dir. Lewis Allen

1947 // 1hr 36 mins // Digital Projection

Staring: Lizabeth Scott, John Hodiak, Wendell Corey, Burt Lancaster

Like Mildred Pierce, Desert Fury is a mother-daughter melodrama that evolves into a film noir—perhaps the only 1940s film noir in color. At the same time, the overheated dialogue, the tough female casino owner protagonist and an undercurrent of homoeroticism make it a kind of harbinger of Johnny Guitar. Mary Astor seems a bit too-enamored of her own daughter (Liz), Wendell Corey is murderously miffed at being jilted by partner-in-crime John Hodiak, and beefcake lawman Burt Lancaster seems oblivious to the mix-and-match sexuality surging all around him. Declared by Eddie Muller “The gayest movie ever made in Hollywood’s Golden Era.”

ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOODLAND... is a series hosted and programmed by KCAI lecturer Kara Heitz looking at classic Hollywood films and history from the advent of sound to the birth of New Hollywood.