Music Box Theatre to Present NOIR CITY: CHICAGO Film Festival, 8/23-29

For the fifth year, Music Box Theatre presents Noir City: Chicago in collaboration with the Film Noir Foundation. The eagerly anticipated annual festival combines extraordinary rarities with revivals of recognized classics from the post-War film noir heyday. The "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller and noir author-historian Alan K. Rode will be in attendance throughout the week to host and introduce films. Noir City: Chicago unspools Friday August 23-Thursday, August 29 at Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Avenue. Tickets for individual films are $10; double feature tickets are $15; and a Festival Pass is $75 at http://noircitychicago.com.

Over seven days, Music Box will screen 17 films noirs that run the gamut from classics like Sunset Boulevard to the long-lost High Tide and criminally overlooked Try and Get Me! starring Lloyd Bridges. Uncharacteristic Technicolor noirs include Niagara starring Marilyn Monroe, the Cinemascope soap opera,Violent Saturday, with Lee Marvin, and the Oscar-nominated Leave Her to Heaven. There's even a Douglas Sirk film noir: Sleep, My Love. Not available on DVD, three of the films - the Faustian Alias Nick Beal starring Ray Milland; the supernatural Night Has a Thousand Eyes starring Edward G. Robinson; and the amnesiac Street of Chance starring Burgess Meredith - are true rarities, brought back by Universal Pictures in 35mm prints exclusively for Noir City.

"The Film Noir Foundation has brought a spotlight to preservation efforts for a once-neglected genre of films," says Music Box programmer Douglas McLaren. "Their restoration efforts breathe new life into forgotten films. Every film is fantastic and well worth taking a chance on. It's one of the most fun weeks in the calendar to program, and I look forward to it every year.

"For this edition, I'm most excited about the supernatural backstage drama Repeat Performance," he adds.

The Film Noir Foundation has been at the forefront of the noir revival, cracking studio vaults to resurrect long-neglected examples of America's most revered genre, funding restorations and preservation, ensuring that these hard-bitten yet sleekly sexy cinematic offerings remain available in their original form for generations to come. The "Czar of Noir" Eddie Muller and Film Noir Foundation Director Alan K. Rode will introduce movies and conduct audience Q&As.

Noir City: Chicago Schedule

Friday, August 23rd
6:00pm Hell Drivers
8:30pm Try and Get Me!

Saturday, August 24th
2:30pm Niagara
5:00pm Desert Fury
7:30pm Leave Her to Heaven
9:30pm Violent Saturday

Sunday, August 25th
2:30pm Sunset Boulevard
5:00pm The Other Woman
7:30pm Repeat Performance
9:15pm Sunset Boulevard

Monday, August 26th
5:00pm Chicago Calling
7:30pm High Tide
9:15pm Chicago Calling

Tuesday, August 27th
5:00pm Night and the City
7:30pm It Always Rains on Sunday
9:15pm Night and the City

Wednesday, August 28th
5:00pm Night Has a Thousand Eyes
7:30pm Alias Nick Beal
9:15pm Night Has a Thousand Eyes

Thursday, August 29th
5:00pm Street of Chance
7:30pm Sleep, My Love
9:15pm Street of Chance