The Cinematheque screens American crime fiction favourites at summer film noir series, August 1 to September 5

Lineup features eight shadow-steeped works released in the 1940s and ’50s, spanning Gilda, To Have and Have Not, T‑Men, and more

SPONSORED POST BY The Cinematheque

Gilda.

Film noir returns to The Cinematheque this summer for another season of hard-bitten American crime fiction, drawing from what is often regarded as Hollywood’s most distinctive chapter of moviemaking.

This year’s lineup of eight shadow-steeped works, screening from August 1 to September 5, were all forged in the canonical period of noir’s 1940s and ’50s golden age. Aside from perennial favourite Pickup on South Street, each title stems from the archetypal first decade of the cycle. Half of the films screen in stunning new digital restorations, with a refurbished Gilda—regarded as the pinnacle of postwar noir—arriving on the back of a buzzworthy Cannes Classics premiere to mark the centenary of Columbia Pictures.

Lauren Bacall also rings in the big 100, and her first Bogie match-up To Have and Have Not is one of four peak-calibre titles joining The Cinematheque’s roster for the first time ever (The Man I Love, T‑Men, and White Heat are the others)—the added films are a testament to the expansiveness of the noir catalogue, and to audiences’ insatiable appetites for more each year.

Threaded throughout The Cinematheque’s core program is a sidebar exploring the reach of American noir on international cinema, as well as a pair of Jean-Luc Godard pictures (part of The Cinematheque’s year-long JLG Forever series) underscoring noir’s impact on the Franco–Swiss film authority.

T-Men.

Anthony Mann’s nocturnal 1947 procedural T‑Men, a veritable noir style-guide, will screen both as part of the series and at The Cinematheque’s 2024 Open House on August 10 in a noir-themed Deep Focus lecture presented by the Learning & Outreach crew. At the Open House prior to the screening, guests can take a tour of the projection booth, try a hand at projecting 8-mm film, learn about The Cinematheque’s film archive, and more.

Before the opening-night screening of Gilda on August 1 at 6:45 pm, guests are invited to attend The Cinematheque’s annual courtyard shindig beginning at 6 pm, featuring vinyl jazz, cold brews, tasty treats, and the latest crop of noir swag.

To purchase tickets and explore the full scope of summer noir programming in store, visit The Cinematheque.

Post sponsored by The Cinematheque.