Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival

About the Event

Founded in 2000 by the local writer, noir enthusiast, and former Palm Springs City Council Member, Arthur Lyons, the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival now draws Film Noir enthusiasts to Palm Springs from cities throughout Southern California, nationwide, from Canada, and even from Great Britain.

The Palm Springs Cultural Center took the Festival over after Arthur died to ensure that the Festival could continue as a local cultural event. We renamed the event in Arthur’s honor and brought in Alan K. Rode to program, curate and direct it.

Known in the world of Noir for showing the very best of rare Noir classics, the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival is a favorite for fans of this genre. This Festival is one of several in the United States focused on this uniquely American Art Form. The festival regularly screens hard to find films that are not available anywhere else, and draws Film Noir enthusiasts from all over the country.

Film Schedule:

10:00 AM: The Enforcer (1951) Warner Bros./Paramount, 88 min. D: Brentaigne Windust. Mid 20th century audiences were introduced to alternate meanings of “hit” and “contract” by this groundbreaking film. In his final Warner Bros. feature, Humphrey Bogart stars as a crusading district attorney (inspired by actual racket buster Burton Turkus) who takes on a vicious murder-for-hire organization led by a lethal Everett Sloane and an ominously sweaty Ted de Corsia, Co-starring a splendid Zero Mostel, Roy Roberts, Michael Tolan and Bob Steele. Partially directed by an uncredited Raoul Walsh, this fact based picture was the initial cinematic rendering of the infamous 1940s Murder Inc. case.

1:00 PM: Escape in the Fog (1945) Sony-Columbia, 65 min. D: Budd Boetticher. A woman recovering from shock (Nina Foch) in a San Francisco hotel room has a nightmare about a murder on the Golden Gate Bridge and screams uncontrollably. After the innkeeper and a stranger awakens her, she recognizes the stranger as the intended murder victim in her dream! This nifty World War II espionage-themed programmer is directed with fast paced verve by Budd Boetticher and also stars Otto Kruger. With: William Wright, Konstantin Shayne and Ivan Triesault.

Scheduled Special Guest: Emmy Award winning screenwriter/producer Kirk Ellis.

4:00 PM: Shadow of a Doubt (1942) Universal, 108 min. D: Alfred Hitchcock. Hitchcock’s all-time favorite of his 60-odd films is based on an actual 1938 event in Connecticut. A revered uncle (Joseph Cotten) visiting his sister’s (Patricia Collinge) family in a peaceful California town is being surreptitiously tracked by the authorities. When his namesake niece (Teresa Wright) discovers her beloved uncle’s horrific secret, the ramifications become shatteringly deadly. Adapted for the screen by Thornton Wilder, Sally Benson and Alma Reville (Hitchcock’s wife) from an Oscar nominated original story by Gordon McDonnell, this classic has been digitally restored and is a must see on the big screen! With: Macdonald Carey, Henry Travers, Hume Cronyn and Wallace Ford.

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