More Top Picks Outdoor Tvs
player ready...Before the American Film Institute tapped Humphrey Bogart as history’s top movie star, TCM programmers picked him as the perfect guy to start a film noir festival. Running all summer on Fridays and Saturdays, the “Summer of Darkness” continues Saturday with “The Big Sleep” (1946), under the “Based on Raymond Chandler” heading, and “Key Largo” (1948) unspools Aug. 6 as part of the “Starring Claire Trevor” bracket (an odd choice, since Trevor is overshadowed by both Bogey and Edward G. Robinson in the Florida thriller).
But who’s complaining? It’s time to raise that upper lip, grab a smoke and buckle up the trench coat.
With 94 films total, “Summer of Darkness” offers more noir than even a dedicated insomniac can handle. Don’t try to catch ’em all, but do take note of a few highlights and personal favorites.
– “Cat People” (1942; shows Friday at 2:30 a.m.) — The great Jacques Tourneur — whose excellent “Out of the Past” is strangely absent from the festival list — directed this highly atmospheric thriller about a creepy feline curse. With evocative black-and-white photography and a polished sense of suspense, it’s a classic of both the noir and horror genres.
– “White Heat” (1949; shows July 24 at 10 p.m.) — Made it, Ma! Top of the world! James Cagney is in quintessential psycho gangster mode as Arthur Cody Jarrett, a loose cannon with an unnatural attachment to his mother. Edmond O’Brien is the deep-cover cop on his trail. The last scene, Cagney ranting atop an oil refinery, is indelible.
– “The Killing” (1956; shows Aug. 28 at 7 p.m.) — Sterling Hayden heads up a racetrack heist that, as you might guess, runs into a few snags.
Happy viewing. And don’t be afraid of the dark.