Το Πανόραμα Ευρωπαϊκού Κινηματογράφου, πιστό στην υπεράσπιση των κινηματογραφικών ειδών από τον πρώτο χρόνο της ύπαρξής του, έχει μια ακόμα έκπληξη στο φετινό πρόγραμμά του: επτά φιλμ νουάρ στα οποία οι γυναίκες κυριολεκτικά "πρωταγωνιστούν". Άλλοτε ως θύτες, άλλοτε ως θύματα, άλλοτε ως θύτες και θύματα συγχρόνως, κι άλλοτε ως ανεξάρτητες και χειραφετημένες, οι μοιραίες γυναίκες των φιλμ νουάρ προσφέρουν ένα καλειδοσκόπιο με πολλαπλά πρόσωπα και προσωπεία, συμπληρωματικά και αντιφατικά, αμφισβητώντας κάποια γνωστά στερεότυπα. Η επιλογή των ταινιών ξεφεύγει από τα γνωστά κλασικά φιλμ νουάρ που έχουμε δει πολλές φορές, και εστιάζει κυρίως σε ταινίες σπάνιες, ακόμα και για τους μυημένους. Επίσης, το αφιέρωμα δεν περιλαμβάνει μόνο ταινίες αμερικανικής παραγωγής (3) αλλά και 4 εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρουσες αγγλικής παραγωγής, ενώ δύο ταινίες δεν έχουν προβληθεί ποτέ στη χώρα μας.

Δημήτρης Παναγιωτάτος – Σκηνοθέτης
(επιμέλεια αφιερώματος)

USA/United Kingdom – 1964 – black and white

Director: Frank Nesbitt | Screenwriter: Neil McCallum, Mann Rubin | Cinematography: Basil Emmott | Editing: Robert Winter | Soundtrack: Buxton Orr | Cast: Dan Duryea, Patricia Owens, Terence Cooper, Richard Leech, Neil McCallum | Producer: Jack Parsons | Runtime: 69’

In England, an American expat is hired by a woman to kill her ex-husband, but things are not what they seem to be at first glance.

Frank Nesbitt
Filmography
Search For Oil In Nigeria (1960, documentary short)
Do You Know This Voice? (1964)
Dulcima (1971)

United Kingdom – 1958 – black and white

Director: Gordon Parry | Screenwriter: George Minter, Denis O’Dell | Cinematography: Douglas Slocombe | Editing: Anthony Harvey | Soundtrack: Tristram Cary | Cast: Diana Dors, George Baker, Terence Morgan, Patrick Allen, Jane Griffiths | Producer: Denis O’Dell | Runtime: 90’

An irresistible temptress causes trouble between two brothers, when the more handsome charismatic one turns up, leading to robbery and death.

Gordon Parry
Filmography (selective)
Third Time Lucky (1949)
Midnight Episode (1950)
Fast And Loose (1954)
A Touch Of The Sun (1956)
Friends And Neighbours (1959)

USA – 1946 – black and white

Director: Lewis Milestone | Screenwriter: Robert Rossen, John Patrick | Cinematography: Victor Milner | Editing: Archie Marshek | Soundtrack: Miklós Rózsa | Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Van Heflin, Lizabeth Scott, Kirk Douglas | Producer: Hal B. Wallis | Runtime: 116’

After failing to escape her domineering aunt with her friend Sam, Martha accidentally kills her, the death witnessed by Walter, who blackmails Martha into marriage and her inheritance. Eighteen years later, Sam returns. Walter believes he knows the truth and plans to blackmail him and Martha, who is still in love with Sam. Soon, Walter hatches a plot to dispose of his rival.

*The film was nominated for 1 Oscar (Original Screenplay)

Lewis Milestone
Filmography (selective)
The Racket (1928)
All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)
The Captain Hates The Sea (1934)
Of Mice And Men (1939)
Arch Of Triumph (1948)
They Who Dare (1954)
Ocean’s 11 (1960)
Mutiny On The Bounty (1962)

USA – 1952 – black and white

Direction: David Miller | Screenplay: Lenore J. Coffee, Robert Smith, Joan Crawford | Cinematography: Charles Lang | Editing: Leon Barsha | Soundtrack: Elmer Bernstein | Cast: Joan Crawford, Jack Palance, Gloria Grahame, Bruce Bennett, Virginia Huston | Production: Joe Kaufmann, Joan Crawford | Runtime: 110’

After an ambitious actor insinuates himself into the life of a wealthy middle-aged playwright and marries her, he plots with his mistress to murder her.

*The film had 4 Oscar nominations (Actress in a Leading Role, Actor in a Supporting Role, Photography and Costume Design)

David Miller
Filmography (selective)
Saturday’s Hero (1951)
Beautiful Stranger (1954)
The Opposite Sex (1956)
The Story Of Esther Costello (1957)
Midnight Lace (1960)
Lonely Are The Brave (1962)
Hammerhead (1968)
Executive Action (1973)

UK – 1960 – black and white

Director: David Eady | Screenwriter: Ephraim Kogan, John Tully | Cinematography: Ken Hodges | Editing: Oswald Hafenrichter | Soundtrack: Mikis Theodorakis | Cast: John Gregson, Mai Zetterling, John Ireland, Michael Denison, Tony Wright | Producer: Jon Penington | Runtime: 84’

Businessman and inventor Richard Hammond is determined to develop and market the perfect light-bulb. In a freak lab accident he is blinded and suffers a partial breakdown. His wife, partner and brother take him to his country house, but then Hammond starts to suspect all is not what it seems.

David Eady
Filmography (selective)
The Man Who Liked Funerals (1959)
In The Wake Of A Stranger (1959)
Scramble (1970)
The Hostages (1975)
Echo Of Badlands (1976)
Deep Waters (1978)

USA – 1946 – black and white

Director: Jack Bernhard | Screenwriter: Nedrick Young, Stanley Rubin | Cinematography: L. William O'Connell | Editing: Jason H. Bernie | Cast: Jean Gillie, Edward Norris, Robert Armstrong, Herbert Rudley, Sheldon Leonard | Producer: Jack Bernhard, Bernard Brandt | Runtime: 76’

A mortally wounded female gangster recounts how she and her gang revived an executed killer from the gas chamber, to try and find out where he buried a fortune in cash.

Jack Bernhard
Filmography (επιλεκτική)
Perilous Waters (1948)
Blonde Ice (1948)
Appointment With Murder (1948)
Search For Danger (1949)
The Second Face (1950)

United Kingdom – 1958 – black and white

Direction: Michael Anderson | Screenplay: David D. Osborn, Charles Sinclair | Cinematography: Erwin Hillier | Editing: Gordon Pilkington | Soundtrack: Matyas Seiber |
Cast: Richard Todd, Anne Baxter, Herbert Lom, Alexander Knox, Faith Brook | Production: Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Thomas Clyde | Runtime: 88’

At Kimberley Prescott's villa, a stranger shows up and claims he is her brother who supposedly died the previous year in a car accident.

Michael Anderson
Filmography (selective)
Around The World In 80 Days (1956)
Shake Hands With The Devil (1959)
The Naked Edge (1961)
The Quiller Memorandum (1966)
Logan’s Run (1976)
Dominique (1979)
Millennium (1989)