Noir City 13

Every year I plan on going to more of the Film Noir Festival, but due to circumstances beyond my control I didn’t get there until Closing Night this year. There were nights I should have made it, but I avoided films I’d seen before. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak. This year the festival had a very interesting theme: Marriage, especially marriage gone wrong. 

All the films would “revolve around the theme of marriage.” On the cover of the program a femme fatale holds another woman’s hand. She has a box of rat poison in her other hand. The hapless husband lies twisted on the stairs above the champagne glass he’s just dropped. The two women have gotten rid of an obstacle to their relationship.   

“When they said until Death Do Us Part... SHE meant it!” From the program: “You’ll see how the bonds of matrimony affect an array of characters - those who crave a perfect and permanent union, those who’ll stop at nothing to preserve it, and those who will do anything to escape it.” Somewhere the cinematic gods were smirking. I had a good laugh at the irony. “25 Cinematic Samplings of Unholy Matrimony.”   

It was great to be back in the jewel of San Francisco movie theaters, The Castro. The Czar of Noir, Eddie Muller, and Miss Noir City 13, Audra, did the introductions. “After ten days, we’re still standing!” Eddie made a few cynical remarks about marriage, “Church and state’s most important institution.” Part of the theme is that Noir exposed the darker sides of the American Dream. Things were not what they seemed in post World War II America, especially domestic bliss.   

Most of the films were about mates trying to get out of a marriage. In Film Noir that usually means murder. There was also a double feature honoring Noir’s “perfect marriage,” Nick and Nora Charles in The Thin Man movies.

Miss Noir City 13 tells us that Eddie Muller had a deep secret. He’s been married for thirty years! “People ask me if I have a special secret to staying married.” Muller says that the way to stay together is, “Candlelit dinners at good restaurants once a week... I usually go on Tuesday or Wednesday. She always goes on Friday!”

I like the older Noir films more. Tonight’s films were made in 1966 and 1969. As usual, Muller does a great introduction to the films. “Seconds” was made in 1966 by John Frankenheimer. “There’s a lot going on in this one.” Rock Hudson was “living the lie” back then. He was living a nerve racking existence in the closet, and he plays a similar role in the film. This is a point not lost on a Castro theater audience. It was Rock’s favorite film.  

Studio executives freaked out. They didn’t want one of their top star’s image tarnished by a “depressing” movie. It was released, but they tried to bury it. It bombed at the box office, but then it became a big cult film.  

Director John Frankenheimer hired actors and writers who had been blacklisted. Most of them had evil, corporate roles. Muller says they had to have exorcised some demons playing sinister corporate types. 

Muller warns us that we will be seeing two very dark and depressing films.  

John Randolph plays Arthur Hamilton, a bored banker. The movie opens with  scenes of his routine commute and frustrating job. It’s the every day reality of the American dream. His wife is loving, but they both go through marital angst in the bedroom. Hamilton just can’t get excited. Their marriage is dead in the water. 

An old friend calls him on the phone. Arthur is stunned because this old friend is dead!  “Charlie” says he can get his buddy another chance at life. Hamilton is contacted by “The Company” with mysterious messages. There’s a bit of cloak and dagger, and he’s directed to a meeting. For $30,000 he can be “reborn” and have a new life. The Company will fake his death, give him plastic surgery and a new identity. Sounds like a great deal! The Company will provide “extensive training,” including psychotherapy.   

Hamilton is shown a film of him raping a young woman. He can’t remember this happening. How did The Company do this? He must have been drugged and filmed. The Company wants to make sure he won’t reveal their existence. He’s shown to an ominous waiting room. It’s full of white males at desks. They’re wearing suits and ties, and waiting for their name to be called. Some have been waiting a long time, but  Hamilton is quickly called and is wheeled to an operating table.  

So he wakes up as Rock Hudson. He’s living in a beautiful Malibu home on the beach with a pool. (They used Frankenheimer’s home for filming.) He has a new career as an artist. There is a butler, sent by the company to help him get started, and to keep an eye on him. He sees diplomas, awards and other evidence that there once had been a “real” Tony Wilson.  

He starts to question things. What does this guy want? Being Rock Hudson with a home in Malibu isn’t enough? He is a painter, a searching artist. During an existential walk on the beach, he meets a young woman who takes him to some kind of “wine ceremony.” It must have been fun shooting this scene. What must have been some of the original Hippies dance through the woods. They come to a huge wine vat. The revelers get naked and jump into the vat and stomp grapes. Rock (“Tony Wilson”) is shy at first, but he eventually winds up in the vat. (The wine ceremony scene was cut from the film for years. It was restored on DVD.) 

Tony’s valet keeps suggesting he have a cocktail party to meet the neighbors. He finally agrees. He gets so drunk at the party that he starts blabbing about The Company. He doesn’t know that all his neighbors are “re-borns.” Tony agrees to go back for a chance at another identity.  

It’s a dark, unsettling film. Even with his glamorous new identity Tony Wilson isn’t happy. The Sixties American Dream unravels in an ending that is disturbing, but not that surprising. 

Muller and Ms. Noir City conduct a raffle during the intermission. It’s a bit quaint. They read ticket numbers and if the winner isn’t present they keep pulling numbers. It’s the last night and they want to get rid of the prizes. The raffle is a bit of a throwback to the old movie house days.

The lobby was packed with Noir related merchandise. Green Apple Books had a great selection to browse. There were Film Noir paper dolls. Vendors sold great vintage Noir movie posters. Most of the vendors and many of the audience wore vintage period clothes. There was a bar setup giving away free vodka drinks.   

The second film is “The Honeymoon Killers.” 1969. Muller fills us in. Martin Scorsese was the original director, but after two weeks of shooting, they decided he was spending too much money. He was replaced by the writer, Leonard Kastle. It’s based on the true story of Martha Beck and Ray Fernandez. They went on a “cross country murder spree.” They found their victims by running a Lonely Hearts club. The story was filmed four different times! 

Muller says it’s even more depressing than the first film, and “The weirdest film we’ve ever shown at Noir City.” Now, that’s impressive.  

Shirley Stoller is the female lead. She’s a bit heavy, especially for movies back then. Her size lends a strange realism to the film. Tony Lo Bianco is her lover and the murderer. The film looks cheaply made at times. It looks like they used a home movie camera. It makes the film a bit voyeuristic, like you’re watching someone’s home made porno film.  It adds to the desperation and despair. It’s “a favorite of both John Waters and Francois Truffaut.” 

Serena Bramble made another great mix for Noir City: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A28hDtZbqUc