Wednesday, November 29, 2023, 7:30 p.m., Dryden Theatre
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Road House (1948)
(Jean Negulesco, US 1948, 95 min., 35mm)
Ida Lupino is brilliant as the singer who comes between two old enemies (a wonderfully unhinged Richard Widmark and the hunky Cornel Wilde) at a café on the American-Canadian border. This completely unpredictable, very dark, and remarkably suspenseful noir brought the very best out of Jean Negulesco, the hardworking contract director perhaps best known for helming How to Marry a Millionaire. Roger Ebert said of Road House, “Was it intended as a parody? I have no idea, but I laughed more during this movie than during any of the so-called comedies I saw during the same week.”
Introduction by and post-screening discussion with Curator of Film Exhibitions Jared Case.