The Dance of Death + The World Will Shake

You will most likely recall Erich von Stroheim from SUNSET BLVD as Max, the butler whose strange loyalty to Norma Desmond is part of the timelessly perverse allure of Billy Wilder’s classic. But there is much, much more to von Stroheim’s story: what’s relevant for us is the maudit director’s long acting career in France, where he appeared in more than three dozen films—20 of them noirs. We present four of them in FRENCH ’24 Part Two as a tribute to “the man you love to hate.” (Our second von Stroheim double feature screens on December 1.)

The Dance of Death / La Danse de mort

6:30 PM Von Stroheim and his wife (his long-time European companion Denise Versac) are a couple in charge of an island prison that has rotted out their marriage. (As Don Malcolm notes, this is the French noir subtype known as “the flawed couple” on steroids!) (1948, dir. Marcel Cravenne, 88m)

The World Will Shake / Le Monde tremblera

8:15 PM  A fascinating noir/science fiction hybrid about a macabre invention that can predict the date and time of one’s death. Though less front and center, Stroheim’s performance as a cynical businessman sets the tone for the film’s “noir dynamics.” (1939, dir. Richard Pottier, 100m)