The Los Angeles County Museum of Art film series "Dark Mirrors: The Films Noir of Robert Siodmak" will screen several of the German director's best-known American films between July 8-23.
Like so many other German Jews and/or intellectuals, Robert Siodmak was forced into exile by the rise of the Nazi party.
He began his Hollywood career in 1941, making B movies at different studios. After Phantom Lady (1944), considered by many one of the best films noir of the 1940s, Siodmak became an A-list director.
He received an Oscar nomination for The Killers in 1946. (My favorite Siodmak film is the 1948 crime drama Cry of the the City.)
Friday, July 8
Phantom Lady (above, 1944/b&w/88 min.) scr: Bernard C. Schoenfeld; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Ella Raines, Franchot Tone
Christmas Holiday (1944/b&w/93 min.) scr: Herman J. Mankiewicz; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Deanna Durbin, Gene Kelly
35mm print courtesy the Library of Congress
Saturday, July 9
The Killers (1946/b&w/105 min.) scr: Anthony Veiller; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O'Brien
Cry of the City (1948/b&w/96 min.) scr: Richard Murphy; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Victor Mature, Richard Conte, Shelley Winters
New 35mm print courtesy Twentieth Century Fox
Friday, July 15
The Spiral Staircase (1945/b&w/83 min.) scr: Mel Dinelli; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Dorothy McGuire, George Brent, Ethel Barrymore
Restored 35mm print courtesy the Walt Disney Company
The Strange Affair of Uncle Harry (1945/b&w/82 min.) scr: Keith Winter, Stephen Longstreet; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ George Sanders, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Ella Raines
35mm print courtesy UCLA Film and Television Archive
Saturday, July 16
Criss Cross (1948/b&w/87 min.) scr: Daniel Fuchs; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea
The File On Thelma Jordon (1950/b&w/100 min.) scr: Ketti Frings; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Barbara Stanwyck, Wendell Corey
Friday, July 22
The Dark Mirror (above, 1946/b&w/85 min.) scr: Nunnally Johnson; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Olivia de Havilland, Lew Ayres
Restored 35mm print courtesy UCLA Film and Television Archive
The Suspect (1945/b&w/84 min.) scr: Arthur T. Horman; Bertram Millhauser; dir: Robert Siodmak; w/ Charles Laughton
35mm print courtesy Universal Archive
THE DEVIL STRIKES AT NIGHT by Robert Siodmak: Film Review
National Socialist Cinema at Filmarchiv Austria
Last Call for Nazi-Occupied France
San Sebastián International Film Festival 2006