Read in The Desert Sun, pages 1 and 2. Festival films.
By Deborah Dearth
"There is something very appealing about these people in a web of obsession and perversion," noted Arthur Lyons' Film Noir Festival programmer Alan K. Rode about film noir characters.
Such mischievous characters thrive in this year's festival, May 13-16 at Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs. Founder Lyons passed away in 2008, but his vision continues to guide the festival.
"The challenge this year is to recognize the tenth anniversary and maintain the ambiance Arthur established by showing both classic film noir movies and B-movie rarities," said Rode.
The festival focuses on finding unique prints, including such rarities as A Hatful of Rain and New York Confidential. Casting director and festival producer, Marvin Paige, helped to gather an impressive guest list.
Ernest Borgnine will be attending the Opening Night screening of his film, Pay or Die!
"(Borgnine) is one of the great actors of the last century and this century, and one of the nicest people you ever want to meet," said Rode. "(Audiences will see) a very complicated, heroic, emotional character played magnificently."
Thanks to Joel Douglas, a member of the Palm Springs Cultural Center Board of Directors and festival sponsor with brother Michael, a video introduction was filmed with Kirk Douglas to precede his debut performance in The Strange Love of Martha Ivers.
"(Douglas) is the last man standing of true film noir leading men," said Rode. "I can attest that he is still Kirk Douglas and still definitely in charge. While filming the introduction, he told me, 'They used to call me One-Take Douglas.' I'm happy to report that he still is."
Recognizing that the festival's biggest supporters live in the Coachella Valley, special effort was made to find films with Palm Springs locations. Two such films are 711 Ocean Drive, featuring the Doll House watering hole on North Palm Canyon Drive and the Closing Night film, Drive a Crooked Road, showcasing a bank robbery staged in Palm Springs.
June Lockhart brings her own Palm Springs history as one of the inaugural riders up the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway with Governor Pat Brown in 1963.
Before she became the television star of "Lassie" and "Lost in Space," Lockhart starred as a woman done wrong in Bury Me Dead.
"When shooting this kind of film, the more experienced the performers the better the film, as there is not a lot of time for rehearsal." She added, "Shoot it fast, and it better be right."
Regarding her experience with film noir, Lockhart said, "It was always fun being spooky and sitting in the darkness with one beam of light."
Don Murray followed his Oscar nominated role opposite Marilyn Monroe in Bus Stop with the provoking addiction story, A Hatful of Rain. Working with the film's director, Fred Zinnemann (From Here to Eternity) was a thrill for the actor.
"He is one of the top ten directors in history," said Murray. "Not only did he make so many great films, but he never made a bad film."
He was initially offered the comic role of Polo but turned it down for the challenge of junkie Johnny. Polo went to actor Anthony Franciosa, who had played the role on Broadway.
"One of the contributions I made to the film was not playing that role because (Franciosa) did it so well," Murray said of his Oscar nominated costar.
"I ended up playing a dope addict and despising dope addicts. They left all this devastation of their families behind them," said Murray. "It was one of the hardest roles I've ever done."
Following The Man with the Golden Arm, the Production Code Administration eliminated the prohibition of narcotics use on screen.
"We were the first film allowed to deal with the subject that frankly and openly," Murray said. "It was the first time a film took a common middle class family and had a dope addict in it."
"These films tell a part of our history," said Rode. "Before we went off to war, films were very light. When we came back, the reality of the world was a bit grimmer and films needed to be more sophisticated. Film is the most visible medium we have of looking back so that we can look forward."