NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES / THE BIG CLOCK

ABOUT THE EVENT: 

7:30pm | Introduction

7:40pm | NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES

9:00pm | Intermission 

9:10pm | THE BIG CLOCK

Start times are approximate.

ABOUT THE FILMS:

NIGHT HAS A THOUSAND EYES, 81 Minutes, Universal Pictures, USA. 

Originally released October 13, 1948 by Paramount

Screenplay by Jonathan Latimer and Barré Lyndon, from the novel by Cornell Woolrich

Produced by Endre Bohem

Directed by John Farrow

In this rarity, Edward G. Robinson stars as John Triton, a phony vaudeville mentalist who is one day cursed with the actual ability to predict the future. Gail Russell is the heiress who seems doomed by Triton’s vision of her death. Or is it a scheme to steal her impending inheritance? John Farrow, a director at his most stylish in noir terrain, adapts from the novel by master of suspense Cornell Woolrich. In typical Woolrich fashion, the film careens from one revelation to another, dishing out info that forces the viewer to reconsider everything that’s come before it. Though many have tried, few films have been as effective at capturing the author’s sense of doomed predestination. Universal Pictures struck this print exclusively for NOIR CITY back in 2008.

CAST: Edward G. Robinson (John Triton), Gail Russell (Jean Courtland), John Lund (Elliott Carson), Virginia Bruce (Jenny), William Demarest (Lt. Shawn), Richard Webb (Peter Vinson), Jerome Cowan (Whitney Courtland), John Alexander (Mr. Gillman), Roman Bohnen (Melville Weston), Luis Van Rooten (Mr. Myers)

FORMAT: DCP

THE BIG CLOCK, 95 Minutes, Universal Pictures, USA. 

Originally released April 9, 1948 by Paramount

Screenplay by Jonathan Latimer, from the novel by Kenneth Fearing

Produced by Richard Maibaum

Directed by John Farrow

George Stroud (Ray Milland), editor of Crimeways, America’s most popular true-crime magazine, finds himself the prime suspect in the murder of his publisher’s mistress, with whom he’s just shared a day-drinking dalliance. There’s an undeniable thrill in watching Stroud talk his way out of the noose, only to have it reapplied to his neck and tightened in the very next scene. Milland is in top form here, toeing the line between sophistication and desperation. John Farrow’s manic direction never lets up, nor does the screenplay by Jonathan Latimer, which manages to pull out one shocking development after another. Earl Janoth, the tyrannical Murdoch-like publisher, is played with sinister relish by Charles Laughton, whose real-life wife, Elsa Lanchester, provides comic support as a kooky Greenwich Village artist.

CAST: Ray Milland (George Stroud), Charles Laughton (Earl Janoth), Maureen O’Sullivan (Georgette Stroud), George Macready (Steve Hagen), Rita Johnson (Pauline York), Elsa Lanchester (Louise Patterson), Henry Morgan (Bill Womack), Harold Vermilyea (Don Klausmeyer), Dan Tobin (Ray Cordette), Richard Webb (Nat Sperling), Elaine Riley (Lily Gold), Luis Van Rooten (Edwin Orlin), Douglas Spencer (Bert Finch), Bobby Watson (Morton Spaulding), Frank Orth (Burt)

FORMAT: 35mm