Now that the film festival is over, the shiny new SIFF Cinema has started regular programming. They kicked off the summer with the Noir City festival, of which I caught four titles:
* Woman on the Run, starring Ann Sheridan. I’m not sure why it was titled that, as it was the husband on the run, not the wife, but noir titles have me generally befuddled. It’s a standard plot, as he’s on the run after witnessing a murder, but I really enjoyed it, and the final amusement park scene was *highly* effective. I’ve got the shivers again thinking of it.
* It was paired up with Pitfall, as each film described a marriage on the rocks. Pitfall was from the man’s point of view, a fellow stuck in the ideal life who puts a foot out of line and encounters Raymond Burr as the heaviest of heavies.
* Desert Fury was Technicolor noir… which doesn’t quite work for me. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I had taken it as straight-up camp. It certainly works better from that perspective, especially Eddie and Johnny’s relationship & the subtext rapidly becoming text.
* Leave Her to Heaven was another Technicolor noir, with Gene Tierney as a cold-blooded murderess. It was good stuff… except for the ending. Damn Hollywood.
wicked jaws 