TCM to Present 'Summer of Darkness' Film Noir Programming Event

Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is returning to the shadowy world of film noir with the return Summer of Darkness, the network's ultimate film noir programming event. The summer programming event beings June 5 at 6 a.m. and airs for 24 hours on Fridays in June and July with primetime screenings hosted by Eddie Muller, known to classic film fans as "The Czar of Noir" and as a frequent TCM contributor, introducing noir films on-air and at the TCM Classic Film Festival.

Film noir, with its gritty and dark style, attracted audiences of the 1940s and '50s and continues today to be one of the most popular genres of classic film. The Summer of Darkness programming slate will feature more than 100 noir titles making it the most extensive catalog of noirs ever presented by the network. Summer of Darkness titles include:

· The programming slate premieres in primetime with Nora Prentiss (1947) starring Kent Smith as the proper married DOCTOR WHO falls for a kicked-around singer played by Ann Sheridan

· Robert Wise's Born to Kill (1947), starring Lawrence Tierney as a trigger-happy crook and Claire Trevor as his femme fatale

· Edmund Goulding's Nightmare Alley (1947), which gives romantic leading man Tyrone Power a change of pace as a seedy carnival barker whose unsavory ways lead him to ruin

· Joseph H. Lewis' Gun Crazy (1950), a dynamic study of violent lovers played by John Dall and Peggy Cummins

· Carol Reed's immortal The Third Man (1949), one of the most compelling of all noirs with Unforgettable performances by Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Trevor Howard and others

· Curtis Hanson's L.A. Confidential (1997) based on novel of the same title by James Ellroy starring Russell Crowe and Kim Basinger

For a full schedule, please visit tcm.com/summerofdarkness

TCM first invited fans into world of noir with Summer of Darkness programming in the summer of 1999 and in the 16 years since the first airing of the programming event, the TCM library has grown with additional partnership and licensing agreements allowing the network to bring back the programming event with a more expansive programming slate.

"Our film noir programming slate will trace the evolution of noir from its cinematic origins to its influence on more recent films," said Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM. "We are thrilled to be able to bring our fans this extensive programming slate and to be collaborating with Eddie Muller, who is one of the foremost experts on the genre and a noir film preservationist."

In addition to the 24-hour on-air programming, fans will also have the opportunity to experience film noir on the big screen when TCM, Fathom Events and Universal Pictures bring Billy Wilder's noir classic, Double Indemnity (1944) starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck to theaters across the country on July 19 and 20.

Additionally, fans are able to watch TCM live whenever and wherever they want via http://www.tcm.com/watch and THE WATCH TCM mobile apps by logging in with a user name and password provided by their TV service provider. Watch TCM features live streaming of the network, industry leading in-depth movie information, as well as more than 300 titles available on demand each month.

TCM first invited fans into world of noir with Summer of Darkness programming in the summer of 1999 and in the 16 years since the first airing of the programming event, the TCM library has grown with additional partnership and licensing agreements allowing the network to bring back the programming event with a more expansive programming slate.

"Our film noir programming slate will trace the evolution of noir from its cinematic origins to its influence on more recent films," said Charles Tabesh, senior vice president of programming for TCM. "We are thrilled to be able to bring our fans this extensive programming slate and to be collaborating with Eddie Muller, who is one of the foremost experts on the genre and a noir film preservationist."

In addition to the 24-hour on-air programming, fans will also have the opportunity experience film noir on the big screen when TCM, Fathom Events and Universal Pictures bring Billy Wilder's noir classic, Double Indemnity (1944) starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck to theaters across the country on July 19 and 20.

Additionally, fans are able to watch TCM live whenever and wherever they want via http://www.tcm.com/watch and THE WATCH TCM mobile apps by logging in with a user name and password provided by their TV service provider. Watch TCM features live streaming of the network, industry leading in-depth movie information, as well as more than 300 titles available on demand each month.

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