Noir City

Starting tonight, Chicago’s Music Box Theatre will present a week-long festival of classic and undiscovered film noirs in association with the Film Noir Foundation. As the Music Box Theatre states, “Film noir is recognized as a unique example of an organic cinematic movement, one that produced many of the best and most time-tested Hollywood films of the forties and fifties. These tough-as-nails crime stories, told in a distinctly American vernacular but informed by a darkly romantic European visual sensibility, continue to entrance audiences in each successive generation.”

Running through August 6, Noir City: Chicago will feature nine films, including well known noirs like Double Indemnity (1944) and The Killers (1946) and rarities like Chicago Syndicate (1955) and Call Northside 777 (1948).

The highlight of the festival takes place Saturday night, August 1 with a special appearance by Harry Belafonte, producer/star of the night’s screening, Odds Against Tomorrow (1959), directed by Robert Wise. Following the screening, Mr. Belafonte will be interviewed on stage about the film.

I’ll basically be camped out at the Music Box Theatre with my ALL NOIR PASS in hand for the better part of the next week taking in these cinematic gems!

For a complete list of featured films and ticket information for Noir City: Chicago, go to http://www.musicboxtheatre.com/collections/noir-city-chicago.

And to learn more about the amazing work the Film Noir Foundation undertakes to find and preserve classic films in danger of being lost or irreparably damaged, visit their site at http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/.

Summer Under the Stars

Just a quick update...

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) now has the schedule up for their annual "Summer Under the Stars" festival, taking place all month long in August. The festival devotes an entire day to a different actor or actress, showcasing some of the films in which they starred.

You can download the complete schedule of featured films here: http://tinyurl.com/nktlsg

TCM also has a collection of beautiful teaser posters illustrating a new take on some of the featured films, including this one for High Society (1956):

You can view the other posters and learn more about TCM's "Summer Under the Stars" by visiting the official Web site at http://www.tcm.com/2009/summer/index.jsp.

“Dirt in the Skirt!”

Nothing says summer like one of America’s greatest pastimes...baseball!

In the summer of 1943, it was a group of pioneering female athletes that came together to form the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and kept baseball alive while the boys went off to war.

Director Penny Marshall tells a story of that inaugural summer of women’s professional baseball in A League of Their Own (1992). Beyond a simple sports tale, A League of Their Own illustrates a time when women’s societal roles were changing. With a nation at war, women were asked to leave their homes and take on new challenges that also brought new freedoms. Not only were women given the chance to work in factories and perform skilled labor, but they got to prove they could rival men at professional sports as well.

In an effort to keep major league franchises from collapsing during the war, a candy-bar magnate (Garry Marshall) decides to form a women’s professional baseball league. The jovial, but competitive relationship between sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) takes on new heights when they leave their hometown in Oregon for Chicago to tryout for the baseball league along with hundreds of other hopefuls. Kit continually feels out-shined by her talented older sister, Dottie who really only plays baseball to pass time until her husband returns home from war.

The sisters both manage to land a spot playing for the Rockford Peaches, along with new teammates Doris (Rosie O’Donnell), Mae (Madonna), Evelyn (Bitty Schram) and Betty "Spaghetti" (Tracy Reiner). Former major-league home run champ turned drunken slob, Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) is recruited as the Peaches disorderly manager.

The “diamond gals” of the AAGPBL make a slow start, vying for starting positions, drawing fans to the female sport and growing accustomed to the restricted league rules of conduct. In time, the Peaches form a camaraderie and Jimmy embraces his players, helping the team move to the top of the league. Playing through grueling heat, double-headers and injuries pay off when the Peaches make it to the playoffs. After a disagreement and in an effort to keep Dottie, the league’s best player from leaving, a trade is arranged and kid sister, Kit is sent to the Racine Belles to face her original team in the World Series. In the end, it comes down these two sisters and their passion for the game, trying to win it all for their teams.

While joining the AAGPBL provided many of the women with a fresh start and allowed them to break out into new roles, they also discovered a greater pursuit. As Jimmy tells his star player, “Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up.”

A League of Their Own is a light, good-natured movie that combines humor, heart and historical elements, providing an engaging experience for all movie fans. Whether you’re a sports buff or not, the roster of stars bring these charming characters to life and open a window into a captivating period where these women got a chance to blaze trails for generations of athletes.

And just for fun, here's one of the film’s more iconic scenes: