What we’re about
Welcome, Denver Cinephiles!
Denver Cinema Club is a social group for people who love independent, foreign, and classic films--or the occasional cult film or blockbuster. For details about the group, see our web site. We hope to see you soon!
Upcoming events
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DEEP DIVE: Film Noir Pt. 1 — Classic Noir (Spillover Date)
Odell Brewing Sloan's Lake, 1625 Perry St, Denver, CO, USNOTE: This is a spillover date for DEEP DIVE: Film Noir Pt. 1 — Classic Noir. If you're on the Going list for November 17, please do not sign up for this one.
This is a "watch at home, discuss in-person" event, the first in a two-part series tracing how film noir emerged from postwar disillusionment to redefine cinematic morality, desire, and fate.
In this discussion, we explore the genre's origins–films shaped by moral uncertainty, postwar anxiety, and the pull of doomed desire. Out of the Past gives noir its tragic heartbeat: a man trapped between memory and desire, doomed to repeat his own mistakes. Nightmare Alley turns inward, exposing the carnival of ambition and deceit beneath America’s bright surface. And The Third Man expands the canvas to a war-torn Europe, where loyalty and betrayal blur amid the ruins. Together, these films define classic noir's moral terrain—worlds where truth is relative, redemption rarely arrives, and light itself can't be trusted.
We will meet to discuss our thoughts on Wednesday, November 19, at Odell Brewing Sloan's Lake. Please try to watch all three before attending.
Here is the list of films with instructions on how to find them.
OUT OF THE PAST (1947, Jacques Tourneur, USA)
Shadows in Out of the Past fall across small towns and mountain roads, where the past lingers like smoke. Jeff Bailey, a man trying to escape his old life, is drawn back into a web of deceit that feels less like choice than destiny. Beneath its taut dialogue and cigarette haze lies a story about memory’s grip—the way desire and guilt intertwine until neither can be undone. As the circle closes, the film reveals noir's essential truth: no one ever really starts over.
NIGHTMARE ALLEY (1947, Edmund Goulding, USA)
In Nightmare Alley, the darkness isn't in the alleys but under the carnival tent. Stanton Carlisle rises from sideshow hustler to celebrated spiritualist, mastering the art of manipulation until he starts to believe his own act. The film strips away noir's city streets for a more intimate con—how ambition and self-delusion can turn faith into fraud. Beneath its grit and showmanship lies a bleak parable of the American dream, where every ascent carries the seeds of its own fall.
THE THIRD MAN (1949, Carol Reed, UK)
In The Third Man, postwar Vienna becomes a labyrinth of shadows and suspicion. Holly Martins arrives to find his old friend Harry Lime dead—or so it seems—and discovers a city divided by occupation and moral decay. Carol Reed turns the rubble into a moral landscape, where charm and corruption are indistinguishable and survival demands compromise. Beneath its sharp wit and zither score lies a study in disillusionment: friendship, loyalty, and even goodness twisted by the ruins of war.
- Watch with a library card on Kanopy
- Watch for free with ads on Tubi
- Watch with ads on Prime
7 attendees
Rental Family - Free Advance Screening - Sie FilmCenter - Wed, Nov 19 - 6:30 PM
Sie Film Center, 2510 E Colfax Ave, Denver, CO, USImportant! We'll have open seating for this film; the studio reps will not reserve a section for us. Arrive early for a good seat. Okay, now read the rest...
Before you RSVP, please:
- Read the description below carefully
- Also read our Advance Screenings page
We have a small number of seats for a free advance screening of Rental Family, a dramedy starring Brendan Fraser. Active members of the club--those who attend our regular events--will get priority for the seats. When you RSVP, you will be added to the wait list, and I will move people from the wait list to the "going" list by hand. Please RSVP only if you are sure you can attend.
The studio reps have asked me to submit our guest list on Tuesday afternoon, November 16. If you are on the "going" list on Tuesday, we will expect you at the movie on Wednesday. Again, RSVP only if you are sure you can attend.
Arrive by 6:30 for the 7:00 screening. Skip the line if there is one, and check in with the studio reps. Don't be late! If you arrive after 6:35, the reps could release your seat.
- Watch the trailer for the film.
- See the film's page at Rotten Tomatoes. (It's "96% Fresh"!)
After the screening, we'll walk over to Miss Molly's Bakery for a pastry and to talk about the film. Look for me in the Sie lobby; I'll have a small Denver Cinema Club sign.
-- Mike6 attendees
Past events
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