There's a somewhat specifically American film genre that most of you are doubtless aware of, even if you don’t have a name for it. At one point or another we've all been exposed to the cliché of the hard-boiled detective, the femme fatale, the dark, dreary crime committed in a dark, dreary city, perhaps while the sounds of a smoky saxophone penetrate the air. This is, of course, the stereotype for the film noir, a genre that actually defies easy definition.
I spoke to two local filmmakers recently who even described noir as not so much a genre as a movement. These films started appearing in the early 1940s, inspired by prominent crime fiction of the time seized upon by directors (many of them European emigres) who appreciated the potential for stylization in such dark stories.
This year, the Louisville Palace continues its Summer Movie Series with a celebration of these dark and brooding films. Films will be shown on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. The schedule is as follows:
7/10 – The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)
7/11 – Laura (Otto Preminger, 1944)
7/17 – Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
7/18 – Mildred Pierce (Michael Curtiz, 1945)
7/24 – Gilda (Charles Vidor, 1946)
7/25 – The Big Sleep (Howard Hawks, 1946)
7/31 – The Killers (Robert Siodmak, 1946)
8/1 – The Postman Always Rings Twice (Tay Garnet, 1946)
8/7 – The Lady From Shanghai (Orson Welles, 1947)
8/8 – Key Largo (Huston, 1948)
8/14 – The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
8/15 – The Asphalt Jungle (Huston, 1950)
8/21 – Sunset Boulevard (Wilder, 1950)
8/22 – Touch of Evil (Welles, 1958)
Tickets are $5 per film or $42 for a season pass. Tickets can be purchased at the Louisville Palace box office, located at 625 S. 4th Street. Details can be found at the Palace website.
Image: press release
