Noirvember at The Brattle and Coolidge Corner Theatres
Boston film fans have ample reason to rejoice this November, as the area’s two iconic art house cinemas—Cambridge’s The Brattle Theatre and Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre—unveil a thrilling lineup of film noir in celebration of “Noirvember.”All of the titles in The Brattle’s Noirvember program are celebrating their 75th anniversary this year; offerings include heavy hitters such as The Lady From Shanghai, Kiss of Death, and T-Men; a Humphrey Bogart double-feature with Dark Passage and Dead Reckoning; and rare 35mm prints of Born to Kill, Crossfire, Johnny O’Clock, Ride the Pink Horse, and more.
The Coolidge lineup features some of the seminal film noirs from the ‘40s, as well as the visually stunning (and equally morally complex) reimaginings of the genre that took place in the waning years of the 20th century.
Four of the screenings (Double Indemnity, Out of the Past, Devil in a Blue Dress, and Gilda) will be preceded by Coolidge education seminars taught by local film professors, who will provide added history and context for each film.
Noirvember kicks off on Monday, November 1 at the Coolidge with a 35mm screening of Billy Wilder’s hard-boiled noir classic Double Indemnity.
Subsequent titles include a rare 35mm screening of Kurosawa’s Drunken Angel, a new restoration of David Lynch’s Lost Highway, and a 35mm print of iconic ‘70s neo-noir Chinatown. Screenings at The Brattle kick off with T-Men on Friday, November 11.
A full schedule for Noirvember 2022 is listed below.
NOIRVEMBER AT THE BRATTLE
Showtimes vary; please visit brattlefilm.org for updates. The Brattle is located at 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. Tickets are $14 general admission.
T-Men (1947)
Friday, November 11
The legendary film noir pairing of director Anthony Mann and cinematographer John Alton bring a shadowy sensibility to a procedural tale of two Treasury agents who go undercover in a counterfeiting ring.
Runtime: 1h 32m
Format: DCP
Born to Kill (1947)
Saturday, November 12
You’ve heard of a femme fatale, but how about an homme fatale? Recent divorcée Claire Trevor falls hard for tough-guy Lawrence Tierney but he’s even more dangerous than she realizes.
Runtime: 1h 32m
Format: 35mm
Framed (1947) [tentative]
Saturday, November 12
Glenn Ford plays a down-on-his-luck fella who’s looking for a mining job but instead finds himself trapped in the web of a seductive and dangerous blonde (Janis Carter).
Runtime: 1h 22m
Format: 35mm
Dead Reckoning (1947)
Sunday, November 13
Humphrey Bogart plays an ex-G.I. who is trying to figure out just what happened to his buddy Johnny who’s turned up dead after being accused of murder.
Runtime: 1h 40m
Format: DCP
Dark Passage (1947)
Sunday, November 13
The third of four legendary pairings between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, Dark Passage features Bogie as a man accused of his wife’s murder who busts out of jail in order to prove his innocence.
Runtime: 1h 46m
Format: DCP
Desert Fury (1947)
Monday, November 14
The rarest of gems: A Technicolor noir! In this innuendo-laden picture, an ingenue (Lizabeth Scott) gets involved with a gangster in hiding (John Hodiak) despite all the signs telling her not to.
Runtime: 1h 36m
Format: 35mm
Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
Monday, November 14
A mysterious veteran (Robert Montgomery) shows up in a strange town on the US/Mexican border searching for a fugitive gangster.
Runtime: 1h 41m
Format: 35mm
Kiss of Death (1947)
Wednesday, November 16
One of the grittiest, toughest film noirs of all time, Kiss of Death features Victor Mature as an informant who finds himself in the crosshairs of a vicious psychopath played with terrifying aplomb by Richard Widmark.
Runtime: 1h 38m
Format: DCP
Crossfire (1947)
Wednesday, November 16
A cast of film noir all-stars (Roberts Ryan, Mitchum, and Young as well as Gloria Grahame) lead this tale about a trio of veterans who are suspected of a senseless murder.
Runtime: 1h 26m
Format: 35mm
Johnny O’Clock (1947)
Thursday, November 17
Dick Powell, who went from playing smarmy wiseguys in 1930s musicals to smarmy wiseguys in 1940s film noirs, stars as a shady gambler who finds himself running out of time when he partners up with a gangster and a crooked cop.
Runtime: 1h 36m
Format: 35mm
The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
Thursday, November 17
One of the most legendary film noirs of all time, starring and directed by the great Orson Welles, The Lady From Shanghai follows a roguish Irishman (Welles) who becomes hopelessly smitten with the sultry but scheming Elsa Bannister (Rita Hayworth).
Runtime: 1h 28m
Format: 35mm
NOIRVEMBER AT THE COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE
All screenings take place at 7pm; for tickets and showtimes, please visit coolidge.org. The Coolidge Corner Theatre is located at 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA. Unless otherwise noted, tickets are $15.50 general admission and $12.50 for Coolidge members.
Double Indemnity (1944)
Tuesday, November 1
Pre-screening Coolidge Education seminar at 6:15pm, taught by UMass Boston Art and Cinema Studies Professor Sarah Keller
Has dialogue ever been more perfectly hard-boiled? Has a femme fatale ever been as deliciously wicked as Barbara Stanwyck? And has 1940s Los Angeles ever looked so seductively sordid? Working with cowriter Raymond Chandler, director Billy Wilder launched himself onto the Hollywood A-list with this epitome of film-noir fatalism from James M. Cain’s pulp novel.
Runtime: 1h 37m
Format: 35mm
Lost Highway (1991)
Tuesday, November 8
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” A mesmerizing meditation on the mysterious nature of identity, Lost Highway, David Lynch’s seventh feature film, is one of the filmmaker’s most potent cinematic dreamscapes. Starring Bill Pullman and Patricia Arquette.
Runtime: 2h 14m
Format: DCP (New Restoration!)
Out of the Past (1947)
Tuesday, November 15
Pre-screening Coolidge Education seminar at 6:15pm, taught by Wellesley College English Professor Vernon L. Shetley
Robert Mitchum solidified his tough-guy persona in this archetypal film noir directed with memorable style by Jacques Tourneur (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie).
Runtime: 1h 37m
Format: 35mm
Chinatown (1974)
Tuesday, November 22
This iconic ‘70s neo-noir stars Jack Nicholson as private eye Jake Gittes, who is swept into a maelstrom of double dealings and deadly deceits in sun-baked Los Angeles.
Runtime: 2h 10m
Format: 35mm
Drunken Angel (1948)
Wednesday, November 23
In this powerful early noir from the great Akira Kurosawa, Toshiro Mifune bursts onto the screen as a volatile, tubercular criminal who strikes up an unlikely relationship with Takashi Shimura's jaded physician.
Runtime: 1h 38m
Format: 35mm
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
Monday, November 28
Pre-screening Coolidge Education seminar at 6:15pm, taught by Wellesley College English Professor Vernon L. Shetley
The bone-deep disillusionment of postwar film noir becomes a powerful vehicle to explore America’s racial injustices in Carl Franklin’s richly atmospheric Devil in a Blue Dress, an adaptation of the hard-boiled novel by Walter Mosley, starring Denzel Washington.
Runtime: 1h 42m
Format: DCP
Gilda (1946)
Pre-screening Coolidge Education seminar at 6:15pm, taught by Northeastern University Media and Screen Studies Professor Nathan Blake
Rita Hayworth stars in her most iconic role, as the much-lusted-after wife of a criminal kingpin (George Macready), as well as the former flame of his bitter henchman (Glenn Ford), and she drives them both mad with desire and jealousy.
Runtime: 1h 50m
Format: DCP
About The Brattle
Located in historic Harvard Square, Cambridge, The Brattle Theatre has been showcasing the best in classic, cutting-edge, international, and art-house cinema in a repertory format since 1953. One of the original ‘Calendar Houses,’ The Brattle holds a unique place in cinematic history as the birthplace of the “Bogie Cult,” with annual showings of Humphrey Bogart films starting in 1960 that helped canonize the late movie star. The non-profit Brattle Film Foundation has operated The Brattle Theatre since 2001.
About the Coolidge Corner Theatre
The nonprofit Coolidge Corner Theatre is a premier American independent cinema renowned for its curated feature film programming and innovative signature educational, cultural, and entertainment programs. A beloved movie house, the Coolidge welcomes over 225,000 patrons per year and has been pleasing audiences with the best in cinematic entertainment since 1933.
In addition to showcasing the best in contemporary independent cinema, the Coolidge has developed a wide range of programing to reach all sectors of the community, including: Big Screen Classics, After Midnite, Senior Matinees, Talk Cinema, Science on Screen®, Cinema Jukebox, PANORAMA, The Sounds of Silents®, Kids’ Shows, Rewind!, Box Office Babies, and adult education film classes. The Coolidge hosts several prominent film festivals and has welcomed film luminaries such as Meryl Streep, Werner Herzog, Jane Fonda, Liv Ullmann, Ethan Hawke, Viggo Mortensen, and more. For more information, visit coolidge.org.
| COST | ↑ top |
$14.00 Adults; $12 Seniors & Students
| WEBSITE | ↑ top |
| LOCATIONS | ↑ top |
| Brookline | --- | map | 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA, 02446 |
| Cambridge | --- | map | 40 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA |
| RELATED LINKS | ↑ top |
Info changes frequently. We cannot warrant it. Verify with Noirvember at The Brattle and Coolidge Corner Theatres before making the trek. If you find an error, please report it...