KEY LARGO / SORRY, WRONG NUMBER

ABOUT THE EVENT: 

7:30pm | Introduction

7:40pm | KEY LARGO

9:20pm | Intermission 

9:30pm | SORRY, WRONG NUMBER

Start times are approximate.

ABOUT THE FILMS: 

KEY LARGO, 100 Minutes, Park Circus, USA.

Originally released July 16, 1948 by Warner Bros.

Screenplay by Richard Brooks and John Huston, based on the play by Maxwell Anderson

Produced by Jerry Wald

Directed by John Huston

The final pairing of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall is a spine-tingling tale of a WWII veteran (Bogart) running up against a gangster (Edward G. Robinson) who’s holding the staff and guests of a coastal hotel hostage as a hurricane bears down on them. Bacall plays the daughter of proprietor Lionel Barrymore, and noir’s grandest dame, Claire Trevor, is Gaye Dawn, a broken-down chanteuse who’s Eddie G.’s booze-sodden moll. Trevor won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her memorable performance. John Huston’s direction oozes discomfort in every frame, from the claustrophobic staging to the sweat-drenched close-ups of henchmen. So much time is spent on the threat of violence that when things finally do turn bloody in the final act, the impact is devastating.

CAST: Humphrey Bogart (Major Frank McCloud), Edward G. Robinson (Johnny Rocco), Lauren Bacall (Nora Temple), Lionel Barrymore (James Temple), Claire Trevor (Gaye Dawn), Thomas Gomez (Richard “Curly” Hoff), Harry Lewis (Edward “Toots” Bass), John Rodney (Deputy Sheriff Clyde Sawyer), Marc Lawrence (Ziggy), Dan Seymour (Angel Garcia), Monte Blue (Sheriff Ben Wade), William Haade (Ralph Feeney), Jay Silverheels (Tom Osceola), Rodd Redwing (John Osceola)

FORMAT: 35mm

SORRY, WRONG NUMBER, 89 Minutes, Paramount Pictures, USA. 

Originally released September 1, 1948 by Paramount Pictures

Screenplay by Lucille Fletcher, from her radio play

Produced by Hal Wallis and Anatole Litvak

Directed by Anatole Litvak

Bedridden heiress Leona Stevenson (Barbara Stanwyck) hears through crossed telephone wires a murder being planned. She tries to alert the police, to no avail, and grows frantic as she gradually realizes she is the intended victim. Stanwyck gives an Oscar-nominated performance in this engrossing and densely layered extension of the legendary 22-minute radio drama. The screenplay by Lucille Fletcher manages to both amplify elements that worked in the source material and introduce subplots that were previously only hinted at. Fans of nonlinear noir will also be tickled to learn that the film pulls off the rarely-seen flashback within a flashback. Featuring Burt Lancaster in one of his earliest roles, mesmerizing direction by Anatole Litvak, and atmospheric camerawork by the great Sol Polito. Famous… yet still underrated.

CAST: Barbara Stanwyck (Leona Stevenson), Burt Lancaster (Henry J. Stevenson), Ann Richards (Sally Hunt Lord), Wendell Corey (Dr. Philip Alexander), Harold Vermilyea (Waldo Evans), Ed Begley (James Cotterell), Lief Erickson (Fred Lord), William Conrad (Morano), John Bromfield (Joe), Jimmy Hunt (Peter Lord), Dorothy Neumann (Elizabeth Jennings)

FORMAT: 35mm