Looking to get in touch with your inner Humphrey Bogart or longing to see what a terrible cad Fred McMurray could be before he transformed into a lovable dad in “My Three Sons”? Then you should grab your fedora, light up a smoke (no, not really!) and head over to the Stanford Theatre.
The gorgeous movie palace on University Avenue in Palo Alto is kicking off a two-month Film Noire Festival on Friday, Sept. 6, with two of Bogart’s classics, “The Big Sleep” and “The Maltese Falcon.”
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Film noir, which loosely translates to “dark film,” grew out of German expressionism to take over U.S. movie screens in the 1940s and ’50s. Filled with smoke and shadow — nearly all “film noir” movies were black-and-white — these pictures were often morality plays, often featuring a femme fatale and a male protagonist who finds himself in over his head. These were flicks with gumshoes and dames, private eyes and spies, and sometimes a poor sap who winds up staring at the sparky end of the electric chair.
That double feature plays through Sunday, and a few of the can’t-miss movies include “Double Indemnity” (Sept. 14-15), “Sunset Boulevard” and the original “Nightmare Alley” (Sept. 28-29), “The Third Man” and “Key Largo” (Oct. 5-6), “Touch of Evil” (Nov. 2-3) and 1946’s “The Postman Always Rings Twice” (Nov. 9-10).
Check out the full schedule at Stanford Theatre’s website.