Tonight's Movie: A Double Life (1947) at the Noir City Film Festival

Last night we had an absolutely wonderful evening at the Noir City Hollywood Festival at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

The evening kicked off with Eddie Muller signing his books. I was able to have my copies of NOIR BAR and the upcoming release KID NOIR: KITTY FERAL AND THE CASE OF THE MARSHMALLOW MONKEY signed. I was delighted to learn that my copy of KITTY FERAL was the first one he had signed for someone! Look for a review here at a future date.

We also had a chance to greet many friends before enjoying a "theater noir" double bill featuring A DOUBLE LIFE (1947) and THE VELVET TOUCH (1948). Both films were introduced by Muller (seen here).  He asked for a show of hands on how many people had never seen A DOUBLE LIFE, and it turned out this was the first viewing for a majority of the audience.

I reviewed THE VELVET TOUCH on DVD in 2015 and was glad to see it for the first time on a big screen; it was shown in 35mm.  Rosalind Russell stars as an actress who accidentally kills her longtime producer (Leon Ames) during a struggle, then hides her involvement. Sydney Greenstreet is wonderful as a theater-loving police detective; also in the cast are Leo Genn, Claire Trevor, Frank McHugh, and Theresa Harris.

It was my first time to see A DOUBLE LIFE, for which Ronald Colman won a Best Actor Oscar. The excellent score by Miklos Rozsa was also awarded an Oscar.

George Cukor directed the film, in which Colman plays famed stage actor Anthony John. He's most recently been starring in a comedy and is next offered the title role in Shakespeare's tragedy OTHELLO. The play, of course, culminates with Othello misunderstanding and jealously murdering his wife Desdemona.

Tony's ex-wife Brita (Signe Hasso) warily accepts the part of Desdemona, knowing that Tony has a tendency to identify too strongly with his roles. And indeed, nearly a year into the run of OTHELLO Tony learns that press agent Bill Friend (Edmond O'Brien) has given Brita a birthday present; overcome with jealousy, Tony chokes Brita for real on stage, to the point where a doctor must be called.

When Brita turns down Tony's proposal that they remarry, he goes into a rage and later visits Pat (Shelley Winters), a waitress he'd met at a restaurant. Reality and Othello blur...

A DOUBLE LIFE was a highly engrossing 104 minutes, scripted by Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin. The production design by Harry Horner and Rozsa's score were each quite impressive; the Othello-Desdemona scenes in particular, as photographed by Milton R. Krasner and acted by Colman and Hasso, could be described as majestic.

The cast as a whole is outstanding. Edmond O'Brien is a great favorite, and there are also has excellent players such as Ray Collins, Millard Mitchell, Joe Sawyer, and Whit Bissell. Betsy Blair and Marjorie Woodworth have small roles as well.

A DOUBLE LIFE was screened at the festival in a digital print.  It's available on DVD and VHS; a Blu-ray also exists but appears to be more difficult to find. Given that the DVD and Blu-ray were put out by Olive Films, which just went out of business, I plan to order the DVD soon for my collection.

I'll be attending more Noir City screenings next week, including TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH (1948), which also costars Signe Hasso, and WHIPLASH (1948).

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