More Noir Means Happy Lizy

I had a chance to check out more noir at last night's screening of The Story of Molly X, which is part of a B Noir series going on this week and next at the Roxie. It was my first time at the Roxie (which I thought was strange), but turns out that while the seats aren't so comfy and the screen is tiny, the popcorn's cheap.

I WAKE UP DREAMING: The Haunted World of the B Film Noir

And here I thought I had to wait til the return of Noir City! A former Roxie staff member, Elliot Lavine recently finished a book on television and film noir titled TV NOIR: I WAKE UP DREAMING and to celebrate his soon to be published novel on the topic he was invited to curate the series.


Seems as though I'll be taking a break from baseball this week.

Last night's movie had all the right ingredients for me. A female crime boss. Check. Prison fight scenes. Check. Charles McGraw (albeit a very minor role). Check. San Francisco in general (I'm a sucker for all things local). Check.

In the film, the widow of a murdered crime boss decides to rally her former hubby's henchmen to form a gang of her own in San Francisco. Once out west, a jewelry heist doesn't go according to plan and "Molly X," gets locked up and shipped off to a woman's prison.

While the film left a lot to be desired there were some fantastic shots of San Francisco and an amazingly hilarious prison-yard fight scene. The moral of this story - apparently women can be 'reformed' with just the right amount of sewing lessons!

The boys and and I didn't stick around for the double feature, as we opted to hop across the street to get our drink on, but you can bet I'll be back this week for more. Lavine said there were a lot of films he wanted to include, but couldn't squeeze into the series...so we can expect more noir nights to come. I love it.