The Man Who Cheated Himself
Chazen Museum of Art 750 University Ave., Madison, Wisconsin 53706
press release: USA | 1951 | 35mm | 80 min.
Director: Felix Feist
Cast: Lee J. Cobb, Jane Wyatt, John Dall
Director Feist delivers a finely paced film noir with all the traditional trappings: An adulterous femme fatale (Wyatt) accidentally kills her estranged husband and sets up a brooding San Francisco cop (Cobb) to take the fall. The traditionally ebullient Wyatt plays against type as the philandering Lois Frazer in a performance bordering on restrained camp. It is, though, the city of San Francisco that takes center stage in this neat little noir potboiler. Six-time Oscar nominated cinematographer Russell Harlan— known for his beautiful epic Western vistas—utilizes dramatic Fort Point at the southern side of the Golden Gate Bridge as the hauntingly eerie location of the film’s exciting climax. Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive. Laboratory services by Fotokem, Audio Mechanics, Simon Daniel Sound, DJ Audio, Inc. Special thanks to Schawn Belston, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation.
UCLA Festival of Preservation on Tour: One of the world’s leaders in the efforts to preserve our motion picture heritage, the UCLA Film & Television Archive has arranged their biennial tour of restored 35mm prints and DCPs of selected titles from the most recent edition of their annual Festival of Preservation. The selection highlights features and shorts including silent-era rediscoveries, landmark American Independent movies, poverty row gems, remarkable documentaries, and more! The screenings will be presented both at our regular Vilas Hall venue and every Sunday in February at the Chazen Museum of Art.