Bird's Eye View

Femmes Fatales Season, BFI Southbank

The Maltese Falcon

USA 1941. Dir John Huston. With Mary Astor, Humphrey Bogart, Gladys George, Peter Lorre. 101 min. PG

She cannot be trusted but her charm is still irresistible - even for the most hard-boiled of all detectives.

Thu 19 Mar 18.30 NFT1 / Sun 22 Mar 15.20 NFT1

Double Indemnity

USA 1944. Dir Billy Wilder. With Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson. 107min. PG

With an immaculate cast and crew this is no B-movie noir. Stanwyck gives a sublime performance as glacial Phyllis Dietrichson.

Sun 1 Mar 20.40 NFT2 / Tue 3 Mar 18.00 NFT1 / Wed 4 Mar 14.30 NFT2 /

Sun 8 Mar 20.45 NFT2

Detour

USA 1945. Dir Edgar G. Ulmer. With Ann Savage, Tom Neal, Edmund MacDonald. 67min. U

Shot in six days this rough and ready noir is unrelentingly bleak but utterly captivating.

Mon 16 Mar 21.15 NFT1 / Sun 22 Mar 18.20 NFT2

Scarlet Street

USA 1945. Dir Fritz Lang. With Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson. 103min. PG

Lang successfully transposed Renoirs' La Chienne from Montmartre to Greenwich Village in this twisted noir starring the delectably callous Joan Bennett.

Mon 2 Mar 20.40 NFT2 / Wed 4 Mar 18.20 NFT2 / Wed 18 Mar 18.20 NFT2

Gilda

USA 1946. Dir Charles Vidor. With Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready. 110min. PG

A stunning introduction to gorgeous Rita Hayworth as Gilda with her head swinging upwards and curls cascading: ‘Sure, I'm decent'.

Sun 15 Mar 14.40 NFT1 / Thu 19 Mar 20.40 NFT2

The Killers

USA 1946. Dir Richard Siodmak. With Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, Edmond O'Brien. 103min. PG

An intriguing Citizen Kane-like narrative weaves together the story of ‘Swede' (Lancaster) and the cause of his downfall: dimple-chinned Gardner.

Tue 3 Mar 14.30 NFT2 / Wed 4 Mar 20.40 NFT2 / Wed 11 Mar 18.20 NFT2

Out of the Past

USA 1947. Dir Jacques Tourneur. With Jane Greer, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas. 97min. PG

Definitive film noir with enigmatic femme fatale (Greer) and an unforgettably moving ending.

Mon 9 Mar 21.10 NFT1 / Tue 10 Mar 14.30 NFT2 / Sat 14 Mar 16.00 NFT2

The Lady from Shanghai

USA 1947. Dir Orson Welles. With Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane, Glenn Anders. 87 min. PG

‘Once I'd seen her I was not in my right mind for quite some time' (Orson Welles as Michael O'Hara).

Thu 19 Mar 14.30 NFT3 / Mon 23 Mar 20.45 NFT1 / Wed 25 Mar 18.30 NFT2

Criss Cross

USA 1949. Dir Robert Siodmak. With Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea. 88min. Not certified

The dramatic opening of this fantastically fatalistic noir features those immortal seductress's lines ‘It'll be just you and me. You and me.'

Sat 14 Mar 18.30 NFT1 / Sat 21 Mar 20.40 NFT2

Gun Crazy

USA 1049. Dir Joseph H Lewis. With John Dall, Peggy Cummins, Morris Carnovsky, Berry Kroeger, Russ Tamblyn. 87min. PG.

When Annie, temptation personified, threatens to abandon Bart to his humdrum ambitions, he reluctantly embarks on a life of robbing banks... A fast, amoral, consistently gripping study in the appeal of sex, money, power and violence.

Screenings 27 February - 12 March

Where Danger Lives

USA 1950. Dir John Farrow. With Robert Mitchum, Faith Domergue, Claude Rains, Maureen O'Sullivan. 82min. Not certified

The paranoid runaway lovers in this dark road movie are falling apart both physically and mentally.

Sun 1 Mar 15.40 NFT2 / Tue 3 Mar 20.40 NFT2

The File on Thelma Jordon

USA 1950. Dir Robert Siodmak. With Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey. 100min. No certificate

The superlative Barbara Stanwyck brings complexity to the femme fatale character in a neglected noir scripted by Katherine ‘Ketti' Frings.

Thu 5 Mar 20.40 NFT2 / Sun 8 Mar 18.20 NFT2

Niagara

USA 1953. Dir Henry Hathaway. With Marilyn Monroe, Joseph Cotten, Jean Peters, Max Showalter. 92 min. PG

Niagara Falls provides the perfect dramatic backdrop for a story of devastating passion starring Monroe at her most entrancing.

Thu 5 Mar 18.00 NFT1 / Sun 7 Mar 20.40 NFT2

Vertigo

USA 1958. Dir Alfred Hitchcock. With Kim Novak, James Stewart, Barbara Bel Geddes. 128 min. PG

A private investigation of a mysterious woman turns into a private obsession in Hitchcock's strangest masterpiece.

Sun 1 Mar 17.10 NFT1/ Fri 6 Mar 17.50 NFT1 / Fri 20 Mar 17.45 NFT1

The Long Goodbye

USA 1973. Dir Robert Altman. With Nina Van Pallandt, Elliot Gould, Sterling Hayden. 112 min. 18

This charming loser anti-hero is used by everyone from his dangerously attractive client to the psychedelic nude yoga-practitioners next door.

Fri 6 Mar 20.40 NFT2 / Wed 11 Mar 20.50 NFT1 / Fri 13 Mar 20.45 NFT1

Chinatown

USA 1974. Dir Roman Polanski. With Faye Dunaway, Jack Nicholson, John Huston, Darrell Zwerling. 131 min. 15

In this classic neo-noir, an enigmatic widow tries to keep her shocking secret from the world with devastating consequences.

Fri 20 Mar 20.30 NFT2 / Sun 22 Mar 20.30 NFT1 / Tue 24 Mar 20.30 NFT1

Body Heat

USA 1981. Dir Lawrence Kasdan. With Kathleen Turner, William Hurt, Richard Crenna, Ted Danson. 113 min. 18

She is hot! But her high-school nick-name was ‘The Vamp'...and playing with fire can be dangerous.

Tue 10 Mar 20.40 NFT3 / Thu 12 Mar 20.40 NFT3 / Sat 21 Mar 18.20 NFT2

The Last Seduction

USA 1994. Dir John Dahl. With Linda Fiorentino, Bill Pullman, Michael Raysses. 110min. 18

Foul-mouthed and pitiless Bridget Gregory (Fiorentino) pulls a fast one on her husband.

Sat 14 Mar 18.20 NFT2 / Wed 25 Mar 20.40 NFT2

Devil in a Blue Dress

USA 1995. Dir Carl Franklin. With Jennifer Beales, Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Don Cheadle. 102 min. 15

A black detective trails an elusive white woman: a poignant exploration of race in the era of original film noir.

Sun 15 Mar 20.40 NFT2 / Tue 24 Mar 18.00 NFT2

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