Castro Theatre — Film Noir Blonde

Noir City X film fest starts Friday in San Francisco

The Film Noir Foundation celebrates 10 years of deliciously dark programming with NOIR CITY X: The Stuff Bad Dreams Are Made Of. The 10-day festival features a Dashiell Hammett marathon, freshly preserved 35mm rarities, by-popular-demand encore screenings, and special guest star Angie Dickinson. The fest runs Jan. 20-29 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco.

Among the rarities NOIR CITY is presenting this year is a new 35mm print from Universal Pictures of 1949’s “The Great Gatsby,” starring Alan Ladd as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legendary hero. Universal is also providing a new 35mm print of 1954’s “Naked Alibi,” starring noir’s favorite bad girl, Gloria Grahame. Also on the bill are preservations of the 1946 classic “Three Strangers” and 1950’s “The Breaking Point,” directed by Michael Curtiz and starring John Garfield.

After San Francisco, the fest will travel to other cities with variations on the programming.

SF noir fest: Who’s driving whom nuts?

Hallucinations, imaginary family members, gold diggers and good girls, cheating spouses, murder, fake death certificates, freaks, fiends and assorted psychopaths … there was much to love over the weekend at Noir City 9, the ninth annual San Francisco Film Noir Festival. This year’s theme is “Who’s Crazy Now?” and the madness continues at the Castro Theatre through Jan. 30.

Addressing the sold-out crowd on Saturday night, fest founder and czar of noir Eddie Muller commented on the fact that this year’s lineup of films, all of which touch on insanity, featured more female protagonists than ever before.

“But there’s no hidden message there,” he said. “Men are driving them crazy. And the idea that noir is a man’s world? This festival disproves that.”

Good answer, Eddie.