‘Murder, My Sweet’ will kick off 2nd part of ‘Film Noir Series’

Friday, March 21, 1997 | 11:59 a.m.

The series will continue for five consecutive Tuesdays. All of the films, made between 1944 and 1955, are black-and-white American films and exemplify the popular but dark and pessimistic "film noir" tradition.

The genre was named by French critics after they saw the changes in American cinema that began in 1941 with films like "Stranger on the Third Floor" and "The Maltese Falcon." Such films reversed the earlier optimism of American film and presented a horrifying and paranoid view of humanity and society.

The first part of the series, "America in a Dark Mirror," was screened in September and October and consisted of noir films that focused on the private lives of Americans. The second part deals with subjects for which the genre is better known: detectives, gangsters and fate.

Admission for each film is $2. Each film will be introduced by film critic Jeannette Catsoulis.

"Murder, My Sweet" was made from the Raymond Chandler novel "Farewell My Lovely" and originally released under that name. Then RKO Studios decided it needed a word like "murder" in the title to signal a sharp break from the comedies and musicals for which Dick Powell was known before being cast as the tough private eye Phillip Marlowe.

Critics Ellen Keneshea and Carl Macek called the Edward Dmytryk effort "one of the quintessential noir films," citing its techniques, Claire Trevor's role as a femme fatale and the film's "uncompromising vision of corruption and decay."

Burt Lancaster's first film, "The Killers," directed by Robert Siodmak in 1946, will be screened April 1. The film was adapted from the Ernest Hemingway short story and stars Edmond O'Brien and Ava Gardner. Macek also calls "The Killers" "a quintessential noir film," with its "undercurrent of violence, chaotic environment, dark motives and hopeless situations."

Winchester Community Center is part of Clark County Parks and Recreation and is located at 3130 S. McLeod Drive, just north of Desert Inn Road. Call 455-7340 for more information.