It's hard to believe that we've reached the end of the 2011 festival! I'm so glad I was able to squeeze in as many screenings as I did. Thursday's Robert Ryan double was certainly the high point for me-- Caught has one of the most bizarre endings I've seen in any pre-1970's film.
Tonight features a Glenn Ford double alongside a visit from Mr. Ford's son, Peter. Framed is primo James M. Cain penned paranoid pulp while Mr. Soft Touch is more lighthearted fare. Sunday looks to be a great crime picture double; Cry Tough features a very young John Saxon while Down Three Dark Streets features beautiful LA locations and Broderick Crawford as an FBI agent. Wednesday closes the festival out with a couple of female led thrillers; Gaslight is an absolute classic and brought Ingrid Bergman an Oscar for her portrayal of a woman haunted by the unsolved murder of her aunt. My Name is Julia Ross ends it all with great B-movie suspense from director Joseph H. Lewis of Big Combo & Gun Crazy fame.
13th Annual Film Noir Festival @ the Egyptian Theater
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028-4605
(323) 466-3456
6712 Hollywood Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90028-4605
(323) 466-3456
We're now deep in week 2 of the 13th annual Film Noir Festival and have some great pairings to look forward to!
Tonight features a couple of classic tough guy performances from Charles McGraw and James Cagney in Loophole and Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye. Sunday brings a great "women's night" with scarce films featuring Gloria Grahame, Maureen O'Hara, Susan Hayward & Jane Greer-- how much more beauty could you squeeze into a double feature?!? They Won't Believe Me is a top notch dramatic thriller produced by the trailblazing Joan Harrison, Hitchcock protege & one of only 3 female contract producers working in Hollywood during the classic noir years. A Woman's Secret is one of Nicholas Ray's most rarely screened films, making this night a must see! Female on the Beach & Hazard continue the focus on the ladies. Joan Cra
wford and Paulette Goddard lead with memorable performances by Jeff Chandler, Jan Sterling, Charles McGraw & Percy Hilton. These films screen on Wednesday.
Thursday provides us with a Robert Ryan double feature. Amongst the most complex players in noir, Ryan's special brand of darkness could liven up even the most hollow of films. The Max Ophuls helmed Caught features Barbara Bel Geddes of Vertigo & Dallas fame while Beware, My Lovely pairs Ryan with Ida Lupino in a taught psycho-sexual thriller. Friday rounds things out with a personal visit from actress Jeanne Cooper and a William Castle double, The Houston Story & New Orleans Uncensored. If I'm not mistaken, not a damn one of these films is available on DVD!!!
This gallery is my early Christmas present! I've been working on gathering the images for years and I've finally got enough to post. The Electro Voice model 664 was designed in the late 50's as a sturdy and reliable public address system microphone and found widespread use amongst the amateur radio set as well. Although somewhat useful in certain studio applications, it's mostly known as a club mic due to its ultra reliable pick-up pattern and relatively low feedback rate. Sometime referred to as "the showerhead mic," I've seen them in gold, satin & chrome finishes, with chrome being the most common. The 664 is as iconic as Shure's 55SH "Elvis mic" or the classic RCA ribbon mic models 44 & 77, albeit connoting more of a Sears & Roebuck vibe than any of those mics.
He was named after Chester A. Arthur, the 21st President of the United States, and as a kid Chester Arthur Burnett was nicknamed Big Foot Chester or Bull Cow as he grew to stand 6 feet, 6 inches tall and weigh in close to 300 pounds. That was a big man. But we know him as Howlin' Wolf, legendary and incredibly influential blues singer, guitarist, harmonica player and composer, whose songs are as standard today as anything written by Gershwin, Porter, Rodgers and Hart, Carmichael, Leiber and Stoller or McCartney and Lennon. Howlin' Wolf’s compositions include “Killing Floor,” “Si
tting on Top of the World,” “Who's Been Talking?,” “Moanin’ at Midnight,” and “Smokestack Lightnin'.”Also, his versions of Willie Dixon’s “Spoonful” and “Back Door Man” are about as perfect a three minutes as you’ll ever hear in any genre, anytime, anyplace. Rough-edged, fearsome and fearless, Howlin' Wolf's booming voice sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before -- like something in between grinding a knife on a whetstone or a sharpening steel or shears tearing into bone or a monster truck pulling donuts on a gravel road. As the adage goes -- Howlin' Wolf has often been imitated but never duplicated.
Chester Burnett died in Hines, Illinois on January 10, 1976 and is buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery, Hillside, Cook County in Illinois. His gravestone, etched with a guitar and harmonica, and allegedly purchased by Eric Clapton, can be found in Section 18 on the east side of the road.
Today would have been his 100th birthday.
