March 19th Screening of The Night of the Hunter Canceled

Dear Alex Film Society Members and Patrons,

In response to Governor Gavin Newsom’s recent mandate that gatherings of over 250 people be postponed or canceled due to the rapidly evolving public health crisis involving COVID-19, all public performances scheduled at Glendale’s Alex Theatre through April 5th have been canceled by the theatre’s operating entity, Glendale Arts, including the Alex Film Society’s March 19th screening of The Night of the Hunter.

The Alex Film Society was looking forward to presenting this 1955 American classic, projected from a gorgeous 35mm black-and-white print, and we hope to be able to reschedule it for a future program. The well-being of our patrons, members, and volunteers is important to us, so we will continue to monitor this evolving public health issue as we consider our future show dates.

Holders of tickets for the show purchased in advance will be contacted by the venue from which the tickets were purchased.

We appreciate your continued support of the Alex Film Society and your understanding regarding the decision to cancel this screening. We will keep you informed of upcoming and rescheduled show dates by email, social media, and on our Web site.

Alex Film Society Board of Directors

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The 1955 film adaptation of The Night of the Hunter (based on the 1953 novel by Davis Grubb) has, over the decades, developed a reputation as one of the greatest thrillers of American cinema, a masterpiece of sinister ambience and a portrayal of one of the all-time great movie villains with Robert Mitchum’s turn as the Reverend Harry Powell. It is the 1930s in West Virginia, and Rev. Powell is a traveling preacher who, while in prison, learns of a stash of stolen money and determines to locate it by wooing the wife of the original thief.

Photographed in evocative black-and-white by legendary cinematographer Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons), director Charles Laughton manages to conjure both an American idyll with his naturalistic exteriors and a tense, threatening atmosphere with his expressionistic and stylized interiors. Also starring Shelley Winters and silent film queen Lillian Gish, and with a marvelous score by Walter Schumann, The Night of the Hunter is an American classic worthy of the silver screen.

Introduction by Alan K. Rode of the Film Noir Foundation

Classic cinema is imbued in Alan K. Rode’s DNA. His mother was born and raised in Hollywood, was an extra in Our Gang comedy shorts and studied acting at Ben Bard Drama. His grandfather was a silent film violinist who went from bit actor to Universal Studios house composer and founded Corelli-Jacobs Recording Inc. A great-uncle doubled Gary Cooper in The Plainsman (1929) and fought Jack Dempsey with another grandfather who promoted rodeos with cowboy star Hoot Gibson. While growing up, Alan incessantly watched and catalogued movies on television.

He is the author of a pair of notable cinema biographies. CHARLES McGRAW: FILM NOIR TOUGH GUY is a critically acclaimed saga of the rough-hewn character actor’s life and times. MICHAEL CURTIZ: A LIFE IN FILM is the critically acclaimed biography of the director of CASABLANCA, MILDRED PIERCE, YANKEE DOODLE DANDY and WHITE CHRISTMAS among other classic films.

Alan has been the producer and host of the annual Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs, California for over a decade. He has hosted and programmed classic cinema events for a variety of organizations and is a charter director and treasurer of the Film Noir Foundation. With FNF president Eddie Muller, Alan has spearheaded the preservation and restoration of “lost” films and co-programs and co-hosts several of the annual NOIR CITY film festivals held in cities across the country.

Alan is a longtime friend of AFS. Please join him at this upcoming event:

The Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs

The twenty-first edition of the festival, which was scheduled for May 7 – 10 at the spacious Camelot Theatre, has been rescheduled to December 3 – 6, 2020. We suggest you periodically check ArthurLyonsFilmNoir.org for updated information regarding the program.