THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT
FRENCH FILM NOIR 1946-64
FRI—MON, NOV 14—17, 2014 ▪ ROXIE THEATER
Presented by Mid-Century Productions and I Wake Up Dreaming
FRIDAY, NOV 14
(1949) 6:00, 10:15
(1960) 8:00
SATURDAY MATINEE, NOV 15
(1947) 1:30
UNE MANCHE ET LA BELLE
A KISS FOR A KILLER
(1957) 3:30
SATURDAY NIGHT, NOV 15
TOI LE VENIN
BLONDE IN A WHITE CAR
(1958) 6:15, 9:45
UN TEMOIN DANS LA VILLE
WITNESS IN THE CITY
(1959) 8:00
SUNDAY MATINEE, NOV 16
(1948) 1:30
EN CAS DE MALHEUR
LOVE IS MY PROFESSION
(1958) 3:15
SUNDAY NIGHT, NOV 16
(1963) 5:30, 9:30
VOICI LE TEMPS DES ASSASSINS
DEADLIER THAN THE MALE
(1956) 7:30
MONDAY, NOV 17
LA P... RESPECTUEUSE
THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE
(1952) 6:00, 9:45
J'IRAI CRACHER SUR VOS TOMBES
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVES
(1959) 7:45
*Note that all films will be shown with English subtitles.
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2014WHITES VS. BLACKS IN A BLACK-AND- WHITE WORLD
LA P… RESPECTUEUSE / THE RESPECTFUL PROSTITUTE 6:00, 9:45
Barbara Laage was Orson Welles' first choice to play Elsa Bannister in THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI. A viewing of LA P… RESPECTEUSE will show you what Welles saw in her…and then some! Her character, a down-on-her-luck singer, escapes the frying pan—New York City—only to land squarely in the fire—the racist, segregated South—where she witnesses a brutal race murder committed by a Senator's son. Only she can vouch for the black man who is being framed for the murder. Laage burns up the screen as she struggles to do the right thing against increasing odds. Co-directed by Marcello Pagliero (long-time right-hand man to neo-realist master Roberto Rossellini) from a play by Jean-Paul Sartre. Dir. Marcello Pagliero and Charles Brabant (1952, full 92 min version).
J'IRAI CRACHER SUR VOS TOMBES / I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVES 7:45
See the notorious film that literally killed the author of its source novel at its own premiere! Boris Vian's fever-dream novel of a light-skinner race-avenging psychopath had been the focus of intense controversy beginning with its publication in 1946, and the prospect of a film version brought the twelve-year contretemps squarely back into the public eye, with Vian and director Michel Gast trading barbs in the press as the movie went into production. Ten minutes into the initial screening on June 23, 1959, Vian rose from his seat, furiously denouncing the film—at which point, he clutched his chest and collapsed, suffering a fatal heart attack! He was only 39.
I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVES features a fine jazz score composed by Alain Goraguer, which goes down smoothly amidst all the mayhem that ensues in Gast's crude but effective evocation of Vian's dark landscape. Dir. Michel Gast (1959, 109 min.)
