SERIES
May at the Trylon
The debris of industrial culture callously scattered in the postwar years in Europe and Asia was not only a constant reminder of historical catastrophe but also a portrait of human folly. Within their peripheries, these carcasses of great cities bred desperation and crime of all kinds. The films noir made waist-deep in this environment are a requiem for decency and lawfulness—and are some of the best films noir ever made.
(1949, 104m) dir Carol Reed w/Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, Alida Valli. American pulp writer Holly Martins (Cotten) never knew Vienna “before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm.” When he arrives to investigate the death of his friend Harry Lime (Welles), he gets acquainted with the city in a hurry. SUN…
Screenings: May 3 8:00, May 4 7:00, 9:15, May 5 7:00, 9:15
(1961, 113m, German w/English subtitles) dir Helmut Käutner w/Helmut Wildt, Ingmar Zeisberg, Hans Cossy. In a small German village, local women are paid to entertain occupying American GIs, and men must make ends meet in the black market. Made fifteen years after the end of the war, this cynical triumph exposes the open wounds that…
Screenings: May 10 7:00, May 11 7:00, 9:15, May 12 7:00, 9:15
(1953, 100m) dir Carol Reed w/James Mason, Claire Bloom, Hildegard Knef. In the early days of the Cold War, German smuggler Ivo Kern (Mason) fights a tangled web of Soviet agents, mistaken identities, and kidnapping in a struggle to defect to West Berlin with his new love (Bloom). Reed’s unsung classic masterfully navigates the debris-strewn…
Screenings: May 17 8:00, May 18 7:00, 9:00, May 19 7:00, 9:00
(1949, 122m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Akira Kurosawa w/Toshirô Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Keiko Awaji. Detective Murakami (Mifune) has his pistol stolen by a pickpocket and searches for it in Tokyo’s sweltering, rubble-covered streets—finding evidence of its use in multiple crimes. One of Kurosawa’s most overlooked films, Stray Dog is another gem from the master. SUN…
Screenings: May 24 7:15, May 25 7:00, 9:15, May 26 7:00, 9:15