Celebrate Noirvember all month long at Spectacle! Alongside our 4th annual marathon, we’ll be screening three proto-noir gems from the 1930s Golden Age of Hollywood. Three dramaturgical crime stories of gangsters, feds, psychiatrists, and everything in between — PUBLIC HERO NUMBER 1, THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL and BLIND ALLEY
PUBLIC HERO NUMBER 1
dir. J. Walter Ruben, 1935
United States, 89 min.
In English
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5 – 10 PM
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 17 – 7:30 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22 – MIDNIGHT
Shot by renowned cinematographer Gregg Toland and loosely inspired by the real-life antics of bank robber John Dillinger, PUBLIC HERO NUMBER 1 follows undercover FBI agent Jeff Crane (Chester Morris) as he breaks Purple Gang affiliate Sonny Black (Joseph Calleia) out of jail. Through a series of mishaps, Crane encounters the persistently chipper and eccentric Maria Theresa “Terry” O’Reilly, who’s on her own mission to find her lost brother “Dinkie”… who just so happens to look a lot like Sonny. Simultaneously thrilling and witty, PUBLIC HERO NUMBER 1 would later be remade into THE GET-AWAY, another proto-noir classic.
The latest of the G-Men melodramas is a rattling good show, equally effective in its snarling violence and in its humor.
–Andre Sennwald
THEY MADE ME A CRIMINAL
dir. Busby Berkeley, 1939
United States, 92 min.
In English
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8 – 10 PM
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 29 – 7:30 PM
I am a fugitive…I am hunted by ruthless men! I am shunned by decent women! I am doomed to hide forever!
One of the many crime melodramas from this era to feature the youth actor group, The Dead End Kids, this picture also stars the great John Garfield in one of his first roles. Garfield plays Johnnie Bradfield, a boxer on the run after being falsely accused of murder. Under a new name, Jack Dorney, and with the help of the Dead End Kids, he finally gets a chance back in the ring.
BLIND ALLEY
dir. Charles Vidor, 1939
United States, 69 min.
In English
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1 – MIDNIGHT
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4 – 10 PM
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9 – 7:30 PM
Piercing the unholy mysteries of a killer’s gun-crazed mind!
From Hollywood filmmaking legend Charles Vidor in yet another Chester Morris vehicle as infamous murderer Hal Wilson. Wilson, with his morally dubious crew, takes Dr. Shelby and his family hostage. Unbeknownst to them, Shelby’s prolific psychoanalytical skills send Wilson down a spiral into his own burial family trauma. Accentuated by expressive dream imagery courtesy of prolific cinematographer Lucien Ballard, BLIND ALLEY is a must-see for all noir aficionados.