Noir City: Newspaper Noir

The Music Box Theatre teamed with the Film Noir Foundation to present the third annual Noir City: Chicago film festival August 12th through the 18th. The fest presents a lot of films unavailable on DVD, a boon for fans of the genre who have worked the home viewing catalog pretty deeply. It's so fabulous to see a noir film on the big screen in a restored print; I imagine that some noir films that have floundered for me at home would prove much more serviceable screened and viewed as intended.

I was able to make it for my top-choice double-feature bill: newspaper noir, both unavailable on DVD, and each centered on super leads, Alan Ladd and Humphrey Bogart.

CHICAGO DEADLINE screened once during the fest. When we arrived at the theater there was a line down the block. It reminded me of how it felt to see movies when I was young, before home viewing generally thinned the theater crowds. I try to see a movie or two at the int'l film fest every year, in part to tap into the same gathering anticipatory susurration. CD offered the gratifying Chicago backdrops the audience had turned out to see. Ladd did not disappoint, his charm-grounded-in-sorrow particularly apt for this storyline in which Donna Reed plays a nuanced noir role, the soft, doomed Rosita Jean D'Ur,  a reversal from the roles I think of her in and in counterpoint to sparkling June Havoc who gets the happier ending here. Though some of the dialog suggests media critique (with unavoidable resonances with the current tabloid scandals), the performances riveted my attention in the characters' dramas and the newsie aspect of the film served more as fun trimmings for me.

CHICAGO DEADLINE, 1949, Director: Lewis Allen (thanks to retrografix blog for hard to find pics).

DEADLINE, U.S.A., directed by Richard Brooks, stars Humphrey Bogart as Ed "Hutch" Hutcheson, our editor-hero in an unabashed tribute to newspaper media. It's eerie to watch a "funeral for the press," made in 1952. In one shot, there's a sign posted in the printing room, visible behind Bogart/Hutch, that says something along the lines of: ""Newspapers Make Jobs" (I can't find a still or reference to get it exactly; should've jotted it down); this strand throughout contributes to the time warp effect that adds a layer of interest to an already engaging film. This is such a great Bogart role; it's boggling that this is not yet on DVD. My susceptible mind runs, momentarily, to kooky anti-media conspiracies. Ethyl Barrymore's media matron backs Bogart robustly and DEADLINE, set in Every-city, U.S.A., features a baddy politician Thomas Rienzi (Martin Gabel). Best editor versus mobster scene ever:



If you're interested in noir broadly, definitely check out the Film Noir Foundation. They offer a—now quarterly electronic—magazine with hooky articles, such as, The Heaviest of Them All: The Film Noir Legacy of Raymond Burr (on his baddie roles, pre-Perry Mason). The site also posts a monthly listing of Film Noir and Neo-Noir on TV. I dawdled posting, so I wasn't able to get this up before another great newsie noir screened on Fox: CALL NORTHSIDE 777, starring Jimmy Stewart and great views of the Windy City, based on a true story, and available via Chicago Public Library and likely through Netflix. Also screened on Fox this month (do we give Fox points for screening good noir?): I WAKE UP SCREAMING (1949), a really fun oddball noir (almost a musical noir, with a disconcertingly prevalent use of an "Over the Rainbow" instrumental) also available on DVD. So, good stuff on your telly. And save the dates for next year's Noir City fest! (This year a pass to see all 16 films went for an unbelievable $50.)

Given my penchant for print and justice, newspaper noir holds a lot of extra charm in an already fave field for me. I am guessing that with restored film prints now, we'll see CHICAGO DEADLINE and DEADLINE U.S.A. on DVD soon. In the meantime, Robert Feder created a shortlist of newsroom-centric flicks for TIME OUT CHICAGO last year; many of the films are noir; most are accessible now.