June Film Club #2

 Our second film for the month of June comes to us from the master of suspense himself, Mr. Alfred Hitchcock. 

Strangers on a Train is a 1951 American psychological thriller film noir produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and adapted by Raymond Chandler and Czenzi Ormonde from the 1950 novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. 

The story concerns two strangers who meet on a train, one of whom is a psychopath who suggests that they "exchange" murders so that neither will be caught. The film initially received mixed reviews, but has since been regarded much more favorably.

The film currently holds a 98% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert gave it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of the Great Movies, saying this in his review, "The abiding terror in Alfred Hitchcock’s life was that he would be accused of a crime he did not commit. This fear is at the heart of many of his best films, including “Strangers on a Train”. The movie is usually ranked among Hitchcock’s best, and its appeal is probably the linking of an ingenious plot with insinuating creepiness. It is a plot made of ingenuity and amorality, based on the first novel by Patricia Highsmith, who in her Ripley novels and elsewhere was fascinated by brainy criminals who functioned not out of passion but from careful calculation, and usually got away with their crimes. Strangers on a Train is not a psychological study, however, but a first-rate thriller with odd little kinks now and then."

We will be meeting Thursday, June 25 @ 5:30 pm

Here's a trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1iSS5r0OVE

Hope to see you there!

June Film Club #1

To kick off our Summer Series: Film Noir, we will be watching Carol Reed's The Third Man

The Third Man is a 1949 film noir directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene, and starring Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt, Orson Welles as Harry Lime and Trevor Howard as Major Calloway. Set in post-World War II Allied-occupied Vienna, the film centres on American writer Holly Martins, who arrives in the city to accept a job with his friend Harry Lime, only to learn that he has died. Martins stays in Vienna to investigate Lime's death, becoming infatuated with Lime's girlfriend Anna Schmidt.

It currently holds a 99% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Roger Ebert who awarded it 4/4 stars, adding it to his list of The Great Movies, said this in his review, "The Third Man reflects the optimism of Americans and the bone-weariness of Europe after the war. It’s a story about grownups and children: Adults like Calloway, who has seen at first hand the results of Lime’s crimes, and children like the trusting Holly, who believes in the simplified good and evil of his Western novels. Of all the movies I have seen, this one most completely embodies the romance of going to the movies."

We will be meeting Thursday, June 18 at 5:30 pm.

Here's the trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9yyDEDGlr0

Hope to see you there!