Noir City Film Festival 16

Although I neglected to write about Noir City 15 (what?!), I'm back on the wagon and clear-headed enough to write about this year's Noir City 16!

How else will I keep track of the films I've seen, and haven't? At the after-party, closing night, one conversation topic was the near-impossibility to remember noir film names -- more specifically, to pair the title with the film. A film like "Hugo" is about a boy named Hugo, but what about "Raw Deal"?

This year's Noir City ran Jan 26-Feb 4, 2018. It's nice to have my evenings free and my liver is relieved that I'm taking a break from drinking, but I miss the darkness and the camaraderie!

It was another wonderful 10 days (I attended 8 out of 10): catching up with friends, buying a few books and the latest issue of the Noir City Annual (#9), and best of all, having an excuse to sit in the dark, hour after hour, gorging on film.

I now possess Alan Rode's tome on Michael Curtiz -- "Michael Curtiz: A Life in Film" -- can hardly wait to dig in to its detailed 700+ pages of film history goodness!

Out of the total of 24 films, I saw 16 -- pretty good for me, I must say. This year I've been between jobs so I was able to see all the weekday films without fear of losing sleep -- a big silver lining!

This year's festival had a super fantastic hook -- films in chronological order with an A-film paired with a B-film of the same year, to imitate a period movie experience!

Here's the line-up...

Films I Saw:

1941
A: I Wake Up Screaming
B: Among the Living

1945
A: Conflict
B: Jealousy

1946
A: The Blue Dahila
B: Night Editor

1947
A: The Unsuspected
B: High Tide

1948
A: I Walk Alone
B: Bodyguard

1949
A: The Accused
B: The Threat

1950-51
A: The Man Who Cheated Himself
B: Roadblock

1953
A: The Big Heat
B: Wicked Woman

Films I Missed:

1942
A: This Gun for Hire
B: Quiet Please, Murder

1943
A: Shadow of a Doubt
B: Address Unknown

1944
Destiny
Flesh and Fantasy

1950
Southside 1-1000
The Underworld Story

Films I'd Already Seen:

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
The Man Who Cheated Himself (1950)
Wicked Woman (1953)

So many of these films were new to me. That means I have seven missed films to watch this year -- #resolutions!

The highlights for me this year were Night Editor, The Unsuspected, and The Big Heat.