FILM NOIR | The Big Raid
The quintessential noir tale of revenge!
From the extensive film noir portfolio of nearly a dozen titles by German director Fritz Lang, we’ve selected his masterpiece, which ranks among the most violent film noirs, where shocking moments are skillfully presented in an implicit manner, and thus have an even stronger impact than if the viewer were to see them explicitly.
The tough police detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) investigates the unexpected suicide of one of his colleagues. When he stumbles upon several inconsistencies, he discovers that the dead man was likely working for a corrupt city official who is also the head of the local mafia. When obstacles are thrown directly in Bannion’s path, he throws himself into the case with even greater determination. It doesn’t take long for the case to become a very personal matter.
The screenplay is based on a newspaper serial by William McGivern. This precursor to “cop movies” follows an investigation that turns into a personal vendetta, presented in a gritty (“hard-boiled”) and uncompromising style by Glenn Ford, with the delightful Gloria Grahame as a gangster’s kept woman and the slimy Lee Marvin as a violent sadist providing stellar supporting performances!
While in film noir the family background is often anonymous or marginalized, in Lang’s film we not only get a glimpse behind the doors of idyllic family warmth, but the family also forms a key component of the characters’ motivations. The distinctive male characters are complemented by as many as five female characters, who are by no means mere window dressing. Almost all the characters in this violent and corrupt world are ambivalent, a quality that Lang also emphasizes visually (through the interplay of light and darkness, and reflections in mirrors). (Michal Šmajda, I Love Film Noir)
You can purchase tickets online or directly at the venue before the event. The final ticket price includes a €0.50 handling fee, which is added at the payment gateway or at the box office for each ticket. This fee is non-refundable in the event of cancellation.