The Annapolis Movie Club

Join us in celebrating film noir in Noirvember with two noir classics that transcend their low budgets! From Poverty Row came Detour (1945), a movie that, perhaps more than any other, epitomizes the dark fatalism at the heart of film noir. As he hitchhikes his way from New York to Los Angeles, a down-on-his-luck nightclub pianist (Tom Neal) finds himself with a dead body on his hands and nowhere to run--a waking nightmare that goes from bad to worse when he picks up the most vicious femme fatale in cinema history, Ann Savage's snarling, monstrously conniving drifter Vera. Not rated, 68 min. In D.O.A. (1949), Frank Bigelow (Edmond O'Brien) is about to die, and he knows it. The accountant has been poisoned and has only 24 hours before the lethal concoction kills him. Determined to find out who his murderer is, Frank, with the help of his assistant and girlfriend, Paula (Pamela Britton), begins to trace back over his last steps. Not rated, 84 min. DETOUR - Not rated, 64 min. D.O.A. - Not rated, 83 min. Watch the films at your convenience on Kanopy and join us on Friday, November 6, at 7pm. The Zoom link is given below. You'll need the first six digits of your library card. If you live outside Anne Arundel County, please leave Andy a message. ZOOM LINK FORTHCOMING!

We proudly celebrate Veterans Day with one of the best movies ever about veterans. The Best Years of Our Lives was not only one of the first films to seriously examine the difficulties of veterans returning home after World War II, it has also been recognized as a masterpiece that still speaks to audiences today with the same power and impact it had upon its initial release. We follow three servicemen (Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Harold Russell) as they come home from the war, knowing that they returned victorious, yet discovering that the better world they fought for has changed. Winner of seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, The Best Years of Our Lives is a monumental film that you simply must see. Not rated, 171 min. Watch the movie at your convenience on Kanopy and join us on Friday, November 13, at 7pm. The Zoom link is given below. You'll need the first six digits of your library card. If you live outside Anne Arundel County, please leave Andy a message. ZOOM LINK FORTHCOMING!

If movie fans have another passion besides movies, it's books about movies. Join us as we welcome special guest Raquel Stecher, film writer and classic movie fan, to talk to us about the best movie books she's discovered recently. On her blog, Out of the Past: A Classic Film Blog, Raquel hosts her annual Summer Reading Classic Film Book Challenge, which offers film fans stacks and stacks of great books on classic movies. If you love movies and books, you will not want to miss this event! ZOOM LINK FORTHCOMING!

One of the crowning achievements of the German expressionist movement, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau's The Last Laugh stars Emil Jannings as an aging doorman whose happiness crumbles when he is relieved of the duties and uniform which had for years been the foundation of his happiness and pride. Through Jannings's colossal performance, THE LAST LAUGH becomes more than the plight of a single doorman, but a mournful dramatization of the frustration and anguish of the universal working class. "Rightly praised by Alfred Hitchcock as 'almost the perfect film.'" - Tim Purtell, Entertainment Weekly Not rated, silent with English titles, 91 min. Watch the movie on Kanopy beforehand, then join us for a lively Friday evening discussion on Zoom. Register for this program to receive the Zoom login information via email. ZOOM LINK FORTHCOMING!