Hollywood Gothique

Location: The Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403

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Description: The American Cinematheque screens a double bill of French thrillers, laced with horror. DIABOLIQUE is a bit over-rated, its reputation based mostly on the crack-jack ending in which a widow’s murdered husband comes back to life – or does he? EYES WITHOUT A FACE is one of the greatest horror films ever made – its poetic, stately style interrupted by the insanely graphic skin grafting seen. It’s all about a doctor trying to restore his daughters face, which was destroyed in an automobile accident.

From the Cinematheque website:

DIABOLIQUE
1955, Janus Films, 110 min, France, Dir: Henri-Georges Clouzot
One of the greatest psychological thrillers ever made, DIABOLIQUE focuses on the browbeaten wife (Vera Clouzot) of a brutal schoolmaster and his tough-as-nails mistress (Simone Signoret) as they team up to murder their mutual tormentor. But that’s only the beginning of this edge-of-your-seat affair, a twisting, turning shocker that still holds up today as one of the all-time classics of suspense. Legend has it that Clouzot beat Hitchcock to the punch by only an hour in sewing up rights to the original novel by Pierre Boileau. With sardonic Charles Vanel as the poker-faced inspector. In French with English subtitles.

EYES WITHOUT A FACE (1960)

EYES WITHOUT A FACE/LES YEUX SANS VISAGE
1959, Rialto Pictures, 88 min, France, Dir: Georges Franju
The London Evening Standard called Georges Franju’s classic horror nightmare “one of the most poetic horror films in the history of cinema.” Originally released in the U.S. as THE HORROR CHAMBER OF DR. FAUSTUS, EYES WITHOUT A FACE is a diabolical chiller about a brilliant scientist who steals the faces of young women to restore his own daughter’s shattered looks. With Pierre Brasseur, Edith Scob and Aida Valli. In French with English subtitles.

Date: September 8 at 7:30pm