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Seven international film classics have been selected for a special FILM NOIR FILM SERIES at the Tivoli Cinemas in Westport.  Starting March 2 and continuing through the month, audiences will have the opportunity to experience these cinematic treasures from master filmmakers.  Fated heroes and heroines, manipulated by circumstances and people with hidden agendas around every shadowy corner -- all shown on the big screen in thematically vivid black and white.  

Elevator to the Gallows
Tuesday, March 2 at 6:30 pm
In his mesmerizing debut feature, twenty-four-year-old director Louis Malle brought together the beauty of Jeanne Moreau, the camerawork of Henri Decaë, and a now legendary score by Miles Davis. A touchstone of the careers of both its star and director, Elevator to the Gallows is a richly atmospheric thriller of murder and mistaken identity unfolding over one restless Parisian night.   
Louis Malle, France, 1957, BW, 92 minutes

Riffi
Thursday, March 4 at 6:30 pm
After making such American noir classics as The Naked City and Brute Force, blacklisted director Jules Dassin went to Paris and embarked on his masterpiece: a twisting, turning tale of four ex-cons who hatch one last glorious heist in the City of Lights. At once naturalistic and expressionistic, this melange of suspense, brutality, and dark humor was an international hit and earned Dassin the Best Director prize at the Cannes Film Festival.  
Jules Dassin, France, 1955, BW, 118 minutes   

Bob Le Flambeur
Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30 pm
Suffused with wry humor, Jean-Pierre Melville's masterwork melds the toughness of American gangster films with Gallic sophistication to lay the road map for the French New Wave.  As the neon is extinguished for another dawn, an aging gambler navigates the treacherous world of pimps, moneymen, and naive associates while plotting one last score- a casino heist. This underworld comedy of manners possesses all the formal beauty, finesse, and treacherous allure of green baize.  
Jean-Pierre Melville, France, 1956, BW, 102 minutes

Obsession
Tuesday, March 16 at 6:30 pm
Based on the novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Luchino Visconti's first feature film is considered to be the first Italian neorealist film. Banned by Mussolini, it is a powerful delineation of the ill-fated love between Gino, a virile young drifter who arrives by chance at a roadside restaurant/filling station, and Giovanna, the beautiful young wife of the fat old man who owns the place. Giovanna's husband disgusts her; every time he touches her she wants to scream.  Gino leaves, only to return because of his passion for her. They kill her husband, but his death haunts the guilt-ridden Gino.  
Luchino Visconti, Italy, 1943, BW, 140 minutes

Pépé le moko
Thursday, March 18 at 6:30 pm
The notorious Pépé le moko (Jean Gabin, in a truly iconic performance) is a wanted man: women long for him, rivals hope to destroy him, and the law is breathing down his neck at every turn. On the lam in the labyrinthine Casbah of Algiers, Pépé is safe from the clutches of the police - until a Parisian playgirl compels him to risk his life and leave its confines once and for all.   One of the most influential films of the 20th century and a landmark of French poetic realism.   
Julien Duvivier, France, 1956, BW, 102 minutes

Diabolique
Tuesday, March 23 at 6:30 pm
An acknowledged influence on Psycho, Henri-Georges Clouzot's horror classic is the story of a sadistic headmaster who brutalizes his fragile wife and his headstrong mistress. Together they work out an elaborate plan to rid themselves of their common tormentor. The two women murder him and dump his body in the school's swimming pool. When the pool is drained, no corpse is found, and subsequent reported sightings of the headmaster slowly drive his 'killers' - and the audience -  up the wall with  almost unbearable suspense.  
Henri-Georges Clouzot, France, 1954, BW, 116 minutes

Night and the City
Thursday, March 25 at 6:30 pm
Two-bit hustler Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark) aches for a life of ease and plenty. Trailed by an inglorious history of go-nowhere schemes, he stumbles upon a chance of a lifetime in the form of legendary wrestler, Gregorius the Great. But there is no easy money in this underworld of shifting alliances, bottomless graft, and pummeled flesh - and Fabian soon learns the horrible price of his ambition.  Co-starring Gene Tierney and luminously shot in the streets of London, this is film noir of the first order and one of the director's  crowning achievements.  
Jules Dassin, USA, 1950, BW, 101 minutes

ALL SEATS $4 - FREE for UMKC Students & Staff with valid ID.  
Tickets available day of show only at the Tivoli Box Office.

For more information visit www.TivoliKC.com

By KCM Staff

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