For tickets and passes, visit the Roxie web site ( roxie.com). For more detailed program notes, visit the Mid-Century Productions website ( midcenturyproductions.com).

THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 4

13 FILMS • NOVEMBER 3-6 • ROXIE…TICKETS & PASSES ON SALE NOW!

Jean Gabin & Jeanne Moreau Anchor Wide-Ranging French Film Noir Series

Great riches from the “lost continent” of French noir await our loyal subscribers to Midcentury Productions. Executive Director and programming renegade Don Malcolm has survived his marathon survey of 100+ films and picked 13 rare and astonishing gems to thrill and challenge you. THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 4 brings you noir in “3-D”—with films that channel despair, delirium and destiny in increasingly concentrated doses.

Continuing to “go wide,” Don has selected films spanning almost the entire historical range of French film noir, from 1935’s HAPPINESS (aka LE BONHEUR) to 1966’s MADEMOISELLE. In between there are films featuring Jean Gabin, Jeanne Moreau, Arletty, Lino Ventura, festival favorite Robert Hossein, and many more familiar faces (Marina Vlady, Charles Boyer, Maria Casares, Bernard Blier, Gérard Blain). You’ll meet Harry Baur—the “king of French noir” in the 1930s. We celebrate the dark early works of the “French Hitchcock”—Claude Chabrol. Exciting, enigmatic and—yes, sexy--young actresses (Bernadette Lafont, Nadja Tiller, Nicole Courcel) will make striking festival debuts.

AND Don is especially excited to reintroduce one of the great sensations of 50s French noir—Eddie Constantine, who took France by storm with his “sideways Bogart” deadpan delivery, most memorably as FBI agent Lemmy Caution. On Opening Night, the film containing Lemmy’s “origin myth”—THIS MAN IS DANGEROUS—will kick things off with a hard-boiled smirk and some evocative Orson Welles-style mise en scene from director Jean Sacha. “You’ll discover why the French went gaga for Eddie Constantine,” Don smiles. “And we’ll see a totally different side of him in LUCKY JO, Friday’s second feature. The man could really act!”

Saturday night features a triple bill honoring the great Jean Gabin, showing his range as his career came back on track in the late 1950s, including two films with his favorite director, Gilles Grangier. Monday night showcases Jeanne Moreau in two films that spotlight her roots in French noir, and debunks the myth that she languished in obscurity before being discovered by the New Wave.

All of the details can be found at the Midcentury Productions web site. Go there now and check out the full schedule—and strongly consider buying the full festival pass ($55 for 13 films, a rate that will stay in effect until Opening Night only for our subscribers—while supplies last, of course) by clicking over to the Roxie website for ticketing.

It’s a criminally good price for an incredibly wide-ranging, “3-D” immersion into the increasingly fascinating “lost continent” of classic French film noir.

We’d like to thank everyone for their unwavering support of THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT, and we hope to see all of our loyal subscribers at the Roxie starting Friday, November 3rd.Remember: “Buy the festival pass, you’ll thank us later!”

MORE “SWAG HEAVEN” AT THE ROXIE DURING FRENCH 4

We will spare you the details right now, but rest assured that the Midcentury “swag gnomes” have been hard at work and will astound you with new products to tempt and tantalize during THE FRENCH HAD A NAME FOR IT 4.

You already know about the developing FACES OF FRENCH FILM NOIR postcard set, but believe us when we say that there is much, much more to come! We’ll update you with more information as we get closer to Opening Night—stay tuned!

STEVE INDIG PR online