Black and white tones, grainy film, dramatic and intense dialogue, suspenseful action and dark themes—these are all elements of film noir, and they’ve helped the genre stay relevant and engaging 80 years after the genre’s golden age.
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year is the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, happening at the Palm Springs Cultural Center with 12 films from Thursday, May 9, through Sunday, May 12. Tickets are $14.50 per film, or $149 for a festival pass, which includes the opening night party.
“It started back with Arthur Lyons and Craig Prater and the Supples, who owned what was then the Camelot Theatre,” festival director Alan Rode said during a recent interview. “Arthur and I became friends around 2001, and I started helping him with the programming and the guests and doing film introductions. This was back in the days of having guests like Jane Russell and Tony Curtis and people like that. … Very sadly, Arthur died in 2008, and the Supples asked me to take over the festival, which I was glad to do. It was formerly known as the Palm Springs Film Noir Festival. In honor of Arthur, we changed it to the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival, and it has been named as such since 2008.”
Arthur Lyons was an accomplished writer who called Palm Springs home. Both his explorations into the world of thrilling mysteries and his connections to the desert are still very much alive within the film festival.
“The festival has become an international destination, where I’ve had people come from Canada, Australia and a lot of people obviously from Southern California … but the core audience has always been in the Coachella Valley,” Rode said. “The loyalty of the audience has been unbelievable over the years. I always say … that this festival is the film noir version of Same Time, Next Year. Through the years, my wife and I have made many, many friends. We’ve had great experiences, and I’ve had guests like Ernest Borgnine and Norman Lloyd several times, and Marsha Hunt and Jon Polito, and on and on and on.”
Rode has watched as the festival has explored both the beauty of film noir and the Coachella Valley.
“Film noir, in my view, is more of an organic cinema movement that started in the 1940s,” Rode said. “The people who were making these movies didn’t know they were film noir. Nobody did, but there’s an inexhaustible supply of these movies. Like beauty, film noir is often in the eye of the beholder—and I’m the beholder. It’s just a fun time, and the festival has followed a tried-and-true pattern where we have a film on opening night, and then we show four films on Friday, four on Saturday, and three on Sunday, so 12 films in a weekend. It’s a good schedule, because it gives people time in between movies to go out and get something to eat, and enjoy a little of the great environs of the desert and Palm Springs and so forth.”
The 2024 edition of the festival is filled with special guests. Rode outlined some highlights.
7:30 p.m., Thursday, May 9—Body and Soul (1947): “On opening night, I’m going to show probably the best boxing movie of all time, Body and Soul, starring the great John Garfield. It was nominated for three Academy Awards. It was written by the great Abe Polonsky, and it really is an unforgettable film. My guest to introduce that film is the actor and writer Jim Beaver, who has been in the tradition of great character actors. He’s been a fixture on television and films for more than 40 years, and he’s also a noted writer and film historian. He was very prominent recently in the hit series Deadwood and Justified, and he has 150 other credits. There are few actors and few people who know more about movie history than Jim Beaver, and I really look forward to our conversation.”
1 p.m., Friday, May 10—Border Incident (1949): “Border Incident is a down-and-dirty film about a vicious smuggling ring exploiting Mexican farmworkers in Southern California. My guest for that is going to be author Luis Reyes, who has written a book called Viva Hollywood: The Legacy of Latin and Hispanic Artists in American Film. The subject with which this picture deals obviously was topical then, and I think it’s even more topical now. … I think the audience will find Luis fascinating, and he’s going to bring some of his books that will be available for signing.”
7:30 p.m., Saturday, May 11—Day of the Outlaw (1959): “Day of the Outlaw was made in 1959 and directed by Andre De Toth. This was filmed on location up in Oregon during the winter, and it stars one of my favorite actors of any genre, Robert Ryan, with Burl Ives, Tina Louise and a lot of familiar faces. One of the actors, Mike McGreevey is going to be with us, and if anyone wants to hear some raconteur stories about Hollywood, they need to come out to see this movie and listen to Mike. Mike began his career as an actor at the age of 7, with Jane Powell and The Girl Most Likely, (released) in 1957. During his subsequent acting career, he appeared in features opposite Alan Ladd, Robert Mitchum, Kirk Douglas, Donna Reed and many, many other classic Hollywood stars. Then he moved behind the camera and became a top writer and producer. … There aren’t too many people who can tell you about making movies and smoking pot with Robert Mitchum.”
1 p.m., Sunday, May 12—Escape in the Fog (1945): “On Sunday, I’m going to show a real obscure movie that kind of goes back to the tradition that Art started of showing obscure B-film noir movies. This one’s called Escape in the Fog, and it was directed by Budd Boetticher when he was still being billed as Oscar Boetticher. Of course, Budd Boetticher became very well known for directing the Ranown Westerns. … This is an early one about a wartime novel and a woman recovering from shock, and it’s really an espionage-themed noir movie. I’m going to have the Emmy Award-winning screenwriter and producer Kirk Ellis.”
Rode attributed the lasting love for film noir to the art of storytelling.
“Arthur Lyons used to say it’s all in the story, and I think that’s very true,” Rode said. “I think film noir has provided a connective umbilical for classic films to new generations, even though younger people may scratch their heads and say, ‘Why are doctors at hospitals smoking cigarettes? Why are men and women wearing these hats? Why are the phones the size of boomerangs?’ The films (themselves are) about people, and about the human condition, which is very often dark, and certainly fascinating. When someone knows they’re doing something that’s wrong, and they do it anyway—that’s noir, and I think it’s the old tried-and-true tale of lust, greed, larceny, compromising and all of that stuff. … There’s a lot of subtlety in these films that doesn’t underestimate the intelligence of the audience. Part of that was by design, and part of that was because of censorship in those days.”
The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival will run from Thursday, May 9, through Sunday, May 12, at the Palm Springs Cultural Center, 2300 E. Baristo Road, in Palm Springs. Tickets are $14.50 per film, or $149 for a pass to every film and the opening-night party. For more information or tickets, visit Eventbrite.
