Capital Celluloid 2023 — Day 347: Thu Dec 14

Odds Against Tomorrow (Wise, 1959): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.45pm


This 35mm presentation, also screening on December 2nd, is part of the Harry Belafonte season at BFI Southbank. Full details here.

BFI introduction:
Harry Belafonte shines as a mercurial gambler uncertain of bourgeois respectability, indebted to loan-sharks, who threaten his job as a nightclub singer. From the streets of Manhattan to a tense climax in small-town Pennsylvania, this is a neglected noir masterpiece. Belafonte and Robert Wise both claimed this film was the most enjoyable of their storied careers. This story is grounded in its commentary on Jim Crow racism and the trauma of veterans from the Second World War and the possibility of nuclear annihilation. The pulsating score is by jazz doyen John Lewis and performed by the Modern Jazz Quartet.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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