Last night was a crowning moment for me. I joined Tim & Emily for a double feature at Castro Theatre as part of the Noir City Film Festival. I’ve already gushed about the beauty of this theatre, so having it mixed with a crowd who loved old movies was amazing. Several dressed the part with vintage clothes & hairdo’s. I nearly dressed up but didn’t want to sit for 3 hours in a dress. I’m at least doing my hair next year. So fun! The organist graced us with some fun tunes before the show and during intermission, including one from “San Francisco”, according to Emily, which is now on my list of movies to see.

The first picture, “Cry Danger”, was shown at the festival last year, using a 16 mm personal copy from one of the actors. This year, the Film Noir Foundation premiered their restored 32 mm version. It looked beautiful! (Apparently the movie originally premiered in San Francisco.) I didn’t know much about the festival when I bought my ticket, only that I would certainly see awesome films. Turns out, the proceeds support the restoration of noir films. Neat. I think I can get behind that cause. Richard Erdman, one of the leading men in “Cry Danger” shared a few anecdotes on stage after the viewing.  At 85, he hadn’t lost any of his wits. Though I didn’t recall him from any other movies I’d seen, it was still special for me to hear stories from that era. He recalled a story about the screen play writer, Bill Bowers, who had been bothered by a billboard near the Forest Lawn Cemetery. It advertised their new caskets with “no seepage”. He was so bothered by it that he called them up one day, explaining that he very much believed in returning to the earth when he passed and that he wanted as much seepage as possible. They apologized saying they prided themselves on preventing that and they would not be able to help him. He suggested he would be cremated and have his pilot friend scatter his ashes over their grounds in that case. “Sir, we will sue you”, they cried. “Well, it might be a bit late for that,” he coolly replied. Awesome. Film co-star Rhonda Flemming also sent in a note of thanks for the work that had been done to restore one of her favorite films.

The evening closed with “The Mob” featuring Broderick Crawford, which it turns out I recognize from “Born Yesterday”. Mob films can sort of bore me but quick wits and wise cracks kept this one rolling along. It had glimpses of a very young Charles Bronson, too. Both films were really enjoyable, and despite my inability to find long-term comfort in theater seats, it was fun to see old films on the big screen and have others laughing along. I kind of want to go back another night next week. We’ll see if I can fit it in.

Here’s an amusing quote from Richard Erdman’s character, Delong, in “Cry Danger”:

Darlene LaVonne: You drinkin’ that stuff so early?
Delong: Listen, doll girl, when you drink as much as I do, you gotta start early.

Erdman claims that his character was a perfect representation of the screen play writer, Bowers, who shut himself up with a bottle of bourbon for 3 days to finish the script. I wish real-life drunks were so witty and trouble-free :)