High Heels and Fedoras: Exploring Film Noir—2013 Film Club series begins in February

The 2013 Film Club is back at The Venue 1550 at the Daystar Center, 1550 S. State St., Chicago. Hosted by Stephen Reginald, the film club will feature six film noir classics, including Double Indemnity and Mildred Pierce. Movies will be screened at 6:30 p.m. on the second Tuesdays of the month, starting February 12, 2013. The host will introduce each film giving background information before screenings, with Q & A afterwards. Reginald is a freelance writer/editor and popular instructor at Facets Film School in Chicago. He was also the original host of Meet Me at the Movies.

High Heels and Fedoras: Exploring Film Noir
Film noir conjures up images of detectives, criminals, dangerous men and women, all in shades of black and white. While possessing a very definite cinematic style, movies identified as film noir presented a darker vision of American life. This vision contrasted sharply with the Norman Rockwell worldview Hollywood was also grinding out during the height of World War II. But it was during the war years that the genre was at its peak.

Black film
The term film noir is French for “black film.” Nino Frank, a French film critic, is believed to have labeled these darker American films. In the states, they were labeled as melodramas; there was no preconceived formula from which directors and writers were working. But World War II did change America and the world. Filmmakers were exploring themes and situations that wouldn’t have been considered a decade earlier. Criminals and villains became heroes and the femme fatale—deadly woman—also came into prominence. In film noir, the lines between good and evil are blurred, but in many ways represent a more realistic view of the world. The noir vision still influences filmmakers today.

Explore film noir by discovering (or rediscovering) some of the established classics of the genre. Tickets per film are $5 for general admission or $3 for seniors and students. You can always purchase tickets at the door. If you’d like to purchase tickets online for one or all six films in advance, click here. The stay on top of all the Film Club movie events, join the Meetup Group.

Film Schedule
Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. (CST)

February 12 This Gun for Hire (1942) This tough adaptation of the novel by Graham Greene stars Alan Ladd as Raven, a professional hit man who’s been double-crossed by one of his clients. He crosses paths with Veronica Lake, a nightclub entertainer who puts herself in harm's way when she volunteers to spy on her boss who authorities believe to be a link in a major crime syndicate.

March 12 Double Indemnity (1944) Based on the novel by James M. Cain (Mildred Pierce, The Postman Always Rings Twice) and nominated for seven Academy Awards, this movie set the standard from which other film noirs are judged. Directed by the legendary Billy Wilder, and starring screen legends Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson, and Barbara Stanwyck.

April 9 Murder My Sweet (1945) Dick Powell stars as private investigator Philip Marlowe in this noir classic based on the novel by Raymond Chandler. Marlowe is hired by Moose Malone, an ex-con trying to track down his old girlfriend, who he lost track of while he was in prison. With each lead, Marlowe is pulled into a web of deceit, intrigue and murder.

May 14 Mildred Pierce (1945) Joan Crawford won an Academy Award for Best Actress playing the title role of a self-sacrificing mother who will do almost anything to gain her daughter’s love. Nominated for a total of six Academy Awards, this James M. Cain (The Postman Always Rings Twice) story has earned its place as a noir classic thanks to a great cast, snappy dialogue, and crisp direction from Michael Curtiz (Casablanca).

June 11 The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) Lana Turner and John Garfield generate some serious heat as Frank, a drifter and Cora, a diner waitress who is married to a much-older man. Turner has big plans for the diner that her husband owns. She has big plans for Frank too, but first she needs to get rid of her husband…with Franks’ help. Another tough, gritty drama from the pen of James M. Cain (Mildred Pierce) that film critic Leonard Maltin said “Packs a real punch.”

July 9 Out of the Past (1947) Considered by many to be the best film noir drama of all time, it also solidified the career of Robert Mitchum as a tough-guy leading man. Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey currently on the straight and narrow until his past catches up with him. Jane Greer costars as the ultimate femme fatale who brings Jeff to ruin. Costarring future-stars-in-the-making, Kirk Douglas and Rhonda Fleming. This film’s reputation continues to grow in stature with each passing year.

“Reel People” Film Series at Facets Film School February—April

Facets Film School, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave., is presenting a new midnight movie series starting February 25, 2012. “Reel People” will feature films about real people and events. A different host will introduce each movie every week. Many of the hosts are instructors at Facets. The film series features Classic Movie Man, Steve Reginald, introducing the 1950 release, Three Came Home starring Claudette Colbert on Saturday, March 17.

Claudette Colbert as Agnes Newton Keith

Three Came Home tells the story of Oak Park, IL, native Agnes Newton Keith. The film is based on Keith’s memoirs written about her experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war on the Island of Borneo, during World War II. The film is remarkable on many levels, including a realistic and gritty performance from Colbert as Keith. Colbert, famous for her glamorous persona in romantic comedies and melodramas, is anything but glamorous as Keith.

The film, released barely five years after the end of the conflict, presents a remarkably balanced portrayal of Keith’s experiences as a prisoner of war under the Japanese. Sessue Hayakawa (Bridge on the River Kwai) lends excellent support as Colonel Suga, both Keith’s tormentor and confidant. The direction by Jean Negulesco (Johnny Belinda, Road House) is steady and true. Considered one of the most important films of the year when first released, this classic is almost forgotten today.

Admission to each film is free for Facets members, $5 for nonmembers.

Facets Multi-Media, founded in 1975, is a non-profit, 501(C)3 organization, and a leading national media arts organization. Its mission is to preserve, present, distribute, and educate about film.


Feb. 25             Lew Ojeda        Amin: The Rise and Fall (1981)
March 3            Mike Smith       I’m Not There (2007)
March 10          Chris Damen     Barfly (1987)
March 17          S. Reginald       Three Came Home (1950)
March 24          Cary Elza          Shadow of the Vampire (2000)
March 31          N. Calderone    The Bengali Detective (2011)
April 7               Joe Lewis         The Beaver Trilogy (2000)
April 14             Dom Mayer      King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007)
April 21             J. Wicklund       Head (1968)

Looking for Some Halloween Chills? Watch a Classic Horror Movie Tonight

by Classic Movie Man

Producer Val Lewton is not a household name, but during the 1940s, he produced some of the best horror films to come out of Hollywood. Under tight studio budgetary constraints, Lewton thrilled and scared audiences without resorting to cheap shock or senseless gore. Instead he created interesting and realistic characters, developed literate scripts, and worked with some of the best developing talent at RKO studios. Some of the people Lewton employed included directors Robert Wise (West Side Story, The Sound of Music) and Mark Robson (Bridges at Toko-Ri, Peyton Place). Lewton influenced such famous directors as Martin Scorsese and William Friedkin. The former even produced a documentary on Lewton in 2007 called Val Lewton: Man in the Shadows.

Below is a list of nine classic Lewton-produced horror films in order of their initial release dates. All of these classics are available via Netflix, Amazon, and your neighborhood video store.

1. Cat People (1942)—This is the first horror film Lewton produced and some consider it his best. A young artist, Irena Dubrovna is convinced that she is the victim of an ancient curse that turns its women into panthers once they enter a romantic relationship. The film contains two classic scenes: One in New York’s Central Park, where one of the main characters finds herself being stalked and another in an indoor swimming pool. These atmospheric scenes made 1940s audiences scream in terror and they still work today in the sophisticated 21st century.

2. I Walked With A Zombie (1943)—This film was in production before Cat People was released and it set in motion a host of imitators. Borrowing its plot from Jane Eyre, Zombie is set on a remote plantation in the West Indies. White and native cultures clash and family secrets are revealed on the exotic and mysterious island of Saint Sebastian. Classic scenes: The heroine, a young nurse named Betsy, meets her patient in a most unusual manner and a night walk with her “zombie” patient through the sugar cane stalks, to visit a voodoo priest. Director Jacques Tourneur (Out of the Past, Curse of the Demon) considered I Walked With A Zombie his best film.

3. The Leopard Man (1943)—Released on the heels of Zombie, the film starts out with two competitive women entertainers (Clo-Clo and Kiki) working side-by-side in a New Mexico club. Thinking she needs a little more pizzazz, Kiki introduces a beautiful black leopard to her act. Unfortunately, the panther is frightened by the crowd and escapes and runs away. Shortly after,  women end up dead, apparently killed by the escaped leopard. Is it really the leopard doing the killing or is something else going on? Classic scenes: Without giving too much away, one involves a train and the other a locked door. The latter gave us one of the screens most iconic horror scenes ever filmed.

4. The Seventh Victim (1943)—The RKO movie factory was working at full tilt, with Lewton releasing four films in 1943! The plot of The Seventh Victim surrounds a businesswoman named Jacqueline who aligns herself with a Satanic cult in order to gain success and power. She decides later that she wants out. The cultist will let her go—if she agrees to commit suicide. Jacqueline tries to escape, but finds the cultists mean business. Classic scenes: Jacqueline’s younger sister Mary discovers strange activity on a New York City subway and Jacqueline encounters a cultist on a deserted back alley.

5. The Ghost Ship (1943)—Concerns a demented and vindictive freight ship captain (Richard Dix) and his sinister attempts to dominate his crew. The onboard claustrophobia adds to the scary mood Lewton and director Robson established. Classic scenes: Without giving too much away, one involves an anchor and chaine and the other an unsecured hook. Are you curious how this all turns out?

6. The Curse Of The Cat People (1944)—With the runaway success of Cat People, it was inevitable that the studio executives would demand a sequel. Lewton, ever the clever and creative man, produced this psychological masterpiece, which gave Wise his first directorial credit. The film concerns a shy young girl named Amy who imagines that her secret friend is the now deceased Irena from the original Cat People. Classic scenes: Amy lost in a snowstorm as she is “pursued” and an old woman’s scary storytelling.

7. Isle Of The Dead (1945)—Boris Karloff, fresh off his Broadway triumph in Arsenic and Old Lace, entered into a three-picture deal with RKO. Instead of playing monsters, which he had grown tired of at rival studio Universal, Karloff was thrilled to be able to play General Pherides quarantined on a Greek island during a suspected plague. Karloff starts off as a tough no-nonsense military man until he comes under the spell of an old caretaker woman who tells him tales of the evil Vorvolaka, an evil spirit who inhabits the corpses of the dead and whose presence brings death to those she touches. Classic scenes: Karloff slowly cracking under the pressure of the caretaker’s superstitions and menance and the premature burial of a woman who has this as her greatest fear.

8. The Body Snatcher (1945)—Karloff again, is the star of this reworking of the classic Robert Lewis Stevenson story. The Body Snatcher is masterful in its creation of an absolutely creepy and mysterious mood throughout. Set in the 19th century, the plot surrounds a corrupt doctor and his complicated relationship with his grave-digging accomplice. Classic scenes: A nameless peasant woman singing sweetly in the night, her voice suddenly stopping mid-note and Karloff’s nemesis Toddy MacFarlane's, brilliantly played by Henry Daniell, delirious carriage ride in the rain. To add to its horror movie credibility, it has Bela Lugosi (Dracula 1931), another horror film icon in a minor supporting role.

9. Bedlam (1946)—This film isn’t a horror film in the traditional sense (you could say that about all of Lewton’s films) because it is rooted in reality. During the 18th century in England, there was a notorious insane asylum. St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane near London. It was notoriously known as Bedlam. Karloff once again stars as the cruel Master Sims of Bedlam, treating patients with heartless cruelty. An outsider named Nell Bowen (Anna Lee) takes a dislike to Sims and in the process her employer who, with Sims’s help, has her confined to Bedlam. There Nell, who before her confinement had led a self-centered life of ease, realizes how horrible Bedlam is and how poorly the “inmates” are treated. She develops compassion for the mentally ill inhabitants and gains their trust. Classic scenes: Nell locked in a cage with a giant of a man and Sims being carried away by the “loonies” and imprisoned behind a brick wall.

Boo!

Classic Movie Man, also known as Stephen Reginald, is the creator of the South Loop Connection and Classic Movie Man blogs. A writer, editor, adult education instructor and social media strategist, he loves writing about the South Loop and classic movies. He will be teaching a class on the films of Irene Dunne at Facets Film School, Chicago, for six weeks starting November 16, 2011. Classes meet on Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Click here for information on how to take classes at Facets.

Fright School at Facets Multi-Media

The Return of Fright School
Fright School, Facets midnight-movie horror series, returns for a third year. The series begins September 30, 2011. Films will be screened every Friday and Saturday night at midnight through October 29.

Fright School is a great way to learn about all types of horror films, from exploitation to classic. Films are introduced by local film experts with Q & A afterwards. It’s a crash course on the horror genre. Plus, there are raffles, prizes, and other give-a-ways. Admission is only $5, free for Facets members.

Fright School schedule 

Facets Multi-Media is located at 1517 West Fullerton. For more information, please visit their Web site.

I Walked With A Zombie to be Screened October 15
Stephen Reginald, aka The Classic Movie Man will present producer Val Lewton’s horror classic on Saturday, October 15, 2011 as part of the Facets Multi-Media “Fright School.” Directed by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People 1942), I Walked With A Zombie was the second collaboration between the producer and director and supposedly Tourneur’s favorite of all his films.

Jane Eyre in the West Indies
Set in the West Indies, Zombie feels like a contemporary version of Jane Eyre. Frances Dee plays Betsy Connell, a young nurse who leaves her native Canada to care for Jessica Holland (Christine Gordon), the sick wife of wealthy businessman, Paul Holland (Tom Conway). Holland runs a sugar plantation on the island of Saint Sebastian and lives at Fort Holland with his mother and half-brother, Wesley Rand (James Ellison). On the island, Betsy discovers the conflict between the voodoo beliefs of the island’s natives and the small white community of medical workers and officials that have settled there. Believing that her employer’s wife may be a zombie, she brings the woman to a voodoo ceremony hoping they will have a cure for her condition. Betsy’s bold action sets in motion a series of events, which reveal family secrets and the mystery behind Jessica’s “sickness.”

Literate Horror
Producer Val Lewton was tasked with creating a horror unit at the RKO studios to rival Universal. Universal hit box office gold with horror hits like Frankenstein, Dracula, and The Wolf Man. Instead of copying Universal’s movie monsters, Lewton created horror films that combined literate scripts with believable characters and seemingly plausible plots. These elements, plus good production values, intensified the suspense and packed movie houses throughout the 1940s. I Walked With A Zombie was Lewton’s second horror film at RKO and one of his very best.

Classic Movie Man Presents: Silence is Golden: Jane Wyman's Oscar-Winning Performance in "Johnny Belinda" at Facets Film School, Chicago, Friday February 26, 2011

Jane Wyman paid her dues. When she arrived in Hollywood in the early 1930s, Wyman worked steadily, but no one knew her name. During this early period in her career, she appeared in dozens of films, some classics, including an uncredited part in My Man Godfrey (1936).

A Hollywood glamor shot early in Jane Wyman's career

In 1937, as a contract player at Warner Brothers, Wyman had her first credited part as “Dixie the hatcheck girl” in Smart Blonde starring Glenda Farrell as journalist Torchy Blane. From 1932 to 1936, Wyman appeared in 19 films. In 1939, she stepped into the role of Torchy Blane in Torchy Blane…Playing With Dynamite. But it would be six long years before Wyman would get a role she could sink her teeth into.

Ray Milland and Wyman in Billy Wilder's The Lost Weekend (1945)

In 1945 Wyman got what would prove to be her breakout performance. On loan to Paramount, she played Helen St. James, Ray Milland’s sympathetic girlfriend in The Lost Weekend. The film was a huge critical and commercial hit, winning Oscars for Milland and director Billy Wilder. It also won the award for Best Picture. Tough New York Times critic Bosley Crowther took notice of Wyman’s performance in Weekend. He said, “Jane Wyman assumes with quiet authority the difficult role of the loyal girl who loves and assists the central character—and finally helps regenerate him.” From a critic like Crowther, this was a rave.

Claude Jarman Jr., Gregory Peck, and Wyman in a publicity still from The Yearling (1946)

After her success in Weekend, Wyman’s home studio, Warner Bros. didn’t give her better scripts. Loaned out again in 1946, this time to M-G-M, Wyman costarred with Gregory Peck and Claude Jarman Jr. in the Clarence Brown production of The Yearling. The 10-month shoot was tough on Wyman and the rest of the cast. In spite of the production difficulties, Wyman received the first of her four Best Actress Academy Award nominations for her portrayal of Orry Baxter. She didn’t win, but Wyman was now a certified movie star.

Wyman as Belinda McDonald in Johnny Belinda (1948)

In 1948, Warner Bros. adapted the stage play Johnny Belinda and cast Wyman in the lead. Since the play was a modest success, the expectations for the film version weren’t too high. Under the steady direction of Jean Negulesco, Wyman gave the performance of a lifetime. As deaf mute Belinda, she never uttered a line of dialogue. Wyman managed to convey the frustration and longing of a young woman considered less than human by the local villagers in her Cape Brenton [Canada] home. She did this through her expressive eyes and physical gestures. Although by today’s standards, the movie is somewhat dated, Wyman’s performance is not. This is what Crowther said of Wyman's performance in his review of the film in The New York Times on October 2, 1948: “Miss Wyman brings superior insight and tenderness to the role. Not once does she speak throughout the picture. Her face is the mirror of her thoughts.”

Johnny Belinda lobby card

Johnny Belinda was nominated for a total of 11 Oscars. It lost in every category except Wyman’s surprise win for Best Actress of 1949 (Wyman expected Irene Dunne to win for I Remember Mama).

Jane Wyman would go on to further film successes, working with legendary directors like Frank Capra and Alfred Hitchcock, but her performance in Johnny Belinda is a master class in film acting technique, making Wyman a legend in her own right.  


A special midnight screening of Johnny Belinda, introduced by Stephen Reginald, the Classic Movie Man, will be held at Facets Film School on Saturday, February 26, 2011. Admission is $5.

Midnight Movies at Facets Film School: Women Rule!

Geena Davis in The Long Kiss Goodnight

Midnight Movie Series
An off-shoot of Facets' long-running, popular film school program, Facets Night School digs into cinema's wild side with special Saturday night midnight lectures on cult favorites followed by screenings of the films and post-screening discussions. Horror greats, sci-fi wonders, action and kung-fu whirlwinds, exploitation favorites, classic and contemporary oddities, black comedies, rock 'n' roll docs, crazy animation and much more all go under the microscope at the hands of Facets' movie obsessives! It's a schooling in Midnight Movies that you won't find anywhere else!

Each class includes a lecture, a screening, post-screening discussion, grindhouse/cult trailers, giveways, and more! Each student receives an extensive educational pack for the films full of notes, essays, articles, a bibliography for further reading and more with admission, as well.

Jane Wyman in her Oscar-winning performance

Woman Rule the (Mid-)Night
This special midnight film series features women as the main protagonists. The series runs the gamut from cult to classic. Stephen Reginald, the author of the Classic Movie Man and South Loop Connection blogs and former "Meet Me at the Movies" host, will be presenting Johnny Belinda starring Jane Wyman on February February 26, 2011.

Lectures for each film begin at midnight with a $5 fee. See the complete schedule below (click on schedule to see full size).

Claudette Colbert on TV's "What's My Line"

Class and Sophistication Personified


Want to learn more about this legendary actress? Sign up for "Down to Earth Sophistication: Claudette Colbert in Hollywood" by clicking here.