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/.