Chicago’s Music Box Theatre Hosts Noir Film Festival

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Mon, 08/28/2023 - 10:10 -- Nick Dager

Noir City returned to Chicago’s Music Box Theatre this past weekend.

Pictured, left to right: Edward G. Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, Lionel Barrymore and Lauren Bacall in a scene from the 1948 noir film Key Largo, directed by John Huston. Photo courtesy of FPG/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.This year, the film festival honored features from 1948, which is known as a milestone in the world of film noir, a style marked by darker themes and feelings of pessimism, suspicion, and paranoia.

They often include American crime and detective films, such as Chicago Deadline and The Lady from Shanghai, which were both being shown at the festival.

This year, 12 of the 18 films at Noir City were screened in 35-millimeter rather than today’s industry standard of digital cinema package.