Prime Noir of the 1950s

Wednesday, June 8 – Thursday, June 16, 2016

Leaving the immediate post-war period of the 1940s behind, our celebration of the 75th anniversary of film noir continues into the genre’s second decade charting a course towards its demise (or, at least, suspension). In the 1950s, noir films continued to delve into the underbelly of the United States and, with the social repressions of the decade taking hold, the themes became increasingly dark and complex… This series, after all, kicks off with a film narrated by a corpse (SUNSET BOULEVARD) and concludes with a pickpocket confronting a Commie spy ring (PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET) – while, in-between, we find racial injustice, sexual tension, corruption, physical and emotional brutality, international incidents, the rise and fall of world-class filmmakers, and a marked increase in cynicism and disillusionment.

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