Ep 2: NOIR CITY Hollywood and the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival with Alan K. Rode

NOIR TALK

Our guest this month is Film Noir Foundation charter director and treasurer Alan K. Rode. We discuss the recent NOIR CITY Hollywood festival, starting with a brief history of the festival and some of this year's movies including Address Unknown and Quiet Please Murder (4:15), a nod to the studios supporting the FNF with great prints of rare titles for the NOIR CITY festivals (8:40), how B-movies were promoted with unusual titles and innovative screenwriting (9:50), a few anecdotes on alternate movie titles from old Hollywood (12:25), plus the challenges of finding film prints of long-unseen movies, including one with no opening credits, and untangling issues involving multiple rights-owners (14:20). Then we talk about the upcoming Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs. We discuss the festival's origins and Alan continuing the work of its late founder (20:50), behind-the-scenes stories with guests over the years including Ernest Borgnine, Norman Lloyd, Barbara Hale, Nancy Olson, and Jon Polito (25:00), the unique festival atmosphere of Palm Springs, with unplanned cast and crew reunions (30:50), videos available online of guest interviews, such as June Lockhart on acting with dogs on Lassie and battling vegetables on Lost In Space (34:45), and a preview of this year's festival guests and movie lineup, including Meet Danny Wilson and All The King's Men (38:35). We also discuss how Alan's family connections with old Hollywood influenced him growing up (45:10), his biography of Charles McGraw and narrating Hollywood history through a non-superstar's perspective (48:05), reviving interest in McGraw's movies (52:50), and background on Alan's upcoming Michael Curtiz biography (55:00). The 18th annual Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival will be held from May 11-14: http://arthurlyonsfilmnoir.ning.com/ Video interviews of festival guest appearances at Palm Springs are available at: http://www.filmnoirfoundation.org/video.html Alan details his Hollywood family remembrances at his website: https://alankrode.com/index.php/dinner-with-alfonse-a-family-remembrance Alan's book "Charles McGraw: Film Noir Tough Guy" is available at: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0786471727/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0786471727&linkCode=as2&tag=%20mywebsite6008-20&linkId=7f2e1fb4113f877af109260a30572b8b "Michael Curtiz: A Life In Film" will be available in November: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06WVDXBQV/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B06WVDXBQV&linkCode=as2&tag=%20mywebsite6008-20&linkId=60ae087f92eda5d0feebd6ceca5160f2 NOIR CITY film festival posters, souvenir program, and e-magazine back issues are available at: http://www.noircity.com/noircityware.html Feedback: [e-mail] Music: Themes from The Asphalt Jungle (by Miklos Rozsa) and The Accused (Victor Young). "That Old Black Magic" (Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer) from Meet Danny Wilson (sung by Frank Sinatra). Dialogue from The Narrow Margin, with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor.