The second weekend of Noir City, the 10th Annual Hollywood Film Noir Festival, began by playing on the most humanly of fears, becoming a hostage. Eddie Muller, Founder and President of the Film Noir Foundation and author of numerous books on Film Noir, hosted. James Ellroy, the world's greatest crime writer, also helped set the mood for what promised to be a memorable night. The first film of the evening was Hell's Five Hours, a scarce tale of madness starring Coleen Gray. The plot centered on the ex-employee of a fuel plant named Nash (Vic Morrow) who devises a plan to blow it up after being pushed around by his boss. At the mercy of Nash is Mike Brand (Stephen McNally), his wife Nancy (Coleen Gray) and a town full of people forced to evacuate. As the plant's chief engineer, Brand orders the fuel to be drained in order to minimize the consequences of Nash's plans. In the interim, the plant employees and the police can do nothing but try to humor Nash until the procedure, which takes five hours, is completed. Muller credited Alan K. Rode for finding the obscure film, and thanks to their combined efforts, it saw the light of day in front of a dark, packed theater at the Egyptian. How's that for some noir contrast?

Directly after the film, Muller introduced actress Coleen Gray and asked her about the experience of shooting such a gloomy film. Gray remarked that the weather was very cold, and that one scene in particular, on the roof of a large fuel container, was extremely frightening. It was so cold, in fact, that she had to use a hand warmer on her body. But her greatest shudder seemed to come from watching herself walk in heels atop the massive container. Gray also delighted the audience by sharing her memories of different co-stars. Muller joked that more of Vic Morrow, whom he described as having channeled James Dean in his performance, and less of the robotic policemen in the film, would have been great. Following the questions about her film career, Ms. Gray spoke about her volunteer work for the prison fellowship and how she has come to know many of the inmates as family.

The latter half of the evening presented another obscure noir film, The Night Holds Terror. It was then that famed director Quentin Tarantino walked in and quietly joined the audience. Night dealt with a more commonly-known hostage situation: the home invasion. Starring a young John Cassavettes as the lead heavy, the film saw a trio of hoodlums invade the home of Gene Courtier (Jack Kelly) and his wife Doris (Hildy Parks), while a police manhunt for the group raged in the streets. The 1955 crime drama was based on a true story and very similar to a Humphrey Bogart film released the same year, The Desperate Hours. Cassavettes' character, Robert Batsford, is a young, playboy-like psychopath with a menacingly calm demeanor. In fact, one of his goons, Victor Gosset (played by Vince Edwards), is the most abrasive of the three. Gosset is also a playboy, but with a bigger ego and a false sense of entitlement. The last member is Luther Logan (David Cross), a naive kid who feels obligated to pass himself off as a roughneck, when in actuality, he's not built for the criminal lifestyle. With their different personalities cramped together in one house, the lives of the Courtiers hang in the balance.

By today's standards, both Hell's Five Hours and The Night Holds Terror may seem a bit childish, but they aren't. The underlying theme of hopelessness is rampant in each film. They're prime examples of what noir is all about: people being thrown into a world seemingly controlled by everyone except them. Obscurity notwithstanding, the prints on both films were rather good. As Muller pointed out, the studios have little knowledge of which films are actually sitting in their vaults. On the assumption that these hostage noirs have been dormant in a shadowy corner for many years, they looked great on the big screen, exactly how they were meant to be seen.

The Hostage Noir double feature was a welcomed addition to Noir City's impressive 2008 lineup. Hopefully it will pave the way for more hostage situations, viewed from the comfort of a historic theater, that is. The festival runs through April 24, 2008.