Tuesday 10 March
7:00 pm

FILM NOIR CLASSICS

Film noir, a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, often emphasizes moral ambiguity and sexual motivation, derived from the hard-boiled school of crime fiction that emerged in the United States during the Depression. Hollywood’s classic film noir period is generally regarded as stretching from the early 1940s to the late 1950s, and films of this genre are associated with a low-key black-and-white visual style that has roots in German Expressionist cinematography.

Contraband
Directed by Michael Powell
UK/1940/88 minutes/B&W

Set in England during the early days of WW II, Contraband stars Conrad Veidt (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari) and Valerie Hobson (The Bride of Frankenstein) as a Danish sea captain and his enigmatic passenger who are kidnapped by a cell of Nazi spies operating from a basement in London’s Soho. In evocatively Hitchcockian fashion, the plot progresses as a chase that puts the characters in one peculiar set of surroundings after another. What makes Contraband unique is that most of the story takes place under blackout conditions, in which the great city becomes a mysterious dark labyrinth, a potent metaphor for the English population’s general confusion at the start of the war. Free admission.

Location: Art Deco Education Center at Historic City Hall, 1130 Washington Av, Miami Beach
Information: 305-672-2014 or www.mdpl.org