Noir Nights returns to the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center this month. Paul Karasik will again host this popular annual late winter film series, introducing each film and doing a brief Q and A after the screening. Karasik, the Eisner award-winning cartoonist for the New Yorker, knows his noir. Growing up outside Washington, D.C., before the age of streaming or even VHS cassettes, he spent his weekends hopping a bus into town, to one of the city’s repertory theaters showing old movies. But even with all of today’s home-based entertainment options, Karasik still lauds coming to a theater to see a movie: “It’s an immersive experience to see a film in a theater with a group of strangers. It’s very powerful — and makes the film richer. When you’re laughing together, when you’re jumping out of your seat … It’s a more majestic experience than a laptop on your belly in bed.”
Karasik took his idea about a film noir series years ago to Richard Paradise, the Martha’s Vineyard Film Society director who shares Karasik’s passion for old movies. Each year, Karasik chooses a theme and selects his favorites around it. Last year, he focused on cinematographer John Alton, one of the architects of film noir. This year, Karasik’s focus is on must-see British noir.
The series opened March 4 with “Odd Man Out.” Released in 1947, it showcases a young James Mason in a tense psychological drama set in Belfast.
On March 11, Karasik’s noir pick is “Brighton Rock,” based on the novel by Graham Greene. The film stars Richard Attenborough in a tale of right and wrong, damnation and redemption, centered on a small-time gangster who murders a rival.
The final film, “Obsession,” screens on March 18. Released in 1949, “Obsession” is the tale of a love triangle between a London couple and an American. When the film traveled to the U.S. (where it was released as “The Hidden Room”), the New York Times praised its “mounting tension and intelligent dialogue and acting.” The Times critic rated it a “first-rate study in suspense and abnormal psychology,” and a “genuinely adult treatment of a commonplace story … of one man’s attempt to liquidate his wife’s lover.”
“All three of these films are magnificent to watch,” says Karasik. The films’ original release dates reflect, among other things, how noir thrived in the years after World War II. “A sort of postwar cynicism is a noir trademark,” Karasik observed. “There are some [noir movies] from before the war that certainly have the same themes, but the postwar films really feel most like noir. French, Italian, British noir — every one of them uses locations that have landscapes affected by war.” For instance, he adds, for the March 18 film “Obsession,” the director used a bombed-out London building as one of the main sets: “A typical location for postwar noir.”
Noir rejects the notion of the “Hollywood ending,” and embraces gritty realism. Typically, in the end, the main character emerges wiser about how the world works. Karasik puts it this way: “These films were made by adults for adults. The fears and betrayals are all grown up — they treat the audience with a tremendous amount of respect. So if you want to get lost, be on the edge of your seat without graphic violence, come to the noir film series. We can all use 90 minutes of escapism.”
Tickets are available at the door, and online at mvfilmsociety.com.
