

Erich von Stroheim Mini-marathon • Special price: $25

11:30 AM DANCE OF DEATH / LA DANSE DE MORT

A sinister island prison is the scene of a deadly marital disintegration. (1948, dir. Marcel Cravenne, 88m)

1:15 PM THE WORLD WILL SHAKE / LE MONDE TREMBLERA

A scientist invents a machine that can predict the date and time of one’s death…macabre machinations ensue! (1939, dir. Richard Pottier, 100m)

3:15 PM THE ALIBI / L'ALIBI

A fake mentalist murders a man, and blackmails his girlfriend into giving him an alibi, but a police inspector suspects him and embarks on a cafe-and-mouse scheme to get at the truth.(1937, dir. Pierre Chenal, 84m)

4:55 PM BOYS’ SCHOOL / LES DISPARUS DE SAINT-AGIL

A trio of boarding school boys invents a secret society that has mysterious and sinister repercussions. (1938, dir. Christian-Jaque, 98m)

SUNDAY EVENING - DEC 1 BIG ROXIE

Jeanne Moreau

7:30 PM BAY OF ANGELS / LA BAIE DES ANGES

A credulous young man enters into a perilous romantic maelstrom with a charismatic, compulsive gambler. (1963, Jacques Demy, 90m)

9:15 PM BACK TO THE WALL / LE DOS AU MUR

A man’s revenge plot against his unfaithful wife and her lover has unintended consequences. (1958, dir. Edouard Molinaro, 93m)

MONDAY - DEC 2 BIG ROXIE

Jean Gabin!

5:30 PM THEIR LAST NIGHT / LEUR DERNIERE NUIT

A young woman discovers that her lover is only posing as a librarian—he is actually a criminal mastermind. (1953, dir. Georges Lacombe, 95m)

7:10 PM THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR MARRIAGE / LA VÉRITÉ SUR BÉBÉ DONGE

An industrialist poisoned by his wife relives his life while he struggles to recover while in the hospital. (1952, Henri Decoin, 110m)

9:20 PM PEOPLE OF NO IMPORTANCE / DES GENS SANS IMPORTANCE

A long-haul trucker begins a passionate but ultimately tragic love affair with a beautiful but star-crossed young woman. (1956, Henri Verneuil, 101m)

TUESDAY- DEC 3 BIG ROXIE

"The first is last..." + book signing - Two by Clouzot

7:00 PM

Two lovers stow away on a boat headed for Palestine and relate the tempestuous incidents in their life that led to such a desperate decision. (1949, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 100m)

9:00 PM THE TRUTH / LA VÉRITÉ

A beautiful but scandalous young woman recounts the events that led her to be on trial for the murder of her lover. (1960, Henri-Georges Clouzot, 122m)

5:45 PM: BOOK SIGNING: THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT

Roxie Theatre - San Francisco

San Francisco's Roxie Theatre is located at 3117 16th St., between Valencia & Guerrero, just a block from BART.

⟹ The box office can be reached at 415.863.1087

MIDCENTURY PRODUCTIONS is a "boutique" programming venture designing "mini film festivals, featuring films from cinema's most explosive three decades—the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. We program original festivals and work with organizations and individuals to craft singular programming that illuminates the hidden corners of these three decades.

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