The Harvard Film Archive celebrates the dark criminal imagination of post-war American cinema with an expanded marathon of obscure and essential film noir, the cycle of fatalistic, pessimistic and visually striking crime dramas that flourished in the 1940s and 1950s. Including key titles by noir visionaries such as Jules Dassin, Joseph H. Lewis and Delmer Daves as well as lesser known entries by Dick Powell, E. A. Dupont and David Miller, all the films in this purely nocturnal program feature the chiaroscuro lighting and expressive cinematography that remain enduring signatures of American film noir. Seen together this line-up of bleak and hard-boiled dramas of despair and loneliness offer both a fascinating vision of the American dream gone woefully wrong and an artistically daring revision of the classical style refined by the Hollywood studios. Designed for noir cultists and novices alike this nocturnal marathon presents an exciting cross-section of a rich chapter in studio-era American cinema.— Haden Guest