Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

Film Schedule:

Saturday May 10, 2025

10:00 AM Unmasked (1950)Republic/Paramount, 60 minutes., Screenplay by Albert DeMond, Norman S. Hall, Manuel Self, Paul Yawitz., Directed by George Blair

Digital Theatrical Premiere!

Is there a film noir aficionado who can resist noir’s heaviest heavy Raymond Burr dominating the action as an odious ****** of a scandal sheet publisher who seduces women and resorts to murder in order finance his schemes? This fast paced Republic programmer is firmly in the tradition of the “Death on the Cheap” noir genre with which the late Arthur Lyons began this festival over a quarter century ago. With: Hlllary Brooke, Robert Rockwell, Barbara Fuller and Paul Harvey.

1:00 PM Angel Face (1953)RKO/Warner Bros. 91 min. Screenplay by Frank Nugent and Oscar Millard., Story by Chester Erskine, Produced and directed by Otto Preminger

Ambulance driver Frank Jessop (Robert Mitchum) responds to an emergency at a hilltop Beverly Hills mansion and becomes smitten by heiress Diane Tremayne (Jean Simmons). Their heated affair quickly goes off the rails after Diane’s parents unexpectedly drop out of the picture. With a story inspired by an actual Southern California criminal case, Otto Preminger wrung wonderful performances from his duo of stars even though they couldn’t stand him. Simmons related how Preminger had Robert Mitchum “slap me till my face was black and blue!” After Mitchum informed Preminger that his next swing would deck the autocratic director, filming was suspended for the rest of the day! With: Mona Freeman, Herbert Marshall, Barbra O’Neil, Leon Ames, and Kenneth Tobey.

4:00 PM The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973) Paramount, 102 minutes, Screenplay by Paul Monash based on the novel by George V. Higgins., Directed by Peter Yates

Robert Mitchum is superb as a low-level New England gangster treading in dangerous waters by attempting to avoid a return trip to prison. Paul Monash’s script perfectly adapts the Boston organized crime milieu captured in George V. Higgins acclaimed 1970 novel (Elmore Leonard said Higgins’ book permanently altered his outlook on writing crime fiction with its emphasis on characterization) with a terrific ensemble cast including Peter Boyle, Richard Boyle, Richard Jordan and Stephen Keats. One of the finest neo-noir films of the 1970s is deftly helmed by Peter Yates (Bullitt, The Deep) on location in Boston and its environs (Rated R for moderate violence and profanity).

7:30 PM The Unseen (1945)Paramount/Universal, 81 minutes, Screenplay by Hagar Wilde, Raymond Chandler, Ken Englund Based on Ethel Lina White’s novel., Produced by John Houseman, Directed by Lewis Allen

This seldom-seen unofficial “sequel” to The Uninvited (1944) stars Joel McCrea as a widower who hires a young governess (Gail Russell) for his two young children (Nona Griffith and Richard Lyon). Russell becomes intensely curious about a supposedly shuttered brownstone across the street and her employer’s guarded personality amid the recent murder of a homeless woman. Three writers including Raymond Chandler labored to adapt Ethel Lina White’s Her Heart in Her Throat, folding in supernatural, horror and noir elements in a suspenseful tale co-starring Herbert Marshall, Phyllis Brooks and previous festival guest Norman Lloyd.

Scheduled Special Guest: Wyatt McCrea

Tickets and Passes

Date: May 8 - 11, 2025