How to Read a Film with Dr. Mark Schenker

A Quartet of Noir Masterpieces

Mark Schenker of Yale College offers a ninth installment of his “How to Read a Film” series, with works by four directors who are new to the program. In movies that range from Peter Lorre’s sensational performance as a serial killer in the early talkie M by German director Fritz Lang, through two Hollywood films of the classic noir period of the 1940’s-50’s, through the neo-noir of the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, the series covers more than a half century of noir and showcases the talents (in addition to the 26-year-old Lorre) of Burt Lancaster, Ava Gardner, Edmond O’Brien, Humphrey Bogart, Gloria Grahame, Frances McDormand and the great character actor M. Emmet Walsh.

Sept 19                 M (1931)                                 Fritz Lang

Oct 3                    The Killers (1946)                   Robert Siodmak

Oct 17                  In a Lonely Place (1950)        Nicholas Ray

Oct 31                  Blood Simple (1984)              Joel Coen