What happens when you take the jaded fatalism of noir and mix it with the character-first focus of classic melodrama? Two fantastic films of the 1940s, Leave Her to Heaven and Mildred Pierce, each of which involves a self-absorbed young woman destroying her family in pursuit of her own slice of the American dream.

Recommendations:

Tristan - Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani

Fred - Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans & Earrings of Madame de...

Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred Pelzer

A Strange Phantom Production

Music by Kevin MacLeod.

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July 1944. Los Angeles. Enter Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Dietrichson, high atop a looming stairwell, clad only in a towel. Enter the femme fatale, as we know her, into classic Hollywood. Counter-balancing the icy-cold Phyllis Dietrichson is a no-less chilly, but far more sympathetic waitress named Stella, drawn from a comparatively minor Otto Preminger film. Both women slot neatly into the developing vision of women who pull over-eager protagonists into their wake, but their stories unfold in starkly different fashions. Join us as we look at Double Indemnity and Fallen Angel.

Recommendations:

Tristan - Thief & The Last of the Mohicans

Fred - Electra, My Love & Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem

Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred Pelzer

A Strange Phantom Production

Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd

Before noir reached American shores, it was festering in Europe in the shadow of fascism. The femme fatale was no different, her need for advancement intersecting with the oppressive environment swallowing the continent. Tonight we'll be looking at three different examples of the proto femme fatale as it crosses over with poetic realism and neorealism - and two of them come from that noir ur-text, The Postman Always Rings Twice. By comparing La Bete Humaine (1938), The Last Turning (1939), & Ossessione (1943) we can take a snapshot of the femme fatale right before the noir era kicks off and becomes the archetype we know and love today.

Recommendations:

Tristan - One Way Passage

Fred - Barbie

Written & Produced by Tristan Johnson & Fred Pelzer

A Strange Phantom Production

Music by Kevin MacLeod.

Learn more about us or follow us on Letterboxd