That chill on the back of your neck signals not only the onset of autumn but the imminent arrival at Seattle Art Museum of "Night Wind: The Film Noir Cycle."
Now well into its fourth decade, SAM's annual series is the oldest established showcase for film noir in these United States. Film curator Greg Olson has programmed it all along, offering 10 titles each fall ranging from familiar classics by major directors ("Laura," "Double Indemnity," "Kiss Me Deadly") to little-known B movies that may or may not prove to be notable discoveries.
This year's slate is weighted toward the lesser-known. Olson himself jokingly dubs the first three entries - "Storm Warning" (1951) on Oct. 2, "Highway 301" (1951) on Oct. 9 and "Tomorrow Is Another Day" (1951), Oct. 16 - a "Steve Cochran mini-festival," referring to the swarthy second-lead actor who stole Virginia Mayo from Jimmy Cagney in "White Heat" and starred in an early Michelangelo Antonioni film, "Il Grido."
The auspices are strongest for opening-nighter "Storm Warning," which boasts Richard Brooks and Daniel Fuchs as screenwriters and direction by Stuart Heisler, who helmed the crisp 1942 version of "The Glass Key." The plot has to do with Ku Klux Klan activity in a Southern town, and Cochran's fellow players include the post-stellar Ginger Rogers, the pre-stellar Doris Day and the pre-presidential Ronald Reagan.
The known strength kicks in with numbers four through six. "Johnny O'Clock" (1947), on Oct. 23, marked the directorial debut of veteran screenwriter and future Oscar contender Robert Rossen ("All the King's Men," "The Hustler"); it's a smart mystery-cum-character study starring Dick Powell as a big-town gambler, with a supporting cast including Lee J. Cobb, Thomas Gomez and the late Evelyn Keyes. Nothing is likely to take best-in-show away from the Oct. 30 offering, Samuel Fuller's "Pickup on South Street" (1953) - a B movie that rates an A-plus in anybody's book. The late Richard Widmark plays a pickpocket whose light-fingered talent gets him embroiled with the F.B.I. and a Commie spy ring. Also in the cast: Jean Peters (a future Mrs. Howard Hughes), Richard Kiley and the great Thelma Ritter. Carol Reed's "The Man Between" (1953) on Nov. 6 may only be a distant cousin of American noir - it's a British picture, set and filmed in Berlin - but given the rarity of this Reed return to "The Third Man" territory, we'll wink at the transgression. James Mason stars.
"Wicked Woman" (1953) I don't know, so I'll just mention that Russell Rouse (who directed) and Clarence Greene are the guys who wrote one of the definitive noirs, "D.O.A."; check her out on Nov. 13.
"Black Widow" (1954), Nov. 20, isn't the edgy Debra Winger-Theresa Russell picture but one of those pedestrian enterprises that gave early CinemaScope a bad name. It's a murder mystery set among Broadway's elite, with Van Heflin, Ginger Rogers and Gene Tierney; Nunnally Johnson wrote and directed. Andrew L. Stone's 1955 "The Night Holds Terror" (Dec. 4) is a taut, truth-based suspenser about a suburban family held hostage in their home; Vince Edwards and John Cassavetes supply villainy. (Stone also directed "Highway 301.")
The series wraps Dec. 11 with Gerd Oswald's "A Kiss Before Dying" (1956), the first screen version of Ira Levin's novel about a murderously ambitious young fellow of a breed we now call sociopath. Robert Wagner stars, his accustomed blandness rendered sinister by the context, and Joanne Woodward is effective in a key supporting role.
Don't even think about a series ticket - they're long gone - but you can take your place in the $10 single-ticket line at SAM's Plestcheeff Auditorium, 100 University St., at 7 p.m. any operative Thursday and hope some regulars don't show up.
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