French film noir series screens in Santa Monica

The French not only named film noir but it turns out they also had a gift for working in this dark and twisty genre. The American Cinematheque offers a chance to experience eight of these bleak gems in “The French Had a Name for It 2,� the sequel to last year’s groundbreaking series.

Opening things Oct. 6 is a double bill featuring the great Jean Gabin. “Le Jour se Leve (Daybreak)� is a classic of romantic fatalism by Jacques Prévert and Marcel Carné. In “La Vérité sur Bébé Donge (The Truth of Our Marriage),� Gabin faces off against Danielle Darrieux as the wife who poisoned him.

Next, on Oct. 7, is a Simone Signoret double bill: Henri-Georges Clouzot’s masterful “Diabolique� and Yves Allégret’s “Manèges (The Wanton)� with Signoret as a scheming wife.

Oct. 8 pairs René Clément’s “Les Félins (Joy House),� an unlikely coupling of Alain Delon and Jane Fonda, with Édouard Molinaro’s “Le Dos au Mur (Back to the Wall),� with Jeanne Moreau luminous as an unfaithful wife.

The series ends Oct. 9 with a Clément/Clouzot double bill. “Manon,� an updating of the Abbé Prévost novel, won a Golden Lion at Venice for Clouzot, while Clément’s “Les Maudits (The Damned)� shows just how tense things can get when escaping Nazis use a submarine to escape.

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“The French Had a Name for It 2,� 1328 Montana Ave., Santa Monica, (310) 260-1528 or www.americancinemathequecalendar.com/ Double bills nightly, Oct. 6-9, 7:30 p.m.

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