Inside Vancouver

Film noir this August includes classic Detour and films by French master Jean-Pierre Melville

by Shawn Conner in Entertainment, Insider on July 24, 2019

A scene from the noir classic Detour.

Who’s thinking about crime in August? Fans of film noir, that’s who.

Each summer, Vancouver’s premiere arthouse The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St.) presents its annual Film Noir series. This year’s runs from Aug. 1-22 and features the first major restoration of Edgar G. Ulmer’s 1945 classic Detour, a new restoration of Robert Siodmak’s The Killers (1946), and two pictures, both also newly restored, by Ida Lupino. The actress/filmmaker was the only woman to direct noir in the classic period.

Along with the series, the arthouse theatre is featuring a special retrospective of films by French noir master Jean-Pierre Melville. See below for more highlights.

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Film noir this August includes classic Detour and films by French master Jean-Pierre Melville

Escape the August sun with these dark and steamy cinematic thrillers

by Shawn Conner in Entertainment on July 25, 2018

After 10 years out of circulation, Out of the Past returns to Cinematheque’s Film Noir summer series.

Every summer, Vancouver’s downtown arthouse cinema celebrates the golden age of film noir.

This year, the Cinematheque’s (1131 Howe St.) Film Noir series includes a movie regarded by fans of the genre as one of the best. Out of the Past stars Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas and Jane Greer. Directed by French filmmaker Jacques Tourneur, the 1947 film has been out of Canadian circulation for a decade due to rights issues. Two other rarely seen films made by the same studio, Macao and Crossfire, are also in this year’s lineup.

There are a number of other films, along with some early work by Swedish filmmaker (and noir fan) Ingmar Bergman, screening between Aug. 3-23 (including an Aug. 3 opening night that includes a “courtyard wingding” with entertainment, and showings of Out of the Past and 1949’s Criss Cross).

All told, the Cinematheque’s Film Noir series includes 10 films, plus three as part of its sidebar series, Bergman Noir. Here’s a look at some of the highlights.

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Escape the August sun with these dark and steamy cinematic thrillers

Cinematheque announces its summer film noir lineup!

by Shawn Conner in Uncategorized on July 10, 2017

William Gargan and Janis Carter in Night Editor.

In what’s become a Vancouver/Cinematheque tradition, every summer brings a new lineup of classic noir films to the arthouse theatre on Howe. Thanks to some clever sleuthing (i.e. an email request), we were able to procure an early look at the top-secret programme. Herewith, some of the private eyes, femme fatales and evil masterminds coming to the city this August.

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Cinematheque announces its summer film noir lineup!

Film noir musical opens this weekend!

by Shawn Conner in Uncategorized on July 7, 2017

Cast members from City of Angels, a Tony Award-winning film noir musical opening at Performance Works July 8.

Warm temperatures, bright blazing sunshine—that can only mean one thing in Vancouver: film noir season!

Next month, Cinematheque presents its annual programme of movies from the golden age (mostly) of Hollywood crime stories. We’ll have a post with more details on Monday.

Meanwhile, a group of committed local (and some out-of-town) actors, actresses and stage technicians are presenting City of Angels. It’s a Tony Award-winning stage musical with original songs and a book by professional wiseacre Larry Gelbart (M*A*S*H, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum). The Vancouver production of the musical, which first hit Broadway in 1989, stars veterans of television, movies and theatre, and opens at Performance Works on Granville Island on July 8. It runs until July 17.

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Film noir musical opens this weekend!

Killers, thieves and gumshoes – Cinematheque’s Film Noir series is back!

by Shawn Conner in Uncategorized on July 11, 2016

The iconic image from the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple.

Each year, Vancouver’s premiere arthouse Cinematheque presents a festival of dark shadows, lonely streets, tough guys and tougher dames. This year’s Film Noir festival (Aug. 4-22) includes not only seminal works from the genre’s postwar heyday, but also “neo-noir” selections from the sixties and the eighties, too.

All told, Cinematheque (1131 Howe St) is screening 13 films, nine for the first time. Here are some highlights.

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Killers, thieves and gumshoes – Cinematheque’s Film Noir series is back!