If there is a month I don’t want to tear by quickly, it’s October. This one has been a strange beast. How strange? Let’s take a look at the posters at the AFI Silver two weeks ago, when I spent a glorious day indulging in NoirCityDC:
Nosferatu and Noir. Conclave and the original Mobile Suit Gundam compilation films.
My day of Noir consisted of three double features
- The compact thriller Armored Car Robbery (US) with one of my favorite noir actors, Charles McGraw, and the absolutely searing Assault on the Pay Train (Brazil) – it’s a tragedy this isn’t on DVD, but here’s hoping for a future restoration
- Another amazing noir from Argentina, Hardly a Criminal, and the beautifully staged & shot indie from the US, Plunder Road.
And last but never least:
Two films which are opposites, yet very close at heart. Odd Man Out features James Mason’s brilliant performance as a wounded IRA soldier during his last night on Earth. The other, Victims of Sin, is a pillar of the golden age of Mexican cinema featuring Ninón Sevilla as a rumbera — a female nightclub dancer — sacrificing everything to protect an abandoned child from his gangster father.
Different films, but both intensely noir. And, also, intensely Catholic.
I’ve also been enjoying Spooky Season with Friday night horror films and… more Alan Wake II
Until then, remember to Vote Blue this election.
Biomechanoid Blues 